CHAP. v. SELECTION OF DAIRY COWS. Ill 



Hazard. This is a new edition (1889), revised and enlarged, and there 

 are nearly one hundred illustrations. The reader may also be referred to 

 an illustrated paper, " Guenon's System of Selecting Cows by the 

 Escutcheon," by Mr. Hazard, which was printed in the Journal of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xxi., second series (1885). Mr. 

 G. W. Baker contributed some observations on this paper, amongst 

 them the following : 



" The perfection of milking characteristics, to my taste, is an animal 

 with a fine escutcheon, with rather thin thighs, giving plenty of room 

 for the bag to extend itself when necessary ; the udder, of course, should 

 be deep and broad, extending well forward, with four well-placed teats 

 of medium size, and with the skin of the udder as elastic as a kid glove. 

 Then with a cow of good constitution, a well-formed body, on four 

 good legs set outside of her, with a rather fine long head set on a thin 

 neck, with silky hair (if it is a little long so much the better in this change- 

 able climate), covering a rich elastic skin, I think you may expect pretty 

 good results in the dairy. The horns should be fine and well placed in 

 the head, curving rather inwards than otherwise, and the back should 

 be straight, with a rather long tail starting from the body at right 

 angles with the back, if you want a handsome animal ; and of course it 

 is desirable to obtain as many points as possible. Beauty must be 

 admitted in judging for competitions, although it is not an essential 

 characteristic for the dairy ; and consequently a pretty animal may 

 sometimes properly be dispensed with when brought into contact 

 with a neighbour who surpasses her in usefulness, although lacking 

 some of her good looks. The cow should be able to move well, and 

 possess an appetite that will enable her to support her constitution 

 when she is making a liberal return to her owner, who is treating 

 her well." 



While considering the points by which good dairy cows may be 

 ascertained, attention may be directed to a suggestive paper which 

 was published in the Proceedings of the Board of Agriculture of 

 Ohio, in the United States, and proceeded from the pen of, as 

 its facts and suggestions were 'based upon elaborate investigations 

 made by, Dr. Sturtevant. The, theory upon which this author 

 bases his practice in deciding the value of dairy cows, is capable of very 

 simple statement, namely, that the type of the breed of a cow has a 

 certain determinate relation to the quality of the milk which the cow 

 yields. Natrtrally, the milk produced by a cow is just that which is 

 required to rear or suckle her calf, and all which she yields in addition 

 to this owes^its existence to art ; in other words to the peculiarities or 

 habits induced by the way in which cows are domesticated and made 

 subservient to the necessities of man ; and it is remarkable how the 

 animals change, not only their external form, but their internal 

 functions, to meet those requirements, when put under certain modi- 

 fying influences. Thus the Ayrshire, which Dr. Sturtevant calls the 

 " symbolization of the dairy type," has been altered in its development, 

 and can be again altered by certain styles of breeding. But the true 

 typical Ayrshire dairy cow has her teats set wide apart in the udder, 

 and the teats are small and short and cylindrical in form, the uider 



