COW. _Order_ 8.]

This class of cows has a delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair,
growing upward from between the teats, and, above the bag behind, it
blends itself with a growth of hair pointing upward, and covering the
region marked in figure 1. This upward growth of hair begins on the legs
just above the gambrel-joint, covers the inside of the thighs, and
extends up to the tail, as in figure first. Above the hind teats they
generally have two oval spots, two inches wide by three long, formed by
hair growing downward, and of paler color than the hair that surrounds
them (E, E, in fig. 1). The skin covered by the whole of this escutcheon
is yellowish, with a few black spots, and a kind of bran, or dandruff,
detaches from it. Cows of this class and order, when well kept, give
about twenty-two quarts of milk per day, when in full flow, and before
getting with calf again; after this a little less, but still a large
quantity. They will continue to give milk till eight months gone with
calf, or till they calve again, if you continue to milk them. This,
however, should never be done; it exposes the health of cows at the time
of calving, and injures the young. From this there is a gradual
diminution in the quantity of milk through the orders, down to the
eighth.

Cows of this order (fig. 2), or with the marks you see in the drawing,
will never yield more than about five quarts per day in their best
state, and they will only continue to give milk until two months with
calf: hence, these are only fit for the butcher. The intervening six in
Gruenon's classification are gradually poorer than the first, and better
than the last, in our cuts. The marks are but very slightly different
from the above, except in size; the difference is so trifling, that any
one can at once see that they belong to this class;--and the comparative
size of this mark will show, infallibly, their value compared with the
above. In the intermediate grades, the spots (E, E, fig. 1) are smaller,
and as the orders descend, these spots are wanting, and some slight
changes in the form of the whole mark are observed, yet the general
outline remains the same. Now, as the decrease in the eight orders in
each class is about from two and a half to three or three and a half
quarts, no man with eyes need be deceived in buying a cow, or raising a
calf, in the quantity of milk she may be made to give. Any man can tell,
within one or two quarts, the yield of any cow