| NATIONAL STANDARD Yoley Ns 31016) ;¢ - ELMER C. RICE Class r4+67 “Rae - lr iw ~ Goprisht NO PS COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: . Se 4 ed aa The National Standard Squab Book mT i — HH a Caen | a il} | | . — —— SSS = aS SSS ===————S8 ———> f | SS =— : S= SS = —— } | Mf HOTA HAN ee ) | Hl] 17, ih AT 2 | }) ai SS SSS SS Ste oh = oh Ome PST mf % sa ae : F é ast Sy SSS —_——S SS SS SSS ee SS ———— —— ——SS — Sz S A SSSR SSS} ——— —> ee ih AA I Ll i ee a : MHA a | A A li J i ll ELMER C. RICE FOUNDER OF THE SQUAB INDUSTRY IN AMERICA The National Standard Squab Book By ELMER Cc. RICE (Mail address, Post Office Box 175, Boston, Mass., U.S. A.) A PRACTICAL MANUAL GIVING COMPLETE AND PRECISE DIREC- TIONS FOR THE INSTALLATION AND MANAGEMENT OF A SUC- CESSFUL SQUAB PLANT. FACTS FROM EXPERIENCES OF MANY —_ HOW TO MAKE A PIGEON AND SQUAB BUSINESS PAY, DETAILS OF BUILDING, BUYING, HABITS OF BIRDS, MATING, WATERING, FEEDING, KILLING, COOL- ING, MARKETING, SHIPPING, CURING AILMENTS, AND OTHER INFORMATION EE Illustrated with New Sketches and Half Tone Plates from Photographs Specially Made for this Work BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 1913-1914 Copyright' 1901, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1902, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1903, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1904, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1905, by Elmer CG. Rice Copyright, 1906, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1907, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1909, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1910, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1911, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1913, by Elmer C. Ricc All rights reserved. ; © « o @ € e € in WSS of array and Emery Company Boston, Mass. ©l.A343733 ‘aie ERS Qe SAS Preface ‘ ‘ Chapter I. Squabs Pay Chapter II. An Easy Start Chapter III. The Unit House Chapter IV. Nest Bowls and Nests Chapter V. Water and Feed. Chapter VI. Laying and Hatching Chapter VII. Chapter VIII. Chapter IX. Chapter X. Chapter XI. Chapter XII. Supplement Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F CON TENSES Increase of Flock Killing and Cooling The Markets Pigeons’ Ailments Getting Ahead Questions and Answers Plymouth Rock Canheres Carneaux and Homers Not in Same Ben A Monthly Squab Magazine More About How to Tell Sex How to Keep Down an Excess of Cocks Squab Houses of Two and Three Stories Squabs Fed Artificially Nests on the Floor : : A Plan to Get Rid of Rats and Mice How to Make Perches Pittsburg Market Low Quotations How to Kill Cats Breeding True to Color Sulphur and Iron Water Pigeons that Fly Away No Coal Ashes Temporary Pen and Peedi Beni Twigs for Nesting Materials ; Clamoring for Squabs in Washington State Oklahoma and Indian Territory Appendix G ILLUSTRATIONS Page Page Page ALICE OD use the self-feeder as described by Mr. Rice in his Manual and we find with it the grain is always clean. We have made the feeding question one of the most important of all and find that the best results are obtained by keeping plenty of grain and good clean drinking water before the birds at all times. The drinking fountains used are automatic and are scalded once each week. About once a week we give a teaspoonful of gentian to a gallon of water. We keep fresh water in the flying pens for bathing purpose at all times during the summer, and in the winter we allow our birds to bathe twice a week at noontime. One thing that is very essential with pigeons is to be kept clean. Our houses and nests are cleaned every week and we also spray the floors, nests and walk with a liquid disinfectant. We have never been troubled with lice, vermin or any disease of any kind. For nesting material we use tobacco stems, cutting them into pieces of about six inches, which we consider the best material for the purpose, and also a safeguard against lice. We feel satisfied with what our birds are doing and have done in the past, so well satisfied, in fact, that we have now under construction build- ings that will accommodate nearly one thousand pairs of birds. And the cost of keeping or feeding will not exceed one dollar a year per pair, so that squabs selling from two dollars to three dollars per dozen are sure to leave a good profit.”’ Looking at the financial showing of the Lunn boys, made in twenty-two months, we find that starting with twelve pairs, for which they paid us thirty dollars, they raised three hundred pairs, worth at the same rate seven hundred and fifty dollars. From this must be deducted the grain which they bought in that period. They start the new year with a fine plant capable of earning a big percentage of profit on its valuation. CAP TNS Te AN EASY START. No. Special Form of Building Necessary— Points to Remember —Shelter Adapted to the Climate—How to Use a Building which you Now Have—Squab House and Flying Pen— Lining the Squab House with Nests— Use of Egg Crates— How to Put up the Perches—Dufference between the Nest Box, Nest Pan and Nest— How to Tell How Many Pigeons can Occupy a Certain Butlding—A Large Flock of Pigeons 1s Easily Cared for when Split up into Small Flocks— How to Use Your Time to Best Advantage. Do not get the idea that any special form of building is necessary to raise squabs. We will tell you how to put up a structure that will make your work easier for you, and enable you to handle a big flock fast and accurately, but pigeons will work in almost any place, if it is free from rats, darkness and the musty dampness which goes with darkness. Any building, whether a woodshed, a corn crib, a barn, an outhouse of any description, or even a hog pen, can be made a successful home for pigeons with a little work. The points to remember are these, first, that the building be on fairly level, sunny ground; second, that it be raised from the ground so that rats cannot breed under it out of sight and reach; third, that it ought to be fairly tight, so as to keep out rain and excessive cold. Pigeons ought to have sunlight and fresh air, like any other animal, and need protection from the elements. In practice, therefore, most squab houses are found raised on posts a foot or two feet off the ground; they face the south (here in New England) because most of our bitter weather comes from the north and east. If you live in a State, territory or foreign country where conditions are different, adapt your squab houses to those conditions. In some localities, the fierce weather comes from the south and west, in which case your squab house should face the north or east. Here in New England we build a tight house to withstand 21 a ———_—a CMM, AZZ MINT WZ hi a PRs A SA eZ ZEN SS Sar ee a ee) ae eS = CHEAP BUT PRACTICAL NEST BOXES. These are empty egg crates piled one atop another from floor to roof of squab house. Each egg crate is two feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep. The partition in the middle makes two nest boxes, each one foot square. Into each of these nest boxes a wood nest bowl is placed. The birds build their nests in these wood nest bowls. 22 AN BAS Y START 23 the cold winters, but in the South the buildings are more open. Be guided by what you see around you in the place where you live. If the houses used by your friends and neighbors for hens and chickens are tight and warm, make your squab house tight and warm. It would be foolish for you, for example, if you live in Texas, to build a strong, tight, close squab house, for in that latitude, in a henhouse built tight and close, vermin would swarm and harass the chicks, and they would harass the squabs just as fast. Some of our customers write from places like Oregon and Idaho, where there is a wet and a dry season, and are puzzled to know what to do. In such cases we say, arrange your buildings as you see poultry houses arranged. The pigeons will do as well under the same conditions as hens and chickens. Suppose you have a vacant building or shack of any kind in which you wish to raise squabs. We will take for granted that it has either a flat roof or a ridgepole with sloping roof, and that it is built in rectangular form. Never mind what the dimensions are; our advice will apply to either the large or the small structure. First raise it off the ground, or build a new floor off the ground, so that rats cannot breed out of your sight in the darkness and get up into the squab house. If there is an old floor, patch up all the holes in it. Now you need one door, to get yourself in and out of the squab house, and you need at least one window through which the pigeons can fly from the squab house into the flying pen and back from the flying pen into the house. You will shut this window on cold nights, or on cold winter days. You must cover the whole window with wire netting so that the birds cannot break the panes of glass by flying against them. If you have no wire netting over the window, some of the birds, when it is closed, will not figure out for themselves that the glass stops their progress, but will bang against the panes at full speed, sometimes hurting their heads and dazing them and at other times breaking the glass. The flying pen which you will build on the window side of the squab house may be as small or as large as you have room. The idea of it is not to give the birds an opportunity for long flight, but simply to get them out into the open air and sun- light. They enjoy the sun very much, it does them good \H, | a> Ne We 4 24 HOW CITY DWELLERS WITHOUT LAND MAY BREED SQUABS. ANDEAS Ye START: 25 and they court its direct rays all the time. Build the flying pen, if you choose, up over the roof, so the birds may sun themselves there. If that side of the roof which faces the flying pen is too steep for the pigeons to get a foothold, nail — footholds along the roof, same as carpenters use when they are shingling a roof, and the pigeons will rest on these to sun themselves. For the flying pen you want the ordinary poultry netting, either of one-inch or two-inch mesh. The two-inch mesh is almost invariably used by squab raisers, because it is very much cheaper than the one-inch mesh. The one-inch mesh is used only by squab raisers who are afraid that small birds (the English sparrows here in New England) will steal through the large meshes of the two-inch netting and eat the grain which you have bought for the pigeons. You can buy this wire netting in rolls of any width from one foot up to six feet. If your flying pen is twelve feet high, you should use rolls of the six-foot wire. If it is ten feet high, rolls which are five feet wide are what you want. If your flying pen is to be eight feet high, buy rolls which are four feet wide. In joining one width of wire netting to its neighbor, in constructing your flying pen, do not cut small pieces of tie wire and tie them together, for that takes too much time and is a bungling job, but buy a coil of No. 18 or 20 iron wire and weave this irom one selvage to another of your wire netting in and out of the meshes, and you have the best joint. You can line the three walls of the interior of your squab house with nest boxes if you choose. The fourth wall is the one in which the window or windows are. On this fourth wall you should not have nest boxes, but perches. These perches, or roosts, should be tacked up about fifteen inches apart, so as ‘to give the birds room without interfering with one another. The advantage of the V-shaped roost which we advise is that a bird perched on it cannot soil the bird under- neath. We sell for five cents each pigeon perches as illus- trated on page 32 of this book, which is cheaper than they can be made of lumber. Please note particularly at this point the following terms which we use, and do not become confused. The nest box is something in which rests the nest bowl in which the nest is built. Do not speak or think of nests when you mean nest boxes. ‘Ndd ONIATA GNV (AVMOADVSS¥d HLIM) ASNOH AVNOS LINA AS UUIp. sing ~ EN TAIN ° q un) / Welt a — I <2 === ease = : areata; Sa ——S 26 ANAS Y START 27 The nest boxes, when done, should look like the pigeon-holes of a desk, and should be about one foot high, one foot wide and one foot deep. A variation either way of an inch or two will not matter. One way to get these pigeon-holes is to build them of nice pine lumber, in the form of boxing one-half or five-eighths of an inch thick. Another way is to use hemlock or spruce boards one inch thick. The third way (which we think is the best for the beginner who wishes to start most cheaply and quickly) is to use egg crates, or orange boxes. These egg crates are two feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep, but they are divided in the middle by a partition, giving two spaces, each of a cubic foot, and this is just what the squab raiser wants. They are procurable almost anywhere in the United States and Canada new for ten or fifteen cents each, and if you buy them after the egg shippers are through with them, you can get them for three to five cents apiece. Some grocers will be glad to have you carry them away and will charge you nothing for them. The crates are built of thin, tough wood and usually are neat and solid. Take off the covers and throw the covers away,—you do not need them. Then put one egg crate on its side, open top out, place another egg crate on top of that, and so on until you have covered the three walls of your squab house from the floor to the roof. Do not use any nails, they are not necessary: the crates will keep in position by their weight. It is an advantage, also, to have them loose, for when you clean the nests, you can step up on a chair or box, take down the crates, commencing with the top, and clean each one with your feet on the floor. If you build a substantial set of nest boxes of boxing or hemlock lumber, you will have to stand on a chair and strain your arms in order to clean the top nest boxes, so you see there are points in the low-priced arrangement not possessed by the fancy kind. It is on the same principle by which a humble small boy with bent pin and worms and an old pole catches more fish than the city angler with a twenty- five dollar assortment of hooks, lines and artificial flies. It is the pigeons and the intelligence behind them which do the trick, every time. A fancy pigeon house with fancy trimmings cannot produce any better squabs than the home-made affair, provided the birds are the same in both cases. re : << ’ BOXES BUILT OF LUMBER This shows the fron the nest boxes as they face the interior of the squab >, They are pee » twelve inches square, and the same distance deep 1 does n 1a vibes The fronts of the nest boxes are. perfectly plain, WIN BAS Y START, 29 You should have a pair of nest boxes for a pair of pigeons. By a pair of pigeons we mean two pigeons, a male and a female. By a pair of nest boxes we mean two nest boxes. We find that the word pair has a different meaning to people in different parts of the country, perhaps on the same principle that a pair of scissors or a pair of suspenders is one object, while a pair of something else, as in this case, means two objects. A pair of pigeons attend to a pair of squabs in one nest box, nevertheless for each pair of pigeons you need two nest boxes, for when the squabs are about two weeks old in one nest, the old birds will go to the adjoining nest box, or to a nest box in a distant part of the squab house, and begin housekeeping again, laying eggs and dividing their attention between the two families. Count your nest boxes and you will know how many pigeons your house will accommodate. If your count shows ninety-six nest boxes (in other words, forty-eight pairs of nest boxes), you can accommodate (in theory) forty-eight pairs of pigeons. It is important to remember this: Never fill a house with pigeons to the uttermost limit of its capacity, as shown by count of nest boxes. If you have, for example, forty-eight pairs of nest boxes, do not put into that house more than thirty to forty pairs of pigeons. That will leave plenty of nest boxes for the birds to choose from. We have found by experience that thirty or thirty-five pairs in a ninety-six nest-box house will accomplish more than more pairs in the same space. Do not write us and tell us that you have a house of a certain size and ask us to tell you how many pairs of pigeons it will accommodate. Put in your nest boxes as we have described and then count them, and you will know. Or you may figure it out for yourself on paper, allowing two nest boxes, each one cubic foot in size, for each pair of birds. To put it in another way, you should allow one cubic foot of nest box space for each breeding pigeon. Surely we have made this so plain now that you cannot go astray. Perhaps your start will be made with so small a number of birds that you will not have to cover more than one wall of your squab house with nest boxes. Cover one wall, or two walls, or three walls, whichever the occasion demands. Have a lot of spare boxes, and let the breeding pairs choose where SINGLE NEST-BOX CONSTRUCTION. (SEE UPPER PICTURE). When the nest boxes are built of lumber (one-half an inch or five-eighths of an inch thick) the construc- tion shown in the upper drawing (surrounded by black line) should be em- ployed. The bottoms are not nailed, but slide in on cleats as shown. The re- sult isasliding shelf. This shelf may be pulled out at cleaning time and a better and quicker job of cleaning done. The nest bowls: may be screwed directly to the bottoms of the nest boxes. If that is done, it will not be necessary to screw the nest bowls to blocks of wood, to give them stability. The nest boxes should be from ten inches to twelve inches square. DOUBLE NEST-BOX CONSTRUCTION. (SEE LOWER PICTURE.) Thisdouble boxis favored by many. It is comparatively new in de- sign. The picture was drawn and this description was written in February, 1913. Pages 45 to 50 of Ht this book were put into ae type and plates made be- il) fore that date. This pa | double nest box is a good j one. The box has two feet frontage. The re- movable centre piece is fourinches high, two feet frontage and one foot deep. The shelf or base- board, also removable, is deep enough so that a porch (or perch) four inches wide is left for the birds to alight on. This shelf, or baseboard, slides on cleats, so the whole arrangement, except the vertical uprights, takes apart for cleaning. The nestbowls, twoin number, are screwed to the baseboard in the centre of the two squares formed by the removable centre piece. Some builders prefer the single nest-box construction, others the double. It is a matter of individual preference. Each style is good and we endorse both of them. 30 ALN CE AS SRARL 31 they will, An extra number of nest boxes may be useful to you to accommodate the young birds raised to breeding age from the old birds which you buy of us, if you intend to raise your squabs to breeding age. An expenditure of not over five dollars, and a couple of days’ time, will transform the average old building into a habitation for squabs. Put on the finishing touches and add to the expense to suit your fancy. You may cover the out- side of the building with building paper, and shingle or clap- board it. You may putaskylight in the roof for ventilation, Improve it all you wish. Use your own judgment. To get at your pigeons in such a house, you walk in through the door and find yourself directly among them, the nest boxes all pointing at you. Go to the nest which you wish to investigate or from which you wish to take out the squabs and put your hand in the opening. The old birds will fly by your head, perhaps, and may strike you with their wings, but they will not fly into your face and eyes,—they are good dodgers. Don’t be afraid that if you enter the house when the housekeeping is going on you will frighten the birds so they never will come back to the eggs or the squabs. They will seem timid at first, but they will get accustomed to you. In the course of a few weeks, only a few will make a great hustle to get away from you. Many of them will continue to sit contentedly on the eggs and if you put up your hand to them they will not fly off in fear but will slap you with their wings, telling you in their language not to bother them. Carry some hempseed in with you and you will teach the birds to come and eat it out of your hand. You can tame them and teach them to love you as any animal is taught. The pigeon, particularly the Homer, the king of them all, is a knowing bird. We sell perches of our own manufacture which are cheaper than they can be made at home out of lumber. Price, five cents each, ten for fifty cents, twenty for one dollar, one hundred for five dollars. Sample by mail for eight cents. These perches are pictured in position’in the squabhouse on the next page (32). They are just screwed into the wall wherever convenient. Put up as many perchesas you please about eighteen inches or two feet apart on the inside of your squabhouse, on the walls. The arrangement should be about ‘SHHOUUd ONIMOHS ‘ASNOH AVNOS JO AOIUALNI HAY) : YW) M) Wy) y a Ms Wy IL— i ———SS= Sa] = —— Se SS y Po ts Y) hy fo fiex 8," SE, ‘a ~ Z LS Se Xe Se iw aer s Se SSE TOE EES Ls 82 AN EASY START ae as shown in the illustration. You cannot have one long pole inside the squab house for a pigeon perch. If you had such a pole, and your pigeons were perched on it, or some of them were, a bully cock would saunter down the line and push off all the others. In the centre of the squab house you place an empty crate or overturned box. The object of this is to break the force of the wind made by the pigeons’ wings as they fly in and out of the squab house. Otherwise the floor of the squab house would be swept clean by the force of the wind. It also forms a roosting-place for the birds, and, finally, it is a convenient resting-place for the straw, hay, grass cr pine needles out of which the pigeons build their nests. The floor of the squab house should be kept clean. We formerly advised that a layer of sand or sawdust half an inch thick be kept on the floor of the squab house, to absorb the droppings, but we have found a steady and profitable demand for pigeon manure, and this manure is worth scraping up and carefully saving, for its sale will pay from one-quarter to one-third of the grain bill. Use an ice chisel to scrape the droppings from the floor, and pack the manure away in barrels or bags. Clean the floor about once in three weeks, or oftener, depending on the size of your flock. Pigeon manure is in active demand all the time by tanneries. We send the manure from our pigeons by freight to tanneries in Lowell, Lynn, Peabody and Danvers, and are paid for it at the rate of sixty cents a bushel. We have a building eighty feet long built especially for the drying and storing of the manure. During the years we have been in the squab business, we have sold enough pigeon manure to pay for nearly all the pigeon buildings on our farm. Some pigeon raisers with crude methods know nothing of the ‘alue of the manure and lose this by-product. They either ruin it by putting sand or sawdust on the floor of the squab house, or else waste it on their gardens. The pure manure is too valuable for home use. To fertilize our flower and vegetable gardens, and hay field, we scrape up from the flying pens, outdoors, the gravel which has become saturated with manure. It is surprising what an increase in vegetation this manure-soaked gravel will cause. Fresh gravel is put down in the flying pens, 34° NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOCK A peculiarity about pigeon manure is that it is not foul- smelling like hen manure, and when it is mixed with water you get a kind of crude soap. In washing the old-style earthenware nest bowls, no soap was necessary. We used warm water in washing them and the manure caked to them formed a cleansing soap in conjunction with the water. If you have a basket in which you have transported pigeons, and whose bottom is caked with the hard droppings, lay the basket face down and sprinkle water liberally on the under- side. The manure will drop off in large pieces from the inside and the basket will become perfectly clean. In raising live-stock of any kind, arrange matters so the animals will look after themselves as much as possible. Aim to cut down the factor of personal drudgery, so as to leave your time clear to observe, plan, and execute intelligently. Beginners who load themselves dow: with a daily round of exacting duties soon lose heart, tl eir patience gives out and they become disgusted. We have known breeders of rabbits . to fail simply because they raised them in hutches. Each hutch had a door and two dishes, one for feed, the other for water. Every day, the door of the hutch had to be opened, the hutch cleaned, the dishes refilled (and often cleaned), and the door closed. It took fifteen or twenty motions to do this for each hutch. Multiply this by twenty to thirty (the number of the hutches), and the burden grew unbearable. It was not surprising that in three or four months the breeder’s patience was worn out. The factor of personal drudgery had become greater than the rabbits. The thoughtful breeder would have turned his rabbits into two or three enclosures on the ground and let them shift for themselves. Then one set of motions in feeding would have answered for all, and there would have been no dirt to clean up. Infinite patience as well as skill is required to make a success of animals given individual attention. The aim of every breeder should be to make one minute of his time serve the greatest possible num- ber of animals. When you think and reason for yourself, you understand how much more practical it is to give sixty animals one minute of your time than one animal one minute. Time is money and if you are too particular, and too fussy, and thoughtless about these details, it is a clear case of the chances being sixty to one against you. AN: BAS Y START 35 At the start, the problem of breeding squabs for market is in your favor, because one hundred pairs of breeding pigeons may be handled as easily and as rapidly as one pair. Try to keep this numerical advantage in your favor all the time. Discard every plan that cuts down the efficiency of your own labor, and adopt every device that will give you control in the same time over a greater number of pigeons. It takes brains and skilled labor to run a poultry plant successfully. Every poultryman knows that he cannot entrust the regulation of temperatures of incubators and brooders to an ignorant hired man, but even a boy or girl, or under-the-average farm hand, knows enough to