Vol. LV. No. 2442. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 14, 1896. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
PUBLIC SALES OF P0LAND-CHINA SWINE. 
AUCTIONS FOR PUREBRED STOCK. 
How Such Sales Are Conducted. 
It is claimed that 80 per cent of all the swine pro¬ 
duced in the United States, are Poland-China. Their 
overshadowing of all other breeds in numbers in the 
great corn and hog belt, gives strong grounds for 
such a claim. They are the product of the judicious 
crossing of several breeds, careful selection, and 
Miami Valley corn and clover. I well remember when 
they had much larger, coarser frames than now, with 
large, pendant ears. On account of the prodigious 
size of the latter, it was oftentimes about as easy 
to drive them backward as forward. Formerly, the 
color was spotted—white and black—frequently they 
were sandy spotted. Now the fashionable color is 
black, with white points like the Berkshire. A few 
years ago, their faces were straight, now some of them 
are dished almost as much as the Berkshire. 
For a few years, some breeders have been selling 
their stock at public sale. The original object, when 
public sales of 
this breed were 
first introduced 
was to call to- 
gether the 
breeders, get 
the benefit of 
competit i o n , 
and have every 
manseeforhim- 
self what he was 
buying. Then, 
if any dissatis¬ 
faction arose 
with the pur¬ 
chase after¬ 
wards, the 
fault rested 
with the pur¬ 
chaser. A pub¬ 
lic sale is a 
good place to 
get y.oung 
breeders in 
competition 
—men that have 
more money 
than experi¬ 
ence. 
The first sales 
and many 
others, have 
been so success¬ 
ful that many breeders made annual sales, instead of 
selling by the old custom of private sale. While 
some make up a sale in good faith, sell all they can 
get a bid on, and offer only the tops, many others 
make up sales to sell what they have left after a sea¬ 
son’s trade, and such stock as they do not care to sell 
under guarantee—“ sight unseen ” as it were—so far 
as the purchaser is concerned, he not seeing the stock 
till it is set off at his railroad station. Such men 
seek a suitable locality where trains arrive a short 
time before the sale, and depart shortly after it is 
supposed to close, giving the purchaser no time to ex¬ 
amine the stock before it appears in the sale ring. 
Then, possibly, the sale pen is covered a few inches 
deep with sawdust or tanbark. Under these condi¬ 
tions, and the excitement of the hour, much indiffer¬ 
ent stock is disposed of, and the purchaser takes the 
risk. 
Often the sales are made on fair grounds where the 
live stock buildings can be used. Many Ohio breeders 
ship to Springfield, Ill., to sell their stock. When 
such a sale is made, they expect to have principally 
breeders for customers. The success of the Poland- 
China sales has induced breeders handling other 
breeds to make public sales. Berkshires were sold at 
Springfield, Ill. recently at very satisfactory prices. 
Chester White breeders are also trying the plan. At 
St. Louis during the fair in October, a car-load of 
Tamworths from Canada were sold at auction. In a 
St. Louis paper, I see advertised 21 public sales of 
Poland-China swine, besides the one of Tamworths 
above mentioned. Over 80 sold at Springfield early 
in August, averaged above .$100 per head, one sow 
selling for $1,300. Even more extreme prices are 
claimed in the Northwest. Ohio breeders with whom 
I have talked, doubt the claims made. One breeder 
said that times were hard, and these extravagant 
prices claimed were for the purpose of booming sales. 
Recently I attended a sale at Bloomingburgh, O., of a 
breeder who has been at the business for 27 years, 
and has sent out some of the most noted Poland-China 
hogs ever produced ; 62 animals were catalogued and 
offered for sale, which was strictly on the square. 
The effort in advertising this herd was to reach 
breeders. Aside from this, bills were posted in that 
section of the country. Train accommodations were 
good, giving strangers a good opportunity to examine 
the stock before the sale. The animals were placed 
in convenient pens of two rows, as shown in Fig. 241. 
The numbers on the pens corresponded with those on 
metal tags in the animals’ ears, and these with the 
catalogue numbers. 
At 12 o’clock, a free lunch was served, on the prin¬ 
ciple that a full man is in a happy mood, and more 
inclined to grant favors. At one o’clock, the sale be¬ 
gan. Everything was sold on which there was a bid, 
and no bids were received under $10. Forty-six were 
sold in two hours, at prices ranging from $10 up to 
$89, averaging $32.25. The stock went to Indiana, 
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, besides numerous 
animals distributed throughout Ohio. Some of the 
sales were made by letter or telegraph. These bids 
are known only to the auctioneer, who marks on the 
catalogue the price that the bidder will give if not 
sold at a lower one, the auctioneer bidding in his 
stead. There was a telegraph or letter bid of $150 on 
one animal that sold for $75, there being no competing 
bids to carry the price up to the limit of the offer. 
About 300 persons were present, and many of the 
boars were bought by farmers in the surrounding 
country, at the lower prices, for use on their farms to 
produce feeding animals. The stock was in fine 
condition, and the accommodations and conveniences 
first-class. 
Fig. 241 shows the north side of the sale tent, and 
the two rows of pens extending out from the tent or 
awning. On the west side of the barn, there was an 
open shed in which were placed seats, one above an¬ 
other. Then under the west side of the tent were 
seats, the sale pen being between the two. The sale 
pen was about 14 feet wide by 30 leet long ; at the 
north end, there were two gateways, one for the 
animal to pass in and the second to open in passing 
out. While one animal was being sold, a second was 
placed in a small pen next to the entrance gate. When 
an animal was sold, it was passed out into the alley 
and returned to its pen. In this way, if the bidding 
was rapid, the animals could be sold very fast. The 
auctionee r 
stood to the 
right of the 
sale pen, as 
shown in the 
picture. At the 
time the photo- 
graph was 
taken, all were 
giving their at¬ 
tention to the 
work of the 
auctioneer. 
J. M. JAMISON. 
R. N.-Y.— 
These public 
sales of stock 
have not, we 
believe, become 
very popular in 
the Ea s tern 
States. A few 
weeks ago, we 
had an account 
of such a sale at 
the great fair at 
Trenton, N. J. 
Some fine Berk¬ 
shires were 
offered at auc¬ 
tion, but bids 
were low, and 
some excellent 
animals were sold for about the price of hogs intended 
for pork. We would like to see these public sales 
encouraged, not only for live stock, but for other 
farm products as well. There may be 50 farmers in a 
section selling hay, potatoes, cheese, apples, or other 
articles, and sending them to commission merchants 
in distant cities. If these farmers could combine and 
thus insure a large volume of uniform products, they 
might have business enough to warrant them in hold¬ 
ing a public sale in their market town. In this case, 
buyers would come to them and deal direct with 
them, whereas now these farmers must hunt up the 
buyers and take more than their share of the risks. 
This plan appears to be carried out, in part at least, 
in some places, and there are other places where it 
might be tried with a reasonable chance for success. 
Western farmers seem to have been more successful 
with such enterprises than farmers in the East. 
Western farm life is newer and fresher, and farmers 
have found it easier to combine for social or business 
purposes. After all, fair combination is the secret 
of any community success. 
A PUBLIC SALE OF POLAND-CHINA SWINE. COMFORT ON A RAINY DAY. Fig. 241. 
