Part 3

7. _Epi jonctif_, mesian tuft. The mesian or dart-like tuft, with soft silky ascending hair, is rarely seen, and only in those classes in which the escutcheon does not ascend to the vulva. It is like a V hanging beneath the vulva, and is not fully represented in the plates, though class ten, order two, shows it somewhat.

In these observations among cows, not only during their work as members of the commission, but also in preceding examinations, Messrs. Blight, Harvey, and Hazard noticed a series of marks, which they have denominated _thigh ovals_. The plate showing the escutcheon of Mr. Hazard’s Jersey cow furnishes one of the best illustration of these marks yet met with by the commission. Where the vertical escutcheon joins and widens out into the thigh escutcheon, there is usually a dip of a curved shape more or less in extent. In the plate above alluded to these thigh ovals descend nearly to the base of the udder. In their careful examination of more than two hundred cows, the commission always found these marks only on good cows.

In his examinations Guenon found cows of apparently each class with certain variations in their markings which distinguished them and prevented their incorporation into any class, and, yet the similarity gives them a claim in their particular class. In all cases he claims to have noted that cows thus marked would milk as well as other members of their class, until they were got with calf, but as soon as this was accomplished, the quantity of milk fell off rapidly. The commission claim it is this style of marking which is most likely to deceive the superficial or amateur investigators, and that these have caused the assertion that a poor cow may be well marked, when in reality, if properly understood, she was not well marked. This class of cows Guenon styled _Bastards_, and he practically assigned to them a distinctive or seventh _order_ in each class.

In 1822, Guenon seems to have first reduced his system to a classified basis, and from that time until 1828 he appears to have given it much of his time and attention. Having, as he deemed, sufficiently arranged and tested his system, he, in 1828, applied to the academy of Bordeaux for a public test of the correctness of his mode of judging of cows and their milking value.

The following, from the proceedings of the academy, shows that Guenon did not make his system common property. The minutes of the academy, under date of June 3, 1828, contains the following record: “Mr. Francis Guenon, of Libourne, possessor of a method which he deems infallible for judging, by mere visual examination, of the goodness of milch cows, and the quantity of milk which each can yield, has solicited the Academy to cause the efficaciousness of this method to be tested by repeated experiments. The case presented by this request was one of a secret method of judging, which the possessor was not willing to reveal. On the other hand, it seemed difficult to admit that the external sign, whatever it might be, by which Mr. Guenon judges, could always bear a proportional relation to the quantity of milk yielded by a cow. Nevertheless, the academy deemed it proper to appoint a committee charged with making the examination. Trials have been made with care, and under precautions necessary for precluding all collusion. The cows used for the purpose belonged to three different herds, and amounted to thirty in number, and the result has been to establish, to the satisfaction of the committee, that Mr. Guenon really possesses great sagacity in this line. So long, however, as his method shall be kept secret, it cannot be judged of, nor rewarded by, the academy. Governed by these considerations, the academy, having ascertained from Mr. Guenon that he is willing to submit to every test that may be proposed, and to disclose his secret, upon receiving a just indemnity, has referred him to the prefect, and has engaged to recommend him to the favorable notice of that magistrate, who is ever disposed to promote all that tends to improve it.”

From 1822 to 1827, it would seem that Guenon perfected and studied his system, but it does not seem to have come promptly before the public, until the agricultural society of Bordeaux took upon itself a careful investigation of the whole system. From the detailed report of this committee, appointed by this society to test the knowledge of Guenon, we take the following as illustrating, not only the results reached by them, but also the manner of conducting the examination:

“Every cow subjected to examination was separated from the rest. What Mr. Guenon had to say in regard to her was taken down in writing by one of the committee; and immediately after, the proprietor, who had kept at a distance, was interrogated, and such questions put to him as would tend to confirm or disprove the judgment pronounced by Mr. Guenon. In this way we have examined, in a most careful manner—note being taken of every fact and every observation made by any one present—upward of sixty cows and heifers, and we are bound to declare that every statement made by Mr. Guenon, with respect to each of them, whether it regarded the quantity of milk, or the time during which the cow continued to give milk after being got with calf, or finally, the quality of the milk as being more or less creamy or serous, were confirmed, and its accuracy established. The only discrepancies which occurred, were some slight differences in regard to the _quantity_ of milk, but these we afterward fully satisfied ourselves were caused entirely by the food of the animal being more or less abundant.

