13 



I should like a fine yellow horn and skin of the same color ; a broad 

 forehead, mild but bright and intelligent eye, and a fine taper from 

 cheek and face to muzzle. 



I should want a good " milk vein" and escutcheon, but would 

 not reject her if she was deficient in some of these finer details if the 

 general characteristics were up to standard, if she was of nervous rather 

 than of phlegmatic temperament, and so intelligent that she would 

 yield milk from design and as a pleasure, rather than by accident or 

 from compulsion. AVere it possible, I should like one of those cows 

 which are said to 3-ield twenty quarts of milk per day, or eighteen 

 pounds of butter per week, when she has " no feed but what 

 she can get in a dry summer pasture," but such an animal I never 

 expect to produce or to own by purchase. 



My cow being of the best so far as general form and structure are 

 concerned, her care and management becomes a matter of great 

 importance. Just so far as art has removed her from her natural 

 state, so lar has her capacitj' to care for and protect herself decreased 

 and for this, whatever maj' be its extent, extra attention and over- 

 sight of her owner must be substituted. In her natural condition she 

 endures a rigorous climate with little inconvenience, though unsheltered 

 except b}' hill or forest. Hardened b}" inclement seasons, thickly 

 covered with a coat of long, matted hair, and with no draft on her 

 S3'stem by a milk flow, she maintains a vigorous life on coarse and 

 scanty fare. But placed in the farmer's dairy and her vital forces 

 turned from the simple labor of sustaining the system, to the secretion 

 of a large milk product, regardless of the vicissitudes of the season, 

 those forces must be husbanded and supported by the most perfect 

 shelter, protection and warmth which can be obtained with pure 

 sweet but changing air. 



Food in quality and quantity are of equal importance with shel- 

 ter, and have an intimate relation as a question of economy, for 

 shelter to a certain extent is a substitute for food. The cow as an arti- 

 ficial animal is a machine to work farm products into milk, and though 

 I have heard of such cases, I have never seen one which could make 

 the milk without the products, even if her carcass was substituted for 

 them. The cow returns us in the pail only what she receives in her 

 food, and, all other things being equal, the one which takes the most 



