On Weighing Live-Siock. 
471 
Tlie Polled Irish of good quality, averaging 81^ stone, made 
\Ql. 2s. Qd., or 4s. per stone ; some up to 4s. 2d. There were 
some very pretty Kerry heifers, five in one lot, which weighed 
1 ton IH cwt., or 60i stone each. They sold at 01. Is. 6rf., 
and therefore made only os. \)d. per stone. There was no 
certainty as to their being barren. 
The English steers and stirks, if of good quality and good 
condition, made 4s. per stone; with worse quality the price of 
the lot invariably declined, with the nicest adjustment to the 
weight. Condition did not appreciably affect the price per stone 
at this sale. While, however, the price for good Irish-bred stores 
agreed with that paid for English, the prices made the next day 
for fat Irish fell materially below that which the home-bred stock 
commanded. Coming next to Scotch cattle, of which there was 
no great display, one lot of Scotch Galloways, averaging h2\ stone, 
made 10^. 10s. each, or just about 4s. per stone; while another 
lot of Galloways from Ireland, very thick beasts, made only 
3s. 10c?. These beasts, however, were brought back after the sale 
to be weighed ; and possibly there may have been an error. 
Younger Galloway stirks, 48 stone weight, made os. d>d. 
Messrs. Swan wired to Glasgow on Sunday evening for four 
trucks of Canadians to come up ; they arrived during the sale. 
Two lots of ten each passed over the machine, averaging 63 stone 
per animal, and selling for 10/. 17s. 6cZ., or a little under 3s. Qd. 
per stone. The other two lots were withdrawn. 
The next day's sale, Tuesday, November 12, consisted of fat 
cattle, sheep, and a few pigs. Here there seems to be a more 
direct reference to the scales both by the auctioneers and the 
buyers — the auctioneer occasionally, to help on the bidding, 
calling on the weigh-clerk to announce the weight ; and, on the 
other hand, the bystanders using a table or a book of reckoning 
for the reduction of quotations per head to price per stone, 
during the progress of the bidding. 
Most of the animals would dress out 57 per cent, of carcass 
to the 100 lbs. live-weight. On this computation, the 14-lb. stone 
of live-weight yields just about 8 lbs. of dead meat, and the price 
of the live stone is the price of the dead stone. Where the 
animals were not ripe, down went the price per stone to 4s., 
which was the lowest quotation ; while, on the other hand, with 
some very prime home-bred steers fed in Ross, 5s. 3cZ. was 
reached ; 5s. and 5s. Id. were made with other cattle from the 
same district. They were all as good as could be desired ; but 
Mr. Westley Richards has just made in London 5s. Qd. per stone 
live-weight of his Polled Cumberland cattle. The Irish, shipped 
from Ireland, though well fed, displayed some of the coarseness 