“The result of this first test seems conclusive, but they acquire new force from those of a second trial in which the method was subjected to another test through M. Guenon and his brother. Your committee, availing themselves of the presence of the latter, caused the same cows to be examined by the two brothers, but separately, so that after a cow had been inspected, and her qualities as indicated by the signs in question had been pronounced upon by one of the brothers, he was made to withdraw; then the other brother, who had been kept aloof, was called up, and desired to state the qualities of the same animal. This mode of proceeding could not fail to give rise to difference, to contradiction even, between the judgments of the two brothers, unless their method was a positive and sure one. Well, gentlemen, we must say it, this last test was absolutely decisive. Not only did the judgment of the two brothers accord perfectly together, but they were in perfect accordance also with all that was said by the proprietors in regard to the qualities, good or bad, of every animal subject to this examination.”

On the 26th of May, 1837, a similar test was made by the agricultural society of Aurillac, whose committee, in their report, use the following language:

“Each cow was examined separately by M. Guenon, who wrote his notes upon her, and delivered the paper closed to one of us. Immediately after, another member of the committee questioned the owner of the cow, or the person in charge of her, in regard to her daily yield of milk, its quality, and the time during which she continued to give milk after being got with calf. The answers were taken down in writing, and then compared with the notes written by M. Guenon. They were generally found to accord, and proved to the satisfaction of your committee and of every one present, all of whom attended with lively interest to these proceedings, that M. Guenon possesses great sagacity in judging of cattle, and that his method rests upon a sure foundation.”

The Bordeaux committee added: “To the proprietors and to the lookers-on, all this was very surprising for the examinations were as quickly made as the results were certain. As to ourselves to whom the method was no longer a secret, it was with renewed interest and astonishment that we viewed the accuracy of the results. _This system we do not fear to say is infallible._ We only regretted the whole society was not present.”

The committee further reported that Mr. Guenon had, after more than twenty years observations and researches, discovered certain natural and positive signs that were proof against all error, while the writers and professors who have particularly occupied themselves with the bovine race, can only indicate some vague signs for judging of the fitness of cows for secreting milk. That this method is valuable, whether it tells the yield of milk only, or indicates the improvement of breeds, which are liable to deterioration from mismanagement in crossing, and that it is applicable not to full-grown animals alone, but also to calves at as early an age as three months. Thus it affords a sure means of forming a judgment of full-grown animals, about which we might be misled on account of their form and their parentage, and secures the improvement of herds by enabling us to dispose of those calves which will not repay the cost of rearing them. We shall thus no longer rear calves at great expense for two or three years that should have been consigned to the butcher, nor sell calves that would pay best to rear. If this system is pursued, only cows and bulls of best quality will be kept, and in very few years how great will be the improvement of our herds, and largely increased the cheapest and best of all foods, milk, and the production of butter and cheese.

The committee of the Agricultural Society of Bordeaux, therefore, decreed Mr. Guenon a gold medal, made him a member of the society, ordered fifty copies of his work, and distributed one thousand copies of their full report among all the agricultural societies of France.

The next public test Mr. Guenon submitted his system to, was that by the Agricultural Society of Aurillac, and that society reported that Mr. Guenon examined the herd of their president, of one hundred cows, from which were selected designedly, the best, the moderately good, and the most indifferent of the establishment. Upon each, Mr. Guenon pronounced with precision, and his decisions corresponded almost invariably with the statements of the persons in charge. The only variations were very slight ones, in regard to the quantity given. But this herd was fed unusually high, and Guenon was totally unaccustomed to the usages of the country in feeding cattle, and this caused him to pronounce the yield a little less than it really was. A proof of his system, for he declares the yield will vary according to the feed and management, which all observant farmers know to be the case. Mr. Guenon examined some of the cows a second time, and also the calves, and those calves he assigned to the first orders the cowherds said were from their best cows, that gave a great deal of milk.

The notes of his reëxaminations corresponded exactly with his first statements. The committee therefore awarded Mr. Guenon a gold medal, made him a corresponding member, subscribed for twenty-five copies of his book for each of the sub-societies, and distributed their report through all the agricultural channels of France.

With these testimonials, the highest that could be procured in France, Mr. Guenon went on with the publication of his book, which had a wide circulation in every department of France. And he was finally granted a pension for life of three thousand francs a year by the French government, after the National Assembly’s committee on agriculture had given the system a thorough test. In the presence of fifty of the most eminent agriculturists, M. Guenon made his examinations, and judged correctly of all but one of the quantity, of all but one of the time, and of all of the quality; and the committee reported the results were altogether conclusive, and that his discovery had reached to the dignity of a science. They also declared the daily production of milk in France might be increased by several millions of pints daily, and that the abundance and quality of milk in the dams must contribute largely to the improvement of the progeny. They voted him the pension, and invited him to deliver lectures in the different veterinary, agricultural, and normal schools of the kingdom, and before the different agricultural societies, as “the speediest and best means of spreading the knowledge of this discovery,” and “to repair the time lost in ridicule, doubt, or indifference—the inevitable preface to all under-takings beneficial to humanity.”

