96 POULTRY BREEDING 
stituent of a ration in winter, as it is fattening, containing 
the substances that go to maintain vital heat and energy. 
CAPONS.—Capons have been a favorite dainty with 
epicures for several centuries, but it is not known who 
introduced them. Shakespeare speaks of one of his 
characters as having a “good round belly with fat capon 
lined,” indicating that the man able to have capon 
served on his table was likely to present an appearance 
of being well-fed. It is a common belief that capons 
make an extraordinary growth after being operated on, 
but this is a mistake. Capons may possibly make a 
slightly larger growth than an uncaponized cock would 
if he were well fed, but the difference is not great in any 
case. Capons do take on a heavy weight of fat because 
they become quiet and listless after being caponized and 
do not take exercise enough to reduce their weight. 
Caponizing does not tend to increase of weight so much 
as to the lengthening of the period of growth. It is 
comparatively easy, for example, to make a Plymouth 
Rock cock weigh 10 pounds at a year old by feeding 
heavily, and a capon of the same breed, fed in the same 
liberal manner, would probably not weigh more than a 
pound more than the cock at the same age. The advan- 
tage of caponizing is that the flesh of the capon retains 
that tender, sweet and palatable character which makes 
spring chickens so popular. 
Capons usually sell for two or three times the prices 
of cocks of the same age. As a concrete example a 
neighbor sold a lot of capons for 21 cents a pound at a 
time when cocks were selling for 8 cents as the top of 
the market. Caponizing is slowly gaining favor and 
more capons appear in the market from year to vear. 
Farmers are conservative and do not readily take the 
