La Junta tribune., 1908-11-21

mixed lot OF half fatted cattle. chief.
hornsly cows and heifers. some short
horns. some galloways. and the rest
OF no particular breed. There were
1900 cattle. 7.l35 sheep and lamls.
and about 200 pigs. on the market.
( The pigs were mostly Irish. do
not know whether any of these pigs
had been kept In the parlor or not.
I There were few Scotch. They wer
! white. long, lank and half fat. There
was little difference between the
Irish and Scotch pigs. There was
variety in the sheep. A small.
low, white-faced, sheep. with long
wool. was the Cheviott, from the
Cheviott hills of Scotland. There
was small, dark-faced. long. curly
wooled, and horned sheep-all hav-
ing horns. These are from the High.
lands OF Scotland. There were larger
sheep. mixed breeds. mostly OF the
( Leicester strain. The sheep mar
ket was dull. The other markets
fair.
Z asked man in charge OF some
pigs, what are these hogs worth to-
day?'' Seven to eight Six" he re-
piled. / said don't understand you.
You mean seven shillings to eight
shillings six pence. do you? He
said Yes" We'll, what does that
mean?" He didn't know what l
meant. didn't know know what
I he meant. said, How much do
you mean?'' 1t dawned upon him.
He replied, "A stone" How much
is stone?" Fourteen pounds" he
replied This would be about four
teen to fifteen cents per pound.
asked him IL they weighedall these
hogs. lie said, they did not weigh
them. There is where Judgment
comes in said he. l pointed out
one and said, How much will that
one weish?' He squinted one eye.
turned his head sidewise and knit
his brows. After a very careful
scrutiny of the shoat, he said.
''Twelle stone?" had to make a
i mental tditubtlph 10 nav an i"'"
of what he thought the shoat would
weigh. He told me the laws were
very strict. in regard To selling
hogs The farmer can not sell Il
pass he termed it. The buyer can
( not move hog until he has Ii
cense aud the animal has been in
spected When shipped to the yards
within so many days. They can not
be taken back into the country. They
must be slaughtered after they have
been shipped or driven to the yards.
Sheep were selling at from seven to
nine and cattle from seven to eight
you can figure this out yourselves. as
had to do. The cattle and sheep
are also generally sold by weight. but
the weight is guessed, as a rule.
There is small pair OF scales, on
which some of the stock is weighed.
The pig market opens early, In fact,
sales were made the day before, but
the bell Is rung for opening the sheep
market and, at eight o'clock in the
morning, for the cattle market. The
morning was bad, a slow drtZzle hav-
ing set in. Buyers come from the
neighboring towns and cities, as well
as the local buyers. There Is fair
competition. The stock Is sold off
in small lots, often but one or two
animals at time. There are no
great packing establishments, which
monopolize the market and do all
the butchering. The men who sell
meat are real butchers. not simply
meat cutters, as they are now gener-
ally In America, in The older commun
ties.
There are the ruins OF very old
castle at Newcastle, built in the time
of William the ConIueror. about the
year 1850. The Keep. which is the
strong fortification, is in good
state OF preservation. Its walls are
from twelve to fourteen feet thick.
ascended by stairway to the
room occupied by the guard, and
entered Its dark, dungeon rooms and
passages. There are small. narrow
passages around the inside of the
wall, with small openings, here and
there, for the watchmen and for de-
tense. There are several stories,
and winding, narrow stairway to
the top, from which i had good
view of the city, up and down the
Tyne. In the cntral part ar rooms
used for mesuems, libary and collec-
ton Of armour and old relics. Here
were old chairs used in the olden