fill up the bath pans and feeding troughs for squab-breeders, leaving the time of the owner free for correspondence and the more skilful work. The primary object is to breed squabs for market as cheaply, as easily and as fast as possible, without the expenditure of a dollar for fanciful or impractical appurtenances. Do not think it is necessary to heat your squab house. A squab house which has the chill of dampness taken off it by hot water or steam pipes will raise more squabs than a house not heated, but a flock of pigeons in a small house throw off considerable heat from their bodies and will breed in cold weather all right. After you have developed your plant and have a large business which you wish to keep at the highest state of efficiency, you may heat your squab house. The idea of heat in winter time is to keep the birds more contented and get more squabs out of them, and not at all to keep them alive. Do not be afraid that your pigeons will freeze to death. We have many customers in Canada. In coldest weather, the old birds hover the squabs more carefully. City people can keep pigeons in the garret of a house, or the loft of a barn, without a foot of ground being needed. In such a case the flying pen, or place to which the pigeons go for sun and air, can be built out on a platform. The illus- tration (page °4) shows how to utilize a window of a garret. If you think that rats will trouble you in either a garret or barn loft, cover the floor inside, especially the corners, with fine wire netting through which it will be impossible for the rats to gnaw from below. One of our customers in Illinois, a rich horse breeder having 36 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK a barn some two hundred feet long, turned the whole upper story into a loft for pigeons. The flying pen takes in the whole back of the barn. There are windows and no doors on this side of the barn, the horses using doors on the other side, so this leaves the upper story of the barn, and its whole back-yard, free for the pigeons. \ A PRETTY SQUAB HOUSE AND FLYING PEN. CHAPTER Ii]. THE UNIT HOUSE. Best Possible Construction for a Squab Plant— The Wind- Break Formation: :of Roof -— Dimensions of the Unit — Multiplying the Unit to Increase the Capacity of Your Plant — A Passageway behind the Nest Boxes — Number- ing the Nest Boxes, and the Ma. agement of a Card Index to Corres pond — Cost of the Unit Construction is from Three Dollars to Five Dollars a eau # oot — a aes Drawings — The Nest Bowls. . If you have no building aeady Soeane which you can fix over for pigeons, you may erect a simple rectangular structure and line it with nest boxes as we have described in the last chapter. We will tell you in this chapter how to put up the finest kind of a pigeon structure. It is at the same time the most expensive. It is the best, the most workmanlike. In saying that it is expensive, we do not mean that money is thrown away on its construction, for that is not so. Itisa fit habitation for a money-making investment. This best method of construction results in what we call the unit house. You can multiply this unit as many times as you please and get as large a house as you wish, or you may add a unit from time to time, just as you add unit bookcases to accommodate the growth of the modern library shelves. You can erect these units separately, or attach one unit to the other so that you have one long building. The nest boxes are built of boxing and set in a vertical row at the back of the house, forming a wall between which and the north side of the house is a three-foot passageway. You can buy this boxing at a saw-mill all cut, ten by eleven inches, the dimensions of the nest, and if you get it in this shape you can put the boxes together with as much ease as a child builds a doll’s house. You will have no doubts as to the squareness and plumbness of the structure when you have it up. Take long lengths of boxing eleven inches wide for the shelving which should form the top and bottom of the nest boxes, then set the ten-inch by eleven-inch pieces the proper distance 37 *yue[d sIq & ULI0} 0} 109} BIOUI 10 OOS ‘00% ‘OOT UOlJoNIysu0d sty} pueyxq ‘HSQOOH LINO WIdILINW 38 PELE. CONE TOU SE 39 apart. The finished nest will be eleven inches from front to back, ten inches from top to bottom, and about ten inches from one partition to the other (or whatever distance the proper distribution of your nests in pairs permits). We have found five-eighths-inch boxing to be the best suited. Build the nest boxes up from floor to roof perfectly plain, just as the pigeon-holes of a desk run. The nest boxes should be perfectly plain, made of simple boxing in the manner described. Do not build up a piece of boxing at the front part of the nest to prevent the nest bowl from being pushed out. Early in our experience we built nests in this way, but soon changed them over to the simpler form, on account of the difficulty of keeping them clean. The droppings bank up at the front of such a nest box. Pigeons, especially a new flock in a new home, breed best in a house which is somewhat dark, and not too glaring with light. If your window is situated so as to let in a flood of light, you will get better and quicker results by shading it so that the interior will be dim. Some breeders advocate that the nest boxes have fronts of wood (removable) so that the nest box will be darkened. The same result will be accom- plished if the window of the house is shaded so as to temper the light and prevent it from streaming into the nest boxes. The dimensions of this unit squab house are as follows: Length, sixteen feet; width, twelve feet; length of flying pen from end of house to end of yard, twenty feet; distance from floor of squab house to ridgepole, twelve feet; two windows in south wall of squab house, each two feet two inches wide and three feet ten inches high. One window in north wall of squab house, two feet two inches wide and three feet ten inches high. There is a passageway on the north side of the squab house three feet wide, separating the north wall from the vertical row of nest boxes. The door of the squab house opens into this passageway so that you can enter the house without being seen by the birds, and without disturbing them. If you wish, you can set up rows of nest boxes on the east and west walls of the squab house and accommodate more pairs. You cannot have a passageway behind these nest boxes on the east and west walls, but will approach them from the front by entering the interior of the squab house through a wire door which leads from the passageway. INTERIOR OF MULTIPLE UNIT HOUSE. This is one of our houses. The drinking fountains stand in the passageway and their fronts project through the wire netting under the first row of nest boxes. The nest boxes are empty egg crates. The feed troughs are inside of each pen. In other houses, we set the feed troughs alongside the drinkers in the alleyway and cut away the netting so the birds can feed from them. We like the last arrange- ment best because the troughs can be filled more quickly from the passageway, and the time of opening and closing doors and going into pens is saved. PEON: GOUSE 4] Build the first unit so that you can extend it either to the east or west (as your land lies) to increase your accommoda- tions. Your squab house will always remain sixteen feet from north to south, but it may be either twelve feet from east to west, for one unit, or twenty-four feet for two units, or thirty-six feet for three units, and so on. Of course you can build one long house sixteen feet wide and in length any multiple of twelve, and keep all the birds you wish in it, but we do not advise such an arrangement. You can keep track of your pairs better if you split a big flock up into unit flocks. Fanciers breeding flying Homers from our birds, or squab- raisers who wish to keep track of every pair of birds, can provide a card index (the cards being perfectly blank and three by five inches in size), number the cards to corres spond with the nest boxes, and on these cards keep a record of what the birds in the nest boxes do. These cards, which are blank except for the numbers they bear, can be kept in a tray such as the manufacturers of card indexes advertise in the back pages of the magazines and you can pick out any card you wish, or turn to it, at once. It is much better than keeping a record in a book, for you cannot tear out the leaves of a book, as you can throw away a card, nor can you shift one page from one location to another, as you can a card in a tray. The floor of the squab house rests on cedar posts and is two feet from the ground. The floor is built of two thick- nesses of board, with building paper between. The walls of the squab house are built of boards which are covered with building paper and shingled. The roof is shingled. You can use clapboards on the sides, or common boards. The cost of such a squab house, complete with flying pen and all inside fittings, built in the best possible manner, will be from three dollars to five dollars a running foot. That is to say, a unit plant twelve feet long will cost from thirty-six to sixty dollars. A plant consisting of three units, thirty-six feet long, will cost from one hundred and eight to one hun- dred and fifty dollars. We publish and sell for ten centy working drawings showing just how to build a unit in every detail. On the same sheet are working drawings for building a simple squab house (without passageway) to cost from fifteen to twenty-five dollars. Also on the same sheet we give data showing how one of our friends built a ‘Jeoljovid se [Jam sv owospury ‘a[duls ynq YSno10Yy} SI UoONIySUOD oY, ‘SNVId UNO OL ONIGHOOOV LIING ‘SLINO NAL “HSNOH LINA ATdILTIOW THE UNIT HOUSE 43 squab house and pen capable of accommodating two hundred and twenty pairs of breeders at a cost of one hundred and thirty dollars. In ordering, simply say you wish plans and specifications for squab houses. . Some who wish the best construction write us to ask if a cement floor is not better than a wood floor. It is when properly laid, but not when laid thinly and poorly. A thin floor with a poor foundation looks good when freshly laid, but the first winter causes the dirt foundation to shrink and swell, then come cracks in the cement. Rats and mice burrow in the dirt up to the cement and find their way through the cracks to the squabs. In a short time, they are a nuisance. We have seen a squab house built with cement floor which cracked as described and every time the owner and his dog took a walk down the alleyway, they found rats to kill. Finally the whole lot of cement had to be pounded to pieces, shoveled up and carted off. The way to stop rats and mice is to erect the building on posts as we have described. Rats and mice live in the dirt and they cannot get up into the squab house. If a cement floor is properly laid of sufficient thickness on a good foundation according to our concrete block squab house building plans (see next page), it is proof against frost, will not crack, and will wear forever. In our early plans for the unit squab house, we provided for a building with a “‘ jog’ in the roof, making a long, low slope for the south side of the roof, and on this slope the birds would sun themselves and make love. This “ jog ”’ construction is more expensive than is needed, and now we have a better way. We have an ordinary pitch roof, sloping equally from the ridgepole to both north and south. We run the flying pen out on the south side, not from the ridgepole, but from the eaves, and then out in the tlying pen we erect perches as shown in the picture. The fact that the birds rest easily on these perches (as the photograph in Appen- dix A shows) is proof that they are contented and pleased by such an arrangement. We have found, too, that they can hear the squeaks of their young for food better than if they are up on the roof, and better attention to the squabs is the result. It was formerly thought unsafe to erect perch- ing poles in the flying pen directly in front of the windows, the fear being that birds darting suddenly out of the windows 44. NATIONALZSTANDARD SCOUAB_ BOOK would strike the perching poles and become injured. Such a fear goes on the assumption that a pigeon cannot take care of itself in flight. They are quick of eye and quick of wing, and are intelligent to a high degree, and we never knew a bird to be injured by flying against horizontal perches in the flying pen. They never strike them but always fly between them or alight on them. Please note particularly that if you erect one tong building which will be a multiple of units, you separate these units, both inside and outside of the squab house, not by board partitions, but by wire partitions. For instance, if you have a building one hundred feet long, ten units, you will separate the units by nine wire partitions, these partitions being erected both insidé and outside the house. Nore. On page 41 we tell of building plans which we sell for ten cents. Those plans show how to build the unit squab house of wood as shown on page 26 of this book, or, if the construction is extended, the multiple unit squab house of wood as pictured on page 42. Lately, on account of the increased cost of lumber and the wide spread of the use of cement. we have had calls for plans for a CONCRETE BLOCK SQUAB HOUSE. We now sell at ten cents plans for the unit squab house of concrete block construction. These show the perspective view as well as the ground floor plan and elevation. You will find probably in your town, or nearby, a dealer in the cement blocks of which this house is built. The general plan of this concrete block squab house is the same as our wooden squab house, with the exception that the south side has one large pivoted window frame to be covered with cloth (no glass) so as to accustom the pigeons to the prevailing tempecature of fresh air at all seasons of the year, and to secure at all times good ventilation. In ordering building plans, please specify whether you want the wood building plans or the concrete block building plans. They are ten cents each, or both for twenty cents. CHAP EERO: NEST BOWLS AND NESTS. Do Not Use the Old-Fashioned Nest Pans—-Obvious Faults of the Earthenware Nappy— The Wood-Fibre Nest Bowl —How the Pigeons Choose Nest Boxes—What to Use for Nesting Material— How the Birds Manage their Nests. For nest pans, do not use the heavy, deep, red clay, unglazed dishes which you may see offered for sale as pigeon nests. They are a relic of the past. In our early experience we used for a pigeon nest bowl the common kitchen yellow earthenware nappy. We _ em- ployed two sizes, the six-inch and the seven-inch, changing from the large one to the small one when the squabs were two weeks old. These earthenware nappies filled the bill in being cheap and shallow, and the pigeons deposited their manure in a circle outside and not inside the nest, but they have faults which are obvious. They are flat and not round- ing on the bottom. When the female pigeon turns the eggs (as she does daily, same as a hen, in order to give the heat of her body to the whole shell and to give fresh albumen to the germ) the eggs are liable to roll apart, making it necessary for the bird to gather them together again, and after two or three mishaps like this she is liable to desert them. The earthenware is cold, breakable and can be kept clean only with water. The washing of the nappies becomes a tedious task and is often neglected. In winter weather, the earthen- ware dishes become so cold that one’s fingers are numbed by handling them—and the squabs which’ sit in them are numbed, even frozen. Later we perfected a nest bowl made of wood which met every objection raised against earthenware. We sold thou- sands of them during the two years we had them on the market and they gave good satisfaction except when some were made of improperly seasoned lumber, in which’ case they would crack and split after a few months’ use. After study and experiment to remove this objection, we had expensive patterns and moulds made and began the manufacture of 45 OLD-STYLE NEST PAN. WATER DISH. LARGE NAPPY. SMALL NAPPY. Do not use either the old-style pigeon nest pan or open water dish. THE WOOD-FIBRE NEST BOWL. This is made in one size (nine inches diameter of bowl). To give stability, the bowl may be fastened to a base by one screw. The first picture shows the perspective view; the second picture shows one-half cut away. This is the most practical nest pan for squab raising and is having an enormous sale. The bowl may be screwed directly to the bottom of the nest box. (See page 48.) = BATH PAN AND DRINKER. HAND BASKET. One bath pan to every twelve pairs of birds is necessary. The hand basket (price $3.50) is used in large plants to carry the squabs from the nests to the killing place. The squabs should not be killed in sight of the parent birds. 46 WEST BOWLS “AND: NESTS 47 these bowls out of wood fibre. Their success was quickly demonstrated and now we sell nothing else. These wood- fibre nest bowls have all the advantages of the wood bowls and at the same time are practically indestructible, cannot warp or split. The wood fibre of which they are made is thick and exceedingly tough, being solidified under many tons’ pressure. After making they are treated with an odorless, anti-moisture compound and then baked to flint- like hardness. We sell these wood fibre nest bowls in one size only, nine inches in diameter. Price, eight cents each, ninety-six cents per dozen, eleven dollars and fifty-two cents per gross. We make prompt shipment from Boston same day order is received, in any quantity. No order is filled for less than one dozen. We have the exclusive manufacture and sale of these goods and they cannot be obtained elsewhere. The advantages of this nest pan are these: (1) The eggs roll to the centre and are always close together under the birds. (2) It is warmer than earthenware and eggs are not chilled. (3) It is cleaned without water by means of a trowel, and may then be whitewashed, if desired. (4) The claws of the old birds and squabs do not sprawl, and no cases of deformed - legs in the squabs are found. (5) It is unbreakable. (6) When shipped either short or long distances, no packiug is necessary, they are lighter and the freight bill is smaller. (7) And finally the birds ‘‘ take’ to them more readily than to earthenware, getting to work more quickly and producing more squabs. We make this wood fibre nest bowl in only one size as specified and illustrated (two sizes are not necessary because the feet of the squabs do not sprawl as in the case of the earthenware nappies). You will need one pair of nest bowls for every pair of pigeons (in other words, one nest bowl to every pigeon). If you order twenty-four pairs of breeders you will need forty-eight nest bowls. If you order ninety-six pairs of breeders you will need one hundred and ninety-two nest bowls. We know our birds will breed more successfully in these nest bowls than in earthenware, and to make it an object for you to buy them, you may deduct the freight charges on nest bowls from your order for birds. First order your nest bowls sent by freight, then when you order your breeders. 48° NATIONAL STANDARD: SOUAS BOOK send us your freight receipt and count the amount as cash. Or you may order your birds at the same time you do the nest bowls (and other supplies) and when you get your freight receipt send it to us. Orders for one dozen to four dozen bowls should go by express with the birds (tied to the basket), unless it is desired to have the bowls go with grain, grit, shells, etc., by freight. Place one nest bowl in each one of your nest boxes. Let the pairs choose to suit themselves. At the end of the month, when you take out the squabs, take out the nest bowl, clean it and put it back. Many customers who do not use egg crates or orange boxes, but build their nest boxes of half-inch or five-eighths lumber, have written us that they used the construction which we illustrate on page 30, and which is good, because cleaning can be better done. The bottoms of the nest boxes are removable and rest on cleats, as the picture shows. The cleats are seven-eighths or one inch square and are nailed to the uprights. When this construction 1s employed, it is not necessary that you have a block or base screwed to our wood-fibre nest bowl. The nest bowl may be screwed directly onto this removable bottom. If you use egg crates or solid-built nest boxes, you will have to give the wood-fibre nest bowl stability by screwing it to a base of wood seven inches square and about.three-quarters of an inch thick. When the squab house is ready for the birds, each of the nest boxes has one of these nest bowls. The pigeons build ’ their own nests in them, taking the nesting material and flying to the nest bowl with it. The average nest has from one to two inches of straw compactly and prettily laid by the birds. Some birds use more nesting material than others. After the squabs are hatched, they quickly show that Nature never intended them to have a dirty nest. When they wish to make manure, they back up to the edge of the nest and “‘shoot’”’ outward and over the edge of the nest bowl into the nest box, which is just where the breeder wants to find it. In a week or two there will be a circle of solid manure in the nest box, but it is out of the nest, and off and away from the feet of the squabs. As the squabs grow older, their claws tread and throw out the straw on which they were hatched, and the nest bowl gets bare again as it was in the first place. The small NEST BOWLS AND NESTS 49 amount of manure which then sticks to it is removed with a trowel. The use of this wood-fibre nest bowl has lightened the work a great deal for they never have to be washed. They should not be washed, for water weakens them, particularly at the bottom, where the screw hole is. A washer should be put under the screw head to hold the bowl tight and to prevent its turning while being cleaned. We ship these washers and screws with the bowls. The pigeons will not take with mathematical regularity pair by pair the nest boxes which you have provided. Some of them will take them in pairs, one adjoining the other. This makes it convenient for you in keeping track of them. Others will take one nest box in one part of the squab house but go to another part of the squab house for their second nest. Some will not take a nest box at all, but will build a rough nest on the floor of the squab house and rear their family there. Let them choose for themselves. The nests are built by the birds of straw, grass, hay or pine needles. The birds fly to the pile, select what wisps they want, then fly to the nest boxes and arrange the wisps in a nest bowl to suit themselves. Tobacco stems are recom- mended for nesting material, because the odor from them will have a tendency to drive away lice, but they are not necessary if the nest bowls are used and ordinary cleanliness observed. The tanners do not want manure mixed with tobacco stems which have dropped down from the nests. The stems, when wet in the vat, stain the hides. When tobacco stems are used for nesting material, it is impossible to prevent many of them from dropping to the floor, where they are tramped by the birds into the manure. The tanners do not care if some straw and hay are in the manure. Before cleaning out the squab house, the loose straw and feathers should be swept out with a broom. The best thing to keep the nesting material in is a berry crate. Fill it with straw and hay (use the fine oat, not rye straw, cut into six-inch lengths) and shut down the cover. Then when the birds want nesting material they will fly to the vertical openings in the sides of the berry crates, stick their bills in and make their selection. The cover of the berry crate prevents the birds from soiling the nesting material. 