52 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



tions ; the line of junstion of these different growths of hair constituting the out- 

 line of the figure or escutcheon. Here are the names of the eight classes : 



Ist Class.... THE FLANDERS COW. 

 2d "...." SELVAGE COW. 

 3d -....• CURVELINE COW. 

 4th •'...." BICOEN COW. 



5th Class.... THE DEMIJOHN COW. 



6th « .... " SQUARE SCUTCHEON COW. 



7th " " LIMOUSINE COW. 



8th " " HORIZONTAL CUT COW. 



By means of the following description of the several Classes and Orders.Taided 

 by the engraved prints attached to the work, every person can assign any Cow 

 examined by him to her appropriate place in the classification, and consequently 

 form an accurate judgment in regard to the maximum quantity of milk which 

 she can yield daily, and also to the time during which this yield will remain at 

 its maximum. It results from the numerous and oft-repealed tests to which this 

 method of judging has been subjected, that the yield may sometimes vary from 

 what I have adopted as the standard point ; because, as I have stated, the cli- 

 mate, the food and the season do exercise an iniiuence upon it. But there is one 

 thing which never varies, which always holds good, at all times and in all pla- 

 ces : in every one of the eight classes, the Cows of the higher orders are always 

 the best, and those of the lower orders always the least good ; that is to say, the 

 two highest orders are always the most productive, the third and fourth orders 

 are tolerably good, and the four others go on diminishing to the last, which may 

 be looked upon as nullities so far as regards milk. 



"■'^■^ § 2. Bastard Cows. 



Before entering upon a detailed description of the classes severally, it is im- 

 portant that the reader be reminded that each class has its Bastards ; that is to 

 say. Cows which, although bearing a perfect resemblance to the others, do never- 

 theless differ from them in their yield. This resemblance deceives the most prac- 

 ticed eye, and is the source of many mistakes and of serious losses. In order, 

 therefore, that the reader may be enabled to avail himself of my method, I must 

 make him acquainted with the marks by which the bastards of each class are 

 distinguished. 



I have adopted the word Bastard to denote those Cows which give milk only so 

 long as they have not been got with calf anew ; and which, upon this happen- 

 ing, go dry, all of a sudden or in the course of a few days. Cows of this kind are 

 found in each of the classes, and in every order of the class. Some of them are 

 great milkers ; but so soon as they have got with calf, their milk is gone. Oth- 

 ers present the most promising appearance, but their yield is very insignificant. 

 Cases of this kind occur every day ; the most skillful judges find themselves mis- 

 taken. 



When it happens that a Cow that was giving a plenty of milk loses it, all of a 

 sudden'j'supDn being got with calf, people do not know how to account for this loss 

 of her milk ; various causes are assigned for it, not one of which is the true one. 

 It does not depend, as some suppose, upon the will of the animal about lettmg 

 down her milk ; it so happens simply because she is born so, because she is so 

 formed and constituted. 



Now there are characteristic signs, also, whereby the Bastard Cows in each of 

 the classes and orders may be known. They are distinguished by the lines of as- 

 cending and descending hair in their escutcheon. These escutcheons are put 

 before the reader's eyes in the Ninth plate, the drawings of which are, like the 

 others, from nature. 



