834 COVER. 
allied in nature to the essential oils, it has been 
mistaken by some chemists for benzoic acid. 
COURBARIL. See Locust-Traxz. 
COVER, or Covert. A piece of ground ora 
small district sheltered with thickets, under- 
wood, or forest. The word is used chiefly in 
| sportsmen’s language, and particularly designates 
| species Bos Taurus. 
the retreat of the fox or of other beasts of chase. 
Covers are sometimes artificially raised with mix- 
tures of broom and gorse. 
COW. The female of the bull, or of the 
All the most valuable, 
curious, or otherwise interesting varieties of 
the cow’s species, are noticed in the article 
| Carrie; the laws and practices which regulate 
_ the improvement or deterioration of any of her 
| varieties, are noticed in the article BREEDING ; 
| a profitable fattener. 
the criteria of her age, or of the successive 
years of her individual being, are noticed in the 
article Ace or Animas; the phenomena, neces- 
sities, and diseases attendant on her propagation 
| of her species, are noticed in the articles Gusta- 
| tron, ABortion, and Parturition; the diseases 
| to which she is subject in common with the bull 
and the ox, are noticed in the articles Buack- 
WATER, CATARRH, Consumption, Hooves, Drar- 
RH@A, and many others; the proper treatment of 
her offspring is noticed in the articles Catr and 
Ox ; and the right management of her produce, as 
well as the economy connected with it, is noticed 
in the articles Datry, Minx, Burrer, and Cuusss. 
The only topics, therefore, which fall to be dis- 
cussed in the present article, are few in number, 
and such as refer to the cow’s ‘ points,’ habits, 
| and feeding. 
The ‘points’ of a cow, or the marks by which 
she is characterized as a good milker, are very 
far from being identical with the ‘points’ of an 
ox, or the marks by which he is characterized as 
A rule or set of rules for 
judging of the milking qualities of cows, was, 
about seven or eight years ago, submitted by a 
M. Guénon, a landowner at Libourne, to the 
Minister of Public Works and Agriculture in 
France, and was found, on examination, to be 
original, feasible, probably of some value, and 
certainly worthy of farther investigation; but, 
for reasons of deference to M. Guénon, it was 
studiously concealed at the time, and, so far as 
we know, it still continues secret, or, at all events, 
has not found its way to the notice and approba- 
tion of agricultural associations. Many other 
rules have been proposed and tested, but with 
exceedingly little practical advantage. M. Bous- 
singault, as appears to us, judiciously and con- 
clusively settles this matter in the following few 
sentences: “I have already had occasion to say, 
that the signs by which the qualities of kine as 
_ milkers were sought to be appreciated are some- 
what deceitful. Still I am far from denying that 
practice and experience do not enable many per- 
sons to pronounce with some certainty upon this 
particular. The power of doing so, however, is 
COW. 
in some sort the peculiar privilege of him who 
possesses it; at least I have seen all the general 
rules that have been laid down on the subject 
fail; I have seen cows of the most opposite con- 
formations productive. Ihave also said that race 
or descent had much to do with this quality; the 
heifer that comes of a mother a good milker, will 
be very likely to turn out a good milker also. The 
legitimate way, therefore, of obtaining a good race 
of milch-kine is to breed them from a stock that 
is already noted in this respect. At the time of 
my penning these lines, there are two animals on 
the farm that are remarkable as milch-kine; one 
is a tall unseemly animal, the bones projecting, 
and altogether thin and miserable; the other is 
a small cow with rounded outlines everywhere, 
the bony frame but little conspicuous, her skin 
soft, her hair sleek and fine; nevertheless, these 
two animals have one character in common,— 
the udder is of extraordinary size.” Yet all or 
most cows of some breeds are very decidedly dis- 
tinguished from all or most of the cows of other 
breeds, not only in conformation, bulk, and kind- 
liness, but in both the quantity and the quality 
of their milk. Heifers specially intended for the 
dairy ought to be selected first from a primely 
milking breed, such as the short-horns or the 
Ayrshire, and next from among the offspring of 
decidedly superior milkers of that breed, yet only 
from among such a portion of the breed as is al- 
ready on the estate or farm on which they are to 
be kept, or at least as are on an estate in the near 
vicinity of the farm, and of somewhat inferior 
quality of pasture. When a heifer is removed to 
a distance from her native spot, she is liable to 
suffer some deterioration of her properties as a 
milker; and when she is removed to pastures not 
quite equal or even decidedly superior to her 
natal ones, she is almost certain to suffer serious 
detriment to these properties. But no heifer 
should be condemned if she milks rather indiffer- 
ently after her first calf; for many a prime cow 
somewhat slowly developes her milking proper- 
ties, and does not possess them in all their am- 
plitude till she attains her fifth or sixth year, 
The quantity of milk yielded by cows greatly 
varies, not only with the breed and the immedi- 
ate lineage of individuals, but with their age, 
their situation, their treatment, and especially 
their food. Cows grazing at liberty in South 
America do not give more than about three pints 
per day; and cows either wholly stall-fed or alter- 
nately stall-fed and grazed on rich pastures in 
Europe, yield all gradations of quantity, from the 
scanty amount of the wild cow to about 380 or 35 
pints. Instances of particular cows have occa- 
sionally been mentioned so very large, and so far 
exceeding ordinary experience as to seem ad- 
dressed more to our credulity than to our belief. 
Mr. Crud asserts that cows of large size have 
yielded 70 pints per day. Thaer records that 
persons worthy of credit have stated the produce 
of some prime cows on prime pastures to be from 