50s NATIONAL STANDAKD SOUAB BOOKS They will not build nests with dirty nesting material. It must be first-class, clean, dry and sweet or they will not use it. Some of our customers use pine needles successfully for nesting material. We have never tried them because they are not plentiful around our farm. Where they are in as dance, we recommend that they be tried. When a new lot of pigeons are placed in a squab houses they will cause annoyance, while they are learning their new home and getting ready to go to work, by making manure in the nest bowls, where they roost. This cannot be prevented. The remedy is, to clean once a week. Fill this berry crate with nesting material (straw cut into six-inch lengths, and hay, mixed about equally) and place it in centre of squab house. The cover prevents the birds from fouling the nesting material, They stick their bills through the slats, select the wisps they want, and fly to nests, CHAPTER WV: WATER AND FEED. Necessity of Pure Water and Plenty of 1t—The Kind o} Drinking Dish to Use and the Kind Not to Use—Manage- ment of the Drinking Fountain and Bath Pan—The Feed Trough and Self-Feeder—Feeding Habits—What Grains to Use—How to Mix Red Wheat and Cracked Corn— Use of Grit, Oyster Shell and Salt—How to Feed the Dainties —Keep Feed before Your Flock All the Time. Pure water and plenty of it is good for pigeons. When the weather is not too cold, it is the custom of pigeons to get into water, wherever it is. When they cannot bathe in it, they will stick their dirty feet into it. When they cannot get in their feet, they will douse their heads. They are after water all the time. When feeding the squabs, the old bird will fill up its crop with grain, then fly to the water and take a drink, then return and dole out to the squabs the watery and milky mixture on which they fatten. The source of drinking water should be separate from the bath pan. They will drink from the bath pan, to be sure, while the water remains comparatively clean, but after a few have bathed in it, it is unfit for any bird to drink, and inside of twenty minutes the pan is not only covered with a whitish, greasy scum, but is dyed greenish from the manure which has washed off their feet. There should be drinking water inside the squab house, provided you have not a running stream or some such clean water device in the flying pen. The kind of water dish you do not want in the squab house is the kind with the open top, into which the birds can wade, and which they can foul with their droppings. The best device we have found is the self-feeding fountain, such as we illus- trate on page 46. This fountain is made either of crockery or galvanized steel, or iron. Galvanized i1on or steel is better than crockery, because if water freezes in such a dish the dish will not be cracked. It will be seen by examination of the self-drinker that it is impossible for the pigeons to foul 51 52 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAB-EO OTe the water. The reservoir holds quite a supply of water, which feeds down as fast as it is drunk by the pigeons. We have seen beginners puzzled by these self-drinking dishes; they cannot imagine why the water does not all run out at once by the bottom hole. Itis a simple principle in hydraulics which you may demonstrate to your own satisfaction by fill ng an ordinary tumbler with water and then inverting it ina . saucer of water. There is no way for the air to get to the inside of the tumbler except by passing under the rim at the points where it touches the saucer, consequently it does not flow down unless the water is removed from the saucer, and then it ceases as soon as the water in the saucer rises ove the rim of the tumbler again. In fact, some self-drinkers for poultry are made of two pieces of pottery exactly on the principle of the tumbler and saucer. These fountains are not so practical as the fountain which we illustrate, because a pigeon can roost on the top of it and foul the saucer with its droppings. In the fountain which we picture it is impossible for droppings to reach the mouth containing the water, even if the pigeon is perched directly on top of the fountain. The barrel shape of the fountain makes it hard for more than one pigeon to perch at the same time on its top, but one pigeon usually is found there. He gets there, for the special purpose, it seems, of fouling the water, but the fountain beats him and he can’t do it. Neither can he put his feet into the water unless he is an extraordinary gymnast capable of holding his body out at an angle to the perpendicular. The result is, that in actual practice the water keeps clean, and there is a supply of it ready about all the time. . A fountain of a gallon capacity will keep two or three dozen pairs of breeders supplied all day. The fountain is filled by turning it on end and pouring water down into the opening. If you fill the fountain at the same time you fill the bath pan in the morning, you will have done your duty by the pigeons for the day. Cleanse these fountains at least once every two weeks with scalding hot water containing squab-fe-nol (pigeon disinfectant; see our price-list for description). The best place for the bath pan is out in the yard of the flying pen. A pan fifteen inches in diameter is right for a flock up to twelve pairs of birds. The pan should be from four to six inches deep, not over six inches, for a pigeon will WATER AND FEED 53 not bathe in water where it would be likely to drown if pushed or sat on by its mates. Having the bath pan in position on the ground of the flying pen, you take to it once each day, in the morning, a bucket of water, and pour the water into the pan Then you can go away to business, if you wish. The pigeons will fly to the pan from the interior of the house, or from the roof, wherever they happen to be. Some will splash right in. Others will perch on the rim and drink before they bathe. When the water gets dirty, they know enough not to drink, unless they are very sorely pressed indeed for water. The water gets quite dirty from the bath- ing. A thick, greasy, white scum forms. The pigeons do not rustle in the dirt, as a hen does, but rely on the water to keep them clean and dainty. They flap their wings in the water and enjoy it thoroughly. A pigeon will never run away from water, as you will discover if when you are water- ing your lawn you turn the hose on them. Let the dirty water stand in the bath pan all day if you choose, or you may go to it an hour or two after you have filled the pan, and empty the water. One bath a day is enough. If there is a stream of water running through your property handy to your squab house, build your flying pen out over it and you need never trouble with bath pans or drinking water. If it is a deep stream, you will have to contrive a shallow bath tub at the shore, or divert part of the stream into a shallow run. The squab raiser with a stream of water handy should by all means make use of it and save himself the work of carrying water in pails. The bath pan may rest in a basin, if you choose, and the overflow caused by the splashing of the wings may be con- ducted to a sewer and drained away. You may conduct water in pipes and have a faucet opening out over the bath pan, which faucet you may control either directly or from a central station. An easy home-made arrangement to be used in conjunction with the bath pan consists of a wet sink in which the bath pan sits, and out of which the splashed water runs. In the winter it may be advisable to give your pigeons their bath in the squab house instead of in the yard of the flying pen, in which case you should have some device on the wet-sink principle to prevent the floor of the squab house from getting damp. 54, NATIONAL STANDARKD SOQUAB BOOK In northern latitudes it is not necessary nor desirable for the pigeons to bathe on cold winter days. Wait until a warm and sunny day comes. It will do the birds no harm to go for weeks in the winter without bathing. Many of our customers write us that they allow their birds to bathe in the winter seldom or not at all. Feed may be given to pigeons in a less guarded way, for they do not soil the feed dish so freely as they do the drinking dishes. You may put the feed in open troughs (or on a flat board with a rim around it) in the squab house. If you observe them when eating, you will notice that they stand up to the feed in a somewhat orderly manner and peck at its contents. They do not sit in the dish and roll around in the feed as they do in the water. But they have one fault when eating and that is, to scatter the grains. They will push in their bills and toss them around in a search after tidbits, and scatter out on the floor kernel after kernel, and it will make your bump of economy ache to see this grain scattered around. . There do not seem to be any neat, saving pigeons which go to the floor in the wake of their prodigal brethren and eat the crumbs. They all have a fancy for the first table and they get right at it and scatter the grain like the rest of their fellows, and apparently the pigeon who scatters the most grain is the one which struts around with the biggest front. The way to fool them is to provide in the squab house a covered trough, that is, covered except at the slit or points where they stick in their bills for food. With a little ingenuity you can cover an ordinary v-shaped trough so that it will be hard for the pigeons to waste the grain. You may have a self-feeder made as big or as small as you choose and in which the grain will drop down as it is eaten. We will try to present the matter of feed as clearly and fully as it seems to us to be possible. A woman in Santa Cruz, California, said she would like to raise squabs, and would begin by ordering her feed of us, exactly as we recom- mended, to be sent to her by freight from Boston via the Southern Pacific. A man in Cleveland ordered a quantity of red wheat and cracked corn to be sent by freight from us, when there were thousands of bushels of both staples in elevators in his city, in fact most of the Boston supply had passed through his city. We did not like to run the chance of WATER AND FEED 55 losing the order for breeding stock either of the woman in Santa Cruz or of the gentleman in Cleveland, but we wrote to both that they ought not to go into the squab-raising business if they were to be dependent on us for grain, that it was too far to send and that if they would look around home they could get what they wanted. Here in New England we feed to pigeons cracked corn, red wheat, hemp-seed, Canada peas, kaffir corn, — the foregoing as a rule, and sometimes, when cheap, buckwheat, millet and barley. It was formerly thought that whole corn was not a good food for pigeons, on the theory that the old pigeons would eat the large kernels and then, perhaps, feed them to squabs, choking them. In practice, not one case in one hundred like that will be found. Whole corn is much relished by pigeons. They will eat it before they will eat anything else, except hempseed, and there is no danger in using it. In many sections of the country, we find, good cracked corn is not so easy to procure as good whole corn. The grain dealers take their poor whole corn, sometimes, and work it over into cracked corn. Gvod whole corn speaks for itself and when you buy it there is no doubt about it. All the time people write to us and say they never heard of red wheat. More write and say they don’t know what kaffir corn is. Others are puzzled by hemp-seed, they have never seen any. That is surprising to us here in New England, but no doubt we would be just as surprised if we were in our customers’ places. Let us see if we cannot level up the whole country on this question of feed for pigeons. As a rule, we say, feed the grains which are nearest you. This country has its corn belt, its wheat belt, its section where millet is raised. Buckwheat is plentiful in another section. For your leading grain, your staple, feed corn. The point to remember is to feed a variety of grains. Keep this word variety in your mind alt the time in dealing with your pigeons. Their appetites do not grow keen on a monotonous diet, they will not lay the eggs they should, and their health will not be good on it. Vary the diet. In order to find out what grains are convenient to you, go to your nearest grain dealer or country general store. The 56. NATIONAL STANDARD SOQUAS BOCK dealer in nine cases out of ten knows nothing about pigeons and their feed and if you give him the name of a strange grain, he will be liable to shy and say he never heard of it. The trouble with him is that he sells horse feed and is accustomed to handling only the grains which horses need. He can get the grains you wish by writing to his nearest port or railroad junction. There is nothing odd or out of the way about the grains. They are going from one point to another all the time. Sometimes they are scarce at certain periods of the year. For instance, nearly every fall there is no kaffir corn at a reasonable price obtainable in Boston, so we do not feed it to our pigeons then, but cut it out altogether in favor of the grains selling at a lower price. Most of the kaffir corn which we get in Boston comes from Kansas. It is a splendid feed for pigeons. Itis small and comparatively soft, and their crops make easy work of it. It is nourishing and they like it. Maybe your grain man sells a mixture for pigeons. If you will look in this mixture you will find probably kaffir corn, as well as buckwheat (in black kernels), also red wheat and Canada peas. A liberal supply of Canada peas and hemp-seed is necessary for a good egg production. Do not feed a great excess of corn, in the summer time. (By corn, we mean common Indian corn, not kaffir corn. Kaffir corn is harmless, even when forced on the birds.) The effect of corn is to heat the blood. This is what you want in the winter time, but not in the summer. Red wheat is better than white wheat to feed to pigeons because it is not so likely to cause diarrhoea. (See supple- ment of this book.) ; Beware of feeding too much wheat. Pigeons fed on an excess of wheat are constantly out of condition with continual diarrhoea and will lay no eggs while in that state. We recall vividly cases of pigeons doing poorly caused by the owner’s stupidity in feeding too much wheat. One customer in Kansas fed nothing but wheat and got his birds so weak that they could not fly off the ground. Another in California with a flock of over one hundred pairs had not been able in six months’ time to get more than one quarter of his birds at work. He complained bitterly that his birds were ‘“‘ not mated,” were all cocks, and so on, but after further correspondence WATER AND FEED 57 disclosed that he was feeding nothing but wheat, with the exception of a handful of peas in the middle of the week and a handful of hemp-seed on Sunday ! A properly balanced ration is necessary to egg production in the case of pigeons, same as poultry. Wheat is a good regulator for pigeons but corn is the great fattener and the main staple. When anybody fails with pigeons, if you pick up and handle the birds you will find in nine cases out of ten that they have sharp breastbones, which means that they are improperly nourished, out of condition, and of course cannot produce eggs because they have not the blood and fat to do it. All the grains which you feed should be old, hard, dry and sweet. If they smell sour or taste bad to your own tongue, don’t feed them to your pigeons. Above all, keep your grain dry. If you have the grain stored in bins which are damp from ground water, or which catch the drippings from the eaves, or through holes in the roof, first you will get sour grain and then some of the grain will sprout, and this sprouted grain will derange the bowels of your birds and bring on dysentery. Do not let rank little growths spring up in a dirty squab house or in the yard of your flying pen. Pigeons will peck at green leaves and grass and will not be harmed, but do not give them a chance to peck up sprouted grain and eat the sprout, grain and all, for if they do they will have diarrhcea. A pigeon in good condition and busy with a nest ordinarily will not touch a nasty little green sprout, but in the moulting season, when pigeons are in the dumps generally, and feeling like having a stimulant, they will experiment with these sprouts. Keep the floor of your squab house clean and the yard of the flying pen raked up and you need not worry about this matter. Ground oyster shell should be placed in a box handy for the pigeons to get at. The purpose of this oyster shell is to provide the constituents of the eggshell. The female pigeon needs it in order to form the egg. Grit is needed by the pigeons to enable them to reduce to powder the feed which they take into their crops The muscles of the crop work the grit on the grains and reduce the grains so that they mix with the digestive fluids. Cart two or three bushels of gravel or sharp sand into your flying pen and cover the ground with it. It is not necessary to Uv} SuOasid ul aIMsvetd pur 43n UeIPTIYI pure usulo B9Q B1OUI SI I1e I], M IoJ A][Vloedsa wary ay1 uo BUIIYA Ie *sjuvyd qenbs 431M sayeqsa AruNoo dn sul}1y Jo Aye1oeds B ayeUI OA, SUAWOLSNO YNO AO ANO AO WUVA 000‘00z8 GHL NO SANHOS 8g WATER AND FEED 59 cover the whole space of the ground of the flying pen. For fuller discussion of shells and grit, see supplement. It is poor policy to mix anything but wheat and corn together. If you make a mixture of peas and hemp- seed with cracked corn and wheat, you will find that the pigeons will dig down after the peas and hemp-seed and toss the other grain around and waste it. The only mixture, therefore, which we feed is a mixture of wheat and corn. Fill the self-feeder with whole corn and wheat, in the propor- tion of three parts of the corn to one of wheat. We call the wheat and corn staples, because with us in New England they form the major part of the diet, and are the cheapest. The hemp-seed, buckwheat, Canada peas, kaffir corn, millet and barley we call dainties. We do not feed much millet, because we have the other grains, which are cheapest, but some of our customers in the millet sections of the country feed a good deal of millet. In such cases they look on millet as one of their staples, and the hard-to-get grains are classed by them as dainties. The staple grains of which you will feed the most to your pigeons are the ones which are the cheapest for you. The more expensive grains will be classed by you as dainties. A good way to feed the dainties is to throw them out on the floor of the squab house by hand. You will see the pigeons make a rush for them and eat them with as much relish as a child eats candy. You should feed the dainties about three times a week, throwing handfuls on the floor until you see that the pigeons are satisfied and do not care for any more. Do not throw any feed on the ground of the flying pen, for the earth is liable to be damp, and this dampness will sour the grain, especially cracked corn, and if the pigeons eat it, they will get sour crops, and the fluids from the sour crops of the parent pigeons will make the squabs sick and perhaps kill them. Do all your feeding in the squab house and your pigeons will not have sour crops. Do not lay in a big stock of cracked corn at a time, for cracked corn exposed to sudden changes of the weather is liable to take up dampness, and sour. Smell and taste it once a week or so and determine to your own satisfaction that it is not sour. 60 NATIONAL STANDARD SOCUAB BOOK Some squab breeders feed twice a day, as much as the birds will eat up clean, but we do not believe in that system of feeding. Our own success, and the success of our customers in squab raising, is based largely on the fact that we insist on a continuous supply of food for the pigeons, when they are breeding. Use the self-feeder only with birds that are pro- ducing squabs. A new flock should be fed by hand twice daily what they will eat up clean in ten minutes. Keep them eager, active and racy. Do not let them get too fat, for if you do they will not start laying. Some beginners will use up weeks trying to get their birds started, others get all their pairs going in a few days. It is a matter of skillful feeding, exactly as in the case of hens. The best of mated pairs will not produce eggs unless nourished, because the act of copula- tion, as in the case of hens and roosters, has nothing to do with the volume of egg production, but only with the fertility of eggs. Food should be at hand in the self-feeder for birds which are breeding. They do not gorge, as a horse will if an un- limited supply of food is set before him. They are not gluttons, like pigs. They do not lose their racy shape. A squab when hungry will squeak loudly to inform its parents of that fact and if you observe a squab house where the two meals a day are in vogue, you will note quite a chorus of squeaks. In a house where there is feed always at hand, you will not hear many hungry squeaks. It is greatly to your interest that the crops of your young birds be filled with food. The more their crops are stuffed with food, the quicker they will fatten and the fatter they will get. The parent birds should at all times be able to fill up their crops with feed and water and then fly to the nest to disgorge for the benefit of the squabs. Squab breeders differ concerning self-feeders, same as mothers differ about ways of bringing up babies. Each squab breeder thinks his method of feeding is the best. We speak not wholly from our own experience, but the experiences of thousands of customers extending over many years. There was formerly the same prejudice against self-feeders for poultry, until a man in Ohio, raising poultry with striking success by the aid of self-feeders, made his brethren sit up and take notice. In our stories of success printed at the back of WATER AND FEED 61 this book and elsewhere, are many cases of small flocks increased enormously, and the writers take pains to state that they are using the self-feeder. That is talk that means something. The loudest advocate of no self-feeder is the man who is trying hard to sell his Homers by some kind of a story different from what we tell. It does not matter to him what he says, so long as he combats us. It is the game of such chaps to contradict all others and pose as the only real, simon-pure know-it-alls on pigeons. Some small parent Homers are such good feeders, such good fathers and mothers, that they stuff their squabs with grain and bring them up to a surprising fatness. We have had pairs of squabs which actually at four weeks of age were bigger than their parents. This is not surprising when you think that the squabs sit in their nest hour after hour doing nothing but accumulate fat, and taking no exercise to train off this fat. The old birds are flying around and do not have much fat on them; they are trim and muscular, and hard fleshed. You can tell an old pigeon after it is cooked when you put your teeth into it, just as you can tell an old fowl. Provide salt for your pigeons to keep them strong and healthy. The safest kind of salu for you to use is rock salt, such as is sold for horses. Put a couple of big lumps of it in the squab house and let the pigeons peck at it when they wish. Put two more lumps out in the flying pen. When rain comes the water will wash some salt off the lumps into the gravel. (Empty the bath pans upon the lumps of salt.) The pigeons will eat this salt-impregnated gravel all around the lumps for an inch or so down into the ground. Do not feed powdered salt, for if you do the birds may eat too much of it and it will kill them. Coarse ground salt may be used, but the rock salt is best. Some green stuff is much relished by pigeons. It is good for them and will increase the egg, and, consequently, squab production. They are very fond of cabbage now and then, which should be chopped fine before being fed. (We mean raw, not cooked, cabbage.) When vines grow over the flying pen, they will be seen pecking at the green leaves. Green clover may be cut up and fed to them in conjunction with grain. It should be remembered that green stuff, as enu- merated in this paragraph, is fed only as a relish. 62 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK Table scraps, or what is commonly known as swill, should not be fed to pigeons. Rice may be fed, if plentiful and cheap. It has a tendency to correct diarrhoea caused by too much wheat. Some of our customers have been influenced by adverse criticism of our self-feeder to abandon it and feed in open troughs, but they have gone back to the self-feeder. One of these customers was Mr. Tyson, who started with several hundred pairs of our birds three years ago and now (1907) has the largest and best plant in the State of New Hampshire. His wife and son, with himself, have attained a high degree of skill and proficiency in the handling of their pigeons. The squabs they are breeding weigh at least nine pounds to the dozen. They ship to New York City, where they get very high prices. Mr. Tyson started by using the self-feeder for grain, as we advise, but being influenced by something seen in print, abandoned it and gave the open-trough method of feed- ing, twice or three times a day, a thorough trial. Immediately the birds began to-fall off in production, and the squabs fell off in weight, some lots getting so skinny as to lose nearly two pounds to the dozen. That experience was enough. The Tysons went back to the self-feeder and now their squabs are plump, as they were in the first place, the old birds are in better condition, and breeding better. Do not put into the self-feeder a great lot of grain, but only enough to last about two days. A great quantity is liable to take up moisture in a spell of rainy weather and go stale, and is not relished by the birds as if it were supplied fresh every two or three days. Remember that grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell grit. You must have both. We sell tons of our Plymouth Roek health grit, and it is the best economy to feed it. We have sold it for twelve years and our customers recommend it unre- servedly. We are shipping it constantly all over the Eastern part of the United States. We pay the freight on orders of 300 pounds and upwards. (If you live in the far West, the freight rates are prohibitive but if you live there and buy pigeons of us, we will tell you how to get it there.) Beware of imitations of the Plymouth Rock health grit, the “just as good’ kinds, etc. See page 116 of this book for directions for feeding our health grit. See page 286 for a photograph of it. GHA PRE LVL. LAYING AND HATCHING. Laying an Egg is under the Control of the Pigeon’s Mind— Fertile and Infertile Eggs— How the Cock Drives the Hern — One Day between Eggs— Hatch after Seventeen Days —How Squabs are Fed by-the Paren' Birds—Mating Males and Females— Use of the Mating Coop—Determina- tion of Sex—Color of Feathers Has No Ejfect on Color of Flesh— Pigeons Left to Themselves Will Not Inbreed— No Inbreeding Necessary even tf you Start wi'h a Small Flock. The hen pigeon builds the nest. When the nest is built, the cock begins to ‘‘ drive’’ the hen around the house and pen. In a flock of breeding pigeons you always will see one or two cocks ‘“ driving’’ their mates, pecking at them and nagging them with the purpose of forcing them onto the nest to lay the eggs. The cock seems to take more interest in the coming family than the hen. The hen lays one egg in the nest, then skips a day and lays the second egg on the third day. Seventeen days after being laid the eggs hatch. The egg first laid hatches a day before the second, sometimes, but usually the parents do not sit close on the first egg, but stand over it, and do not incubate it. Sometimes one squab may get more than its share of food, and the younger one will weaken and die. This seldom happens but if you see one squab considerably larger than the other, the thing to do is to exchange with a squab from another nest that is nearer the size of the remaining squab. The old birds will not notice the change but will continue feeding the foster squab. The process of laying an egg is a mental operation. We mean by this that it is not a process which goes on regularly in spite of all conditions. The hen forms the egg in her body and lays it when she is in condition to, and when she wants to, not when she is forced to. In other words, the hen lays when conditions are satisfactory to her. That she forms the egg at will is proven by many things, principally by the fact that she allows one day to come in between the first and 63 THE QUICK GROWTH OF SQUABS FROM EGGS TO KILLING AGE IN FOUR WEEKS IS ILLUSTRATED ON THIS PAGE, PAGE 66 AND PAGE 68. EGGS IN THE NEST, SQUABS JUST HATCHED. 