THE MILK-MIRROR. EXPLANATION. 65 



a skin soft and flexible over the rump ; broad, well- 

 spread ribs, covered with a loose skin of medium thick- 

 ness j a broad chest ; a long, slender tail ; straight 

 hind legs ; a large, regularly-formed udder, covered with 

 short, close, silky hair ; four teats of equal size and 

 length, set wide apart ; large, projecting lacteal veins, 

 which run along under the belly from the udder tow- 

 ards the fore legs, forming a fork at the end, and 

 finally losing themselves in a round cavity ; and when 

 these points, or any considerable number of them, are 

 found united in a cow, she would be pronounced a 

 good milker. An animal in which these signs are 

 found would rarely fail of having a good " milk-mirror," 

 or escutcheon; on which Guenon, after many years of 

 careful observation and experiment, came to lay par- 

 ticular stress ; and on the basis of which he built up a 

 system or theory so complicated as to be of little prac- 

 tical value compared with what it might have been had 

 he seen fit to simplify it so as to bring it within the 

 easy comprehension of the farmer. As one means of 

 forming a judgment of the milking qualities, however, 

 it must be regarded as very important, since it is un- 

 questionably sustained by facts in a very large majority 

 of cases. 



The milk-mirror, or escutcheon, is formed by the hair 

 above the udder, extending upwards between the 

 thighs, growing in an opposite direction from that of 

 other parts of the body. In well-formed mirrors, found 

 only in cows which have the arteries which supply the 

 milky glands large and fully developed, it ordinarily be- 

 gins between the four teats in the middle, and ascends 

 to the vulva, and sometimes even higher, the hair grow- 

 ing upwards. The direction of the hair is subordinate 

 to that of the arteries ; for the relation existing between 

 the direction of the hair above the udder and the 

 6* 5 



