The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-11-28
AL ABOUT CAPONS.
How thu, Caponizing Is Done Best Erceds
to Operate On Growth of Capons.

How tt,,, Caponizing Is pone-Bcst rrceds
to Operate on Growth of Capons.
r. Greincr of New York, whose ex-
periments are always worth knowing
about, gives very interesting account
of raising capons in a communication to
Country Gentleman. His first trial was
made last year with many precautions
This year, however, he has got at it in
business way and makes short and
successful work of it, He writes:
My way has been to shut up from
to / 2 coclorcls at right, leave them with
ont food and drink until the second day
following aud then CapOnize them. AS
soon as caponized the birds are placed
in small pen with an earthen floor,
where they are well fed with soft food
for few days, during which time they
are examined once or twice and rellCv.
ed of "wind puff, " if such happened to
occur, by slit made into the putiod up
skin with the point of keen bladcd
penkuife In week or less we give the
birds their liberty and let another lot,
Just caponi@ d. take their places. l find,
hove ever, that the birds when sltillfully
operated OH are so little affected by be-
ing caponizod that they will eat on the
operating table while undergoing the
operation Whether kept in confinement
for few days or given their liberty at
once, whether fed soft food or whole
grain, they are sure to heal mp and re.
cover perfectly III abou6 a weeks time.
Usually ! open the birds on both
sides, finding it safer and more eXpedi.
tious than to try to remove both tcstl-
Giles from one side, Only when the low
er tosticlo appears i'll plain sight and in
favorable position do l take both
from ono opening, but even then, con-
trary to the ordinary directions, l take
the upper one first, as | find no difficult
ty to remove blood (should any appear
by means Of soaking it up with little
pieco of moist sponge, and thus bring
the lower testicle III plain sight again.
When | first began, used the horse
hair canula. / am now using thin tin
ned wire, such as beeloepers use for
fastening artificial comb foundations III
their frames, and find it far superior
to the manufacturers wire and to horse
| hair as well. Its use smplities and
shortens the task materially for the
horsehair often breaks and frequently
requires repeated trials before it can be
! slipped around the tcsticle.
For years I have kept the Black
| Langshans, and | yet consider them the
best general purpose fowl. AS winter
| layers they are to hard to excel but if |
were to make a business Of raising broil-
ers l think would prefer Plymouth
| Rocks. Lcghorns are too small. For a
heavy, plump lodied broiler or capon
| the Indian game will be hard to beat,
and its crosses are also excellent, but a.
| egg layers the breed ranks very, very
| low. We can caponiZe Langhans, Co.
chins, Plymouth Rocks, Games, Ley
horns, etc, and their crosses with
about equal ease. Only the Brahmas
have given us some trouble on account
of the wormlike shape of their testicles.
| Game Langshan crosses sometimes have
too much flesh on the ribs to show the
latter well, and we sometimes make the
incision more by guesswork than by
sight or feeling of the exact spot
Dealers i'll clponizing supplies almost
invariably assert that capons grow fas
ter and reach greater weight than
ROSTERS, but such is not my experience.
| have not been able to discover much
difference in their respective rate of
growth. But it is certain that capons
| grow fatter and plumper, and that their
meat is much sweeter and more tender.
dislike the smell and flavor of ROSTERS
when it comes along i'll the winter or
toward spring, but 1 can find no fault
with the taste Of capon meat. The price
alone, compared with that of rooster
meat, proves the superior table quality
of the capon.