CIV INTRODUCTION". 



length of body increases the space for muscles, and conse- 

 quently the weight of the animal. Breeders, therefore, look 

 to length of trunk as connected with economical value ; yet 

 if this character be not combined with others which are good, 

 as depth and roundness of trunk, and strength and breadth 

 of back and loins, there will be more of loss by the dimi- 

 nished tendency to fatten, than of gain by the larger extent 

 of muscular surface. 



The size of the haunch of the ox is not connected with the 

 property of fattening ; but it is connected, in an important 

 degree, with the weight and economical value of the animal. 

 The haunch commences with the iliac portion of the pelvis, 

 or haunch-bone, commonly called, in the case of this animal, 

 the hook-bone or huckle-bone. These protuberances should 

 appear as if nearly on a level with the back, and they should 

 be distant from one another, indicating breadth over the 

 loins. The upper line of the haunch should be long and 

 straight to the bending downwards of the tail. The femur and 

 tibia should be long, so that the size of the haunch shall be 

 increased, and a larger space afforded for muscular substance. 

 By enlarging the haunch in all its directions, the weight of 

 the animal is increased, and this in a manner which does 

 not, as in the case of extending the back alone, tend to pro- 

 duce weakness. 



Corresponding with the width of the trunk, the fore and 

 hinder limbs respectively will be far apart ; and this, accord- 

 ingly, is a point of form looked to by breeders as indicative 

 of that lateral expansion of the body, which is sought for in 

 the Ox, as in every animal to be fattened. The limbs, it has 

 been seen, should be relatively short ; but the fore-arm to the 

 knee should be long in proportion to the part from the knee 

 to the hoof; and, in like manner, in the posterior limbs, the 

 leg to the hock should be long in proportion to the part below 

 the hock. This character is desired in the Ox, 1st, because the 

 parts above the knee and hock, respectively, contain muscle, 

 while those below consist almost entirely of tendon ; 



