udder and thighs has an upward tendency, and also spreads outward. This reversed hair is called the escutcheon. The discovery was made by Mons. Francois Guènon, about 1822, when quite a lad minding the cows. He was the son of a poor gardener at Lisbourne, and a great student of Nature as represented in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. While tending the cows he believed he could trace a relationship between the yield of milk and the escutcheon. For eight years he was incessantly engaged in establishing order among his observations and arranging the results. In 1828 he asked the Academy of Bordeaux to examine and report upon his theory. This

request was granted. The results surpassed all expectations. The experiments made by the committee appointed for the purpose left no doubt as to the certainty of his method, and they reported that Guènon had established a natural method, by means of which it is easy to recognise and class the different kinds of milch cows according to

1st. The quantity of milk they can yield daily.

2nd. The period during which they will continue to give milk.

3rd. The quality of their milk.

After the fullest investigation, the Agricultural Society of Bordeaux recommended-1st, That a gold medal be awarded to M. Francis Guènon; 2nd, That he be made a life member of the Society; 3rd, That fifty copies of his work on milch-cows be subscribed for; 4th, That 1,000 copies be printed for distribution among the agricultural societies of France.

The result of Guènon's labours led him to classify cows into three groups according to size-large, middle, and small. The signs he divided into ten classes, and each of these into eight orders. Those who have studied Guènon's signs have found them a most valuable aid in judging the milking qualities and time of continuance in milk. The system is taught in all the agricultural colleges on the continent of Europe and in America. The explanation of the system is that the arteries supplying the udder terminate in the skin in the region covered by the escutcheon and turn up the hairs. If there is a large area thus marked it is supposed to indicate that there are many terminations, and consequently large arteries, devoted to the supply of milk producing blood to the udder. I have found Guènon's escutcheon system most reliable as a guide for judging the milking qualities of cows. The late Mr. T. N. Grierson, of Bodalla, considered it almost infallible, as also do many other practical men.

It is not practicable to go into elaborate details of this system in this short article, but I recommend a perusal of the American edition of Guènon's work, translated by Thos. J. Hand, and published by the Orange Judd Company, New York, obtainable from any of the Sydney booksellers at a few shillings.

The Berlepsch Hive.

BY ALBERT GALE.

THIS is another make of hive that has still a remnant of admirers even in New South Wales. Men who in their early bee-keeping days learned the manipulation of bees with these hives still cling to them, perhaps for the sake of "Auld Lang Syne," and seem loth to go in for "innovations," notwithstanding that where one Berlepsch admirer is to be met with there are hundreds of bee-keepers who use the Langstroth hives. Many of the Langstroth devotees can date their bee-keeping days back to the use of the Berlepsch, and were loud in its praise till a new love drew off their attention, and they are now wedded to the much plainer, simpler, and economical Langstroth. Once having tasted the sweets of the Langstroth you never hear them even hinting that they are contemplating a divorce so that they may be in a position to return to the old love.

This hive is named after its inventor, Baron von Berlepsch, of Seebach, Thuringia. The diagram 1 represents the hive closed with the ventilator open, and two of the bar-frames used in connection therewith resting against the side. The larger is the one used in the lower or brood-chamber, and the smaller belongs to the super or honey chamber. It will be noted that the larger differs but little in form from the Langstroth frame, and from out to out contains about the same superficial vacuity. The chief difference in its construction is that the foundation comb is attached to one of the two shorter sides, and its greater length is used vertically and not longitudinally as in the Langstroth. The smaller frame is the one used in the honeychamber, and is half the depth of the larger. The hives are worked from the back, where the manipulator stands. The back is a movable door or shutter; in some cases it swings upon hinges, but more frequently it can be detached and removed, as shown in the diagram.

On removing the back for the purposes of operating, &c., two glass-doors are seen, the smaller one in front of the honey-chamber and the larger which encloses that of the brood. These glass-doors are not a fixture, and are used for a threefold purpose-first, for confining the bees till subdued; secondly, for observation-but like all hives constructed for observation purposes, one side only of a comb is visible, or the end bars of the whole of the frame; thirdly, to keep the frames securely in position. Diagram 2 gives a view of the internal fittings of the hive and of the construction of the frames. The bars of the shorter sides project beyond those of the longer. These shorter bars are not of equal length, the one used for the top being about half an inch longer than the bottom one. The brood-chamber is separated from that of the honey super by a fixed division board or floor, in which there are one or more holes leading from one to the other for the purpose of giving ingress and egress to the inmates of the hive. In both sides of the brood-chamber,