CASTRATION. 227 



however, slioiildnot be too hot, nor the flies too numerous. We enter our 

 decided protest ag-ainst the recommendation of some valuable, but incau- 

 tious agricultural writers, that ' colts should be cut in the months of 

 June or July, when flies pester the horses, and cause them to be conti- 

 nually moving- about, and thereby prevent swelling-.' One moment's re- 

 flection will convince the reader that nothing- can be more likely to produce 

 inflammation, and consequent swelling and danger, than the torture of 

 the flies hovering round and stinging the sore part. 



If the horse is designed either for the carriage or for heavy draught, 

 the farmer should not think of castrating him until he be at least a twelve- 

 month 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 have begun too decidedly to have a will of his own. No 

 specihc 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 ne- 

 cessary, 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 which he will take in grazing will be preferable to perfect inaction. 

 A large and well-ventilated box, however, may be permitted. 



The manner in which the operation is performed 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 tes- 

 ticle, 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, and, in a few days, the tes- 

 ticles and the bag drop off: but the animal suffers sadly, — it is occasion- 

 ally necessary to tighten the cord on the second or third day, and inflam- 

 mation and death have frequently ensued. 



Chapter XIII. 

 THE FORE LEGS. 



We arrive now at those parts of the frame most essentially connected 

 ■with the action and value of the horse, and oftenest, and most annoyingly, 

 the subjects of disease. The extremities contain the whole apparatus of 

 motion, and it is with the action, and speed, and strength of the horse that 

 we are most concerned. 



Q 2 



