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EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



whether upon a full or an empty stomach, must essentially affect 

 the result. It will be interesting, I am persuaded, to many of my 

 readers, if I give an account of the weights of some of the most 

 remarkable animals which, within a few years past, have been 

 exhibited at the show of the Smithfield Club, which takes place 

 annually in December; and the account, besides giving the 

 weight of the animals, will show, at the same time, how nearly 

 the weight calculated by rule, and the weight estimated by the 

 judgment of experienced men, corresponded with the actual 

 weight, ascertained upon the animals being slaughtered. 



The practice at Brighton, Massachusetts, is to sell the animal 

 at a certain rate per pound, or per hundred pounds. The animal 

 is then slaughtered, and the return of his weight made to the 

 owner or drover. The owner or drover does not see his animal 

 killed or weighed. The market takes place on Monday, but he 

 is commonly detained until Thursday, before the weight of the 

 animal is ascertained, and he receives his pay. This, besides its 

 expense, is on every account a serious evil. It cannot be denied. 

 likewise, that the temptations to a fraudulent return of the 