In the foregoing account of Mr. Francis Guenon, it will be seen that, by his indomitable perseverance in perfecting his system or method, he raised himself from the ranks of a poor gardener’s boy to the position of a great benefactor, and was presented with various medals and decorations, and a large sum of money voted to him. Surely, such a brilliant position must have been won entirely by merit, for he had neither means nor influence to advance him into notice.

Of the Ovals.

The ovals on the udder are spoken of by Guenon, and our experience is that they are always indicative of a good yield; particularly, when they are uniform in size and position, and of fine, soft hair, descending on the udder. But there is another set of marks, which the Pennsylvania Guenon Commission have denominated thigh ovals, which are an invariable indication of a good cow, particularly when she is otherwise well-marked. Of these, Guenon does not speak. Eusebius H. Townsend and Chalkley Harvey were the first to call attention to them, and Charles L. Sharpless has written of them. Our own cow, which took the premium over all the Jersey cows, at the fall exhibition, in 1878, of the Chester County Agricultural Society, has them most extraordinarily developed. As she is a very thorough example of this marking, we have had the likeness made of her escutcheon, and request the reader’s attention to it.

Of the Bastards.

Guenon denominates those cows which give milk, much or little, so long as they are not got with calf; but, when impregnated, begin to fall off in their milk. The term he uses is _batard_, which means, in English, bastard, spurious, of a mixed breed, mongrel. We should have preferred to call them spurious cows, as the term bastard does not exactly express the meaning we apply to that word; but, as it has before been translated bastard, and is so known by many, we retain it.

The bastards are often the best looking cows; have finely developed escutcheons, and many give a great deal of milk, some poor quality and some rich; but, as soon as they are pregnant, they go dry very soon, or fall off rapidly in their milk, while others give very little milk at all. From their fine show, they deceive a great many, and Guenon cautions buyers, as the most skillful will make mistakes. He has, however, given a series of drawings, by which they can generally be discovered.

These bastards mostly conceive well, and the first time they are put to the bull, they vary in the quality of milk they give like other cows. The flow of milk is at its height during the first eight days after calving, though of bad quality. It then diminishes a little, and keeps on at about the same yield until she conceives again, when it diminishes again, more or less rapidly.

To discover a bastard, consult the engravings which are given to each class. To the first class, the Flanders, there are two kinds. The first, which is the most common, has on each edge of the vertical escutcheon, a feathery appearance, and where this is strongly marked by the down- and up-growing hairs meeting, and they interlock and stand out from the skin, and, besides, are harsh and wiry, and generally shiny, glistening, and looking of lighter color, _beware of them_. The harsher, coarser they are, the shorter time will the cow milk after getting with calf. The second kind of bastards among the Flanders will have an oval on the _vertical_ escutcheon, generally near the middle part, of about two to three inches in length, by one and a half to two inches wide, on which will be found coarse wiry hair, and the harsher it is, and the larger the oval is, the sooner the cow will cease to milk. It may often be discovered by the glistening appearance of the hair on it.

On all the other classes, the bastard marks consist of two oval patches of hair, one on each side of the vulva; and the larger they are, the more pointed in shape, and the coarser and more wiry the hair on them, the sooner the cow will cease to milk.

The importance of learning the bastard marks is very great, as the buyer can safely avoid them, and leave them to those less skilled. While he may buy the less showy looking cow for much less money, and get a better animal than the unskilled man will obtain even for the higher price.

All animals are more readily judged correctly, and the system can be learned more easily, in summer than in winter, both on old and young; for then the winter coat of hair is off, and the hair is shorter, and the escutcheon is more easily perceived. The skin, also, is more natural and soft, and the hair is usually not so harsh to the feel; and the cows are cleaner, and all marks or blemishes more quickly seen.

How to Apply the System Practically.

We will now proceed to apply the foregoing rules and hints practically. In doing so, we may repeat some that has been before said, but it will only impress it the stronger in the mind of the learner.

This classification embraced all the kinds of cows known to Guenon, each individual escutcheon corresponding with one of the orders of those classes. The _class_, the _order_ and the _size_ of an animal indicate her yield of milk, and this will always be found to correspond with her escutcheon. Every cow has an escutcheon which can be recognized, and according as it is free from blemish or imperfection, just in that degree does she approach perfection in her class.

