THE POTATO 463 



in Great Britain. First, the dealer came and 

 looked over the bunch very carefully, then he was 

 entertained at luncheon, where there was a plenti- 

 ful flow of wine and spirit, and after every one had 

 been put in the best of feeling, the dickering began. 

 I have forgotten just where they started, but it 

 finished 24.15.6 ($123) per head. The parties 

 guessed at the weight these bullocks would dress. 

 When 200 were counted out at the figure one more 

 broke in, making 201 in the sale. These English 

 farmers are willing to put their judgment against 

 the butchers who are slaughtering and weighing 

 every day. These bullocks had never been on a 

 weigh scale in their lives, and had never been fed 

 a pound of grain. They were largely bred and reared 

 on the farm, and were mostly from pure-bred Lin- 

 colnshire cows, 200 of which are kept. Only eight 

 or ten bull calves are kept from the annual calf 

 crop for bulls, and rest are made steers. 



I had been so inquisitive in their other farm op- 

 erations, especially the potatoes, that I refrained 

 from asking one of the sons, who is manager of the 

 cattle department, what one of the bullocks 

 cost. It had been reared from a registered cow, 

 that was valued at $125, and was pastured and 

 summered on land that had a valuation of $500 

 an acre. I wanted to know the cost of that calf 

 at weaning time, figuring the interest on the capi- 

 tal invested in the cow and the land she grazed 

 on at $625 a year and including the service of the 

 sire, and figuring in the percentage of calves per 

 annum to 100 cows. I simply remarked that I 

 knew of no American farm that could raise steers 

 at a profit on this basis. After weaning, the calves 

 were wintered on straw and roots with a bit of oil 

 cake a pound a day. The next summer they 



