Ch.XXXV.] ON FAT CATTLE. 395 



whole four, the difference, if calculated by them, would be a loss to the 

 farmer of 50 st, of 14 lbs., — or, according' to (he present price of prime 

 beef at Smithfield Market, of not less than 211. 4s. Sd.l 



The ox belonging to Lord Kintore, of which a plate may be seen in 

 Youatt's ' History of British Cattle,' which was a few years ago exhibited at 

 the Smithfield Show, was also slaughtered at Aberdeen when upwards of seven 

 years old — his four quarters giving 173 stone 4 lbs. upon a live weight of 

 224 ; though, according to the decimal rule by measurement, they should 

 only have weighed 135 stone 8 lbs. Yet, in opposition to this, a spayed 

 heifer, killed at the same time, only gave 4T) stone upon a live weight of 88 ; 

 whereas she ought, if judged by the rule, to have given 53 stone 3 lbs.* 



These facts are so striking as to prove that the accuracy of the tables 

 cannot be in all cases relied on. Were the animals all of strictly mathema- 

 tical proportion, or did their offals bear an invariable ratio to the quantity of 

 meat, they then, indeed, might afford a correct view of the marketable 

 weight ; but their bodies assume various forms according to breed and con- 

 dition, the relative values of which cannot be ascertained by any artificial 

 rules of measurement ; or, if they could, they can yet afford no idea of the 

 quality of the flesh. Hence it has been justly observed, that " good judges 

 contemn those rules and tables ; for they can ascertain the real weight of 

 marketable flesh much more nearly by the eye, and the true quality of it by 

 the touch." 



THE SALE 



of fat cattle in the London weekly markets is most usually effected upon com- 

 mission, by men whose sole business it is, and who, from their knowledge 

 of the buyers and their acquaintance with the state of the market, are more 

 generally competent to obtain a fair price for the owner than were he him- 

 self to attend. The oxen are, therefore, committed to the care of drovers, 

 who regularly travel the road, where they have lairs at different stations for 

 the nightly accommodation of the animals, and who are responsible for their 

 safe delivery to the salesman, at a moderate charge. The farmer, therefore, 

 is not under the necessity of superintendmg the journey of his beasts, nor 

 has lie any further trouble after they leave his stalls than the receipt of the 

 cash for their payment, which is commonly remitted to him in the course 

 of the same or following week. 



The animal is of course disposed of alive, according to his estimated 

 weight, and the price of fine cattle is not uncommonly valued by reducing 

 the stone of 14 lbs. to 8 ll)S. dead weight. In coarse beasts, however, of 

 large head and bone, it is still frequently adjusted by the old notion 

 of the four quarters constituting one-half of the live weight ; and this, 

 being the marketable amount of flesh-meat, is considered as the value 

 to which the seller is entitled ; for in the sale he only receives the amount 

 of the four quarters as the vv'hole price of the entire carcase, and he, in the 

 market phrase, " sinks the offal," which constitutes the " fifth quarter," or 

 the butcher's profit. Supposing the four quarters to constitute one-half the 



* Quart. Jouin. of Agric, vol. v. p. 614, G15. — See also a statement of the live and 

 dead weights, and proportion of offal, of some oxen of different breeds, in the Com- 

 plete Grazier, 6th ed., p. 107 ; the summary of which is — 



ist. lbs. St. lbs, 



6 13 . . Devon . . 2 4.' 

 6 1.3.| . . Durham . . 2 1| Proportion of ofFal to 

 10 st. of live weight, 'j 5 12;] . . Hereford ..32 10 st. of carcase. 

 5 6.. Highland . , 4 4| 

 4 71 . . Cross . . 4 4i 



