The manner of making up their account of each animal is to examine the escutcheon and the udder, from which they place her in the class and order nearest to those delineated by Guenon, and then estimate the quantity, quality, and time that she will milk. These estimates must be, of course, only _approximate_, as they are based upon the indications of the escutcheon, the size of the cow, and her probable condition. As it is readily seen that where estimates are based upon what the cow should do _within three months of her being fresh_, it would be impossible to always grade the exact value of all the cows in a herd, each of which is at a different period of gestation, or in a different condition or state of health, and where also the cow is affected by the way in which she is fed and cared for, by the season, by the state of the temperature, and other circumstances. The estimates are based upon what the commission thinks the cow would do when all the conditions are favorable to her development, and where she is properly fed and cared for. A record is made by the commission on the spot. An account of the qualities of each head is drawn up by the owner. Each is made at separate times, and without the knowledge of the other party. Then the two accounts are copied off into parallel columns for comparison. If the accounts agree in seventy-five per cent. out of one hundred, it certainly must be presumed the system has sufficient value to make it worthy of adoption by all farmers and breeders. As every farmer knows the yield is much influenced by the feed, the care, the exposure, and the treatment of the cows; therefore, a certain amount of allowance must be made, for these various things will so alter matters, that no one can tell to a quart, or a pound of butter, or to the week in time of milking. In fact, every farmer knows neither the owner himself, nor his man, can tell to a quart how much his cow or cows actually give, unless a daily record is kept every day of every year. For even if he does keep such a record, he will find the various circumstances named above affecting the quantities in his record. Therefore the earnest seeker after truth, comparing the statements made in the two columns, must not expect the two to tally without some variations. The true spirit with which he must examine these statements, will suggest itself in the question: Is this a system by which I can judge of the value and quantities of a cow correctly? Is this a system that will tell me the points of a cow, good or bad, more correctly than by any other method? Let the candid inquirer weigh these statements, and think if he knows of any method by which he can go into a herd and surely pick out the best cows, and leave the poor ones to those who judge not by this system. Every farmer has his own mode of judging, but take the shrewdest and most practiced, can he avoid often the bastards? What the commission find they can do, is that in a large majority of the