CASTRATION. 245 



draught, the farmer should not think of castrating him until he 

 is at least a twelvemonth old ; and, even then, 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 improve by 

 remaining uncut another six months ; but if his fore-quarters are 

 fairly developed at the age of a twelvemonth, the operation 

 should not be delayed, lest he become heavy and gross before, 

 and perhaps has begun too decidedly to have a will of his own. 

 No specific age, then, can be fixed ; but the castration should be 

 performed rather late in the spring or early in the autumn, when 

 the air is temperate, and particularly when the weather is dry. 



No preparation is necessary for the sucking 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 running in the field, than nursed in a close and hot 

 stable. The moderate exercise that he will take in grazing will 

 be preferable to perfect inaction. 



The old method of opening the scrotum (testicle bag), on 

 either side, and cutting off the testicles, and preventing bleeding 

 by a temporary compression of the vessels, while they are seared 

 with a hot iron, must not, perhaps, be abandoned ; but there is no 

 necessity of that extra pain, when the spermatic cord (the blood- 

 vessels and the nerve) is compressed between two pieces of wood 

 as tightly as in a vice, and there left until the following day, or 

 until the testicle drops off. 



The practice of some farmers of tivitching * their colts at an 

 early period, exposes the animal to much umiecessary pain, and 

 is accompanied with considerable danger.. 



Another method of castration is by Torsioii. An incision is 

 made into the scrotum, and the vas deferens is exposed and 

 divided. The arter)^ is then seized by a pair of forceps contrived 

 for the purpose, and twisted six or seven times round. It retracts 

 without untwisting the coils, and bleeding ceases. The testicle 

 is removed, and there is no sloughing or danger. The most pain- 

 ful part of the operation — the operation of the firing-iron or the 

 clams — is avoided, and the wound readily heals. f 



* Termed cording in the United States. — Am. Ed. 



f Note bij Mr. Spooner. — We agree with the author, that the old 

 method of operating, by opening the scrotum with the knife, cutting the 

 clams on the cord, and searing it off with the hot iron, is as safe and unob- 

 jectionable as any. We have, however, in performing this operation, found 

 the use of chloroform very beneficial, both in removing all pain, and also 

 preventing that severe struggling which often takes place, and which has 

 sometimes been followed with very dangerous consequences. With this 

 assistance we have safely performed the operation in seven minutes, with- 

 out anv pain to the anunal. 



