72 THE OAKES COW. 



satisfied and rest here, but go a point further, and 

 cross the heifers of the third cross with a short-horn 

 bull." These successive steps imply the use of a bull 

 of larger breed, though not necessarily, perhaps, pro- 

 portionally larger than the cow, in any individual case. 



This, it will be perceived, is a case of breeding with 

 less reference to the milking or dairy qualities than the 

 grazing. Great milkers are found of all shapes, and 

 the chief object of improving their form is to improve 

 their feeding qualities, or, in other words, to unite, as 

 far as possible, the somewhat incompatible properties 

 of grazing and milking. Graceful, well-rounded, and 

 compact forms, which constitute beauty in the eyes of 

 the grazier, as well as in the estimation of those not 

 accustomed to consider the intrinsic qualities of an 

 animal, or not capable of appreciating them in a milch 

 cow, will very rarely be found united, to any consider- 

 able extent, with active mammary glands or milk vessels. 

 The best milkers often look coarse and flabby; for, 

 even if their bony structure is good and symmetrical, 

 they will appear, especially when in milk, to have 

 large, raw bones and sharp points, particularly if they 

 are largely developed in the hind quarters, which is 

 most frequently the case, as is strikingly seen in the 

 form of the Oakes cow, a native animal, the most cele- 

 brated of her time, in Massachusetts, and winner of the 

 first premium at the State Fair of 1816. 



She yielded in that year no less than four hundred 

 and sixty-seven and a quarter pounds of butter from 

 May 15th to December 20th, at which time she was 

 giving over eight quarts of milk, beer measure, a day. 

 The weight of her milk in the height of the season, 

 in June, was but forty-four and a half pounds ; not so 

 great as that of some cows of the present day, on far 

 less feed in proportion to their size. Many cows can 



