180 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



are generally incomprehensible to the unini- 

 tiated. To assist those who entertain the lauda- 

 ble desire of profiting by the experience of others, 

 we have had an engraving made in which the 

 " points" are marked and the technical names 

 appended. 



As a fit accompaniment to this engraving, 

 we have selected the following extract from a 

 communication from that distinguished Kentuc- 

 ky breeder, Dr. Martin, to the Editors of the 

 " Farmers' Cabinet" : 



The two principal objects in raising cattle, 

 appear to be beef and milk. And as certain 

 forms are found to possess particular qualities, I 

 shall proceed to give those forms, and the de- 

 sirable qualities generally connected with them. 



The head should be small — the muzzle fine — 

 the countenance calm — horns fine — neck light, 

 particularly where it joins the head — breast 

 wide, and projecting well before the legs — shoul- 

 ders moderately broad at top, and the points 

 well in, so as to leave no hollows behind them 

 when the animal is moderately fat — the girth 

 behind the shoulders should be deep, so that if 

 the carcass should be cut across here, the sec- 

 tion would be an ellipse, blunt at both ends — 

 back straight, wide and flat — ribs broad, and the 

 space between them and the hips small — flank 

 full and heavy — belly well kept in — hips globu- 

 lar, wide across and on a level with the back — 

 twist wide, and the seam in the middle of it 

 well filled — thigh straight, tapering well down 

 to the hock — the legs straight, short jointed, 

 clean, fine boned, and standing wide apart — tail 

 broad towards the top, tapering down small to- 

 wards the bottom — body long, and joined smooth- 

 ly to the quarters before and behind — skin soft 

 and elastic — veins large. 



I shall now proceed to show the advantages 

 of the above form. The reason why the head 

 should be small and muzzle fine — a small head 

 facilitates birth — and as the head is composed 

 mostly of bone, it shows fineness of bone, the 

 advantage of which is fully appreciated by the 

 grazier, who has learned that no animal fattens 

 kindly that lacks them. Calmness of counte- 

 nance also denotes a disposition to be contented, 

 and is generally possessed by a gentle milch 

 cow, and also denotes an animal that will fatten 

 easily. The light neck will be very advan- 

 tageous to the butcher, who will get much less 

 coarse meat in such ; short neck generally de- 

 notes a thrifty, hardy animal. A long, or ewe- 

 neck, — that is, one falling off from the lop of 

 shoulders — denotes a tender constitution. 



The wide breast and deep body, give greater 

 room for the lungs, the importance of which 

 will be seen presently. A straight back is indi- 

 cative of strength ; a weak animal is generally 



hump-backed ; poor keeping will produce these 

 deficiencies in a calf that was at first well formed. 

 The straight back also, denotes aptitude to fat- 

 ten. Much depends upon the room the lungs 

 have; no animal can be a good one, whose 

 lungs occupy a small space ; and as the lungs 

 occupy all the space inside the ribs, so it is im- 

 portant that this space should be large. For 

 this reason, the ribs should spread wide, be deep, 

 and extend well back to the hips. The full, 

 heavy flank of the cow, is a most certain indi- 

 cation of a good milker; this, connected with 

 large veins, particularly those on the side of the 

 belly, generally called the milk veins, is a certain 

 indication of a good milch cow. The milk is 

 formed from that portion of blood that circulates 

 on the external part of the cow ; and as large 

 veins denote a large circulation, so it is indica- 

 tive of a good milker. The bull with a deep 

 flank, generally produces good milk stock. The 

 belly being nearly straight, shows that the plates 

 of which it is composed are thick and strong; 

 when the plates are thin, the belly sinks from 

 the weight of its contents. Thick plates are 

 of great advantage to the butcher, when the 

 animal is killed, as it adds much to the weight 

 of meat. Globular hips hold much meat, and 

 it is much easier put upon them, than on those 

 that are sharp. Wide hips give a broader loin 

 and more capacity to the pelvis, which is of much 

 importance in the cow, giving the calf more 

 room. The hind-quarter that is long from the 

 hip to the rump, and straight with the back, 

 will weigh very heavy ; and for the same rea- 

 son, the twist (that is the space between the 

 thighs) should be wide and well filled up, which 

 gives great weight to ihe upper part of the 

 thigh. Straight legs are now the fashion, and 

 are said to be stronger than crooked ones — 

 Clean legs, small bones, tapering tails, show 

 fine bones — and such animals are easily kept, 

 and when not in milk, fatten easily. A short 

 legged animal also, is more easily kept and fat- 

 tened, than long legged ones. When the bris- 

 ket and twist are large, the legs will be wide 

 apart. 



I somewhat doubt the propriety of insisting 

 upon a long body ; but a good animal with a 

 long body, will weigh much heavier than one 

 with a short body; but it is much easier to 

 breed good animals with short bodies. There is 

 a continual tendency in the produce of the long 

 bodied animal to be narrow in the breast, which 

 is not the case with the shorter animal. And 

 as a general rule, the shorter animal fattens 

 much more easily. However, if the width of 

 the carcass can be kept up, a long body is to be 

 preferred. Round bodies were formerly the 

 fashion, but the deep body is now thought to be 

 decidedly best. The limbs do not join to the 

 body of the round animal, as smoothly as to the 

 oval — there generally being a hollow behind the 



