MANAGEMENT AND PROFIT OF FOWLS. 343 
Mr. Leonard: “I find the Brahmas the best fowls to raise for market.” 
Mr. J. 8. Gould: “Fer market fewls the Brahmas or the Houdans are 
best; I am not quite sure which.” 
Mr. Rodman prefers Dorkings and their crosses for the table. 
Mr. Thomas Gould: “ For a table or market fowl I think the siiver- 
gray Dorkings superior to any other breed.” 
Mr. Bishop, who raises chickens for market, says: ‘‘T find fall-blooded 
Light Brahmas the best for market fowls.” 
Mr. Spalding: “ For the table the Brahma has uo superior.” 
Mr. Hadwin: “Brahmas, Dorkings, Javas, Cochins, with the larger 
native breeds and crosses, are the best flesh-producing fowls.” 
Mr. Sawyer writes: 
Ithink the Light Brahmas the best for market, for they aro large fowls, are fine 
large chicks at four to six months old, are easily reared, and are very hardy, | think 
the most so of any variety I have ever raised. All things considered, the Light (pea- 
combed) Brahmas are the best fowls for the farmer to raise. They bear confinement 
well, and are raised with the least care of any breed I know. The Dorking fowls are 
considered in England the best table-fow!, but in this climate they have proved quite 
tender and difficult to raise, requiring a great deal of care. 
For eggs and chickens, which are generally equaliy desired from 
fowls as usuaily kept upon farms, the testimony preponderates greatly 
in favor of the Brahmas; for, in addition to being good flesh fowls, both 
as to weight and quality, they are good winter, and may be considered 
at least fair suminer, layers; they are quict, hardy, and come early to 
mInaturity. Other breeds, considered superior in quality of flesh, or as 
egg-producers, may be found more desirable, being raised with equal 
success in many localities. Generally, however, the Brahma is con-- 
sidered the most profitabie fowl for the farmer. 
CAPONIZING. 2 
Caponizing has been practiced but little in this country, the practice 
being now confined mostly to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mr. G. H. 
Leavitt, an experienced poultry-breeder of New York, says that 95 per 
cent. of the capons raised are raised in Pennsylvania, and that the same 
proportion of experiments is successful. In most parts of this country 
the practice is unknown, even among those who breed fowls for market. 
Both cockerels and puliets may be caponized, the latter being called in 
France poulardes. The effect of depriving them of reproductive powers 
is to cause them to fatten more easily, with less food; it increases their 
size beyond what would otherwise be attained, and makes them mor¢ 
tender and more desirable for the table. So much superior are capons 
esteemed to be, that it is singular the practice is so limited.. Mr. Bishop, 
of Springfield, Ohio, before quoted, says of capons: “'The weight is 
increased one-third, and the meat is much finer.” Mr. Parker, of West 
Chester, Pennsylvania, says they command one-third more price than 
other market fowls. Mr. Robert B. Engle, of Masonville, New Jersey, 
who is qualified to speak from experience, says; ‘ The operation is sim- 
ple and easily performed. An expert in the business can castrate two 
hundred in a day, for which we pay four cents each. The eapons fatten 
more readily than cocks, attain greater weight, and their flesh is much 
more tender and juicy, and is better flavored, and consequently com- 
mands a higher price, which in Philadelphia and New York, as com- 
pared with other prime chickens, is as 35 cents per pound are to 25 cents, 
which prices I received yesterday (February 5, 1871) in the Philadelphia 
market. The difference in price ranges from six to ten cents per pound, 
as to quality. * * TI believe that if all roosters that are to be kept 
until full grown for market «were properly castrated jit would enhance 
