Guetion's S'/stcm of Selecting Coics by the Escutcheon. 465 
for copies of that report shows that the attention of the farming 
communitv has been awakened to the great value of the system. 
The State was importuned to print another ten thousand copies 
of the report, but declined ; and to supply the demand for a 
greater elucidation, the book ' How to Select Cows,' was issued, 
so that up to this time thirtv thousand copies of the two articles 
have been issued, until now the word escutcheon is, at least, 
well known bv everv intelligent farmer, if its interpretation is 
not practically applied. Xo animal of any importance is now 
advertised for sale without stating what grade of escutcheon it 
bears. Thus the work of this Board is bearing its fruit, and it 
is not too much to sav that, in its practical results, it has ele- 
vated the grade of stock throughout the United States ; has 
caused the selections to be more accurately made ; has saved 
farmers many thousands of dollars, and been the cause of con- 
signing many a worthless animal to the butcher that would 
otherwise have been raised at a loss. 
As the word escutcheon, and the theorv connected with it, 
was first applied bv Guenon, his svstem has been popularly 
called the Escutcheon Svstem," and bv unbelievers it has met 
with some derision, because thev supposed, without studving 
Guenon s book, that that was the onlv point he made as a guide 
to the judgment of the farmer. Guenon judged bv ten points, 
and, in order that the svstem should be properlv placed before 
the farmers of this State in the twentv-five thousand copies of 
the report that are distributed, I have prepared this condensed 
statement of the leading points : 
Proper Selection. — Every one has his own views about this. 
One will choose by the crumpled horn, the capacious, thin- 
skinned udder, the large milk-veins, and their entrance into the 
belly, the colour and texture of the skin ; while another will judge 
by the leminine appearance, the wedge-shape, the vellow ears, 
the small head, and the broad muzzle, or by some other favourite 
method. \ et, with all the marks, every dairvman will occa- 
sionally purchase an animal that deceives him at the milk-pail 
or cream- pot, and she is apt to be the handsome one. The 
system of Monsieur Guenon does not interfere with any of these 
modes ot judging : it simplv harmonizes with, and becomes an 
adjunct to them. Xow, il we have one, three, five, or six points 
by which to judge the value of an animal, why not add to them 
still one more, especially if that one is worth more than all the 
others put together ? With none of these modes can we tell 
just what a cow will do ; with all of them combined we may 
select a pretty good cow, and at other times we may not ; but 
by the escutcheon marks, and the other points bv which Guenon 
judged, we can very surely tell whether the cow about to be 
