158 AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



live weight is a question of time. The principle is a pro- 

 gressive one, and these are progressive times. The 

 subiect demands from the farmer unprejudiced examina- 

 tion and consideration. He will be wise if he at once 

 sets to work so to examine and consider it. Let him 

 seriously ask first of all, Is the present practice a 

 sound or satisfactory one ? Is it even a business-like 

 one ? Familiarity breeds not only contempt but — 

 more frequently — fondness. That which is habitual is 

 easy ; that which is novel is difficult. But few will 

 maintain after frank thought that the custom now in 

 vogue conduces to the interest of the farmer, or is incap- 

 able of improvement. The system proposed is no new 

 thing. In China — the oldest civilised country in the 

 world — stock has been sold by live weight from time 

 immemorial. This at any rate is ancient prestige suffi- 

 cient. In America the weighing machine has been well 

 termed the stockowner's " sheet-anchor." Stock, it is 

 generally agreed, is the hope of the British farmer. Let 

 him then learn to make the most of it. 



