MILK BREEDS.] CATTLE, AND THEIE VAEIETIES. 



[milk beeeds. 



for -wliich the race mav be celebrated ; and 

 there are, doubtless, well-knoAn marks, which, 

 to the dairyman, rarely fail to indicate the 

 status of the animal in the range of qualities 

 peculiar to his race. On the European con- 

 tinent, this knowledge has been professed to be 

 carried to a very minute extent. Eran9()is 

 Guenon, a Erenchmun, is said to have found 

 a mode of deciding authoritatively, not only 

 the' quantity and quality of milk which would 

 be yielded by any particular cow, but also the 

 period for which she would retain her milk 

 after calving. This he professed to determine 

 by external appearances alone ; and these of a 

 somewhat arbitrary kind. The possession of 

 such an invaluable species of knowledge to the 

 farmer was not readily to be lost sight of. Ac- 

 cordingly, the Agricultural Society of Bordeaux 

 appointed a committee, to test Guenou's capa- 

 bilities ; and they reported that, although the 

 process by which he arrived at tliese conclu- 

 sions was a secret, he had succeeded in satis- 

 fying them of the truth of his system. It was 

 deemed, however, that it would be more satis- 

 factory, if Guenon would submit it to a practi- 

 cal experimental test ; and this was done in the 

 following way: — Separate cows were brought 

 from strange dairies, and he wrote down the 

 characteristics and qualities of each. These 

 were compared with the separate statements 

 given by the owners of the animals ; and, in 

 cases of more than sixty head, he succeeded in 

 stating all their peculiarities exactly, with the 

 exception of a very slight difference in apprais- 

 ing the quantity of milk — a difference the com- 

 mittee attributed solely to the quality of food 

 given to the animal. 



At Cantul, the Central Societj of Agri- 

 culture also reported upon his system with 

 equal favour. Their description of the process 

 of investigation pursued, is thus given: — " He 

 accompanied the members of your committee 

 to the farm of Veyrac, belonging to the presi- 

 dent of the society, lie examined, with scru- 

 pulous attention, the fine dairy cows of this 

 domain, which is composed of one hundred 

 milch cows of the best kind in the country. 

 * * * * M, Guenon gave, upon each of 

 them separately, precise indications as to tlie 

 quantity of milk each of them give per diem, 

 and the length of time they would hold their 

 milk after being again in calf. AVe must avow 

 GG2 



to you, gentlemen, that they have, almost in 

 every instance, agreed with the declarations of 

 the owners of the cows." The mode he adopted 

 has been made known in this country ; and it 

 has for its foundation the classification of all 

 kinds of cattle into eight families. Each of 

 these he divides into three sections, according 

 to size only ; and each section, again, he sub- 

 divides into eight orders. The distintruishinfr 

 marks by which this division is made, are — 1, 

 the Gravure, which are those parts which com- 

 mence at the udder, and extend at the bearing- : 

 2, the E]yis — a soft brush of hair on the udder 

 of the animal ; and, 3, Contrepoil, or hair 

 growing the contrary way. These peculiarities 

 form the distinction between the families and 

 orders. Thus, if the gravure be large, the 

 reservoir of milk will also be large, and the 

 produce abundant. If it be formed of fine 

 hair, and if the skin be of a yellowish hue, and 

 a sort of bran-coloured powder fall from the 

 skin, they are to be taken as the signs of a good 

 milker. The rationale of the whole is, that the 

 gravure is but a continuation of, and corres- 

 ponds with, the lactiferous vessels under the 

 belly of the animal. These " epis," he states, 

 correspond with the reservoir of milk, and 

 are tuits of hair growing the wrong way on 

 the right or left of the bearing. The largest 

 indicates the most rapid loss of milk. The con- 

 trepoil, or hair growing the wrong way on the 

 gravure, amidst that which grows upwards, 

 indicates a deficiency in the production of milk, 

 even if the gravure be large. — Such is a general 

 description of a system invested with minutiae 

 of no ordinary kind ; and so precise and prolix, 

 that it would even require numerous engravings 

 to show the variations of family, class, and 

 order. In speaking of this system, it has been 

 remarked, that the observations of Guenon 

 have been carried far beyond their legitimate 

 objects, and are of a character rather indicative 

 of quality ; for while a wide capacity of upper 

 udder, a fine hair, a yellow scurf, are some- 

 what too indefinite to classify very precisely, 

 they are just the points which may indicate a 

 fineness of quality, and a large lactiferous ca- 

 pacitv, that may add to the physiological signs 

 by which a milking-cow is judged by the prac- 

 tical grazier, 



III a good dairy cow, a beautiful form is aa 

 unimportant point in the eye of the dairyman; 



