CHAPTER II. 



STRUCTURE OF THE OX. 



I. COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTION. II. A GOOD COW DESCRIBED IN VERSE. III. 



SKELETON OF THE OX. IV. ANALYSING THE HEAD. V. EXTERNAL PARTS 



OF A FAT OX. VI. TEETH OF THE OX. VII. AGE OF CATTLE TOLD BY THE 



CHART. 



I. Comparative Description. 



The OX, like the horse, is made up of a bony structure, upon which 

 rests the muscular and fleshy covering, and over this again lies the skin. 

 The only means of defense possessed by cattle are their horns, which, in 

 breeds that have been running wild for generations, develop into long 

 sharp, and most formidable weapons. These are most securely fixed and 

 rendered effective by the expanse of the frontal bone, shown at numeral 

 6, skeleton of the ox, as represented in the cut accompanying this chapter. 



The horse is long in the limbs and neck ; the ox is comparatively short 

 in these members. The body of the horse corresponds to the square ; 

 that of the ox to the rectangle. The illustrations showing outlines of fat 

 bullocks, as presented a few pages further on in this chapter — four forms 

 exhibited — are accurate representations. The ribs of the ox are both longer 

 and larger than those of the horse, since the several stomachs and the bow- 

 els of the ox are more capacious. The width of the bosom gives ample 

 space for the fore legs and for the viscera ; and this width is carried cor- 

 respondingly behind, giving, in the modern ox, a broad loin and massive 

 rump and hind quarters, where the choice parts of the beef lie. 



II. A good Cow described in verse. 

 The physical proportions of the cow have l>cen so accurately described 

 in verse, by an old English writer, that we reproduce his stanzas as em- 

 bodying the general characteristics of what goes to make up a perfec^t 

 animal : 



She's long in her face, she's fine in her horn, 

 She'll quickly get fat without cake or corn; 

 She's clean in her jaws, and full in her chine, 

 She's heavy in Hank, and wide in her loin. 



She's broad in het ribs, and long in her rump; 

 A straiglit and Hat back, without e'er a hump; 

 She's wide in her hips, and calm in her eyes; 

 She's fine in her shoulders, and thin in her thighs. 



She's light in her neck, and small in her tail; 

 yhe's wide in her breast, and good at the pail; 

 She's fine in her bone, and silky of skin — 

 She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within. 



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