Guenon, in the last edition of his work, has altered and simplified his classification somewhat, for he divided it into ten CLASSES, and six ORDERS to each class. He maintained his three grades of size. But our experience shows that the cows in this country do not vary so much in size as they probably do in France, for there they have the little Brittany cow, which is very small but good, and, of course, they have also cows as large as our Durhams or the Holsteins. Only this, bear in mind, that cows, as a general rule, all other things being equal, will vary in their yield somewhat according to their size; and in judging cows apply that rule, for it is part of Guenon’s system, and they will vary in the quality according to the breed. Well, then, for practical purposes, we need only study sixty _escutcheons_, that is ten different shapes called _Classes_, and six grades to each of those shapes, more or less perfect, which are called _Orders_. To these must be added ten more for a _Bastard_ to each class. And it is really necessary to study perfectly only the first four orders of each class and the _Bastard_ marks, as it is not worth while to purchase or pay much attention to any cows lower in the scale than the fourth order of any class. And to simplify it still more, you will notice the thigh escutcheons of the first orders have all nearly the same shovel shape, so that by remembering this you need only study the vertical portions to readily place the animals in their proper class.

The Escutcheon.

The escutcheon was so-called, we presume, from its similarity to the shape of a shield or escutcheon, and on a first-class cow it will be very like it, and somewhat like a round-pointed shovel. On this escutcheon, the hair will generally be of a different color from that bordering it, most generally rather darker, always shorter, and more nearly resembling fur. This difference in color is produced by the UP-growing hair contrasting with the DOWN-growing surrounding it. The hair of the escutcheon should be short, soft, and fine; and the skin very soft, like a kid glove, thin, and oleaginous. And if the cow gives good rich milk, this skin will be of a rich, golden, or nankeen hue. Often where you handle a skin of this character the hands will feel oily, and soiled with rich dandruff.

The Shape of the Escutcheon.

The Escutcheon varies in shape, and Guenon named his ten classes from their shapes.

The first class, he called Flandrine or Flanders, because it is the best, and he named it from the best cows he knew, those from Flanders, or the Flemish breed, and they had more of this shaped escutcheon than any other breed; a quiet but sure proof of the truth of his system.

The second class he called Flandrine à gauche, because although it had the Flanders shape, it was on the _left_ flank, he called it therefore the Left Flanders.

The third class are the Lisière, or The Selvage, from its appearance to a selvage, or binding of a piece of cloth.

The fourth class are the Courbe-Ligne, or the Curveline, because their escutcheon is lozenge-shaped, formed by a curved line which sides to the right and left, and rises to about five or six centimeters from the vulva.

The fifth class he denominated Bicorne, or the Bicorn cow, because the upper part of this escutcheon forks in two horns.

The sixth class, Double-Lisière, or Double Selvage, has an entirely arbitrary name, and it is an odd freak of nature.

The seventh class is called Poitevine, or Demijohn, from a fancied resemblance to some kinds of demijohns.

The eighth class is Equerrine, or Square-Escutcheon, as it is square at the upward part.

The ninth class is the Limousine, as it was on a cow from that Province that Guenon first saw this shaped escutcheon.

The tenth class is called Carrésine, or Horizontal, because the upward part of the escutcheon is cut off squarely by a horizontal line.

To each of the above ten CLASSES, Guenon has placed six ORDERS, which are variations of the escutcheon, formed by a reduced size and by various imperfections. If the reader will remember always, that the first class is better than the second class, and the second class better than the third class, and so on down the scale, to the end of the classes, he will have gained the first step in acquiring the system. Then the next point to remember is similar, that is, that the first _order_ of every _class_ is better than the second order of that class, and so on down the scale of the orders, until the sixth. Then he must learn the different shapes; first, the characteristic shape of each class, as represented by the first order of that class, and connect with this, in his mind, the number of quarts a first-class cow, in good feed and condition, should give, as represented by that escutcheon, in her full flow of milk. Then he can next learn the variations in size and shape from this pattern escutcheon, and that will enable him to tell which order of her class to put her in, and that will then inform him what quantity of milk she will give, and how long she will give it when with calf. And we repeat here, it is necessary only to acquire the knowledge of the first three or four orders of each of the ten classes, as if the cow examined does not come within those orders, she is not worth examining further nor keeping longer, nor certainly worth purchasing. Then the learner must next acquire a knowledge of the distinguishing marks which point out a Bastard cow, for an account of which marks, see under that head.