them a fair and impartial trial. They may be had till Christmas, after which they are good for nothing. A bird weighing 28 lbs. before Christmas, has been known to shrink to 17 or 18 pounds by the end of January, in spite of high feeding. Therefore, "make hay while the sun shines," Mr. Epicure. As in the spring, the snowdrop gives way to the primrose and the violet, so, in autumn, the swan yields its place on the board to the turkey and the Guinea fowl. If to-day is lost, tomorrow the opportunity will have flown, in higher concerns than in mere eating and drinking. Now-or, perhaps, never. The " swan feasts," which sometimes have occurred in England, that seem to have left the most pleasing impressions on the palates of the partakers have been solemnised in the course of the month of September. As to the mode of dressing, those artists, who are skilled in the treatment of venison, will easily cook swan, namely, with a meal crust over it to keep the gravy in. Instead of stuffing it with sage and onions, like goose, (vulgar condiments to vulgar birds,) use rump steak chopped fine, and seasoned with Cayenne and salt. When browned, and served to an admiring circle, let it have rich gravy and currant jelly, the latter hot as well as cold, in respectful attendance. And is that all? No; the best remains behind. The hash, next day, is worth riding twenty miles to eat. Nay, more; the giblets make soup before which ox tail sinks into insignificance. The mere writing about it has made me hungry. CAPONISING FOWLS. HISTORY. To my own taste, their flesh is insipid, flavorless, and fulsome, DIXON. THE art of making capons has been practised from the earliest antiquity, in Greece, India, and China, for the purpose of improving the flesh of birds for the table, in tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. But capons, in point of fact, are getting out of date, and are taking rank with oxen roasted whole, and other barbarisms of the middle ages. They are now rarely to be found in the London markets; and when procurable, are very expensive, but not unjustly so, when it is to be remembered that two or three chickens may have been sacrificed, before ten capons have been nursed into convalescence. That they may be had in considerable abundance, in China, the south of Europe, and in a few instances in our own country, is not to be denied; but wherever they may be found, they cannot be classed otherwise than in the list of uncalled-for luxuries, of unnecessarily unnatural vinds, such as diseased-goose liver pies, fish crimped al. re, or even those frightful and portentous dishes recalled by Dr. Kitchener, in the "Cook's Oracle." One thing, however, may be harmlessly resuscitated. As the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head," so the capon, which, though ugly, is not half venomous enough, if we can be made to believe all we read, carries a valuable gem in the part that is usually antithetically opposed to the head. From a very curious and ancient work on natural history, in my possession, entitled "Ortus Sanitatis," (the garden of health,) printed and published at Ausburg, in 1485, by Joan. Cuba, a Dutch botanist, who travelled through Greece and the East, I give above, a fac-simile of a wood engraving, representing the act of extracting a precious stone from the liver of a capon. "The Allectorius," says the author, "is a stone like a crystal, or limpid water. It is found in the liver of a capon at the age of three years. It is never larger than a bean. After this stone is formed in the capon, he never drinks." The Ortus Sanitatis further informs us that ladies, who wear the jewel Allectorius, are sure to be pleasing in the eyes of their husbands. Aldrovandi tells us that in capons, which were more the fashion in his day than they are now, the hackle, the tail feathers, and the spurs grew to a much greater length than in cocks. In England, the art of making capons, it seems, is no new thing, as the business of which formerly devolved upon females; for old Leonard Mascall, in his minute directions for the operation, uses the feminine gender throughout. MODE OF MAKING CAPONS AND POULARDES. IF young cocks are emasculated, so as to deprive them of their natural reproductive feelings, it has a wonderful effect on their condition, rendering them also more easy to fatten. They are never afterwards subject to the natural process of moulting, and lose their previous strong shrill voice. They become dull and melancholy, are detested by the hens, buffeted about by the other cocks, and would soon fall victims to their enmity, were they not removed to perform the remaining business of their lives, "to eat, drink, sleep, and get fat," with all possible expedition. In this state, they are called "capons." In a similar manner, young pullets may be caponised, so as to deprive them of their reproductive powers, and render them more easy to fatten. When thus operated upon, they are usually, though improperly, termed "hen capons," but the French word, "poularde," is much to be preferred. In performing the operation, the first thing to be considered is the purchase or procurement of the requisite instruments. Those most approved of by skillful operators, consist of two five or seven-pound weights for confining the fowls; a scalpel for cutting open the SCALPEL. thin skin which envelopes the testicles; a silver retractor for stretching open the wound wide enough to ope RETRACTOR. rate within; a pair of spring forceps, denoted by the letter a, in the following page, having a sharp, cutting edge, resembling that of a chisel, with a bevel half an inch in its greatest width, for making the incision, |