64 LAYING AND HATCHING 65 the second eggs. No doubt, after she has laid the first egg, ' she hurries the other along and lays it as soon after the first as she can, and it takes forty-eight hours for the egg, complete in its wonderful construction, to form. Hen pigeons in a ship- ping crate or close coop do not lay eggs, because they know that there are no facilities there for raising young. Once in a while you will find an egg in a shipping crate when the birds are taken out, but it is a comparatively rare occurrence. Of course, in order to lay a fertile egg, the hen pigeon must have received the attention of the cock bird. It is common for a hen pigeon at five months, and sometimes four, to lay an egg, but as a rule those first eggs from a young hen are not fertile because she has not yet mated with the cock bird. You can tell by holding the egg up to the light _fter it is five or six days old. If no embryo shows, the egg may be destroyed. In starting a flock, always purchase the adult, mature breeders. We formerly repeated the state- ment from hearsay that the ‘male pigeon may lose vitality when from six to ten years old, but this is not so, as we know now from experience that customers to whom we sold six to eight years ago are breeding at the same rate the same pigeons with which they started, and they were from one to two years old when sold. From the day of its hatching to market time the squab is fed by its parents. The first food is a liquid secreted in the crop of both cock and hen, and called pigeons’ milk. The parent pigeons open their bills and the squabs thrust their bills within to get sustenance. This supply of pigeons’ milk lasts from five to six days. It gradually grows thicker and in a week is found to be mixed with corn and wheat in small particles. When about ten days old, the squabs are eating hard grain from the crops of the mature cock and hen. They fill up at the trough, then take a drink of water arid fly to the nest to minister to the little ones. You see how im- portant it is to have food available at all times. In fourteen, fifteen or sixteen days after the first pair of squabs have been hatched, the cock begins ‘‘ driving ”’ the hen again. This shows the necessity of a second nest for the pair. In this second nest the hen lays two more eggs, and the care of the first pair of squabs, now between two and three weeks old, devolves upon the cock. When this pair is four SQUABS ONE WEEK OLD. SQUABS TWO WEEKS OLD. 66 LAYING AND HATC BING 67 weeks old, it is taken out of the nest and killed and both the mature birds are concerned then only with the new hatch. This sequence of eggs and hatches goes on all the time. If there are not two nests, the two new eggs will be laid in the nest where are the growing squabs. The parents in their eagerness to sit on the new eggs will push the squabs out of the nest and they will die for lack of sustenance. The hen lays the eggs about four o’clock in the afternoon. The cock and hen take turns at covering the eggs, the hen sitting during the night until about ten o’clock in the morning, when the cock relieves her, remaining on until the latter part of the afternoon. When the squabs are taken out for market at the end of four weeks, the nest bowl and nest box should be cleaned. If this cleaning is done once a week, no trouble from parasites will result. In the summer it is well to add a little carbolic acid to the whitewash as an extra precaution. Sprinkle unslaked lime on the floor of the squab house and in the nest boxes, and spray squab-fe-nol freely. One way of mating or pairing pigeons is to turn males and females in equal number into the same pen. They will seek their own mates and settle down to steady reproduction. Another method is to place the male and female which you wish to pair in a mating coop or hutch. In the course of a few days they will mate or pair and then you may turn them loose in the big pen with the others. The latter method is necessary when improving your flock by the addition of new blood, or when keeping a positive record of the ancestry of each pair. By studying your matings, you may improve the efficiency of your flock. In the case of a new flock of pigeons shipped to a new home, all do not go to work at the same time. Those pairs which get to work first are bothered by the slower pairs. To judge from the advertisements of some breeders, anxious to claim everything for their birds and their wonderful matings, the beginner would think that all the birds he buys from them will go to work immediately when released in their new home. This is far from the truth. The pairs will go to work to suit themselves as to time. Some will be quick, others slow. As fast as each pair goes to work, it should be caught and placed in the breeding pen. The first pen, into which the birds SQUABS THREE WEEKS OLD. : SQUABS FOUR WEEKS OLD. Ready to be killed for Market. 68 EAYING AND HATCHING 69 were put on arrival, then can be used for the rearing pen for youngsters raised in the breeding pen. In case a pigeon loses its mate by death or accident, the sex of the dead one must be ascertained. The live one should be removed from the pen and placed in the mating coop with a pigeon of the opposite sex. The mating coop should have a partition of lattice work or wire. Place the cock in one side, the hen in the other, and leave them thus for two or three days to flirt and tease each other, then remove the central lattice work or wire and they usually will pair, or mate. If they show no disposition to pair but on the contrary fight, replace the partition and try, them for two or three days longer. If they refuse to pair after two or three thorough triais, do not experiment any more with them, but select other mates. The determination of the sex of pigeons is difficult. The bones at the vent of a female are as a rule wider apart than of a male. If you hold the beak of a pigeon in one hand and the feet in the other, stretching them -out, the male bird usually will hug his tail close to its body —the female will throw her tail. The best way to determine the sex is to watch the birds. The male is more lively than the female, and does more cooing, and in flirting with her usually turns around several times, while the female seldom turns © more than half way around. The male may be seen pecking at the female and driving her to nest. When one pigeon is seen chasing another inside and outside the squab house, the driven one is the female and the driver her mate. Neither the squab breeder nor the flying-Homer. breeder is much concerned about the color of feathers. There are blue checkers, red checkers, black checkers, silver, blue, brown, red, in fact about all the colors of the rainbow. Color has no relation to the ability of a pair to breed a large pair of squabs. We wish specially to emphasize the fact that the color of the feathers has no influence on the color of the skin of the squab. A white feathered bird does not mean a white- skinned squab. The feed affects the color of the meat a /ittle. A corn-fed pigeon will be yellower than one fed on a mixture. Squabs with dark skins (almost black in some cases) are the product of blood matings. The trouble with a dark-colored squab is in the blood and the only remedy is to get rid of them THE MATING COOP. _ One way of mating squab breeders is to turn cocks and hens in equal numbers into the same pen. The mating coop is used when the breeder wishes to pair a certain male with a certain female. The above mating coop is divided by a partition. The cock is placed on one side of the partition, the hen on the other, as pictured. They are left thus for a day or two to tease each othe: fhen raise the partition, or take it out, and allow them to approach each othc. when they usually will be found to have formed an attachment. This being the case, they may be put into the large pen with the other birds, where they will find a nest box and go to house- keeping. If they fight when the partition is removed, try again, or try other mates. The coop pictured above is two feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep. 70 LEAVING AND HATCHING i is either by killing the parents or by remating. Usually the trouble comes from one parent bird, which you find by turning up the feathers and examining the skin. Having found the bird which is at fault, kill it. This point has come up con- tinually in our correspondence. The erroneous belief that white-feathered birds produce the whitest-skinned squabs ‘seems to be widespread and we are asked sometimes for a flock of breeders ‘‘ all white.”” Our experience with all white Homers is that they are smaller and have less stamina than the colored ones. The marketmen will take two cr three pairs of dark-skinned squabs in a bunch without comment, but an excess of dark ones will provoke a cut in price. Breeders who are shipping only the undressed squabs should pluck feathers now and then to see just what color of squabs they are getting. The dark-colored squabs are just as good eating as the light-colored ones, but buyers for the hotels and clubs, and those who visit the stalls, generally pick out the plump white-skinned squabs in preference to the plump dark-skinned ones. As a rule, squabs from Homer pigeons are white- skinned—the dark-colored squab is an exception. Many beginners wish to know if it will be all right for them to buy a flock and keep it in one house for six months or a year, paying no attention to the mating or pairing of the young birds, but leaving that to themselves, so as to get without much trouble a large flock before the killing of the squabs for market begins. Certainly, you may do this, providing extra nest boxes from time to time until your squab house has been filled with nests; then you will have to provide overflow quarters. We are asked if the flock will not become weakened by inbreeding, that is, a brother bird mating up to a sister, by chance. According to the law of chances, such matings would take place not very often. Pigeons in a wild state, on the face of a cliff, or in an abandoned building, would pair by natural selection. The stronger bird gets the object of its affection, the weaker one is killed off or gets a weaker mate, whose young are shorter-lived, so thc inevitable result is more strength and larger size. Nature works slowly, if surely. A lot of pigeons in one pen mating or pairing as they please when old enough is the natural way, and if you follow this, you cannot go very far wrong. We advocate matings by the breeder because it hurries Nature 72 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAS BOCK along the path which makes most money for the breeder. We all know how Darwin studied natural and forced selection of pigeons. He took one pigeon with a certain peeuliarity, say a full breast, and mated it to another pigeon with a full breast. The squabs from these birds, when grown, had breasts fuller than their parents. Then these in turn were mated to full-breasted pigeons from other parents, and the grandchildren had even larger breasts. Darwin’s experi- ments covered a period of over twenty years and in this time he developed litle faults and peculiarities to an amazing degree. Every intelligent, careful pigeon breeder is striving by his forced matings to push along the path of progress the peculiar- ity in pigeons which is his specialty. The breeder who selects most carefully and keeps at it the longest wins over the others. By selecting from your best and most prolific breeders the biggest and fattest squabs, keeping them for breeders and mating so as to get something larger and plumper, you are all the time getting bigger squabs. Every breeder of squabs has it in his power to increase the efficiency of his flock by studying his matings. There’is commerical satis- faction in breeding for size and plumpness because it pays at once, and at the same time the breeder has the satisfaction of increasing the stamina and variety of pigeons. To be master of the matings, the breeder should band his squabs. As soon as they are weaned (that is, as soon as the breeder sees them flying to the feed and eating it) they should be taken and put into one of the rearing pens. When about six months old, the breeder should begin mating them by selection, using the mating coop, then when they are mated turn the pair into a working pen with other adult birds. By looking at the number on the band of each bird, then on your record card, you know how to avoid mating up brother and sister. When the young birds are just over four weeks old, or between four and six weeks, they are able to fly a little, and if they do not hop out of the nest (or are not pushed out by the parents) you may push them out yourself. They cre now able to feed themselves. If these young birds are left in the squab house, they will bother the old birds by begging for food, and this infantile nagging will hinder the regular breeders in their next hatch, so the very best thing to do is LAVING AND HATCHING 73 to put the young birds by themselves into a rearing pen, where they cannot bother anybody. Of course there is likely to be a little inbreeding when you ‘eave the birds to choose for themselves, but not much. If the breeder has not the time to make forced matings, then he may not care to make them. Remember in mating that “xe begets like. The parent bird that feeds its young the most, and most often, will raise the biggest squab. Some- times a parent bird will have fine nursing abilities and will stuff its offspring with food. These good-feeding qualities are transmitted from one generation to another and are as much under the control of the breeder as size and flesh-color. Your biggest squabs will be found to have an extra-attentive father or mother, or both. A pigeon with a dark skin, if mated to a white-skinned bird will produce a mulatto-like squab. It is the large, fat, white-fleshed squab which you are after. Disregard the color of the feathers when mating. If when plucking your squabs you come across a “ nigger,” that is, a squab with a dark skin, find out what pair of breeders it came from and whether the cock or the hen is at fault, and get rid of the faulty one. It is important to start with adult birds that are not related, then you will not begin inbreeding. That is why we make a special effort with our adult birds to have them unrelated. Some letters from customers make plain to us that a clear knowledge of what inbreeding means is not possessed by everybody. Several have written to this effect: “If I buy two or three dozen pairs from you to start, how can I increase the size of my flock without inbreeding?’ When (l)a brother is mated to sister or (2) a father to a daughter, or (3) a mother to a son, or (4) a grandson to his grandmother, etc. that is inbreeding. We know it is forbidden by law for human beings to mate in that manner, because (a) God in the Scriptures has forbidden it, and (b) because the State does not wish to have to care for the puny, weak-minded offspring that would result from such unions. We all know that the marriages of cousins often result in demented, diseased chil- dren. Now suppose you buy two dozen pairs of pigeons of us, and number them pairs one to"twenty-four. If you mate the offspring of pair two (or any other pair)to the offspring of pair one (or any other pair) that is outbreeding or cross- 74 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK breeding. What you do not do, and what you try to prevent, is the mating of the offspring of pair number one (or any other pair) to each other. So, you see, if you have a dozen or two pairs, you need never inbreed, for there is an infinite variety of matings possible. Breeders of animals sometimes inbreed purposely in order to get better color of fur or plumage, or finer bones, etc. There are no brothers and sisters in the flocks we sell. If you buy one dozen or twenty dozen pairs of breeders of us, the pairs will be unrelated, and you need never inbreed. We never heard a real pigeon breeder worry much about inbreeding, because the likelihood of it in a flock of even a dozen pairs is extremely remote, as we have demon- strated above. PIGEONS IN ST. MARK’S SQUARE, VENICE. Get acquainted with the pigeons which you buy of us, and let them get ac- quainted with you. They will work all the better for being tame and docile. These pigeons in Venice are fed by tourists on corn only. A peddler selling whole corn for two cents a package sits all day long on the steps at the base of the monument. Several photographers in the square make a specialty of taking pictures of tourists feeding the pigeons; snap shots by amateurs are constantly being made. In this city of canals, these pigeons get no grif, in fact nothing but the corn, and they would die if obliged to pick up a living for themselves. They are healthy, proving the incorrectness of the assertion that a feed of nothing but corn will cause canker. They are small, however, of stunted growth. They are so tame that they will perch on your hand and eat grains of corn held in your lips. CHAPTER VIT, INCREASE OF FLOCK. It is Possible to Breed One Pair of Squabs Each Month, but in Actual Practice this 1s Seldom Attained—The Squab Raiser with Pure Thoroughbred Homers should Count on Six to Nine Pairs of Squabs a Year—The Common Pigeon Breeds Only Four or Five Pairs of Squabs a Year, but Eats as Much or More than the Homer—Dtjferences between the Homer and the Common Pigeon—Good Homers Scarce and the Market for them Firm and Steady. It is theoretically possible for a pair of pigeons to breed twelve pairs of squabs a year, for it takes only seventeen days for the eggs to hatch, and the hen goes to laying again when the hatch is only two weeks old. So, if you start with twelve pairs of Homer pigeons, and they should breed one pair of squabs a month, at the end of the first month you would have twenty-four squabs; at the end of the second month, forty-eight squabs; at the end of the third month, seventy-two squabs; at the end of the fourth month, ninety- six squabs; at the end of the fifth month, one hundred and twenty squaps. Now the first lot of squabs which your birds hatched will be ready to mate and lay eggs, so at the end of the sixth month you should have one hundred and sixty- eight squabs; at the end of the seventh month, two hundred and forty squabs; at the end of the eighth month, three hundred and thirty-six squabs; at the end of the ninth month, four hundred and fifty-six squabs; at the end of the tenth month, six hundred squabs; at the end of the eleventh month, seven hundred and sixty-eight squabs, and at the end of the twelfth month, nine hundred and sixty squabs. Such figures are purely theoretical and are seldom attained in actual practice. You will have some pairs in your flock which will raise ten and eleven pairs of squabs a year, but the average will be seven to nine pairs of squabs a year. If you get less, your flock is not pure thoroughbred Homers, or your feeding.and nesting arrangements are wrong. In our visit to squab breeders in 1902, we asked every one with whom 75 76 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK we talked how many pairs a year he was getting from his birds, and about all of them said seven to nine. This expe- rience corresponds with ours. We remember particularly an old gentleman, Preacher Hubbell, in Vineland, who had been in the squab business for years but was just going out of it, having sold his place, pigeons and all, to a Swede farmer. He told us he had always made squabs pay him and that his birds, of which he kept a careful record, raised him nine pairs to the year right along. It is a well-known fact that the common pigeon will breed only four or five pairs of squabs a year, and if handlers of big flocks of common pigeons, like Johnson of California, can make a net profit of one dollar per pair a year from such low breeders, we think anybody of no experience is justified in believing our statement that our Homers are capable of earning a net profit of from two to three dollars per pair a year, taking into account not only their fast breeding qualities, but the superior size of the squabs. Here in New England we consider the common pigeons inconstant and lappy-go-lucky breeders. They are not in the same class at all with the Homer pigeon. The common pigeon, the pigeon which flies the streets of our cities and towns, is a mixture of all kinds of pigeons, and it partakes of the faults of each, and not of the virtues. Its outward appearance is large, but it is an effect of feathers and not of flesh. Its feathers are loose and fluffy an@ its muscles soft and flabby. Its head is smaller than that of a Homer, the deficiency being marked in the curve of the skull which covers the brain. The Homer has a white flesh ring around the eye, but the common pigeon has none. The Homer has _ the largest brain of any variety of pigeon, and discloses this fact by its behavior. It has more sense and behaves with more intelligence. Its wonderful homing instinct marks it above and beyond all classes of pigeons and it is this quality which gives it a commercial value all over the world. The feathers of the Homer are laid close like a woman’s glove and the muscles under it feel as hard and firm as a piece of wood. Its breast is firm and well protected, with just the right amount of fullness. Its chest is large, indicating good lung power and staying qualities. Its wings are trim and shapely, in flight the poetry of motion. The poise of its body and head reminds one of a race-horse listening for the signal to speed over the PNGREASE OP FLOCK 77 course. The lines from the neck to the body descend in a -long, graceful sweep. Put a thoroughbred Homer into a flock of common pigeons and even a novice, if told to pick out the bird which would fly the fastest and furthest, would pick out the Homer. The Homer has a long bill (but not so long as the Dragoon pigeon). The bill of the common pigeon is short. Its bill.is more hooked and is sharper pointed. Its head is shorter and more rounding on top. The common pigeon is seldom bred in captivity, because it does not pay for the grain which it consumes. If bred in a wild state, it picks up a living in the neighborhood, the owner not keeping it wired in. It is the cheapest kind of a pigeon, and thousands of pairs are used by trap shooters. Under- takers sometimes buy the white common pigeons in order to liberate them at graves, to signify the ascent of the soul to heaven. Common pigeons will live anywhere, do not get attached to any home, but a Homer never forgets the place where it was bred and will search out its home in long flights. Common pigeons will alight on any building and will drink from different springs and wells, fouling them and making themselves a nuisance in a neighborhood. The Homer will alight only on its own squab house and drink only at its own home. Common pigeons sell for fifty cents a pair and are frequently offered as Homers. Do not start with common pigeons and think to learn the habits of squab breeders with them. If you cross a common with a Homer pigeon you will take away the good qualities of the Homer and add nothing. There is not one element in a common pigeon which if added to a Homer would improve the offspring. It is hard to convince some people that there is any difference in pigeons whose feathers are the same color. The result is they buy the cheapest they can get. After feeding them for a time and getting no profitable results, they are compelled to sell them to the first trap shooter who comes along, and they go among their townspeople declaring that the pigeon business is no good. Remember this point, that if you are going to buy grain and feed it to anything so as to get a profit, it is the best policy to feed it to that grade of animal which will show the largest profit. Very few people are satisfied with shoddy suits nowadays, even if they look almost as well as the all- woo! garments. It is the wear which the customer is after. 18: “NATIONAL STANDARD SO.UAS BOOK Beware of shoddy pigeons. Buy the best Homers you can get, they will wear best and give you the most pride. Ex- perienced poultrymen do not go here and there looking for fowls at cut prices. They buy breeding stock of a reliable breeder which is reliable and sold at a price which will enable the seller to deliver a high quality article. We can tell when an order for our breeding stock comes from an old poultry- man, for they all write: “‘ I want the best stock you can give me’ Good Homers do not glut the markets. They are always fairly scarce, and the price for them has always been well kept up. Beware of cheap Homers for sale at cut prices. There is always something the matter with such birds. They have been worked too long and are played out, or if a flock is offered ‘‘ at a bargain,” the birds do not produce the large, plump, No. 1 squab, but only culls. If a squab breeder is going to quit the business and offers you his flock of birds on the bargain counter, make him give a good reason to you for selling. If he has been unable to make the flock pay, you may be sure that you will be unable to make them pay. If he offers them to you without a good reason for selling, the chances are that it is a poor flock and he has got tired of buying grain for them, and wishes to saddle the burden upon you. We are always selling breeders and it is very much to our interest to protect our reputation by sending out only good Homers that will make money for their owners. This is what we do, and our large business has been built up by square dealing, and knowing the business thoroughly. A pair of Homers capable of earning a pair of squabs in one month which will sell for at least fifty cents is worth more than one dollar or one dollar and twenty-five cents a pair. 5 visit your plant, but, just as I am ready to start, my wife, who was to accompany me on a two weeks visit to the New England coast is taken sick. I have seen the birds which you sent to my neighbor, Mr. P. C. Evans, and they appear to be all you claim for them, tae best specimens of Homers I have yet had. the pleasure of seeing. If you can let me have a small lot of one- half dozen pairs, at same price as paid by Mr. Evans, you may enter my order for same, with dozen bowls, for early delivery.—G. W. G., Pennsylvania. FLOCK WENT TO WORK QUICKLY. Out of the seven pairs of Extra Homers you shipped me June 2, 1906, I have already (August 10) got twelve squabs. I am very much pleased over having such good success. but I have no way of marking them. You will please send me an outfit for marking them by mail. Send about what yo. think a beginner ought to have. As the business grows, will send you a larger order.—L. L., Nebraska. A WOMAN’S WORK. I have 90 pigeons on hand, bred from the 26 my husband bought oes a year ago last April.—Mrs. H. C., inois. STRICTLY ALL RIGHT. A friend of mine of this city reeommended you to me as being strictly all right. I will thank you to send me your literature explaining the cost of starting a squab farm of about 250 pairs, raising and marketing same, as I contemplate going in that business. Thank you in ad- vance for_any information that you may give me.