THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 143 



pass through it. This finger being then turned or rolled repeatedly from 

 side to side, communicates to the loop below the sawing motion which con- 

 tributes to cut off the testicles. The reason for cutting off the under or 

 lowermost testicle first, is to prevent the blood which may issue from cover- 

 ing the remaining one, thereby rendering it difficult to be seen. After this 

 operation which, if skillfully performed, occupies very few minutes, the hooks 

 are to be taken out, the skin drawn over the wound, and this covered with 

 the feathers plucked off at the commencement of the operation. The chicken 

 is then released, and as soon as let go will take grain or other food eagerly, 

 and in a day or two be restored to its usual health. A person well skilled 

 may operate on fifty chickens without killing more than one or two. 



DIFFERENT FORMATION OF FOWLS. 



In some fowls the fore part of the thigh covers the last two ribs ; in 

 which case care must be taken to draw the fleshy part of the thigh well 

 back, to prevent its being cut, as this might lame the fowl, or even cause 

 its death. For ligatures nothing answers so t well as that usually employed 

 by the Chinese, namely, the fiber of the cocoanut husk. This is rough, and 

 makes a loop which saws off" and separates the testicle very readily. The 

 next best substance for this purpose is horse-hair. Experiments with fine 

 wire, silk, silk gut, etc., show that these are all inferior to cocoanut fiber 

 and horse-hair. 



FOWLS NOT PERFECTLY CAPONIZED. 



Sometimes a portion of the testicle adheres and is left behind ; in which 

 case the fowls will not prove capons, as will soon be evident, and may be 

 killed for use as soon as the head begins to grow large and get red, and 

 they show a disposition to chase the hens. Then, again, the real capon 

 will make itself known by the head remaining small, the comb and gills 

 losing their bright redness and appearing withered ; the feathers of the 

 neck and tail will also grow longer. 



AGE TO KEEP CAPONS. 



Capons should be kept to the age of fifteen or eighteen months, which 

 will bring them in the spring and summer, when poultry is scarce and bears 

 a high price. Still they should not be killed near molting time, as all poultry 

 then is very inferior. The operation of caponizing fails principally in conse- 

 quence of the bursting of the skin which incloses the soft matter of the testi- 

 cles, some of which remains in the bird. 



DANGER OF BURSTING OF THE TESTICLES. 



Fowls of five or six months old are less liable to have the testicles burst 

 in the operation than younger ones, but they are also more apt to bleed to 

 death than those of from two to four months old. As the large vessel that 

 supplies the entrails with blood passes in the neighborhood of the testicles ; 

 there is danger that a young beginner may pierce this with the pointed in- 



