CASTRATION. 517 



matter gathers insidn, the calf should be caught, the incision 

 gently opened at the bottom to let it flow out even pressed out, 

 if it refuses to flow of itself which it will almost always do, if 

 the cut be made large enough, which is the object of it. In a 

 few days the cut will be healed, and your calf be capering about 

 the lot, yard, or stable, as if nothing had happened to him. All 

 twisting, turning, or cording methods, are cruel and brutal, and 

 neither so good, nor safe as the simple cutting we have described. 

 The castration of bulls, after arriving at virility, either younger 

 or older, may be done in the same way; but the castration of 

 bulls, after three years old, is sometimes hazardous, and if they 

 are to be fattened for slaughter, the better way is to feed them 

 as bulls. They feed quite as well, and the beef is as good as if 

 they were made into stags. Few persons can tell the difference. 



SPAYING CALVES, HEIFERS, OR COWS. 



This is an admirable way of converting them into ripe and 

 delicate beef. We know of no finer beef than a three or four 

 year old spayed heifer. The process is a delicate and skillfnl 

 one, and should never be attempted but by a steady hand. There 

 is no way of describing it, so that one not actually seeing, and 

 practicing it, may sufficiently understand, so as to successfully 

 perform the operation. Therefore, we do not undertake it. 



In stock growing districts there are usually more or less 

 experts in the business, and only they should be employed to do 

 it. Where a surplus of heifers exist, and beef cattle are numer- 

 ously reared, the practice may be resorted to, as both necessary, 

 and profitable. Spayed heifers feed remarkably well generally 

 better than steers, and when good, are equally sought by all 

 butchers who want to furnish choice cuts for their customers. 



FREE-MARTINS. 



Heifers, twinned with a bull, are usually called free-martins, 

 and, as a rule, do not breed. Som inatanceo have been known 