—W. M. A., Alabama. RESULTS TELL THE STORY. As all of “ my birds secured from you in May this year have their second pairs of young ones and I think will continue to multiply as fast, will you kindly forward me a list of commission, men as stated in your letter of recent date. Am perfectly satisfied with the results ob- tained from your birds. If you have any inquiries for birds in this locality I will be glad to attend to’ them for you.—J. L. T., Indiana. SIZE OF SQUABS A REVELATION. We are pleased to advise you that we ate our first squab from the lot of birds you shipped in May last Sunday and wish to state that the size of these squabs is a revelation to us, being almost twice as large as any we have ever been able to secure. The enclosed list will give you an idea as to their productiveness. I also would like to have you answer the questions contained therein.—H. B, R. Illinois. OUR BIRDS BETTER THAN WE CLAIM. My birds reached me in good order and was glad to see them when I got home from work safe and sound. I think the American Express Co. is about the best there is. Every- body that sees your birds say they are the finest they eversaw. I think when anybody is look- ing for good birds they don’t need to look any further than your place and I know they will go ahead of any birds in this town for looks and flying. I think we will stay here till we get a good flock of birds then we will move outside of town. The next time I send for birds I will try and send you a bigger order. Your birds are better than you claim for them. Some of them have eggs before their young ones are two weeks old. They get so We were the first. widely imitated. you our birds. We have no agents. Our birds and methods revolutionized the squab industry and are But imitators who cepy or find fault with our printed matter cannot give 174 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS 1906 THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906. big they just about can’t sit in the nest. I think if you would put an advertisement in some of the evening papers you would get some more trade. I am advertising your birds to everybody I know.—J. S., Wisconsin. COMPLIMENTED BY AN EXPERIENCED UDGE. One of my hens made her nest and thought she was ready to lay but she sat all one day and part of the next and did not, but had her mouth open panting and seemed very sick. I telephoned to Mr. M. to come and tell me what to do. When he came he held her in warm water for 15 minutes and then fast- ened her in her nest. In ten minutes she laid her egg and got all right. Mr. M. holds the world’s record for three hundred miles and has some of the most val- uable birds in Chicago, and he said my birds were very fine, in fact he said he could have hardly told them from his own, they resembled them so much. When so good a judge will compliment them so highly I feel very proud of them.— A. B., Illinois. SQUABS WEIGHING ONE POUND AT TWO WEEKS. I thought you might like to hear from the birds you sent us a year ago. They have been working overtime since. We have 54 birds now with several resting. Every one is a solid color the same as the old ones. The squabs we have weighed have averaged a pound at three weeks old. One weighed a pound at two weeks. There is a party here getting birds of all kinds and colors and claims they are better than what we got for Extras on account of the bands.—J. W., South Dakota. Answer. It is quite common for parties selling poor Homers +o put bands on their legs, some of them quite ornamental, in an endeav- or to enhance their value, same as putting a gaudy label on cheap goods. It is the pig- eons that count, not the bands. Bands are useful to number the birds, that is all. NO. 1 PLYMOUTH ROCKS ARE GOOD HOMERS. It will probably be fall before I get my house built and give you an order for gore birds. If money is: not too scarce the order will be for your best birds, for the No. 1 Plymouth Rocks are doing even better than che Manual claims them to. Your Extra birds must be wonderful.—W. H. W., Massa- chusetts. WE ‘“‘ SHOW THEM ” OUT IN MISSOURI. I received the grits and oyster shell all O. K. My birds jump on tot .e grits and hemp seed inahurry. They are doing well. I will have about sixty squabs this month and quite a number mating this week. I had an order for 100 squabs this morning. It made me sick to think I could not fill it, but my time came aftera while. I will build another house soon and I want 100 more of your birds. Mr. Hall’s birds look well. They came through nice. He is well pleased and I think he will order more. There are two more people talk- ing of going into the squab business. I will try to get an order for you.—J. W. H., Mis- souri. HAS NEVER SOLD ANY SQUABS LESS THAN NINE POUNDS TO THE DOZEN. About three years ago I purchased of you six pair of Homer pigeons for which I paid $2.50 per pair. My flock are all from the stock I bought of you and I have some nice birds. I have never sold any squabs under nine pounds to the dozen at four weeks old. I never sell my birds after they have left the nest for squabs. Will you send me your price list for grains, that is, Kaffir corn and red wheat. I would like the address of Boston dealers.— C. E. W., Rhode Island. LETTING BIRDS FLY. I would like to have your opinion and advice on a matter that is very important to me. I have a beautiful start with your birds, have followed your book exactly and the result has been very gratifying. Now what I want to do is to buy about three hundred more old birds from you and pen them, Will the young birds be as prolific, mate and hatch as well if properly fed, watered etc., exactly as my pens are, if I allow them to run loose on my farm? There is no danger of them being shot and I would much prefer allowing them the run of the farm. I have the buildings that I could convert into com- fortable houses at once, and I will appreciate your thoughtful opinion and advice in the matter for I know you are headquarters.— T. W., Tennessee. Answer. Birds which you raise you can let fly because they know no home but yours, but Homers which you buy you cannot let fly safely because they know another home (their old home) and their instinct and desire to go home may lead them to leave you. NEW JERSEY NEIGHBORS ALL AGREED. The six pairs of birds received from you the first day of May are still doing fine (July). One pair has her third pair of young at this writing—less than three months. The rest will hatch this week. Mr. Tevis (the neighbor I spoke to you about in a former lester) came over after me to see the birds that he had just received from you. They are fine birds and he is very much pleased with them and sorry that he did not take my advice and send ES The squab industry is growing every year. Prices were better and they are going to be as good or better in 1907. 175 before. x squab eating is growing in every section. More squabs were bred in 1906 than ever The habit of 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY 1906 THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906. to you in the first place, but ne bought about 60 pairs from a New Jersey dealer. He showed him a letter that was supposed to have come from a man that bought birds of you, saying that he didn’t want any more of them. But now he sees the difference when he has them side by side. Mr. Webster, my next door neighbor, is so well pleased with the way mine are doing that he is going to send for a few pairs this fall. I would if I could, and had the room. I now have 16 pairs of the Plymouth Rock birds. My pen is open to any one that wants to see the birds before they send to you for breeders. I thank you for the fine birds you sent to Mr. Tevis. It shows that I didn’t exaggerate your ability, to send six pairs or 100 pairs of fine birds.—D. C. T., New Jersey. FINEST FLOCK HE HAD EVER SEEN. A year ago to-day we received eighteen pairs of your Homers. Our flock now numbers nearly 100 pairs and all are doing fine. We have sold a few pairs at $1.25 per pair, and have had any amount of inquiries after squabs. We have had a number of fanciers up to look at the flock, and all seem to think they are an exceptionally fine lot of birds. One gentleman who keeps an excellent lot of imported birds said they were the finest flock he had ever seen, which speaks well for your birds.—B. B., Michigan. BEST BIRDS IN HIS CITY. Find en- closed $16.34 for which to send me a dozen of your Homers, a dozen of nest bowls, and two feet of aluminum tubing. Would have liked to send an order sooner but had no place to keep them. My birds are doing fine. We have moved into a larger place where I can let my birds out in a wire cage. Your birds are the best I ever saw and the only ones I ever intend to keep. I have sold off all my young stock so I have more room for the others —J. B. T., Wisconsin. SPLENDID WORK WITH SPLENDID BIRDS. I wish to advise you now (August, 1906) of the splendid luck I have had with the six pairs of birds purchased from you last May and which were received at my home on May 17. These birds, within a week after arrival, commenced to construct their nests and, out of the six pairs, five began hatching within two weeks and every egg produced a squab. Two squabs weighed at the age of four weeks and two days, 16 ounces, after plucking, and the remainder weighed from eight to 12 ounces. The two squabs, weighing 16 ounces, were the largest I ever saw and I thought you would be interested in knowing the weights. On account of not having room for any more birds, I am killing the squabs as they mature but would have liked to have mated the two large squabs, as I believe that their offspring would have averaged 16 ounces each.—S. P. N., New Jersey. DOUBLED IN THREE MONTHS. En- closed find money order for $1.70 for which please send leg band outfit. The birds I bought of you in April are doing fine. They have doubled themselves.—W. A., Missouri. DOING WELL IN CANADA. Saw your advertisement in R. P. Journal, ““SSquab book free.”” Anything new in it? I have your book of 1904 with two dozen your Homers. They are doing fine. What would you sell me one dozen more?—P. I. B., Quebec. ORDERS FOR A FRIEND. I enclose you herewith a check for $30. Please ship to enclosed address 12 pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. Be sure to send him some nice ones. : Those we bought of you some time back are doing nicely and if these show up as well I think that I will be able to send you some more orders soon.—S. W. T., Georgia. HAS DEALT WITH THE FAKIRS. The pigeons that youshipped to us have arrived in fine condition and the best of health. We are shipping back to you, via American Express the wicker basket in which you sent our pigeons. Also our many thanks for. the trouble you took in selecting the different colored pairs. I wish to say that the pigeons are beauti- fully mated, because one pair have started in business already, the hen having laid two eggs, and all the others have showed promis- ing signs of mating. After having dealt with poultry fakirs and receiving their treatment, I fully appreciate your kind treatment which is so unlike that of these fakirs, but your endeavors are not in vain, as I soon expect to order some more pairs. Your treatment has encouraged me. I have provided an excellent house and pen forthem. Thank you for your interest shown in this matter.—L. J. H., Illinois. IN THE BLUE GRASS STATE. Could you kindly tell me where I could get some white Homers? The Plymouth Rock Homers New laws passed a year ago by the legislatures of Massachusetts and New York forbid the sale of quail except in the months of November and December. for every quail found in the hands of any marketman or restaurant keeper. The penalty is a heavy fine Quail are no longer found on bills of fare in these two states except around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Squabs are on the bills of fare all the year everywhere. Other states, it is said by sportsmen, will follow Massachusetts and New York with a similar game law. 176 1906 LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906. I got from you are doing fine—R. L. J., Kentucky. HIS SECOND ORDER. Enclosed please find express money order for five dollars for which please send me three pairs of your No. 1 Plymouth Rocks at your earliest convenience. A previous ordet which I received from you has been, doing fine.—J. E. D., Pennsylvania. PROLIFIC BIRDS. I purchased 12 pairs Homers of you about 18 months ago and they have done fine work for me. I have 50 pairs mated birds, saved the best ones and sold the second class.—J. A. D., Pennsylvania. SENT SISTER GOOD BIRDS. I enclose a money order for $17.88 for which please send three dozen nappies and six pairs blue checkers. You sent my sister such fine birds that I would like the order duplicated —H. S. B., New York. RECOMMENDS OUR BIRDS TO EVERY- BODY. The birds arrived in good order and Iam pleased with them. I have 14 fine birds from the first ones I bought of you and I think the last four pairs will go.to work soon. I recommend your birds to everybody.—J. M. M., Philadelphia. HE KNOWS OUR TEACHINGS ARE RIGHT. I have read your Manual carefully, studied every point as I went, because I wanted to impress it on my mind. I have found in my own experience that pigeons do just as your Manual says. Your book is worth two or three dollars instead of 40 cents. I want to thank you for the favor you did at finding the weight and charges of some things for me. Would you kindly tell me what would be the cost of freight charges on one hundred, two hundred and three hundred pounds of grain?—G. A. S., Georgia. FIVE DOLLARS A PAIR WOULD NOT BUY HIS. Birds came Friday at noon, and accept many thanks for the fine birds you sent to me. My friend says $5.00 per pair would not buy his.—J. P. B., Georgia. PLEASANT BUSINESS FOR A WOMAN, You will possibly remember that a year ago last April I bought from you twenty-five pairs of your Extra Homers. * I now have some eighty pairs in my house and have used something like two hundred squabs. My birds have done well and I have lost only one of my original stock. I am thoroughly convinced that there is money raising squabs and it is a very pleasant business for a woman, requiring only a little time each day to attend to them and one soon becomes very much attached to them—Mrs. M. L., Kentucky. GENEROUS TREATMENT. The pigeon that I wrote you about a few days ago has died. I think it must have been injured in shipping. It was a female. I think your promise to send another a very generous one, and I would appreciate it very much. In about two or three months I expect to order more birds of you. The others are doing excellently.—A. H. B., Massachusetts. TRADE BEGETS TRADE. I have been instrumental in making some sales of pigeons for you. At least I have recommended you to several people who said they would buy of you. Did a doctor of Fairhope buy a lot of pigeons of you? He came over here to see me about what I thought of the business and I recommended you to him strongly. I just sold 30 pair of my pigeons to Dr. O. F. Caw- thon and E. J. Buck and I reeommended them to buy 10 or 12 pairs of you. I will continue to advertise you all I can. Later on I want to rearrange my house and build up a big place and 1 will send to you for what I need. —M. O., Alabama. GOOD INCREASE IN SIX MONTHS. Yesterday I wrote you for the Manual or National Standard Squab Book, but I forgot to tell you of some of your birds I have seen. Last August or September a doctor friend of mine in Brunswick bought of you six pairs of Homers. In two or three weeks they began to lay and hatch. He sold four or five pairs at $1.00 to $2.00 a pair. He has now between seventy and eighty total. They are beauties and if mine are as pretty and do as well I don’t think I will be disappointed. Please send Manual as quick as possible.-—G. S., Georgia. GOOD RECORD FOR FIRST MONTH. I deem it will be gratifying if you know how the 13 pair of Homers I received from you on May 3d are doing. There has not been a sick one in the lot and they are very much admired by all who see them, and are pronounced first-class Extra stock. They are contented and very busy all the time. Eight pairs are breeding now, with three nests each having a pair of nice healthy squabs. I think this a splendid record for the first month in a new home,—sS. H. W., Penn- sylvania. LOST HIS TEXT BOOK. Please find en- closed 50 cents, and send me another Nat: ional Standard Squab Book. I have mis- Remember, these are stories told in 1906, by customers who are really raising squabs with our birds and not merely talking about what they are going to do. 17 satisfactory results day after day. They are getting 1906 LETTERS FROM , CUSTOMERS STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. 1906 THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906. placed my other one and can’t find it. My birds are doing well. I have had 15 pairs of young birds since [had them. I sold one pair of old white birds for three dollars to a bird store.—H. K., Missouri. ATTRACTING ATTENTION. Please to send some literature to address of gentleman enclosed, descriptive of the squab business, and give him prices on same. I have been talking with him in regard to the business and as he has a couple of farms over in Michigan, I have no doubt but what he will make an investment. : = The pigeons that I purchased of you last spring are doing very nicely. Our pen is attracting considerable attention. We have about 75 in it now and we are about to build larger accommodations.—T. T., Ilinois. ENLARGING PLANT. Will you kindly advise the address of party who purchases pigeon manure? My birds are getting along very nicely. Intend putting up a large house for them in the near future and will write you later regard- ing wire for flies —B. T., New York. SWAMPED WITH SQUAB ORDERS. It is impossible for me to fill the orders that I have for squabs. Iam sending you an order. Please get them out as soon as possible. When I receive them, I will order another dozen Extras. I now have about 350 pair of breeders. They are doing fine— H. S., Louisiana. SATISFIED WITH ALL. I received the two baskets containing 36 birds on Thursday. Pardon delay in not answering sooner, as I was out of town. I am perfectly satisfied with all the birds I bought of you and hope to be able in the future to secure more. Am shipping the two baskets this morning by National express, homeward bound.—J. W.., New York. GOOD REPORT. Please find enclosed a money order for which please ship me 12 pair pigeons as I saw some birds which you shipped to Mr. Walter of this town. I received a booklet from your firm some time ago but did not order birds until I saw Mr. Walter report on his. I decided to give you an order if you can send me mixed colors. Ship via Adams express. Wishing you success.—L. D., Pennsylvania. ONE YEAR’S GOOD TRIAL. QOucte me prices on your No. 1 Homers. Those I bought of you one year ago are doing nicely. —C. M. R., Pennsylvania. THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN BY ONE OF OUR CUSTOMERS TO HIS FRIEND IN A NEIGHBORING TOWN. I am pleased to know that you are getting along so nicely with your squab house. Wish you could see the last consignment of birds I received from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. of Boston. They are beauties, and they commenced building their nests the second day after they arrived. I have no idea where you are going to purchase your birds but I certainly think you will make no mistake if you get them from Mr. Rice, for the ones he sent me are the finest I ever saw. iam confident if you buy your birds of Mr. Rice he will use you right for he has done the right thing by me.—F. B., New York. WANTS 500 PAIRS IN THE SPRING. My pigeons are doing very well but they are shedding a great many feathers. I want to make arrangements early in the spring for 500 pairs of your best stock, but before build- ing my houses I want to take a trip to Melrose and look your plant over, in order to get all the ideas about construction, maintenance, etc. I enclose separate slip with a few questions that I would like to have you answer if it is not too much trouble—J. W., North Carolina. LOST ONLY ONE BIRD, AND THAT BY ACCIDENT. I recently bought a few pairs of birds that you sold to a gentleman in this city about March lst. He was moving to St. Louis and had to dispose of the birds. With what I got from you and the seven pairs I bought from him I now have 65 birds. Have never lost but one bird and that was my own fault for I was experimenting on it and accident- ally killedit. Ihave a market in St. Louis for all I can ship at $4.00 per dozen. If not ask- ing too much would you kindly give me the address of a couple of Chicago and New York commission men that handle squabs.—W. E. T., Missouri. STARTED WELL. I write you in regard to the pigeons you will remember we bought of you (24 pairs) about two years ago this month. Our Homers have done very nicely. I have about 200 pairs. We sold 40 pairs last year. We have quite a nice little plant started.—A. C., Wisconsin. DOING WELL, GOING TO BUILD. Please send me a plan for your multiple unit house. My pigeons are doing fine.—D. B., Illinois. STARTED IN TO MAKE REFORMS. Please find enclosed check for nine dollars ees Somebedy handling the small, stunted Homers may tell you that eight pounds to the dozen is good weight for squabs and that squabs are not bred to weigh more from Homers. That is true, from his Homers, Plymouth Rock Homer squabs. In these pages you will find that eight pounds is low for 175 1906 LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906, tor which kindly send us one dozen drinking fountains. We would like you to get these off as soon as possible. I was very much pleased with my visit to your plant at Melrose which I made yesterday, especially with your facilities for mating birds up. Got some new ideas along with a lot of good advice from your superintendent, and to-day have started in to make a few new refcrms here.—T. H. D., Connecticut. KNOWS PLYMOUTH ROCKS BY EX- PERIENCE. I saw your advertisement of Homer Pigeons in a magazine. I would like very much for your company to send me one of your catalogues, and how much you charge for Homers a pair. I know from experience that a Plymouth Rock Homer is a good breeder. A friend of mine got some from your people a short time ago, but I did not inquire as to the price of them. In answer to letter from vou, I will send for some, and if they are satisfactory, I will be glad to get more, as I am a great pigeon fancier—W. A., Illinois. ONE YEAR’S SATISFACTION. Send one bushel of Kaffir corn and one bushel of Canada peastome. It may interest you to know that the birds I bought from you a year ago are in every way satisfactory. I have doubled the number of workers in that time and have had all I wanted for my own table, and sold quite a number.—J. B. H., Massachusetts. SOME WEIGH 14 OUNCES WHEN 15 DAYS OLD. I received vour pigeons in May when I was in Longueuil. They have done well, as I have had some which weigh 14 ounces at 15 days old. What do you think of a mirror in my squab house? I will be very pleased to receive all your advertising booklets.—G. C., Canada. SUNFLOWER SEEDS ARE GOOD. Your book doesn’t say anything about feeding pigeons sunflower seeds. Will they eat them or isn’t it good for them to havethem? Please let me:know. The pigeons I got from you are doing pretty well, I think. I may get more next year.—B. J., Vermont. Answer. Sunflower seeds are a good pigeon food and are used by many of our customers. They are rich and oily and should not be fed in excess, but as a dainty. A good way to feed them is to throw the whole head in front of the birds and let them pick out the seeds themselves with their bills. BREED WELL IN CALIFORNIA. En- closed find money order for 40 cents for which . stems. kindly send me two feet of your aluminum tubing for bands. Also send one of your price lists, as mine has been mislaid. Twenty-four pairs of Homers purchased of you one year ago are doing fine. Flock now numbers 150.—W. J. M., California. CONTINUOUS SATISFACTION. Enclosed find check which is to cover enclosed order, All the birds which you have sent me so far are very satisfactory.—G. S., New York. FINEST BIRDS AROUND. Your birds | bought of you a year ago are going fine—the finest birds around, so my friends say.—Mrs. J. J. M., Massachusetts. HOTEL KEEPER RAISING HIS TABLE SQUABS. Am very glad to know that you were pleased with our menus and will con- tinue mailing them to you from time to time if you do not object. I hope that the temp- tation will be strong enough to cause you to come to our city and look over our squab farm. I have been quite successful and have a fine lot of birds. It is more than likely, however, that I shall want some additional birds in the very near future. I would like a few show Homers, Dragoons and Runts’ For squab raising purposes, I could not ask anything better than I now have. Will mail you an order for supplies in a few days.—W. S., Georgia. BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY BIRDS. Will you please quote me the price of your wicker shipping baskets, size for 12 pairs, or kindly forward me the address of the manufacturers of same. Also state in your letter if the drop- pings must be entirely free from straw and feathers, or reasonably so, to satisfy the pur- chasers at the tanneries. The six pairs I pur- chased of you two years ago have increased to 150 or 170, besides what I have killed, and the stock has proven entirely satisfactory in every way. I have taken pains to follow your instructions to the letter so now I have the ‘ above number of beautiful, healthy birds.— W. Hz. Y., New York. Answer. It is impossible to get all straw and feathers entirely out of the manure, Sweep out what you can with a broom before cleaning the squab-house. The leather peo- ple do not care if some straw and feathers get in but they do not want gravel and tobacca The latter discolor and stain when wet. BIRDS THAT FLY AWAY. On about April 20, 1905, we bought of you six Plymouth Rock Homer pigeons. Since then they have For six years we have had a complete monopoly of the fine trade cf the United States. We sell more Homers every year than all other firms and breeders combined. is that our birds demonstrate their value and make friends wherever they go. Vg we intend to maintain. The reason for this This supremacy 1906 LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. 