MAINTAINING THE COW IN PROFIT — FEEDING. 449 



in direction to that covering other parts of the animal's skin. This 

 hair differs from all the rest in color, and is fine, soft and close. 

 The scutcheon springs from the middle of the four teats, whence a 

 portion of its hair springs and extends toward the navel ; whereas 

 the other part rises toward the inner and upper part of the hocks to 

 the middle of the posterior surface of the thighs, then, rising over 

 the udder on the perineum, it extends in some classes to the upper 

 angle of the vulva. 



The surface or extent of the scutcheon denotes the milkine 

 capacity ; its form and oudine indicate the class ; the fineness of the 

 hair and the color of the epidermis the quality of the milk. For the 

 most part, it is very easy to distinguish the scutcheons by the up- 

 ward direction of the hair which forms them. They are even some- 

 times surrounded by a line of bristly hair, turned backward, and 

 formed by the meeting of the upward and downward hair. In some 

 cases animals thus marked are to be avoided as being bastards. 



It is just as important that the bull should have as good a scutch- 

 eon as the cow, as the qualities of the mother inherited by her son 

 will be transmitted to her daughters ; and for this reason also is it 

 very necessaiy that the bull shall have a good parentage. 



HOW TO MAINTAIN THE COW IN PROFIT. 



With a good selection made there will necessarily follow the ques- 

 tion, How to maintain her in good condition for profit ? It must be 

 apparent to every thinking person that good qualities, even in the 

 highest perfection, will not ensure an abundant and rich supply of 

 milk unless proper care is taken to furnish the cow with the kind 

 of food best calculated for the required purpose. 



THE ART OF FEEDING. 



The first requisite is, that the animal should have abundance of 

 food, so as to be able to consume all that she requires in as short 

 time as possible, as then she will lie down and have the more time 

 to secrete her milk, and that milk acquire richness. In short, she 

 must not have to work too hard for her hving. The pasture should 

 be often changed, and if not in pasture the food should be succu- 

 lent, otherwise fat instead of milk will be produced ; but cows fed 

 with food of too watery a nature, which is the case with roots early 

 in the season, require an addition of more solid food, such as meal 

 or good clover chaff, otherwise the milk, although considerable in 

 quantity, will be poor and wheyey, yielding no cream. Such roots 

 should be carefully selected as have no symptoms of decay, and 

 should be mild in flavor, or the butter will be tainted. In very cold 

 weather, and as a change of food, use oil-cake and ground oats, 



