SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 315 



ing-. New milk will keep the hog- at his height in pretty good 

 shape. We used to feed cracklings also. It don't pay to fit a 

 show herd now because competition is too strong. There was a 

 time when we made money and yet with all that I do not think 

 I made a dollar fitting hogs so far as dollars and cents are con- 

 cerned. We tried it for fifteen years and worked hard. We 

 got our share of the ribbons and produced a good hog, as you 

 know. Another thing to remember is to train your hogs and 

 keep them quiet at the show. It makes lots of difference when 

 the judge comes around." 



Dr. Hammer introduced the question of action by the Associa- 

 tion looking to the free return of crates in which hogs have been 

 shipped. After the matter had been talked of considerably, how- 

 ever, it was learned that there was a ruling of the express com- 

 panies that crates might be returned at a charge of twenty-five 

 cents each, which stopped any further action. 



In the absence of Mr. Ausman, the Secretary presented his 

 paper on "How to make a Successful Public Sale," to the 

 Association. 



HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC SALE. 



L. E. AUSMAN, MERRILL, IOWA. 



Perhaps the fundamental principle on which the plans for a public 

 sale are to be built, is the possession of good stock, not only that having 

 a high grade of individual merit, but in addition such as answers the 

 demands of the best breeders v.'ith reference to the blood lines involved. 

 Like any other merchant (for the swine breeder is as much a merchant 

 as he who sells dry goods or groceries) the breeder should make it a 

 point to keep for sale that kind of hog and that strain of breeding that 

 the public is buying most freely and paying the highest prices for. My 

 experience in making public sales, which covers a period of a dozen 

 years, convinces me that there is greater profit and more personal satis- 

 faction to myself and my customers in a consignment of strictly first- 

 class stock of up-to-date breeding than in half a dozen sales of ordin- 

 ary or poor things. One good sale is an advertisement for the next. So 

 I repeat that first of all good hogs are the basis on which to begin. 



Having stock of the right sort, it follows that they should go into 

 the sale ring in the very pink of condition. While they should not at 

 sale time carry such a quantity of flesh as would make them desirable 

 subjects for the pork market, they will sell best if fat. They should 



