DALGIG TO AYR. 271 



them, and his herd dates from Jock the Laird. Mr. 

 Greenshields of West Inn, near Douglas, goes a good 

 deal for white with blue spots, and finds them very 

 excellent milkers. The light fawns, with a pure-white 

 nose and light about the eyes, are not such milkers ; 

 but, after all said and done about colours, it is the 

 orange skin and the orange tint at the root of the 

 tail which betoken butter and cream. An eminent 

 dealer assures us that he has knoAvn ^^crummies'^ give 

 12 lbs. and 14 lbs. of butter per week of 16oz. to the 

 pound, and that thirty-six cows near Maybole once 

 produced .€14 a head, not to the bower but to the 

 owner, who sold the milk to go to Glasgow. There 

 must have been no weed or blind pap there. 



The teats, to satisfy the mathematical eye of fanciers, 

 should be at distances of one third of the vessel on 

 the side, and of half the vessel across. The vessel 

 should be oblong, with plenty of loose skin hanging 

 straight down, flat at the bottom, and extending well 

 below, so as to draw sustenance from the very belly, 

 and to keep its shape with age. The orthodox shape 

 of the vessel and teats is propagated in the tribes, and 

 in one respect the Ayrshire men may be said to 

 '^milk the buU,"^ as they look most jealously to his false 

 teats that they be small and round and well 

 apart before they use him. Both bull and cow, to 

 ensure a milking tribe, should have large veins along 

 the belly ; but there is no milking creed of thirty- 

 three articles like the Guernsey, extending to the 

 direction which the feather should take on the twist 



