The feeding of capons differs little from the feeding of other growing chickens. Corn, wheat, barley and Kaffir-corn would be suitable grain, while beef-scrap would be necessary to produce the best growth. About three weeks before marketing place the capons in small yards and feed them three or four times a day, giving plenty of corn and other feed, or fatten them in one of the ways indicated in the section on fattening poultry. Corn meal and ground oats, equal parts by weight, moistened with water or milk, make a good mash for fattening capons. In dressing capons leave the head and hackle feathers, the feathers on the wings to the second joint, the tail feathers, including those a little way up the back, and the feathers on the legs halfway up to the thigh. These feathers serve to distinguish capons from other fowls in the market. Do not cut the head off, for this is also a distinguishing feature of the capon, on account of the undeveloped comb and wattles. The price received for capons is greater than any other kind of poultry meat except early broilers. There may be trouble in some localities in getting dealers to recognize capons as such and pay an advanced price. On several farms in Massachusetts, 500 to 1,000 capons are raised annually, and on one farm 5,000 cockerels are held for caponizing. The industry is growing rapidly year by year and the supply does not equal the demand. It is to be expected that the amount of caponizing done in the West will gradually increase. Those wishing to try the growing of capons will do well to secure an experienced operator. Good men at this work receive five cents per bird. Poor operators are dear at any price, as they produce a large number of worthless slips. CHAPTER X MARKETING POULTRY CARCASSES In the marketing of poultry carcasses as in other phases of the industry, we really have two systems to discuss. The one is used for the marketing of the product of the farm of the Central West, and the other the product of the poultryman or eastern farmer, who is near a large market and who will be repaid for taking special pains in preparing his poultry for market. Farm-Grown Chickens. At the present time almost the entire poultry crop of the Central West is sold from the farm as live poultry. This farm stock is purchased by produce buyers or general merchants and shipped to the nearest county seat or other important town, where there are usually one or more poultry-killing establishments. These establishments may vary from a simple shed, where the chickens are picked and packed in barrels, to the more modern poultry-packing establishment, with its accommodations for fattening, dressing, packing, freezing, and storing. The poultry-buying stations may be branches of the larger packing establishments, branch houses of large produce firms, or small firms operating independently and selling in the open market.