468 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



the colt should be carefully examined. If he 

 is thin and spare about the neck and shoulders, 

 and low in the withers, he will materially im- 

 prove by remaining uncut another six months; 

 but if his fore-quarters are fairly developed at 

 the age of a twelvemonth, tiie operation should 

 not be delayed, lest he become heavy and 

 gross before, and perhaps have begun too de- 

 cidedly to have a will of his own. No specific 

 age, then, can be fixed ; but the castration 

 ghou'd be performed rather late in the autumn, 

 when the air is temperate, and particularly 

 when the weather is dry. No preparation is 

 necessary for the suckling colt, but it may be 

 prudent to bleed and to physic one of more 

 advanced age. In the majority of cases, no 

 after treatment will be necessary, except that 

 the animal should be sheltered from intense 

 heat, and more particularly from wet. In 

 temperate weather he will do much better 

 runninc in the field than nursed in a close and 

 hot stable. The moderate exercise which he 

 will take in grazing will be preferable to per- 

 fect inaction. A large and well-ventilated 

 box, however, may be permitted. 



The manner in which the operation is per- 



formed will be properly left to the veterinary 

 surgeon ; although we must confess that we 

 are disposed to adhere to the old way of 

 opening the bag on either side, cutting off the 

 testicle, and preventing bleeding by searing 

 the vessels with a hot iron. There is at least 

 an appearance of brutality, and, we believe, 

 much unnecessary pain inflicted, when the 

 spermatic cord (the vessels and the nerve) is 

 tightly compressed between two pieces of 

 wood, as in a powerful vice, and left there 

 either until the testicle drops off, or is removed 

 on the following day by the operator. To the 

 practice of some farmers, of twitching their 

 colts at an early period, sometimes even so 

 early as a month, we have stronger objection. 

 When the operation of twitching is performed, 

 a small cord is drawn as tightly as possible 

 round the bag, between the testicle and the 

 belly ; the circulation is thus stopped, atid, in 

 a few days, the testicles and the bag drop 

 off: but the animal suffers sadly — it is occa- 

 sionally necessary to tighten the cord on the 

 second or third day, and inflammation anC 

 death have frequently ensued. 



