Castration by cauterization is the method which has been principally practised among us; and as it is that taught at our alma mater, we may naturally suppose it has proved worthy of the patronage it has received. It is that I always practised, and was successful with it. But this by no means proves it the best; although good it must be, since I never had an untoward case in it; and the more, as, when I was called on to perform it, it was usually on adult horses, mostly on aged ones. Other plans may be still better: it is my duty, assuming as I do, to be a teacher, to bring them forward to view, that they may be compared together. A preliminary observation should be made previously to castrating, to see that the horse has no hernia or rupture: such cases have happened; and as in our method we open a direct communication with the abdomen, when the horse rises it is not improbable that his bowels protrude until they trail on the floor. If a colt cannot be enticed with oats, &c., he must be driven into a corner between two steady horses, where, if a halter cannot be put on, at least a running hempen noose can be got round his neck; but, whichever is used, it should be flat, or the struggles, which are often long and violent, may bruise the neck, and produce abscess or poll evil. When his exertions have tired him, he may be then led to the operating spot: here his attention should be engaged while the hobbles are put on, if possible; if not, a long and strong cart-rope, having its middle portion formed into a noose sufficiently large to take in the head and neck, is to be slipped on, with the knotted part applied to the counter or breast, and the long pendent ends passed backwards between the fore legs, and, as expressed by Mr. Percivall, ‘extended obliquely backward, carried round the hind fetlocks within the hollows of the heels, brought forward again on the outside, passed under the collar rope, and a second time carried backwards over the outside of all, and extended to its full length in a direct line behind the animal.’ Thus fettered, Mr. Percivall says his hind feet may be drawn under him towards the elbows; I have, however, often found that, at the moment the rope touches the heels, the colt either kicks and displaces the rope, or altogether displaces himself; but his attention can generally be engaged by one fore leg being held up, or by having his ear or muzzle rubbed, or even by the twitch: if not, the rope may be carried actually around each fetlock, which then becomes a hobble; and this rope may be gradually tightened: in this way I have succeeded with very refractory colts; but it requires very able assistants, and, if possible, the man who has been used to the individual colt should be present. In either way, as soon as the rope is fixed, with a man to each end of it, behind the colt, let them, by a sudden and forcible effort in concert, approximate his hind legs to his fore, and thus throw him.