PROVING TOO MUCH. 91 



downward-growing hair on the back part of* the udder 

 above the teats was observed and known in Massachu- 

 setts more than forty years ago, and some of the old 

 farmers of that day were accustomed to say that when 

 these spots were large and well developed the cow 

 would be a good milker. 



Guenon divided the milk-mirror into eight classes, 

 and each class into eight orders, making in all no less 

 than sixty-four divisions, which he afterwards increased 

 by sub-divisions, making the whole system complicated 

 in the extreme, especially as he professed to be able to 

 judge with accuracy, by means of the milk-mirror, not 

 only of the exact quantity a cow would give, but also 

 the quality of the milk and the length of time it would 

 continue. He tried to prove too much, and the conse- 

 quence was that he was himself frequently at fault, 

 notwithstanding his excellent knowledge of other gene- 

 ral characteristics of milch cows, while others, of less 

 knowledge, and far more liable to err in judgment, were 

 inclined to view the whole system with distrust. 



My own attention was called to Guenon's method of 

 judging of cows some eight or ten years ago, and since 

 that time I have examined many hundreds, with a 

 view to ascertain the correctness of its main features, 

 inquiring, at the same time, after the views and opinions 

 of the best breeders and judges of stock, with regard 

 to their experience and judgment of its merits; and the 

 result of my observation has been, that cows with the 

 most perfectly-developed milk-mirrors, or escutcheons, 

 are, with rare exceptions, the best milkers of their 

 breed, and that cows with small and slightly-developed 

 mirrors are, in the majority of cases, bad milkers. 



I say the best milkers of their breed ; for I do not 

 believe that precisely the same sized and formed milk- 

 mirrors on a Hereford or a Devon, and an Ayrshire or a 



