Weigh With Their Eyes

The dealers in live stock who buy and geil the thousands of cattle, hogs anrl sheep which are dnily handled at the Bourbon stockyards must be expert in guessing the weight of a livo animal at a glance. In conversatiou with a well known stockman a few days ago he explained why this is neoessary: "It worild be impossibleto weigh the cattle in many cases because of the immense labor involveci and the length of time it would takfa, while the market prico, which is srVject to constant fluctuations, migiit asily vary froni its bighest to its lowest limit while we were weighing the animáis in one of our big scales. For instance, today, which has been the biggest day of the year thus far, there have been received at the Bourbon yards over 2,400 head of cattle and about 6,000 hogs. Suppose we had to drive all of those upon the scales to ascertain their weight? There are dozens of old stock men who can inspect a herd of animáis and forin an estimate of their average weight which wil] be readily accopted by purchasers as the basis of a trade. "In a test case which was made some time since a man who has had a lifelong experience in buying and selliug a herd of cattle, after inspecting a herd of 500 animáis, guessed their average weight within one-third of a pound of the actual figure ascertained by weighing the cattlo individually. The feat was accomplished by Mr. Ben D. Offutt of this county and is notso extraordiuary as it appears, because similar instances of expert 'guessing' occur here