SELLING STOCK BY LIVE WEIGHT. 145 



that made by Renton's table — there would have been a 

 loss to the farmer of over 50 stones, or, according to the 

 price of beef at that time in Smithfield Market, of £21 

 on four beasts. This case was doubtless an extreme one, 

 but it is evident that a system under which such dis- 

 crepancies were possible, was scarcely likely to find 

 permanent favour among practical men. Its fallacy lay 

 in the assumption that all cattle were of mathematical 

 proportions, and that the offal of each was in an invariable 

 ratio to the quantity of meat. 



But there is a surer guide than the tape, and that is 

 the scales. It is curious that there is an insular prejudice 

 against weighing live animals, and this perhaps accounts 

 for the length of time which the measurement system 

 has been before the farmer, while the better and surer 

 method of weight has been comparatively overlooked. 

 In the valuable report on " American Agriculture " 

 presented by Messrs. Clare Sewell Read and Albert Pell 

 to the Royal Commission on Agriculture in 1879, attention 

 was pointedly directed to the universal adoption across 

 the Atlantic of weighbridges in marketing live stock. 

 In the United States every town is provided with a 

 number of public weighbridges, while every market and 

 stockyard possesses an enclosed platform under cover, 

 capable of weighing several bullocks at a time. Messrs. 

 Read and Pell mentioned an instance of forty bullocks 

 being driven on to the machine and weighed at one time, 

 the total weight being over 41,000 lbs. As each bullock 

 was estimated to turn out 56 per cent, of carcass weight, 

 there was nothing to settle but the price per lb., and the 

 " deal " was complete. 



The platform, enclosed at both sides and roofed over, has 

 two long gates, one at each end. One being set open, the 

 drove or bunch of cattle pass on to the balancing platform, 

 and the gate is shut behind them. A weight is recorded by a 

 clerk in an adjoining room in the presence of buyer and seller. 

 A ticket is given, the further gate is opened, and off the cattle 



a.f. L 



