SELLING STOCK BY LIVE WEIGHT. 



151 



Richards to Smithfield on September 13th, 1885, made 

 £14 6s., or £3 us. 6d. per head less than they should 

 have done according to the calculated carcass weights 

 at the published price of the day. An account of sundry 

 lots ol bullocks, numbering altogether fifty-one, which 

 were sold at various times, mostly by auction, showed a 

 similar loss per head of £2 5s. 5^., or about yd. per stone. 

 But for the most striking and instructive illustration 

 of the accuracy of the scales when rightly used, we must 

 revert to Rothamsted. In 1879, Sir John Lawes invited 

 several competent experts — men practised in the esti- 

 mation of the weight of cattle by the eye — to Rothamsted, 

 and asked them each to give an opinion as to the weight 

 of five Hereford bullocks. He had himself made his 

 calculation from the live weight as given by the scales. 

 The experts were told the purpose for which their opinion 

 was asked, so that they had no other interest in the 

 matter than — for their own credit's sake, and for the 

 sake of maintaining the present system — to get as near 

 the mark as possible. After their opinions had been 

 taken, the bullocks were slaughtered, and the actual 

 carcass weights ascertained. The following table shows 

 the results. It must be remembered that the stones are 

 here 8 lbs. and not 14 lbs. 



