SELLING LIVE CATTLE BY WEIGHT.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1665, 8 March 1883, Page 4

SELLING LIVE CATTLE BY WEIGHT.

Tin? practice, which is common in the "United States of America, is gaining some aclliei ents in England. A conespondent of the J.CMCbltr Chronicle ami Mercury writes as follows :—"I: — "I have not yet seen any intimation of Messrs John Swan and (Vs> example being followed by other cattle wiles-men, namely, thut of selling animals by live weight instead of mere guess- woik. It would be far more satisfactory to all parties concerned, excepting the one class of jobbing dealers, and fanners would be very obvious gainers. With proper weighingmachines in every market, the entne cattle traffic of the countiy could speedily be put on, a more satisfactory basis. In the United States cattle, sheep, and pigs are sold in this way, both fat and store, and the piice per lb. of large lots of cattle is often made to show fluctuatinns as tine as the thirtysecond pait of a penny. Fat stock are sold at so much per 1001b., the price being regulated by the buyer's estimate of their percentage of dressed carcase. A ripe bullock of, say 1,4001b. live weight, should dress 371b. to oSlb. per cent., or about 8001b. dead weight. As the condition of the animal impiovcs on ordinal y lipeness, the percentage will, of course mci ease, but it takes a veiy good and thick bullock to dress 00 per cent, of his live weight. Stores are weighed off at .so much per cental 'on the hoot,' based on the fat stock rate in reality ; with the allowance for condition, so that stoics might be relatively dearer or cheapci than fat stock, and yet be sold in a very satisfactory manner for both buyer and seller. It is trade opposition, and farmers' marvellous apathy and dislike to changes, which has hitherto pi evented this very necessary and economic rcfoim fiom being carried out, but farmers have need to make the most of their produce in these bad times." A correspondent of the Nnnnth Arr/ns ■supports the system i\h follows : — "' It is all very well for experienced farmers to pride themselves on their judgment, but let me tell them that, liowever great may be their confidence in their own nowors, they do occasionally err, and the butcher gets the advantage fiom every mistake they make. It is only reasonable to suppose that the butcher has the best opportunity of forming an opinion j'cgaiding the weight ;he buys, kills, and weighs fat cattle e\ cry week throughout the year, while the farmer's experience is gained by only a few transactions in each year, and when he has formed an opinion he has no means of proving its soundness by the actual test of the scales. In this lespect the butcher lias decidedly the best of it, and I know for a fact that at times he reaps .i good hat vest in this way. All uncertainty should be removed, and business like piinciples introduced. It has been a great obstacle to agiiculturnl improvement that so many rough-and-roady ways of doing business should have obtained such a hold upon the bucolic mind, To Messrs. Swan and Co., Edinburgh, is due the credit of first publicly introducing this system of weighing stock, and the lire weight of entry is declared before biddings commence. This is a step in advance, which deserves to be initiated by auctioneers throughout the country, The next step should be the selling of all live stock at per lb. of live weight, instead of merely giving the buyer the weight of the animal. For example :—lf: — If the bullock which dresed 8001b. of meat weighed ] ,4001b. alive, s\d. per lb. 'on the hoof ' would be 9d. per lb. for the dressed carcase, less 2s. 4d. on the £30."

The jaws of death — Doctors' quarrels. Bound over to keep the peace— a torn book. Whom the gods love dio young. The gods do not love a Spring chicken. A miUN'KATiu, upon hearing that the world \yas round, said that accounted for his rolling about so much. The explantation is given that Boston young ladies wear eye-glasses because they are too modest to about with naked eyes. Ax exchange says : " Ice six feet thick has already formed in some parts of Lake Superior." Ice six feet thick may not be too thin, but the story is. Tun obvious truth — obvious, that is, to all who can see things as they are — is, that so far from displacing labour, or the demand for it, labour saving machinery furnishes moreand more varied opportunities for remunerative work, larger pay for the worker, and cheaper products for the worker to enjoy. , It is stated that in the North Atlantic , , record waves have been observed of 24 , and 30 feet high, highest being 43, mean , 18, in westerly gales. In the Pacific, 32 feet is recorded ; South Atlantic, 22 ; Cape Horn, 32; Mediterranean, 14^; German Ocean, 13i ; and French sailors mention 30 feet in the Bay of Biscay. The Moslems anp -the Queen.— The ' . leniency shown to Ar&Bi is said to have I already produced a good effect among the Arab population, and the Standard's coi't respondent mentions, as a proof of this ■ fact, that public prayers have been .' offered' in 'many mosques, not only in •- 'Cairo, but also in the provinces, for the Queen of England, a« the 'Mirror- of sJus.tfce.. jSuch ' a, faqjb (t)>e ; correspondent ; 'i*Pfflst) \p prpbabty ,\riso\rt precedent in |y L ''jinnajfo of thp -Mahpmmeqan wprld.