1906 THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906. done exceedingly well, and we have got a pretty good start in pigeons now, but what I write you to-day for is this. This morning at 9 o’clock one of the birds we got of you got out of the flying pen. She flew into the air and started for Boston. This was a brown bird, and we thought she might arrive at her destination, so I wish you to keep a lookout for her and see if you can tell if she gets there. If she does arrive, would you mind letting me know? I am anxious to know if she gets there. This was a female bird and she left a young bird about a week old in the nest.— R. H., Iowa. Answer. No Homer would fly that dis- tance. We receive many letters like the above. Customers should watch the doors of squab-house and pens and not let their birds get away. LARGE, HEAVY AND FULL-BREASTED. Enclosed find money order for one more dozen pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I did not rush a letter down to you the same afternoon I received the other birds for the reason that I wanted to try them out first. The dozen pair of Plymouth Rocks, on their arrival weighed exactly 22 pounds, while a few days later I received another dozen pair from another company and they weighed only 17 pounds. They were not full-breasted like your birds. I received first shipment on the 2nd of March. They are now working like good fellows. Have three nests with eggs in. You will hear from me occasionally with further orders.—A. P. S., Michigan. WANTS TO BUY SOME GOOD ONES. Kindly send your catalogue and any other printed matter you have about pigeons. An acquaintance wants to buy some good birds and he is going to look at my lot that I received last Thursday. i feel sure I can land him as a customer for you.—H. D. C., Pennsylvania. GOING SLOWLY. Please send free book, “How to Make Money with Squabs.’”’ The birds bought of you are doing well now and some of their young are hatching. Have enough now to ship a dozen a month now.— W. M., Maryland. JUST THE BIRDS. I thought .I would let you know how my birds are getting along. They arrived on Tuesday, May Ist, as I wrote you. Thursday of the same week one pair had commenced to build. At this writing four pairs have eggs. The others are build- ing. That is what I call going right to work. I am very much pleased with them. There was a party here this morning looking at them. He talks of putting in one hundred pair, and says they are just the birds that he wants. He is coming up to see your plant. Of course I showed him my birds and told him just what they were doing and where they came from so I think he will be a cus- tomer for you. I shall advertise the Plymouth Rock birds wherever I havea chance. Thank you for your kindness.—J. C., New Jersey. SQUABS WEIGHING ONE POUND APIECE WHEN ONE MONTH OLD. I received my pigeons from you April 20, 1905. I have one pair that has hatched eleven (11) times up to the 22nd day of April, 1906, so you can see that they have had fairly good care. I now have 110 birds and am getting them fast now and will commence shipping when I get 70 or 80 pairs. I have weighed a number of birds four weeks old that weighed 16 ounces and I think that is'very good.—L. F., Iowa. QUICKLY AT WORK. Please pardon my delay in acknowledging the receipt (right side up) of the pigeons you shipped to me at Harpers Ferry, W. Va., which place I left before the shipment arrived. My wife informed me that they were all in good shape and the finest specimens she ever saw. Also thought they had returned the baskets to you. As soon as I go home, which will be in a few days, will send you another order. My wife’s third letter tells me that 16 pairs out of the 18 have gone to setting. Don’t think you can beat that at home. We have everything good to feed them, peas, kaffir corn, wheat and millet, and we intend to make a success of the business.—W. S., Virginia. SQUABS HAVE AVERAGED ONE POUND APIECE. Enclosed please find certified check for $173.98 for which kindly send me birds and supplies as enclosed. Kindly send the shipment of birds as soon as possible as I would like to receive them before Tuesday. All my birds are doing nicely. My squabs, under your system of feeding, have averaged a pound apiece and I expect from the present outlook of things to make them average a good deal more.—E. H. M., Pennsylvania. THIS WOMAN IN BRITISH COLUMBIA KNOWS WHAT A FINE HOMER IS. A week ago I wrote you complaining of non- acknowledgment of my remittance sent in with my order. As I was beginning to wonder if it had miscarried, I am pleased to be able to inform you that I received the best possible answer to my letter in arrival of the birds I ordered from you. They arrived The equipment at our farm for mating birds cost $2000 and no expense was spared to make it perfect. A thousand mating coops are in constant use. The principal mating house is heated by hot water so as to get the best and quickest results in the cold months. 180 1906 LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906. about the same time as your letter (May Ist). All of them are in first-class condition and I am very pleased with them, as I consider that they are a fine lot of birds, and I think I know what a fine Homer is when I see it, as my father and brothers have bred and sold trained flying Homers for years in Lancashire, England, some of them worth twenty-five dollars a pair. Although I never heard of squab raising before I came to Canada three years ago, when I first saw your book adver- ~ tised in Munsey’s I thought it was some kind of game bird reared in captivity. and sent for your book more out _of curiosity than any- thing else. I think I shall like the business very much and shall probably be sending another erder in a month or two when I see how 1 20 on with the birds I have got. Thank vou v..y much for the two pairs extra you sent, also nest bowls. They were a very agreeable surprise to me as I did not expect anything like that on such a small order. The express charges were six dollars, and Z5 cents duty on nest bowls. If you would write me from time to time giving me your prices I shall be much obliged—Mrs A. R., Canada. SQUABS WEIGHING FROM 13 TO 16 OUNCES. Please send me at your earliest convenience the names of reliable merchants to whom I can ship squabs, in New York. The 80 pairs I bought of you last fall are doing well. I sold squabs that weighed from 13 ounces to almost one pound apiece. I have over 1C0 pairs of young ones that I am sav- ing for stock.—H. J., Ohio. WORTH THEIR PRICE. Some time ago I sent you an order for three pairs No. 1 and three pairs Extra Homers, stating that I wished to compare with Homers a friend of mine was ordering at a very much lower figure. In a word, after due comparison, I order six more pairs Extras. Please send me fine birds.—C. J., Illinois. SQUABS WEIGHING 16 TO 17 OUNCES EACH. Please find enclosed remittance for which send me 12 pairs and supplies noted. The dozen pairs you sent me started ir to do business last month, having been moulting up to that time. The first two pairs squabs hatched, at one month old, weighed one.pound each, with one that was 17 ounces. That is very good, is it not? I am well pleased with them. Make this dozen as good and I shall be more pleased.—C. B. G., Connecticut. HIS FOURTH ORDER. Enclosed you will please find money order for which you will please send me as soon as possible one dozen Our whole time and energies are given to squabs. handled—promptly, courteously and thoroughly, 1 , It is a business with us, pushed steadily every day in the year except Sun- answered at once. pairs Extra bred Homers (fourth order.) —L C., Louisiana, SUPERIOR IN LOOKS AND WORKS. The birds (60 pairs) arrived on the late train from St. Paul on Sunday night last, and remained in the depot here until early on the following morning when we took them home. Outside of the injured ones mentioned, I will say that the birds arrived in perfect condition and are fully up to what we expected them to be. They are‘now ‘‘at home” and present . beautiful appearance. The birds which you sent me last November (nine months ago) are entirely satisfactory, and “ out-class” any I received from the or these which my friend here received from the same people. Mine are plump, his are “‘ cranish,” long-legged and long-necked. I would not keep that kind of birds. My triend has not accommodations for pigeons, and wanted to sell out. A doctor who for several years rented offices in my law office building here, looked them over with the view of purchasing the outfit, and I advised him to do so, to get a start in the business. He visited my lofts, and saw my birds, wanted to buy some from me, and after he saw mine, he would not buy of my friend. I gave him your address, but have not seen him since, and do not know whether he has made a pur- chase or not. I have none to sell at this time as we are trying to increase the flock to at least 1200, for which we have ample accommo- dations, then we will begin to sell. There is no mistake in saying that the birds which I received from you, out-class those which the have sent here. If your Mr. Rice should ever come to this country I would be pleased to have him stay with me and look over the “ greatest ’’ farming coun- try on earth. My elder boy (17 years of age) visited the great Minnesota State Fair. Saw Dan Patch break his record, reducing it to 1.55 flat. He looked the pigeons over as a matter of course, and he tells me that he could find no Homers there which compared with ours. He intends to exhibit some at the fair next fall—H, M., Minnesota. MADE A SUCCESS AND GOING AHEAD ON A BIG PLANT. I havea party that wants to go into the squab business with me, and it is possible that I will call on you during Nov- ember for 2000 breeders. I have done very well with the 800 I have, encouraging enough to put in quite an extensive plant. I would like to have your personal opinion as to. whether 2000 birds will do as well in 20 units of 100 birds each with one fly 12x48x200 as they would in 20 units with 20 flies 10x12x48. On We handle trade as it ought to be with every detail attended to. Letters are jays and holidays, and not a side issue or an amusement, 181 1906 LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906. account of labor I would prefer the one large fly, but I want no experiments and leave the matter with you. I can get $4.00 per dozen for a-large portion of my squabs, and would like to have an opinion as to what 5000 of your breeders would net us yearly when we raise our own feed on the farm. WE SUPPLY HENS TO THOSE WHO NEED THEM. After recommending your firm to A. F. Kennelley of this city and he being a purchaser from you recently, I find that he is well pleased with treatment accord- ed him. Enclosed please find $5.00 for five female birds to be used as breeders. I bought some birds from a friend of mine and he had five odd cocks which I want to mate up. You will forward these by first express to my address.—H. E. W., Ohio.. BEST BIRDS HE EVER SAW. The Homers ordered from you reached me in due time and in excellent condition. They certainly are the finest birds I ever saw. I really believe they are a finer lot than the first consignment, if that be possible. The second day after their arrival they commenced building their nests, which I imagine is a pretty good record. Some of my friends have secured birds from other parties and although I have not seen their birds, I am confident they can’t tell me that they have a finer lot than mine. If I have an opportunity of securing you any customers I shall be only too glad to do so.—B. Y., New York. BEST HOMERS IN CALIFORNIA. Birds received in Al condition. Your birds have stirred up quite some interest here and what I hear from people who know is that your birds are the best in the colony. As it is I am well pleased with the bunch. I have a house 12 x 32 feet divided into four pens 8x9 feet with a three-foot passage running the length and everything up to date. That also has opened their eyes in the building and arrange- ments in an up-to-date squab house. I have had the birds less than a week and am pretty well advertised already. The market here is strong at $3.00 to $3.50 and the demand far exceeds the supply.—C. H., California. SOLD YOUNGSTERS FOR $2 A PAIR IN KANSAS. Enclosed find femittance for one leg band outfit. My pigeons have been doing fine, and are keeping busy all the time. Have sold off the young pigeons at eight weeks old for $2.00 per pair. What is the difference in Canada peas and the peas we raise here? Will the common peas do to feed to the pigeons?—G, W.S., Kansas. LATEST NEWS FROM THE NEW YORK MARKET; HIGH PRICES WHICH ARE GOING HIGHER BECAUSE OF THE NEW LAW FORBIDDING ENTIRELY THE SALE OF QUAIL EXCEPT IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. I take the liberty of asking you for a little more advice for the birds I bought from you last November. Of sick- ness I have not seen any sign of it. I lost only two of them, one of apoplexy I think, because it fell like shot dead, the other one died of diarrhcea. Of the young squabs, the cas- ualties have been a little higher, but out of 50 I did not lose more than six, or 12 per 100. Now I wish you would give me your opinion how I have progressed, if I am on the regular average or if I am under it. 7 The prices for squabs on the ~~ York market have been very high all wintex—have reached as high as $6.50 a dozen for squabs of over 10 pound a dozen, and $4.59 for birds of near eight pound or so. Of course private trade is better and I have been able to sell squabs for 50 cents apiece easily. I have a set ot birds that give me three eggs and have hatched them successfully with three days late for the extra one. Does that happen often?—H. G., New York. WILL NOT BUY ANY HOMERS BU1T PLYMOUTH ROCKS. Last May I ordered from you twelve Plymouth Rock Homers. They arrived on the eighth of May and on the twelfth of the same month the first egg was laid. Five pairs of them went to work almost immediately and have been at work ever since. I raised the squabs during the summer. T have now 13 pairs of mature pigeons. Twelve pairs work constantly and I am very much pleased with them and want to thank you for them and as you are so kind as to offer to answer questions and to help we people who do not know all about raising squabs I shall be so much obliged if you will give me a little help. My present ambition is to increase my plant. I want to buy some Extras from you as soon as I can raise the capital. I can buy Homers nearer home but yours have done so well for me that whatever new stock I get I would like to get from you. You say in your book that you will give your patrons the address of a good New York buyer. Will you please send me the address?—C. O., New Jersey. BRANCHING OUT. Please quote me your best figures on the following: Homer pigeons in pairs ready to go to work in lots of 20, 50 and 100 pair-lots. Hempseed in bushel lots. Health grit in 100 pound lots. I have your prices of last year but presume there are some changes. I purchased 12 pairs of Homers from you last spring and they raised me about a These are strong letters. Read them over. You want some assurance, when you buy pigeons, that you will be treated right, as these customers were. 132 1906 LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGK ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906 a 60 young ones by the first of November.— R. W. H., Iowa. BLOOD AND HIGH BREEDING COUNT. Enclosed find draft for which you will send by Pacific express, Extra Homers, as per memorandum. Several weeks ago I ordered 15 pairs of- . When the birds came I did not think they were much more than common birds. -A friend in our town wanted sonie breeders and I got him to try your birds. They came last night. There is a big differ- ence between the birds. My first birds do not show any white on bill to amount to any- thing and they are most all white or very light color. Yours show their high breeding. Blood tells, when you put them together. I[ sold mine at half price to-day to get shut of them. What I want is blooded stock or nothing, Please send me a good collection of assorted colors, blues, reds and checkers, I ordered one of your squab books some time ago and I think it the best I ever read on pigeons.—J. A., Missouri. TRIFLING DEATH LOSSES. In January of this year I purchased 12 pairs of your Extras. They are now (April) in fine condi- tion and have hatched out 24 young ones, 22 of which are living and doing fine.—W. J., Massachusetts. SEVEN PAIRS WORTH $25, THIS ARKANSAS CUSTOMER THINKS. Writing you a few lines to let you know that I got the pigeons all O.K. They were all well. I got them two weeks to-day and out of the seven pairs, four pairs of them have built and are setting on eggs already. I would have written you sooner but wanted to see what they were going to do. I would not take $25 for the seven pairs. Sending the basket back this evening with the letter. You can put this letter on your list. I think it is the only one from Arkansas.—C. W., Arkansas. GOOD SHOWING AFTER THEIR 3000- MILE JOURNEY. Enclosed please find Wells Fargo Express money order for $1.70 for which please send me by mail post paid, one leg band outfit at your very earliest convenience. My birds received from you March 17 are doing fine. They got right to work and one month from the day I received them I had three pairs of squabs hatch. Since then one more pair has hatched and two more pairs are setting and two pairs building. I think that is a pretty good showing in six weeks for 10 pairs after travelling 3000 miles. I lost one hen. She got sick and I could not find what was the trouble. She did not have diarrhcea, but just seemed to droop and die. The remainder of them are as fine as could be. Will you please quote me prices on nine pait Extra Homers to be delivered in June or July. Caunot tell yet just when I will be ready fcr them, but either June or July sure. Best wishes for your continued success.—E. M., California. ARKANSAS CUSTOMER IS PLEASED WITH SQUARENESS. I received your Man- ual a day after I wrote that letter, and J received another one. I have sold both of them, and find enclosed $1.00 to pay for your extra one and another one for myself. You people treated me so well I won’t buy any Homers from anybody else. I was surprised at your squareness and have told every one about it and got them all a-going in the right direction. I was very, very much pleased with your Manual.—G. R., Arkansas. HIS MONEY TALKS FOR HIM. Last August l purchased 124 pairs of your Extras and am now in the market for about 375 pairs more. Iam also in need of some extra hens of the same quality. Can you supply same? Also let me know if you can furnish these birds in pairs in the following colors: blues, blue checkers and red checkers in any number I may desire. Please state your very lowest price on above number of pairs. Let me hear from you by return mail, as I am in a great rush for the birds.—S. T., Indiana. CANNOT SAY TOO MUCH IN PRAISE OF OUR HEALTH GRIT. Enclosed find $2.00 for 100 pounds of health grit. I find this grit the best on the market for pigeons. I cannot say too much for it as it keeps the pigeons in fine health. Although the price is high I would never be without it. I have quite a few people that want to get this grit from me. Can you let me have it cheaper, so that I can make something out of it? Answer and let me know.—R. O., New Jersey. BIG SQUAB FARM WHOSE OWNER BOUGHT HIS BREEDERS OF US. I visited a squab farm last Sunday and before I left found that the owner bought his breeders of your company, five hundred pairs. He has 1100 pairs at present and is making a fortune. After seeing this farm I was more taan con- vinced that the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. is O. K. If I get as good a lot of birds as he has I certainly will be pleased. lam sorry that I did not figure on handling more birds than I did. Have built house to accommodate 100 birds. Enciosed find stamps ° for which please send plans and specifications for squab houses. No doubt you will receive a larger order from me in a short time. Will notify you in a few days when to ship birds. i Beware of anybody who tries to make a sale to you by running down the Plymouth Rock Squab Co, Insist that he show you letters like these in proof of his claims. 185 1906 LETTERS FROM STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. CUSTOMERS 1906 THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906, I want to have everything complete before I have them shipped.—I. S., New York. HAS TRIED THEM AND KNOWS. Iam at present debating with myself and with some of my relations in regard to starting in the pigeon business. My folks are trying to persuade me that it is going to cost too much to start, and that I will not realize any great profits very soon. As I see, and at the best I can figure it out, it will take about $100 to start in with fifty pairs of breeders and build a home to accommodate them, getting the price of building down as low as possible with lum- ber at its present price. What I want to know is, do you think it would pay me to start and about how long do you think it would take to get back the amount paid out if I relied entirely on the birds? I think I could get it back in four months at the most, because I have three pairs I pur- chased of you in January, besides the young ones Ihave raised. I have watched and studied their ways and know something about them. I know how fast they breed, etc. Now am I right in my estimation as to the time it would fake to regain my money and would you advise me to start if possible? My birds I have now are doing fine.—S. A., Massachusetts. MANURE FOR SALE. Will you _ please give me the address of some firm to which I can sell my pigeon manure? My pigeons are doing well this spring. —T. O., New York. RHODE ISLAND SUCCESS. I am enclos- ing money order for which kindly send me enclosed supplies. If this money order does not cover cost do not delay the grain but send me bill for extra. My birds are all doing finely.—B. O., Rhode Island. THIS IS THE KIND UF PLAIN TALK ONE LIKES TO HEAR. Iam finding out for my- self if there was money in squabs and I have found it to be true by other squab breeders. I was to a man’s place this afternoon and he said he had no trouble in selling his squabs for a good price. I guess the only trouble is people are sleeping half the time. That’s why they don’t know much about squab breeding. If a fellow doesn’t believe in squab breeding, all he has to do is to open his eyes and look around. I’ve been to a couple of bird shows and have seen nothing to go ahead of your birds yet. My friend was saying what nice birds they had at the show, and I thought I would go down with him. We had to pay 25 cents to get in. After we looked at the birds, he said that mine would get the first prize if I would take them down. Then I found out that I have some of the biggest birds in town. I would like to get some pictures taken and show you some of the birds [ got from yours. I found your book to be a book anybody can read and knows what he is read- ing about. Everything is so plain—what a beginner wants to know about breeding birds. I was thinking of sending you my third order. If I do, it will be next week. Hoping you are domg a good business. My birds are doing fine. Your birds are the best breeders and I won’t take any others.—S. C. H., Wisconsin. NEST BOWLS ALL RIGHT. Please find a money order for one dozen more of your nest bowls. They are O. K. Put them in the house one evening and on going in the next found that a pair had already taken posses- sion and started a nest. Have 11 pair setting on eggs and they are doing fine. I intend to purchase more from you later as I am going to build a unit to start this spring and enclose money for your plans for squab houses. Wishing you every success——W. A., Massa- chusetts. ENLARGING. Enclosed find check for which please send me seven pairs of your Extra Homers and one dozen fibre nests. ° Send by American express. This time would like to have different colored birds. The birds and supplies you sent me in Janu- ary came in good shape. I was well pleased with same. Am thinking some of putting in 50 or 100 pairs more this summer if I can arrange for another house.—H. B., Indiana. BEST EVER SEEN IN OKLAHOMA. Enclosed please find money order for which send me your best Extra Homers as specified. Send all blue-speckled. birds, as shown on right of special offer sheet. Your last ship- ment of birds are fine ones and every one that has seen them say they are the finest they ever saw. Trusting these will be the same or better and that I may receive them at your earliest convenience.—W. H., Oklahoma. BUYING MORE AFTER ONE YEAR’S EXPERIENCE. A little over a year ago, I bought 24 pairs of your pigeons. Now I wish to buy 300 pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and am fixing a house for them and will be in shape to receive 75 pairs a month, say March 1, April 1, May 1 and June 1. I see that $1.70 per pair is your price in lots of 300 pairs and upwards. I should want the best birds as I believe they are the cheapest. Now if this arrangement is all right, you can let me_ know and I will send yeu $127.50 for the first 75 pairs. I want your best birds.