the perineum,
when they swell up and send the blood back toward the vulva. They form
a kind of thick network under the skin of the perineum, raising it up
somewhat, in some cases near the vulva, in others nearer down and closer
to the udder. It is important to look for these veins, as they often
form a very important guide, and by some they would be considered as
furnishing the surest indications of the milking qualities of the cow.
Full development almost always shows an abundant secretion of milk; but
they are far better developed after the cow has had two or three calves,
when two or three years' milking has given full activity to the milky
glands, and attracted a large flow of blood. The larger and more
prominent these veins the better. It is needless to say that in
observing them some regard should be had to the condition of the cow,
the thickness of skin and fat by which they may be surrounded, and the
general activity and food of the animal. Food calculated to stimulate
the greatest flow of milk will naturally increase these veins, and give
them more than usual prominence.

THE MILK-MIRROR.

The discovery of M. Guenon, of Bordeaux, in France--a man of remarkable
practical sagacity, and a close observer of stock--consisted in the
connection between the milking qualities of the cow and certain external
marks on the udder, and on the space above it, called the perineum,
extending to the buttocks. To these marks he gave the name of
milk-mirror, or escutcheon, which consists in certain perceptible spots
rising up from the udder in different directions, forms and sizes, on
which the hair grows upward, whilst the hair on other parts of the body
grows downward. The reduction of these marks into a system, explaining
the value of particular forms and sizes of the milk-mirror, belongs
exclusively to Guenon.

[Illustration: MILK-MIRROR [A.]]

He divided the milk-mirror into eight classes, and each class into eight
orders, making in all no less than sixty-four divisions, which he
afterward increased by subdivisions, thus rendering the whole system
complicated in the extreme, especially as he professed to be able to
judge with accuracy, by means of the milk-mirror, not only of the exact
quantity a cow would give, but also of the quality of the milk, and of
the length of time it would continue. He endeavored to prove too much,
and was, as a matter of consequence, frequently at fault himself.

Despite the strictures whic