506 HANDY-BOOK OP HUSBANDRY. 



" Such are not always to be had when wanted, and the best 

 " strains we have, of every sort, have been got up by this plan. 

 " There is one thing worthy of remark ; none of our fowls 

 '' imported from warmer climates are subject to roup, as Spanish, 

 " Cochins, Brahmas, and Malays. But those from a damp 

 " country, like Holland, seem to have seeds of it always in 

 "them. The following tonic is highly recommended by Mr. 

 " John Douglas of the Wolsely Aviaries, England, to prevent 

 " roup and gapes in chickens and old fowls : — ' One pound of 

 "sulphate of iron, one ounce of sulphuric acid, dissolved in a jug 

 " with hot water, then let it stand twenty-four hours, and add one 

 " gallon of spring water ; when fit for use, one teaspoonful to a 

 " pint of water given every other day to chickens and once a 

 " week to old fowls, will make roup and gapes entirely a stranger 

 " to your yards.' This may be true if perfect cleanliness is main- 

 "tained, and the fowls are in other respects well-treated." 



There are other works on poultry in which the question of 

 diseases is more fully treated, and from which much sound advice 

 may be obtained, but in reading these, as in considering the in-j 

 structions given in agricultural papers, the farmer should exercise 

 a full share of discreet judgment, and hesitate to adopt any 

 severe remedy which does not commend itself as rational. 



Making Capons. — The excellence of the flesh of the capon has 

 been known for ages, and the price of these birds in the poultry 

 markets of the world, is always very much higher than is that of 

 other poultry. It is hardly astonishing that their production is so 

 limited, when we consider the fact that the castration of the cock 

 is a much more delicate operation, and is more likely to be 

 attended with fatal results, than is that of other animals. An 

 idea prevails, though I can hardly think it a just one, that capon- 

 izing is an especially cruel process. Castration is unquestionably 

 in all cases attended with pain ; but it is extremely doubtful 

 whether it produces more pain in the case of the bird than of the 

 quadruped. The greediness with which the removed parts are 

 eaten by the animal himself, while still bound to the table, would 

 indicate that the pain of the operation is not very depressing. 