—E. F., Ohio. Is there anybody in your town who has failed at squab raising? Some play at pigeons as they would with a new toy, then give them up. 184 them and not with the pigeons. If they bought of us the trouble is with APPENDIX D (Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice) Squab market prospects for 1908 and 1909 are excellent, as encouraging as they ever have been — always a hungry demand. To keep the subject up to date we give on the following pages a fresh lot of facts bearing on the industry. We have pictures mostly contributed by customers to whom we have sold breeding stock. During the past ten years the demand for squabs has more than kept pace with the supply and this is true today (January, 1908) although the supply has been systemized by us and enormously increased, for in this period we have sold over half a million Homers, and we estimate that now there are breeding on the Western Continent, from these Plymouth Rock Homers, at least two million pairs of Homers. The squabs from these Homers bred from stock originally sold by us are in every market on this continent where poultry is sold. These figures show what we have done for the squab industry, and they are conservative. In fact, before we began shipping breeding stock, the squab business was of no volume. Our methods and our birds have created this new vast industry. Our efforts, of course, would have been useless without the co-operation of a large and enthusiastic body of customers, whose soyalty is our pride and satisfaction. Let the good work goon. More people are going to eat squabs. Squabs for dinner are nowa settled habit with hundreds of thousands of families. Our advertising constantly in the best periodicals suggests every week to many new people that squabs are a new delicacy for their tables, and thus the demand grows. We print on left-hand pages immediately following letters received in December, 1907, from three representative New York squab buyers, Messrs. Silz, McLaughlin and Heineman. We have selected these to show the present eager market for squabs bred from our birds. They were written by these dealers when prices for everything were temporarily set back by the short-term panic. Prices for squabs during 1908 and 1909 will be as high or higher than in any previous year. We have selected these New York marketmen for reference because they have been largely instrumental in working with us to standardize and develop the national squab market. Mr. McLaughlin’s system of grading by weight per dozen is now in common use not only in his own city but all over the United States. Refuse to ship your squabs to anybody who offers you a small price based on count. Grade your squabs by weight and get what you are entitled to for the big squabs bred from our birds. Weigh them yourself and you will know just what you will get from the dealer. You will see in Mr. Silz’s letter that he is pleased to get squabs from our birds because they are so much better. Mr. McLaughlin advises our breeders, and to keep free from other kinds. Messrs. Heineman advise the use of nothing but our best breed of birds. This is expert testi- mony by practical business men who control the squab trade in the largest city in America. Knapp & Van Nostrand, 208 to 243 Washington street, New York City, write us. under date of December 4, 1907, stating that they are paying the following prices for squabs. (This firm divides with the three others above mentioned the greater part of the enormous New York squab trade). ‘‘ Ten to twelve pounds to the dozen, $4.50; nine pounds to the dozen, $4.00; eight pounds, $3.25.” Their letter continues: ‘* We receive and sell hundreds of dozens every week. Squabs from shippers mentioning your company compare favorably with general receipts, Sales have increased in New York.” When customers of curs wish to begin shipping squabs to the four firms above mentioned orany other New York squab dealer, we give letters of introduction which will smooth the way for them. 185 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 ——$.}. $$ rrr US No matter in what part of the United States or Canada you live, we will put you in touch with your nearest best squab buyer, provided of course you have not a private trade of your own, which always pays best. In Pittsburg, for example, there is a concern which has a very large trade and is constantly after good squabs. They write us: ‘For eight-pound squabs we are paying $3.00 a dozen, nine-pound $4.25 a dozen. When communicating with your custom- ers, kindly let them quote us price on the different sizes. We would like to get in touch with some shippers who can supply us the year around with what squabs we want. We can use 100 pounds to 150 pounds per week. Kindly put us in touch with some good shippers.” A correspondent living in West 36th street, New York, writes us under date of October 12 1907, after personal investigation of the New York City markets: “I am studying up the squab business. with the intention cf going at it up at my home in Pennsylvania, when I can con- veniently see my way to it. Your statement about the market for the product in 1902-1903 still seems to hold good here in New York. I was down at Washington Market not long ago to inquire of commission men how the call for squabs runs. They all said that the supply hardly equals the demand. Many of them were selling or offering for sale little bony, discolored caer that would hardly tempt a starved cat. So when I am ready I shall talk business with you.” In the first part of our Manual we quote prices in a great many cities in force in 1903 or thereabouts. We have not the space to follow the quotations in these cities year by year What is true of New York is true of Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Fran- cisco, Seattle, Portland. all the large places. The demand everywhere continues eager at high Prices as vou can readily find out for yourself if you live near a city. In your nearest city you will and Plymouth Rock squabs going in regularly to the dealers there and dominating the market. We quote as follows the prices prevailinc in New York City from the summer of 1907 to the end of the year. These quotations are not retail prices, remember, but are what a dealer paid breeders for supnlying him with squabs. The first quotation, in each case, is for squabs weigh- ing ten pounds to the dozen. The second figure is for squabs weighing nine pounds to the dozen. The third figure is for squabs weighing eight pounds to the dozen: July wes . $4.50 $4.00 $3.20 July oN arn isn sak dc Pein eels ae 4.40 3.15 Shl5 August HD pcpatate hey eolee rac en eee te 4.20 3.50 3.00 September Jr wneesc eee ee 4D 3.50 2.19 Seprem|berns Ole ye inne ee 4.50 Bn 75) 3.00 October WAT ek oats ye teoe came naa ie TARE 3.85 3.25 November 847 nitcnensien ai eae a OO 4.00 1510) November 18s sstie scene ee oD 4.00 3.50 December 9 ie va tee aoe ete O 3.60 3.20 December "Oey yee ee ee eae 4.20 3.40 3.205 The reader of all the quotations we print must be impressed that the chorus for the big squabs grows each year larger in volume and more insistent. Dealers want the big ones and to get them they offer the very attractive bait of substantially-increased prices. It is folly for anybody to start breeding squabs now with inferior birds, for his squabs (weighing six or seven pounds to the dozen) will be crowded to the back of the counter in every market and _ the breeder will have to be content with a price which will pay for the grain, perhaps, but little more. This is not unsupported talk by us, unfounded sayso, but, in the words of our ex-Presi- dent, is a condition and not a theory. We have actually supplied the breeding stock whose squabs now constitute the squab markets of the country and are making the weights and Prices. Before we introduced the Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, there were in the New York or Philadelphia, or anv markets, no squabs weiching over eight pounds to the dozen. No such Squabs were traded in because no such squabs existed, in commercial quantity. Now they are m the markets every day by thousands of dozens weighing from eight to twelve pounds to the ozen. The letters which we print on the following pages are selections from a large number received by us in 1907. These show a great many facts bearing upon all sides of the industry and we recommend their reading for the news they contain. Many of the writers note ways of their own showing original thinking and adaptation. We withhold the names and addresses of the writers for the business reasons stated so many times by us, but we assure new friends as well as old, that all are genuine, every one, written by real customers not connected with us in any way except by the sale of our birds and supplies to them. The original letters are filed at our office in Boston, where we will show them to anybody. If some one is holding back an order from us thinking that any letter here is ‘‘ made up,’’ and cannot come in person to Beston to see these letters, as many do, we will pay the fee of his representative living in or near Boston for examining our files and reporting. Write us first. and we will convince you if given the opportunity. SS LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 186 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 READ THIS STORY OF SUCCESS BY A MAN 80 YEARS OLD. HE HAS DONE SOME ORIGINAL AND EFFECTIVE THINKING. NO BUILDINGS FOR HIM. HE USES AN ATTIC ROOM AND GETSTHERE.” Being old (80 years), failing s.xnt drove me out of a mechanical business and the prospect before me was to live and lean on my children. I had always been a lover and keeper of pigeons from boyhood until a few years since when the telephone, etc. came, and I killed all off. My daughter saw your advertisement in a magazine and sent for your booklet. I saw at a glance the chance offered. I knew you were telling only what was the exact truth about pigeons, and the pictures showed them to be the best kind for the purpose. Had I been 20 years younger, I would have gone into it with all my means, so as it was I made a very modest beginning. In February, April and June you sent me three small lots, 40 in all, not your Extras. I put them in an attic where I had birds before with nest boxes, some hung up, some on the floor, any way to keep them apart. They soon began to work. Six pairs had eggs in a week. When squabs began to come six, seven or eight at a time, a butcher took them, and since then we have given him over three dozen in one week. He first paid at rate of $3 per dozen and has risen twice since to now, $3.75, and has not been pushed. My daughter takes them in and gets the cash as if they were gold or wheat. The butcher says it is not the size but a plump breast that tells, so they go large and small many times, between seven and eight pounds to the dozen, bled and dressed. Of course my stock has been increased by some getting out of nest, or saving some peculiar color. I keep those with odd markings and know them personally. The first year the 18 pairs averaged eight pairs each. I do not keep them to be a month old as they would all be on the floor then and butcher looks ‘for wool on head. Seeing none he says: ‘‘ How long has this been flying?’’ So I send them at 24 or 25 days. The younger they go, the faster the old ones breed, as well as saving of feed. So since May, 1905, when I began with 18 pairs, I have sold 805 squabs and increased stock from 18 pairs to 56 pairs, and no stint of feed. I sell no manure. You are right on feed question. Cabbage is good. I give (when I have it) lettuce, parsley and even marshmallow weed and sunflower seeds, but my birds avoid wheat, eating very Be: They know me personally, come in from outside when I go in-and get down under my eek My attic where I breed is a queer shape, with two places for them to get outside, and feed boxes on floor to give them a chance to hide from the others at times. The other 20 pairs are in an old wagon-house with the boxes over head to be away from rats, and a cat there most of the time. I suffer some from the makeshift pens I have. I need the arrangement you have, though I have a third place for the young unmated. When a pair in that place gets young, say 14 days old, I move pair (box and all) at night into one of the regular units and that fetches them. But here comes what few and those only that know me will believe. In the course of this April and May seven pairs have had three eggs each. Three pairs hatched all and are gone to butcher. Two more are hatched and doing well and of the two to come, all eggs are good. Some have had one smaller than other two, then I take the small one and give it to another which has younger or some of same size. I am raising them atl. The books say pigeons often have only one, but nothing about three. Are we getting a new breed? I have none for sale alive so this is no advertisement. For squabs I have received in money just double what I spend for feed.—D. G. L., New York. Note. There is a great deal of sound sense and experience in the ahove story of this valued customer, written by himself. Eighty years old, and with failing sight! Not much; he is young and keen. First, he had confidence that he was being tuld the truth by us and would get good birds, for he had known pigeons all his life. That is half the battle. He sold his squabs when they were plump, even if only three weeks old, before they had a chance to walk around and train off fat. He treated his birds so that they loved him, His butcher had customers which evidently did not weigh the squabs. A small plump squab is good but a big, plump squab is what 99 dealers out of 100 are after, because they get much more money for them. The educated markets once supplied with the big ones do not fancy the smaller ones. Our customer if he had started with our Extras would not have been content to sell to the butcher, but would have looked up the butcher’s customers and received also the 50 per cent profit made by the butcher. As to three squabs in a nest, this comes to pass, but we never knew so many cases in a flock of this size at the same time. That was extraordinary. 3 _ His practice of changing the smaller squab in a nest for a squab of size equal to the one remain- ing is common. With two squabs in the nest, if one grows larger than the other, this means he is stronger and is continually stealing the share of the parents’ food belonging to the little one. Take the little one to another nest where there is a squab of its own size, bringing back a larger squab equal in size to the one in the first nest. His story of success is that of a small flock. He simply makes a small lot, housed in a crude way, pay in profits a share of the running expenses of the home. a) LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 187- CABLE ADDRESS SitzZ NCW YORK. TELEPHONE TEENA STREET Oth ree. 2nd,'o7. Wr. Elmer C. Rice, Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Masse Dear Sir:- In reply to your letter of Nov. 27th, the present prices on Squabs you will find on the enclosed card. There will not be any let-up in the demand for Squabs if the prices remain normal. The season for all game closes with the end of this month so there will naturally be a better demand for Squabs after that time to take the place of game. We use from 175 dozen to 200 dozen squabs each day. Your Squabs are very much better than others, and I think you have accomplished wonders for the Squab industry, and every Squab raiser should feel grateful for your efforts in this line, and you could very appropriately be termed " KING " of the Squab_ business. Wishing to assist you in your continued efforts to put the Squab business ahead, we are, Very truly yours, Ae SIIzZ, Inc., w/P... sas Cae 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 THIS IS THE BREEDER OF WHOM WE WRITE AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE 56 OF OUR MANUAL. HE FED WRONGLY AT THE START AND BLAMED US FOR NO RESULTS, BUT HE IS A GOOD FRIEND NOW AND HAS SEEN A GREAT LIGHT. c I think that it is up-to-date in every respect and in no way far-fetched, nothing but sensible, hard, experienced facts. Manual O.K. Accept my thanks. I received the new I notice that you speak of a California breeder using nothing but wheat and a handful of hemp with no return for six months, I pee it was me you refer to. active; working all the time. ing. have any one show me that they have as good birds as I have. Ican point out lot of pairs which are now on their eighth lots of eggs. Well, I deserve d it, for ‘‘a guilty conscience needs no accuser,” did not feed them enough to keep them alive. Now, Mr. Rice, money will not buy the birds. SO_ Even now (September 11, 1907) they are in full force nest build- They are beauties, so plump, bright and I would like to It would be a very hard matter to convince me that there are any birds as good as the Plymouth Rock Homers of Boston. In short, any one who fails with those birds should not blame the birds or Mr. Rice, for it is up to them to handle them right. Do not think, Mr. Rice, that I am “‘ fishing ’’ for something. Far from it. I am only speaking as my true conscience dictates, that there are no better birds than yours. ounces. How is that? the goods. We have just weighed six squabs and they tipped the scales at five pounds, 13 Some will say that Homers cannot do as well as that but I can show The only trouble is the best I can get is $3 a dozen and a private trade at that. Have not had a chance to save over one dozen for breeders. As regards more birds. \ I certainly want more of your birds and will want only Extras, as I will use the Extras exclusively for raising my breeding stock. for them, as I am going to build four more houses. I will not be ready until spring Then I promise you a picture of my house worthy to goin your book. All I ask of you is to wait until I have completed my plans. Mr. Rice, I have some Maltese hen pigeons I wish to dispose of. are mated pairs and the rest young ones ‘ranging from two months to seven months. could trade me your Homers for them, or find me a customer I should thank you. omy kept them for fancy, GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL IN CALI- FORNIA WELL PLEASED. The four pairs of Homers shipped to me on October 2, 1907, arrived to-day in apparently first-class con- dition. The birds appear to be satisfactory in every respect. I thanl: you for the extra pair; also for the supplies included. After the birds get to work I shall furnish vou with a further report, and if I have occasion to order again, shall not forget your prompt and liberal treatment.—C. W. L., Register, United States Land Office, Department of the Interior, California. BETTER AT $1.50 A PAIR THAN WHAT HE PAID OTHERS $2.50 A PAIR. SIX MORE ORDERS FOLLOW. I have received your Plymouth Rock pigeons which you sent me in perfect order. I am very much pleased with them. They are as good as the ones I bought of and for $2.50 per pair.—P. P., New York. _ Note. The above customer has sent us in 1907 up to date (November) six orders. ONE HUNDRED MILES IN FIVE HOURS IN A STORM. Please send me one of your 1907 catalogues. The birds that I received in April, 1906, are doing finely. I broke them in at my loft. I flew one of them 100 miles, making the distance in five hours, in rain and storms. I will ship him 200 miles in a few weeks with others of my birds. I think he ae do fine in his 200-mile race.—J. M., exas. There are about 20. Three If you I have Now I will close, wishing you the best of luck —J. B. W., California. SATISFIED AND BUYS MORE. Some time ago I ordered a half-dozen pairs of pig- eons from you; at the same time I ordered six pairs from the I wish to say that I have now received all the birds and I have concluded that yours are the best. As soon as I get a little more ready money I expect to order more birds of you. It is my intention to build up a large flock just as soon as I can. Iam perfectly satisfied in my dealing with you. You can publish any part of the above letter if you want to except the name of the other company. : (Later). Enclosed find check for $18 for oe pairs of your Carneaux.—L, T. P., New ork, FIVE PAIRS OUT OF SIX IN TWO WEEKS AFTER ARRIVAL PROVES FAST MATINGS. Received pigeons two weeks ago. I think the Extras are far ahead of anything T have ever seen. I have had mine only two weeks and five pairs have already gone to work. Enclosed please find stamps for 37 cents for which send me by mail two feet of alum- inum tubing.—T. J. S., Iowa. BREEDING WELL IN TEXAS. I am doing fine with my pigeons and I think they are the best kind. I started with 14 in November and now (June, 1907), I have about 66. They are doing fine. I have sc many that I will fave to order some wood- fibre nestbowls. Find enclosed $3.84 for which send me four dozen wood-fibre nest- bowls.—W. P. C., Texas. a , _ LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 189 TEL, 1288 FRANKLIN. References:—All Commercial Agencies. Win. R. McLaughlin COMMISSION MERCHANT Poultry, Eggs, Game, Squabs, Calves Etc. 362 GREENWICH STREET NEW YORK November 29, 1907 Elmer C. Rice, Esq., Treasurer Plymouth Rock Squab CO., Boston, Mass. Dear Sir: Yours of the 27th duly received. I.am pleased to hear from you once more. If beginners will stick to vour breeders, they will have no cause to complain as to size, quantity and quality of squabs, and net profits they receive from same. The demand is still good for all the fancy white large squabs we can get, and the market’has kept at uniform price for a long time. In fact, since the new season started, there has been very little change in price. The small and mixed lots we must sell to out of town trade where everything looking like a squab z0es at a price; while the city trade want the larger bird and are willing to pay for them. Many do not buy enpugh breeders at the start so that they can ship a fair sized lot. I can use daily all the squabs I can get and do not look for prices to go any lower during the winter,---if anything, quite some advance. ; I think if any two need any praising as to results brought about, and profits to raisers, it is you and myself, as I was the first to in- troduce selling by weight according to size, and was laughed at for trying, even by those who would not now admit the change more than doubled their output. The one who does not like the change is the speculator who got the large birds for nothing, and the small birds at their actual value, and made the extra profit when selling to consumers, I would advise beginners to get a quantity of your breeders; keep free from other kinds. They will have no cause to find fault with results, and will always have a market and demand at good prices, for they can raise and ship at any time of the year. Send me the names of: your customers yourself and I will post them as to the market, and send shipping cards. Yours truly, Lf ONL ugha 190 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS STARTED WITH 12 PAIRS AND BRED THEM TO 100 PAIRS. ENLARGING BUILDINGS STEADILY. HAS COMPARED PLYMOUTH ROCKS WITH MANY AND FOUND NONE SUPERIOR. Your letter of October 24, 1907, received, and wish to thank you for the informa- tion furnished. Two years ago I built a pigeon house ten feet by 20 feet, nine feet high with a 20-foot fly, dividing the house and fly with wire screen, making two compartments. I purchased six pairs of your Homers in September and six pairs more of you in February. To my surprise, three of these pairs started building their nests the day after their arrival, and, in fact, the 12 pairs went into the business of raising squabs and have been in the business ever since. I now have 100 pairs of the finest birds in the country; no question about that, as I have made it a point to visit quite a number of places to compare birds. and I am satisfied with my birds, if they are with theirs. Last-winter I built another house of the same dimensions as given above, building at the lower end of the original fly. I took the wire screen from the end of the fly, and with it divided the fly into four parts, thus saving the expense of building a fly for the new house, and the birds do just as well with a ten-foot as with a 20-foot fly, I imagine. The total cost of the two houses and birds was about $175. It is my intention to sell squabs this winter (1907-1908) while prices are high, keeping the squabs hatched during the summer months for breeders, and saving the squabs from my best record birds as breeders, as I believe I will get even better results from them. In my opinion the squab business is similar to other business enterprises, requiring patience and hard work at the start, and if a man is a “ quitter ” he will make no more money in the 1907 1908 squab business than in any other line. I started in the business for the reason that I think there is good money in it. My “ feathered race-horses ” look good to me, and I am placing my money so that they come under the wire winners. My advice to one starting in the squab business is to secure your birds and your Manual and then they will have started right. uture.—F, B., New York. MAKES HIS HOBBY PAY WITH TEN- POUND SQUABS. My success with your birds is the resuit of following the instructions in your Manual. When I enter my squab- house, I always whistle so as not to frighten them too suddenly, and do not often take strangers into the loft. Am not troubled with lice. I disinfect about every two weeks. My squabs will weigh one pound apiece, or from 10 to 12 pounds to the dozen. Of course, I do not ever expect tu be an extensive breeder, as I have not the room, but I can accommodate about 75 pairs, and make a uittle money on the side, and enjoy taking care of them. Pigeon keeping was always my hobby ever since I was ten years old. I will say a good word for you and your birds at any time.—D. E. A.., Illinois. SMALL ORDER JUSTIFIES A LARGER ONE. The 13 pairs birds that you shipped to me in May have done sou well that I feel justified in ordering four dozen more of your xtra Homers and 17 1-3 dozen nestbowls for which I enclose check. Your birds have been here nine weeks last Saturday and I now have twenty-five squabs, one having died. —F. M. J., New York. INTEREST SHOWN IN WELFARE OF CUSTOMERS. I am very much obliged for the information given me. Once again, I cannot too highly praise you for your prompt- ness and interest shown in the welfare of your customers. I intend ordering some more birds from you and would like to know the best time to get them.—M. A. C., New York. Will try and send you a picture of my place in the near BETTER THAN ANY OTHER ST. LOUIS FLOCKS. I take this means to show you that I appreciate a fair, square deal such as you gave me. The birds are as you advertised them and are far superior in some respects to what you advertised. They are perfect pets and to my surprise they began building nests the second day after their arrival. They are far superior to any flocks which I have seen in St. Louis and as soon as I can find a suitable site, will erect some modern build- ings according to your Manual and stock it with your birds. It will take several months to carry out my plans.—W. E. P., Missouri. FOURTEEN-FOLD INCREASE IN ONE YEAR IN NEBRASKA. About a year ago my father, who lives in Crete, Nebraska, purchased ten pairs Extra Plymouth Rock pigeons from you. They have increased to over twelve dozen pairs. I wish to get the whole flock if it is practical to ship them here, so I am writing to you for advice on the subject. Can you furnish shipping crates ?— C. B., Vermont. HAS KEPT PIGEONS BEFORE AND KNOWS A GOOD LOT. The pigeons you shipped me arrived all right on Friday morn: ing. I notice the pairs were broken up (from the separation, I suppose) for four days, but they are now mating again. As I have kept pigeons before, I know a little about them. This is a good lot of pigeons and . thank you for you cromptness in shipping.— J. R.S., Maryland. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 191 Telephone Call, 8261 Cortlandt. Huneman J Ce. COMMISSION MERCHANTS Bruits, Preduce and Peultry, Southern Vegetables a Specialty. 