496 THE PIG 



on December 23, 1896, which sold for $1025, the highest auction- 

 sale price to that date. Happy Medium 345 1 1 at the Howard & 

 McAllister sale in Iowa, in 1897, sold for $4000 to the Happy 

 Medium Stock Company. The same year Look Me Over 19417, 

 another boar, sold for $3600 at the Hart & Minnis sale at 

 Edinburg, Illinois, to the Look Me Over Breeding Association 

 at Stanberry, Missouri. In February, 1897, at the Johnston sale 

 in Iowa, the four-year-old boar Lookout 28901 brought $1600. 

 One of the most notable recent sales is that of Meddler 99999, 

 sold in 1905 to Edward Ware for $3000. Numerous boars of 

 the breed have sold at prices from $500 to $1000 per head. 

 Of high-priced sows, Minnie's Model 102806 sold at $1310, 

 Hadley's Half Sister 87840 sold at $650, and Moorish Maid 

 81624 and Klever's Choice 74256, each sold at $600, are famous 

 examples. During the winter of 1896-1897 such a boom in 

 Poland-China prices occurred as to cause a protest from the 

 wiser breeders of the country. Men attended auction sales and 

 purchased at prices far above the intrinsic value of the animals 

 bought. A craze for pedigree seemed to prevail and many ani- 

 mals sold at high figures that were unworthy a place in a credit- 

 able breeding herd. Better judgment soon prevailed, however, 

 and breeders returned once more to a more reasonable basis 

 of values. 



