SELLING STOCK BY LIVE WEIGHT. 143 



well-known cattle-gauge was based upon the calculations 

 of Dr. Wollaston. Other tables were at different times 

 constructed by Messrs. Renton, McDerment, Douglas, 

 Ainslie, and Stewart respectively, each of which is, or 

 was, known by the name of its constructor. Youatt, 

 in his ' Complete Grazier " (12th edition), gives the 

 following as the mode of ascertaining the weight of cattle 

 by measurement : — 



The farmer passes a string round the beast just behind the 

 shoulder-blade, and then measures the length of that string. 

 This, in simple language, is taking the girth of the animal, and 

 he writes it carefully down. Next, from that bone of the tail 

 whence a line would fall perpendicularly, just touching the 

 buttock, he measures along the back to the forepart of the 

 shoulder-blade, and he registers the amount of this. He has 

 now the girth and the length of the beast. He multiplies 

 them together, and he has the number of square superficial 

 feet which the exterior of the beast comprises. He next 

 multiplies the product of this by 23, the number of pounds 

 allowed to each superficial foot in all cattle measuring less than 

 7 and more than 5 feet in girth, and he obtains the sum of 

 713 lbs., which, allowing 14 lbs. to the stone, is 50 stones 13 lbs., 

 or, according to the old computation of 8 lbs., 89 stones and 

 1 lb. Suppose the animal weighed to be less than 9 and more 

 than 7 feet in girth, 31 is the number of lbs. to each superficial 

 foot, and under 5 feet, n lbs. For a half-fatted beast, 1 stone 

 in 20 must be allowed, and 1 stone in the whole weight for a 

 cow that has had calves. 



Taking the tables of Renton, McDerment, and Cary, 

 the following figures will show that they approximated 

 fairly well to each other, although each was based on a 

 different standard. The methods adopted for working 

 out the weight from the measurement were, in fact, 

 various and many. Stephens, in his " Book of the 

 Farm," cites five distinct rules which give results from the 

 same measurements with a difference between the highest 

 and lowest of nearly 4 stones, or 56 lbs. These extracts 

 show that the three tables above mentioned were fairly 

 in accord. They are calculated upon the stone of 

 14 lbs. 



