CAPONIZATION. 115 



obvious not only to the taste, but to the smell. 

 It may, however, be given to young chick- 

 ens with advantage until it is time to place 

 them in the fattening-coops, when the fla- 

 vour will disappear with a change of food. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Caponization. Its Origin. The Instruments. Operating-table. 

 Precautions. The Operation. Change in its Habits. In- 

 creased Size and Value. Operation on the Female. 



THE castration of fowls, as one of the 

 means of producing a large and well-fla- 

 voured animal, has been practised by the 

 Chinese from the remotest antiquity. It 

 does not, however, seem to have been in- 

 troduced into Europe until a comparatively 

 recent period. Columella, who wrote pro- 

 fessedly on rural affairs about 1800 years 

 ago, gravely asserts that capons are made 

 by cutting off the spurs, and searing them 

 to the quick. This is scarcely inferior to 

 ?he direction for performing the operation 



