HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD MILCH COW. 299 
the muscles are slender, and the buttocks and thighs small 
and narrow. 
The cows we recommend as milkers are those whose 
chine, instead of being all of one piece, shows, towards its 
centre, a space occupied by a kind of shrivelling, the effect of 
the distance between the spinous processes of the vertebrae : 
the process of the last dorsal vertebrae is strongly bent forward. 
In some cows we have observed that this distinguishing 
mark is owing to the processes of the last dorsal vertebrae 
being shorter than those of the preceding vertebrae. In that 
case, the back has, at its middle, instead of a wrinkled or 
shrivelled part, a depression which is continued to the rump. 
When this mark exists, the chine is often double in its 
posterior half ; the ridge of the vertebrae is large and wide, 
and seems forked, and a slight depression prevails along the 
medial line of the body, and is more especially visible near 
the rump. 
This mark is much looked for in Flanders, where great 
importance is attached to it; and among the dairymen of 
Paris, as w T ell as the south of France, w here a common saying 
is, that a cow w 7 ill be productive of milk, u especially when, 
towards the middle of the spine of the back, the processes 
stand apart so as to leave a space of tw T o fingers’ width.” — 
(A. Rodat.) 
If the chine is double, the vertebrae are thicKer, the haunches 
more apart, and the loins and rump of greater width; 
in this case, the hind quarters are more largely developed, 
the pelvis more ample, and, consequently, the organs lodged 
in the cavity, and even the milk vessels, of larger dimensions. 
The dairymen of Paris call these interruptions of the verte- 
bral column fontaines de dessus (upper springs), in contradis- 
tinction to the fontaines de dessous (under springs), or those 
openings where the veins of the stomach sink into the flesh. 
They say that, in good cows, these upper and lower fontaines 
correspond w ith each other, and are equally large. 
We may observe, that they never correspond, since those 
above are upon the medial line of the body, and the others 
on the lateral parts of the belly ; and that the name of springs 
(of milk) is not proper even for the lower one, although they 
are traversed by veins. The name thus given to the space 
left between the vertebrae, proves that it is a false analogy 
which has caused it to be considered as the sign of a good milker. 
c 2. Constitution . — It is desirable that the special marks which 
indicate a great activity of the milky glands, and, conse- 
quently, a good milker, should be united with those which 
simply imply a good constitution. 
