CASTRATING. 61 



. / 



larly good, and many considerable expectations arc 

 formed on the colt, it is always prudent to wait till 

 twelve months: at this period, if his fore parts are 

 correspondent with his hinder, proceed to castrate ; 

 but if he be not sufficiently well up before, or his neck 

 be too long and thin, and his shoulders spare, he will 

 assuredly improve by being allowed to remain whole 

 six or eight months longer. Another writer suggests 

 for experiment, the spaying of mares, thinking they 

 would work better, and have more wind than geldings. 

 But he does not appear to have been aware that this is 

 by no means a new experiment ; for Tusser, who wrote 

 in 1562, speaks of gelding fillies as a common practice 

 at that period. The main objection to this operation 

 is not that brood mares would become scarce, as he 

 supposes ; but that, by incapacitating them from breed- 

 ing, in case of accident, and in old age, the loss in this 

 expensive species of live stock would be greatly 

 enhanced. An old or lame mare would then be as 

 worthless as an old or lame gelding is at present. 



[ The following mode of castrating colts is taken from Mr. Skinner's 

 American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine.] 



The operator must in the first place provide himself 

 with a strong rope, a couple of clamps for each colt, 

 (if he intends altering more than one,) a little paste, a 

 ball of twine or good thread, and a phial of the following 

 mixture : 



R. Two tea-spoonfuls of red precipitate, 



One do. nf corrosive sublimate, 



to be well ground separately, and then intimately 

 mixed. The clamp is made thus: Take a piece or 



