124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and tapering to a point, but gradually approaching a good, 

 luxurious, ample muzzle, expressive of a vigorous appetite and 

 good nutritive functions ; and, at the same time, that degree of 

 brightness and patience and amiability about the eyes that is so 

 agreeable in all living beings, — the horse and the cow, man and 

 woman. I would have a clean, thin, finely-shaped neck, not too 

 long nor too short, with a certain depth down through to the 

 brisket, which indicates strength of circulation. If I am told 

 that the male of such a cow would have an effeminate, cow-like 

 neck, I pause there. I want a masculine, not an effeminate- 

 looking bull. I want a firm, strong, well-rising crest to the 

 neck, indicating that he has got the will as well as the power to 

 protect the females of the herd. As to the shoulders, you want 

 the animal snug, compact in the shoulder, for beef. If for the 

 dairy, you cannot be too particular about the compactness with 

 which the shoulder-blade is set on the top, and the uniformity 

 with which it comes up there ; neither can you be too careful 

 to have the bone of the lower part of the shoulder prominent 

 and well-developed ; not round and tight and snug, but long 

 from the elbow to the point of the shoulder, and, as the animal 

 moves, free and easy in its motion. Then, when you come back 

 to the ribs, you want a rib springing with grace from the spine ; 

 not a flat-sided animal, nor one with a round, thick-feeling rib. 

 You may be sure there never was a good dairy cow that had 

 what is usually called a round rib. I speak of the rib alone 

 and not of the shape given to the carcase by the ribs. If such 

 a cow gives you twenty quarts one day, in three weeks she won't 

 give you six. On the top of the spine, the processes should be 

 loose and open. As you come to the hind-quarters, let the line 

 from the hip back to the tail be as straight as a water-level can 

 make it. Then you want a well made, solid hind-quarter, not 

 too thin nor too thick, but well muscled ; and a hind leg strong, 

 firm, that looks as if it would stand the wear and tear of fifteen 

 years of hard labor. And the legs should be well-defined, finely 

 drawn, and looking as if there were strength and nerve in 

 them ; not legs particularly round, but in which all the cords 

 and muscles stand out with vigor, as if they had good blood 

 behind them to keep them in good order. The skin should be 

 soft, the liair lively. The matter of color is not of great impor- 

 tance. If you will adopt this rule, I think you wHl find that 



