22 DOCILITY. — TREATMENT. 



shoulders, both parts being unincumbered with superflu- 

 ous flesh. The same general form extends backwards, 

 the fore quarters being light, the shoulders thin, and the 

 carcass swelling out towards the hind quarters, so that 

 standing in front of her it has the form of a blunted 

 wedge. Such a structure indicates very fully devel- 

 oped digestive organs, which exert a powerful influence 

 on the exercise of all the functions of the body, and 

 especially on the secretion of the milky glands, accom- 

 panied with milk-veins and udder partaking of the same 

 character as the stomach and viscera, being large and 

 capacious, while the external skin and interior walls of 

 the milk-glands are thin and elastic, and all parts 

 arranged in a manner especially calculated for the pro- 

 duction of milk. 



A cow with these marks will generally be of a quiet 

 and docile temper, which greatly enhances her value. 

 A cow that is of a quiet and contented disposition feeds 

 at ease, is milked with ease, and yields more than one 

 of an opposite temperament; while after she is past her 

 usefulness as a milker she will easily take on fat, and 

 make fine beef and a good quantity of tallow, because 

 she feeds freely, and when dry the food which went to 

 make milk is converted into fat and flesh. But there is no 

 breed of cows with which gentleness of treatment is so 

 indispensable as with the Ayrshire, on account of her 

 naturally nervous temperament. If she receive other 

 than kind and gentle treatment, she will often resent it 

 with angry looks and gestures, and withhold her milk ; 

 and if such treatment is long continued, will dry up ; 

 but she willingly and easily yields it to the hand that 

 fondles her, and all her looks and movements towards 

 her friends are quiet and mild. 



As already remarked, the Ayrshires in their native 

 country are generally bred for the dairy, and no other 



