372 Report of the Steioards of Stock at the Batter sea Shotc. 
Cows of this breed were first shown at the Chelmsford Meeting ; ' 
and Mr. Baker's beautiful Gold Medal bull "Prince" and 3 
heifers of the sort were commended in a General Class at Leeds. 
The prizes were generally awarded to the larger specimens, which 
are not so much fancied for their milk in toy dairies as the 
smaller ones, from the more mountainous parts of Britanny, 
where the pasture is scanty. Thirty-six inches is about the 
fashionable standard for cows ; and the price, which at first 
ranged from 201. to 24/., now goes as low as 13/. Black and 
white is the orthodox colour, but the red and Avhites — of which 
there is scarcely 1 in 20 — are eagerly sought after. They are so 
docile, and bear tying up so well, besides living on 10 lbs. of 
fodder a day, that the Bretonne cow is not unfrequently reckoned 
as part of the luggage of families coming up to town for the 
season. The fine horn — like that of the Alderney, but thinner, 
and tapering away gradually from the head — is looked to as an 
indication of milking properties ; and so are the lines inside the 
thighs, which should branch out wide, and run on at an equal 
distance down to the udder. The oval marks higher up and 
close to the tail give a promise of butter ; and the buff tinge and 
thick soft skin of the udder are said to be an infallible sign both 
of butter and milk. These cows have been known to hold their 
milk for 18 months after calving, and occasionally give as much 
as 6 or 7 quarts per day with a first calf. 
The Dutch cattle, which claim to be among the best dairy 
cows in Europe, and the parent stock from which our shorthorns 
sprang, did not show in much force, owing to the prevalence of 
the febris pecorum aphtosa (foot and mouth disease), which had 
been unusually severe in Holland ; but the Swiss were a host in 
themselves. Although the Swiss Government, which took a 
deep interest in the matter, applied to have this stock divided 
into three classes, it was finally determined to form only two — 
the " Swiss Brown " and " Swiss Coloured." The bulls were of 
all types and sizes, and were carefully scanned for their milk- 
marks ; and M. Adrien Ecoffey's prize cow was an especially 
grand specimen of her kind. One of the judges writes thus of 
them : — 
" Being appointed to these classes in conjunction with Herr Karlen and 
Herr Geusch, both eminent Swiss agriculturists, I beg to say, that according 
to the opinion of these gentlemen, in which I entirely concur, the show of 
stock in this class did great credit to Switzerland, both in point of numbers 
and excellence. The entries, both of bulls and cows, were far more numerous 
than those of any other class of foreign stock, and the branded cross on the 
near quarter of many animals, denoted prizes taken at home. The Bernese 
or dun-coloured breed included several animals of gi'eat merit, and the oxen 
are not to be excelled as workers, but they are not destined to improve the 
' Roast Beef of Old England.' The spotted class varied exceedingly in size 
