The St. Johns herald., 1896-03-28
HOSS SWAPPING FAIR
STRANGE GATHERINGS OF FARMERS
 RECENTLY HELD.

Ously Dectored Up and Transformed For
 8 Few Hours While on saIe-How
 'sTrades" Are Effected.
 Each year, just before the holidays, large percentage of the male population of the county of Madison, N. Y., is in terested in the strangest conventions ever held in any part of the Empire State. They are called in the vernacular of the locality "hoss traders conven tions, '" or "hoss swapping fairs, :" and they bring together men from every part of the county and often visitors from other sections.
 Generally these conventions are held in the little hamlets of Lenox Basin and Five Chimneys, but the first of the series was held this year at Morrisville, the county seat.
 On these occasions the hills, valleys, ''back deestricts," hamlets, farms and towns of the county send out their stock of swapping nags and jockeys in great numbers, and when the collection is made and the convention opens the Madison Square horse show is not comparison to the wonderful array here presented.
 The delegations begin arriving the day before, and the night is an anxious and busy one Some of the nags come in sadly out of repair and must needs be braced up with wonderful concoc- tions, the ingredients of which are known only to the shrewd owners of the animals. Where they have learned all the tricks by which deception is practiced is mystery, but it is believed that some of them are secrets handed down from father to son for generations. Certain 1t is that some of those who make it practice to attend these con- ventions yearly have the art of turning sorry looking nag into presentable animal in the course of few hours.
 When all is ready, the doors of the various barns in the neighborhood are opened, and the swapping commences. Horses of all colors, sizes, ages and breeds are shown. There are cribbers, bakers, kickers, packers and runaways; horses that are blind, toothless, lame and wind broken; beasts that have done time on the canals, the farm or the dray; broken down carriage horses and occasionally one that in years gone by had been favorite on the track.
 The sparring for advantage is always interesting and furnishes many a char acter study. For instance, a farmer from the northern part of the county drives a respectable looking chestnut mare down the road. As he hears group of men, who stand with their backs against barn, each one industri ously whiting, he is greeted with a challenge to swap.
 "Waal," he replies, "I dunno as I want to get rid of her. She suits me putty we'll an is kind an gentle fer the wimmin folks to drive. I didn't come over to trade her, but thought I'd come down an see what was goin on.
 Then the several members of the group walked out in the road and com menced looking the mare over.
 Where d yer git herr" one inquires
 "Waal, she uster belong to Doc Smith, up to Durhamville, an she's pulled him more miles than any hoss in the county ever travelled, an she ain't hurt mite. Jes' as good as she was the day he bot her. The only trouble is docs gettin so big an fat that she's hardly heavy enough fer his long drives If 'twasn't for that yer couldn t bot her of the doc fer $200. traded him big bay hoss that paid $125 fer an give him $50 to boot She jes' suited me, an I hain't got any reason to be sorry fer my bargain. y
 "Sound, I s'pose?" questions listen CT, with wink.
 Then the voluble owner of the chest nut mare starts off on a 15 minute de- scription of the animals health and physical condition that would take a novice off his feet and lead him to in vest in horseflesh at once, but which is merely heard by the veterans of the pro- fession and believed in no particular.
 Finally the owner of the chestnut consents to get out of the buggy and go in the barn and see a roan, and if he doesn't trade for that he looks at a black, brown, a gray or sorrel and makes ''swap" with some one. In the meantime half dozen other trades have been started up, but the excitement nev- CT increases. The professional country "hoss trader" never betrays anxiety, ex- citement or even interest. He is as in- different as log and plays his cards in the coolest possible manner. He whit ties necessarily, chews straws and to- bacco, talks as loud as campaign ora tor, swears moderately, lies without knowing it, spars and parries for ad- vantage, but is never led into showing disappointment or chagrin.
 Most of the transactions, or changes, as the members of the profession term them, are on an even basis, but occa- sionally few dollars "boot' money will change hands. Sometimes two men will talk half day about trade, and both horses in the deal may not be worth $10. When the trading grows dull, venturesome dealer will put up one of his nags at auction, and the sums realized range from 30 cents to $5. Of ten one man will own dozen or 15 diff ferent horses during the day, and yet the actual cash value of his entire hold ings might not reach $100.
 There is a charm about it, however, that brings the Madison county resi- dents out whenever a convention is ad vertised, and frequently 200 or 300 per aous ara in attandauca The trades they