86 BIGGLE SWINE BOOK. 



sums, which to some is objectionable. Thus it was 

 that the public sale was finally inaugurated and of late 

 years has become the most popular way of disposing 

 of thoroughbred hogs. 



The manner of holding a public sale consists in 

 holding the entire crop of pigs, then to advertise and 

 sell them in a single day. This has many things in its 

 favor, with some objections. Its advantages are that 

 all the crop of pigs are held till they are more fully de- 

 veloped and the buyers all have an equal chance to 

 see and buy the best, if they are willing to pay the 

 price. The seller has the advantage of selling all his 

 pigs in one day and gets his money in a lump. Then 

 he is relieved of the necessity of keeping a boarding 

 house, as it were, for three or four months. 



Prices at some of these sales have been almost fab- 

 ulous. In some instances a whole herd of from fifty to 

 sixty animals have been sold at an average of $250 each. 

 However,, it was generally believed that there was more 

 or less deception about many of these extreme sales, 

 but many sales that I have known were perfectly 

 straight and honest and have averaged over $200 each. 

 In such cases, the animals were fashionably bred and 

 exceptionally fine individually, and were descended 

 from popular sires. These high prices, in my opinion, 

 have been detrimental to the business. When any 

 strain of animals advance in price to an abnormal 

 figure, the temptation to substitute and counterfeit is 

 entirely too great. 



While the great majority of sales have been per- 

 fectly honest, others have been just as dishonest as 

 could be. Of late years a few men have been seeking 



