90 GUENON'S METHOD. 



observing them some regard should be had to the con- 

 dition of the cow, the thickness of skin and fat by which 

 they may be surrounded, and the general activity and 

 food of the animal. Food calculated to stimulate the 

 greatest flow of milk will naturally increase these veins, 

 and give them more than usual prominence. 



We come now to an examination of the system of 

 Guenon, whose discovery, whatever may be said of it, 

 has proved of immense importance to agriculture. Gue- 

 non was a man of remarkable practical sagacity, a close 

 observer of stock, and an excellent judge. This gave 

 him a great advantage in securing the respect of those 

 with whom he came in contact, and assisted him vastly 

 in introducing his ideas to the knowledge of intelligent 

 men. Born in France, in the vicinity of Bordeaux, in 

 humble circumstances, he early had the care of cows, 

 and spent his whole life with them. His discovery, for 

 which a gold medal was awarded by the agricultural 

 society of Bordeaux, on the 4th of July, 1837, consisted 

 in the connection between the milking qualities of the 

 cow and certain external marks on the udder, and on 

 the space above it, called the perineum, extending to 

 the buttocks. To these marks he gave the name of 

 milk-mirror, or escutcheon, which consists in certain 

 perceptible spots rising up from the udder in different 

 directions, forms, and sizes, on which the hair grows 

 upwards, whilst the hair on other parts of the body 

 grows downwards. To these spots various names have 

 Leen given, according to their size and position, as tufts, 

 fringes, figures or escutcheons, which last is the most 

 common term used. The reduction of these marks into 

 a system, explaining the value of particular forms and 

 sizes of the milk-mirror, belongs, so far as I know, ex- 

 clusively to Guenon, though the connection of the milk- 

 ing qualities of the cow and the size of the ovals with 



