104 MY FARM. 



nothing to do with points, but the points that shall 

 meet these ends. There is no reason why he should 

 limit himself to one strain of blood, unless that strain 

 meets and fills every office of his farm economy, any 

 more than he should narrow his poultry range to pea- 

 fowl, or to golden pheasant. 



I think I may have talked somewhat in this strain 

 to my old neighbor, who asked after the " squire's 

 cattle " but not at such a length ; and I think that 

 he offered some such corollary as this : 



" Squire, them English cows is handsome critturs 

 enough to look at ; but ye have to keep a follerin' on 

 'em up with a meal tub." 



It is very easy to lay down a charming set of rules 

 for the establishment of a good herd (and for that 

 matter of a good life) ; but to follow them ? 



I will be bound to say that there was never a pret- 

 tier flock of milch cows gathered in any man's stables 

 than the superior one which I conjured up in my 

 fancy, after an imaginative foray about the neighbor- 

 hood. But it was not easy to make the fancy good. 

 Mr. Flint, in his very capital book upon milch cows 

 and dairy farming, gives a full elucidation of that 

 theory of M. Guenon, by which the milking properties 

 of an animal can be determined by what is called the 

 escutcheon, being certain natural markings, around 

 the udder upon the inner parts of the thighs. It is 



