DEALERS—­LUCK MONEY—­FAIRS—­SALES—­EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON CATTLE AND SHEEP—­AGRICULTURAL SHOWS.

  “I’ll give thrice so much land

To any well-deserving friend;
But in the way of bargain, mark ye me,
I’ll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.”

          
                                                                    —­1 Henry IV.

Dealers of all kinds were much more frequent callers at farm-houses in the early days of my farming, than latterly when auction sales, to some extent, superseded private negotiations, but the horse-dealer remained constant, because comparatively few horses were offered by auction.  The horse-dealers appeared to conform to an understanding that it was a breach of etiquette to exceed certain well-marked boundaries in their search for purchases, or to interfere in each other’s business.  This principle was carried so far as to prevent dealers from one of these “countries” purchasing a horse at a fair coming from another dealer’s “country,” and the understanding of course minimized competition likely to raise the price.  The dealers however I think, gave fair values, governed for the most part by the prices obtainable by them in the large towns.

Most of my horses, when for sale, were bought by a man in a considerable way of business, a well-known breeder, too, of shire horses, taking many prizes at the leading shows.  A handsome man with a presence, and an excellent judge, shrewd but straight.  He would ask the price after examining the animal, and make an offer which he would very seldom exceed if refused at first; but he would spend some time in conversation, apparently quite irrelevant and very amusing, though always returning to the point at intervals with arguments in favour of the acceptance of his bid.  He was so genial and pleasant and such good company, for no man was ever better acquainted with the ways of the world, that he very rarely, I think, left the premises without a deal, though sometimes he was in his gig before the final bargain was struck.  It is a custom of the trade for the seller to give something back to the buyer by way of “luck money,” and the last time I did business with him I refused to give more than one shilling each on two horses, as I never received more than that sum when a buyer myself.  He accepted cheerfully, telling me that a shilling each was quite worth taking, as he had a thousand horses through his hands in the course of every twelve months, and that a thousand shillings meant L50 a year.

The best piece of horse-dealing I ever did, was the purchase of a six months old colt for L26, winning L20 in prizes with him as a two-year-old, working him regularly at three and four on the farm, and selling him at five for eighty guineas to a large brewery firm.  Eighty guineas in those days was a big price for a cart horse, though, of course, in modern times, owing to the war, much higher prices can be obtained.