273 & 275 WASHINGTON STREET. ‘WiuacYoke December 4, LIZ Mr. Bimer C. Rice, Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. Dear Sir, We wish to advise you on prices ard general run of Squabs which a goodly number of breeders of your fancy Homer pigeons are shipping us. They are now selling from between $3.75 to $4.50 per dozen and, in all probability will go higher, as the winter advances. There ig @ good demand for this kind of birds and we are receiving quite 4 deal of them. We can handle anvwhere from one thousand to two thousand dozen a week ag dur trade constantly inquires for them. We can assuré you that the breed of birds we get from our shippers are very fine and we notice @ large majority of these same shippers mention your hame. The market at present wants cquabs weighing between 9 and 11 lbs. to the dozen, and we would advise any beginner to use nothing but your best breed of birds, as they are the cheapest in the end to him. We thank you for your kind consideration and past favors. We are Very truly vours, 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 HOW TO PRESERVE, COLLECT, BAG AND SELL THE MANURE. HOW TO USE TOBACCO DUST FOR BOTH PIGEONS AND POULTRY. I have several hundred Homer pigeons raised entirely from stock purchased of you a little more than three years ago. I wish to write you to obtain information in regard to selling the manure. -have your National Standard Squab Book in which you say you ship to the tannery and obtain 60 cents a bushel. I would like to know how you ship it. In bags or barrels? The manure has always been used on our farm, but I have recently been deprived of my husband and need the money very muca, and as I cannot do the farming that he has done, feel obliged to sell the manure. It is free from sand or sawdust. The most foreign substance will be feathers and some little nus ing material that they have scattered around, as of course I should not try to sell the old nests that would be nearly all nesting material. The packing will have to be done by my daughter and myself. I have been told that it is bought by the bushel, but it would be a hard task to measure it all, as I am considerably over 60 years of age and very lame. I find the freight will be 21 cents per 100 from here and if I ship by weight it will be easier to measure it all by the bushel and they would have to take the freight agent’s figures instead of my measure. I have quite a quantity. Have measured up one bushel and found the weight 36 pounds, which at that rate would take only three bushels to weigh a little more than 100 pounds and I think I have 30 bushels or more.—Mrs. M. W., Rhode Island. Answer. estimation of the tanners, but they like it free from gravel and from tobacco stems. The manure varies in weight according to the amount It should be dried and then bagged. two bushels to a bag. Always ship in bags and get the bags back empty. stems will discolor the hides in the vats. of moisture in it. measure and use it. Feathers and common nesting material in the manure will not hurt it any in the The Buy a bushel They are worth at least five cents apiece even if second hand, as burlap has gone up. Squab raisers who use tobacco stems for nesting material cannot sell the manure to tanneries. The only reason for using tobacco stems is to ward off possible lice. The same result may be attained when straw or pine needles are used by dusting the nests now and then with tobacco dust. pounds of tobacco powder for $2. SOME AGREEABLE DISAPPOINTMENTS I have not written you since receipt of birds, consequently will send you a word at this time. My first agreeable disappointment was the promptness with which you filled my order. I live 500 miles from Boston. I mailed my order for the pigeons at eight o’clock Wednesday morning and at five o’clock Friday evening the birds were waiting for me at the express office, just about 53 hours from the time I mailed my order until shipment was received. I had not expected to receive the shipment before eight days. The birds reached me in first-class condition— except for a few broken tail feathers you would have thought they had never been out of their native loft. They lost very little time in getting climated, for three days after turning them loose they were nesting and soon all were hatching. In comparison with other Homers I have seen, everything is in favor of the Plymouth Rock breed. They are cleaner, better pro- portioned and less shy than any others I have seen. The squabs from these birds are everything an epicure could desire, big, fleshy and meat the whitest. I have only words of commendation for the stock of breeders you handle. I can only wish you increased sales of your excellent money makers. You are at liberty to use this letter to interest prospective customers or my name as a reference.—P. F., Pennsylvania. We sell tobacco dust for 11 cents a pound. than many fancy lice powders selling for two or three times that price. In smaller quantities 11 cents a pound. powder will not injure the manure for tanneries. It is equally good for poultry and is better We will supply 25 The use of this TEN PAIRS OUT OF THIRTEEN SPLEN- DID PAIRS QUICKLY AT WORK. Our cheese maker at Aldenville, Penn., ordered thirteen pairs of Homers from you. We have encouraged his going into the business for the reason that several months of the year they are not busy at the trade and could just as well care for a nice flock of Homers. The thirteen pairs received from you a few weeks ago are splendid specimens and ten pairs are at work at present. Not being contented, we wanted to mix the blood and ordered thir- teen pairs from an imitation squab company, The birds came yesterday and we are so badly disappointed in them that we would like yery much to return them, and not mix with our high-class birds received from you. We want eventually to put in a few hundred pairs of the party and will want from twenty to twenty-five pairs of your selected birds in a few weeks time. What will be the price and can you give us a fine lot?—G. S., Penn- sylvania. RAPID BREEDING IN MICHIGAN. I pur- chased of you last year three pairs Extra ‘Plymouth Rock Homers and at this writing I have had them just one year and seven days and instead of having three pairs I now have 24 pairs that can fly besides a dozen squabs and as many eggs. What do you think abont that? As I am in need of nestbowls, please send me three dozen of your wood fibre nest bowls.—R. E. F., Michigan. _ LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 193 seded asay} UO 19449] ot UI pozutid aIMseord pus yUaTIJapUOM fo suotssaidxa A ‘sdoyoayo anq ‘sieq end :etey 218 SpdAIq JUVYLUSeUL asIY} JO SIOTOD 94} [TV {ray ay} NO SuLq yy} spstq oyy eivasoyy, ‘soysnpds ‘syoutq ‘sasaqIs ‘sTexIeYo par *aanyord Sty} Ul UMOYS [JIM atv ‘SHUNOH MOOU HLNOWATd VULXa UIBI}S INO JO Aynvaq pure azis AIvUTpsOBI}Xe aq J, 194 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 HIS FRIEND PURCHASED 12 PAIRS OF US THREE YEARS AGO, IS NOW SHIPPING SQUABS FROM 300 PAIRS AND CLEARED $1000 LAST YEAR, A HIRED MAN DOING THE ORK. You tave been recommended to me by a friend who three years ago purchased 12 pairs of Homers from you and he has to-day 300 pairs and cleared $1000 last year without any labor on his part. I am very much interested in squab raising. Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. market. can put $200 or $300 more in squab raising. outlined it?—G. C., Iowa. Answer. pairs to 50 pairs and raised up their own birds. He simply instructed a common laborer. I am now attending the Iowa State College of I live in Chicago and it seems to me that would be a good The first six months I intend to raise for breeding purposes, and then if I succeed i Do you consider this plan practical as I have Remarkable successes are being made by customers of ours who started with 12 It is not wise, however, to start with less than 12 pairs of birds, unless your stock of patience is large and you can stand waiting for two or three years before getting returns for your money. The trouble with beginners who have failed is that they have tried to do too much too fast. RATS AND DIARRHOEA. As I am sure you are very good authority on the pigeon question, being first in the business and revolutionizing it, I hope you will not count it amiss or intruding for me to appeal to you (to use court language) for help and advice. We have lots of mice in our pigeon house. What could one use or do to kill or frighten them away with perfect safety? The second troublesome thing is what I call the shivers. The pigeons get to shaking violently and seem to lose nearly all interest in everything. Your birds beat anything we have from else- where at most every ‘turn,’ I might say. Indeed, some we have from another near by who gave us a written guarantee “ for health, good workers, heavy squabs, no canker and all mated birds,’ proved in nearly every instance a sham, for they were not even mated except a few pairs, out of a hundred pairs, and died right along, and they were not mated for over a year after they came. Yours are tame also, they will eat out of our hands. I think those broad-shouldered, thick-legged blue (with black broad bars over wings) are very good ones, We raised some nice breeders from them. A friend of ours at Marlton, New Jersey, spoke of getting nice birds of you. I have made interesting visits among the pigeon keepers in New Jersey.— Miss M. H. B., Pennsylvania. Answer. Rats and mice, as we have ex- plained so many times, must be kept out by elevating the building. If it is impossible to do this, take one-inch mesh wire netting and bury it completely in the dirt floor, six inches deep. At the sides and corners bring it up above the sills of the building and fasten it with staples. This will give you a wire-net- ting carpet for your squab house (buried six inches under the ground), and through this barrier it is impossible for rats or mice to get. It is a hard task to exterminate them by poison or traps after they have once got in to an improperly-arranged place, and if you succeed they are bound to come again. Doit richt by elevating your building or burying wire netting and that will end the bother. What this customer calls the shivers is diarrhcea caused by feeding too much wheat. TWO PAIRS ONLY. I am going into the squab industry in a very small way to raise a few birds for our own use and find a pleasur- able occupation as an aside. I shall later want a few pairs of your birds. I bought some time ago ten pairs of another company, but so far am sure of only two pairs in the lot and they have given me no little trouble.— Rev. G. B. L., Vermont. NINE AND ONE-HALF POUNDS TO THE DOZEN AND SOLD FOR FOUR DOLLARS. Will you kindly inform me to whom to write about disposing of pigeon droppings. I made the first sale of squabs last week. They weighed nine and one-half pounds to the dozen, plucked, bled, empty crops. I received ates dollars for them. How isthat?—F.H.S., 10. GENERAL VERDICT. Please send me addresses of New York squab dealers. I received the three pairs of Extra Plymouths; all were in fine condition. My friends all say they never saw a nicer lot of Homers. I also thank you for the prompt shipment. I expect to send for another lot in about a month,—J. B. S., Pennsylvania. SQUABS TWO WEEKS OLD WEIGHING THREE-QUARTERS OF A POUND IN COLORADO. Birds ordered of you some days ago reached me in pretty fair shape, with the exception of one male dead. Thank you for your splendid treatment to my order. Squabs from the first lot at two weeks weighed three-quarters of a pound. How is that? Will return baskets in a few days.— J. F. B., Colorado. BEST BOOK ON BIRDS HE EVER READ. I received your Manual and find it just what you say. It is the best book on birds I ever read. I have a large plant of common pigeons but since I read your book I have built one of the prettiest pigeon houses and - flying pens in which to put the pigeons J am ordering of you to-day. If your birds are as fine as you say I will get rid of all my common pigeons.—C, E. G., North Carolina. LL LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 195 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 A GOOD-LOOKING ILLINOIS PLANT. These are two of the buildings of the breeder whose letter is printed on this page. « Notice his handsome white Homers. LOST MONEY BY NOT KNOWING PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. NOW HE IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK. HE IS A TRAVELING SALESMAN AND HIS DAUGHTER DOES MOST OF THE WORK ON THiS BIG PLANT. SQUABS WEIGH 11 POUNDS TO THE DOZEN. I have just completed my new squab unit according to your plans. Please find enclosed Adams Express money order for birds to fill same. Other parties have been working on me for this order and I told them I would buy nothing but Extra Plymouth Rocks. (A burnt child dreads the fire.) I lost enough by experimenting with cheap birds when I began. Since I began buying of you I have had no trouble. ‘The last three shipments I received from you cannot be beat for size, beauty and breeding qualities. About one-third of all the squabs I have sold in the past 12 months have averaged a little over 11 pounds to the dozen. We have quite a lot of squabs that weighed a full sixteen ounces each, Now, Mr. Rice, as long as you continue to ship me in the future as fine stock as you have in the past, | am with you and the Plymouth Rock Co., and ‘‘ the other fellow ’? might just as well save his postage stamps and breath. I have not lost a single old bird by death or disease in 14 months. We had three or four squabs picked badly. I found by taking the squabs away at three weeks of age and placing them in a small feeding pen and feeding hempseed for a week that they fatten awfully fast. What is your idea about that? I hope you will excuse this long letter. Every time I think about my experience at the start with all kinds of mixed up birds, I have ‘‘ brain storms ’’ and you can rest assured my talk over the country will be for nothing but Plymouth Rock birds. As you know I am a traveling man and ought to be a good talker. Consequently in order to repay you for favors in the past I often tell my experiences and how I lost money by not knowing Elmer Rice. ; My oldest daughter does all our feeding and taking care of our birds and she is getting to be an expert pigeon keeper and delights in the pastime. We are figuring on increasing our flocks just as fast as we can until we get 2000 pairs.—S. S. H., Illinois. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 196 le Sh ee 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 POOR WHEAT SET HIM BACK. HE SELLS ALL HE RAISES, THE SQUABS BEING ENGAGED BY CUSTOMERS EVEN WHILE THEY ARE ON THE NEST. I write to you for information concerning my flock of birds. I got my stock from you in 1904, and have been building up my flock. I got along finely with them until the latter part of last summer when I had the bad luck to lose about 20 or 25 of the old birds, which broke the mated pairs up. would like to increase my flock to the full capacity of the house built from your unit plan, 12 by 16. I lay the loss of my birds to some poor wheat I got from the mill here that must have contained a good deal of ergot that caused the females to die. I wrote to Mr. Rice at the time and he told me it was the wheat, at least I have had no more trouble since I commenced feeding first quality grain. The squabs weigh 12 to 14 pounds a dozen. I herewith send an order for 12 females to balance my flock. My original purchase of you in 1904 was six pairs Extra Plymouth Rocks. The birds arrived all safe and in good condition and attracted a good deal of attention at the time, for some of my friends put on a broad smile and have been expecting me to bust up in the pigeon business, but have been at it now for over two years and the order accompanying this don't look much like it for I can sell all the squabs I can raise. They are even engaged before they are fit to take off the nest. I get 50 cents a pair just killed, and if I dress them ready for the oven I get 75 cents a pair in the local market. My squabs will weigh 12 or 14 pounds per dozen, and think it is on account of the way I am handling and feeding, for I find you cannot make meat unless you feed for it. I make my own grit of glass and it has bcen very satisfactory. I keep a couple of bricks of salt cat in the house, also a codfish occasionally, and they are doing fine now, if I did have some bad luck, but then one must expect drawbacks in any kind of business.—A. D. D., Pennsylvania. Note. You will never have sickness of any kind with pigeons if you provide sound grain and clean water. If your grain dealer nceds watching, and has not vour interests at heart, examine especially the wheat and corn, tasting both. Some grain dealers will take whole corn which has germinated and make cracked corn of it. You can always tell sour grain by smell, taste and sight. It is quite true, as this customer states, that feed is a factor in the weight of the squabs. Too much wheat keeps the old birds thin, and the squabs dark and thin. Plenty of corn and peas makes the squabs fat. DISPOSING OF THE SQUABS IN SOUTH CAROLINA WHEN THEY REACH THE AGE OF 23 DAYS. RECEIVING THREE DOLLARS A DOZEN. Our order for 17 pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers was placed with you early in March (1907) and the birds arrived and were placed in our pen about the 20th. They were all in good shape, having stood the trans- portation well, and made themselves entirely at home in their new quarters. The day follow- ing their arrival one of the hens laid, and from that time until now (June 24) the flock, as a whole, has worked splendidly, and results have far exceeded our expectations. At the present time 15 of the 17 pairs are at work, having either eggs or young squabs.. We believe that every pair would have been at work, but two of our hens escaped, and we had to order two ~ more to replace these, and this accident upset our flock considerably. We find that the squabs will weigh from three-quarters to seven-eighths of a pound when they are three weeks and two or three days old, and we have been disposing of them at that age. No doubt, this fast growing is due to the equable climate which we have in South Carolina. We have no trouble in disposing of all our birds at that age at 25 cents apiece. The pigeons do not require much of our time, and we are so thoroughly satisfied with our experience that we are considering ordering 20 more pairs in the next few days.—Mrs. C. B., South Carolina. SQUABS WEIGHING FOURTEEN TO SIXTEEN OUNCES. It is now July, 1907, six months since we purchased from you 44 pairs of your Extra Homers. Ccven pairs met with accidents, because they were disturbed RECEIVES $4.20 A DOZEN. My squabs from your birds weigh when dressed nine pounds to the dozen and I receive at the rate of $4.20 per dozen for them. I have fed corn, several times on account of the plant not being finished. The remaining 37 pairs are in every Way satisfactory. We have at present 11 pairs on eggs and 21 squabs. On account of not having too much room for the birds and also to answer the many demands of our sick, we are killing the squabs at three to four weeks when we find them to weigh 14 to 16 ounces, and at which time the mature birds are again breeding.—S. E., Illinois. wheat, peas and millet, buckwheat and bread. I have had success by letting the squabs on the floor when they are four weeks old, that is, when J-am going to keep them for breeders. They are not troubled by the other birds and they feed themselves sooner and the old birds’ get to work earlier. I have had no sickness or lice. Your Manual is all right and is good for the starter and experienced.—P. E, D.,: Dis- trict of Columbia. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 197 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 SHOWING CONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA. _ This building, part of the plant of a Florida customer, is built of only one thickness of lumber. Only the roof is shingled. No glass windows are needed. The climate of the South is exceptionally good for squab breeding. SUCCESSFUL FLORIDA SQUAB FARMER SAYS THE CLIMATE OF HIS STATE CANNOT BE BEAT. LIKES THE CARNEAUX. The Carneaux arrived here yesterday. I am much “pleased with them. They show more white than the birds which my mother sent me from France and are larger. The more I see of the Carneaux, the more I like them, and wish I had nothing but them in my squab farm. I believe there is going to be a tremendous run on them as breeders. My Homers are mated and all hard at work. I was fool enough last spring of 1906 to band the mated birds of that season with colored bands, blue for cocks, red for hens. The bands I bought from —————,, who guar=cteed that they would last a lifetime. I note at least one- third have broken and come off. I shall have to reband 300 pairs over again. No more colored bands for me. Enclosed find check, for which send as specified. You will be glad to hear that Iam making a success cf the squab business, and now have 700 mated pairs. As soon as the fall commences and the price of eight to nine pound squabs advances from its present low standing here, I am thinking of starting to ship to the New York markets. In. this Southern climate our birds work better and faster, produce-far better grade of squabs in the winter and spring months than in the summer; while I understand with you the summer is your best time. I believe our Florida climate cannot be beat for squab farming. If I like and find out that the Carneau is all it is cracked up to be, 50 per cent of my Homers will be replaced gradually by them.—W. B. W., Florida. HEALTHY, RUGGED BIRDS. Enclosed HIS FATHER IN IOWA LIKES THEM. please find draft for $11.52 for one gross of My father at Des Moines, Iowa, is breeding your nappies. The birds I got of you last your birds and likes them very much. Please spring are all right. I have not lost a one send me present price on 10 and 20 pairs with sickness or any other cause.—A. M. J., Homers. I want the best that I can get Iowa. regardless of cost.—C. H. D., Illinois. I ee ed LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 198 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 KNOWS BY EXPERIENCE THERE IS MONEY IN PIGEONS. MANUAL “ AWFUL GOOD.” I trust you will pardon my tardi- ness in answering your letter with reference to the new National Standard Squab Book. Of course I want this book. I do not send for these books through any idle curiosity. I have kept pigeons and I know there is juoriey in them if they are properly looked after. want to get back in the pigeon business after the first of the year, and intend to do so, and I want to start with the best birds I can get. I think the National Standard Squab Book very fine. It is ‘‘ awful good.’? More peeve and satisfaction than I can express. ion’t know of any improvements you could make, unless you went ahead and said the same thing over again. I enclose 20 cents in stamps for your new 1907-1908 Manual. I also send by this mail, under separate cover, the old Manual. I intended to purchase some of your birds when I sent for your book, but conditions have been such that it has been impossible. Can’t say exactly when, but will buy some of your birds soon. The main reason I haven’t bought some of your birds is because I haven’t had any place tc keep them. I have kept pigeons all my life, know a great deal about their habits, and above all, Iam very fond of them. How- ever, I had to dispose of all the birds I had about 18 months ago, and since that time I haven’t had the room to keep them. I had to dispose of them on account of having to leave Atlanta. My lease on my present home runs out about January 10, 1908, at which time I expect to buy me a place with large premises, where I can keep pigeons, as I made a good deal of money on then during my school days, and believe I can do so now as a side line if nothing more,—M. R. L., Georgia. PLEASED WITH YOUR BUSINESS METHODS AND BUYING STEADILY. I have never seen a more likely lot of pigeons, and as I have room enough for another 10 pairs, I enclose P. O. order and I hope that before the next batch arrives I shall be ready for fifty more pairs, am very much pleased with the manner in which the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Co. does business.— R. W. J., Virginia. MAKING THEM PAY AS HE GOES ALONG. I now have seventy. One year ago last March I bought six pairs from you. I want a better start before I sell very many, but I make them pay for their feed. Your Manual is ‘‘the goods.” —D. E., Illinois. HIS HOMERS LOOK LIKE PYGMIES ALONGSIDE PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRAS. I have 60 Homers, but they look like pygmies alongside of your birds.—F. W. D. OUR HOMERS MORE THAN WE CLAIM FOR THEM. Your Homers are more than you claim for them. At least mine are. They are models of beauty and are very large. I was skeptical at first, but 1 am thoroughly convinced that the Homer is tne only bird. Some of my Homers are as large as the white Italian birds that I purchased from you. The squabs are fine large fellows and I am sure that a nice flock of Homers beats a drove of chickens for meat, either for home or market use. I shall take pleasure in recom- mending your birds to my friends and prospective buyers. Please find enclosed 50 cents for another Manual.—M. A., Kansas. HOMER HEN SITTING ON EGGS. PIGEONS CRAVE GREEN FOOD. I bought of you June 20, 1906, 24 pairs of your Homers. I have lost three birds, all of my raising, and now have 100 pairs (April, 1907). They all seem to crave something green to eat. What would you advise? Shall I feed them any green foods? I am giving them kaffir corn, a few peas, wheat and cracked corn.—F. M. P., Georgia. Answer. Yes, throw some lettuce or any green leaves on to the squab-house floor occasionally, say twice a week, and let them peck away at them to suit themselves. WISHES TO GET PIGEONS OF SUPERIOR QUALITY. You may hear from a gentleman, Mr John Fyle. Send him some of yort literature, as I will always recommend your stock to all who expect to go into the squab ‘usiness. This Mr. Fyle has pigeons, but of an inferior quality, and having been told about mine. wants some like I have.—R. S., Maryland. LETiERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 199 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS LIGHTED BY ELECTRICITY AND HEATED BY STEAM. This shows part of the up-to-date plant of the customer in New York State whose letter is printed on this page. The birds hanging in front of the brown paper are squabs just killed to get them into the picture. PAYING PLANT IN HANDSOME BUILD- INGS. I enclose photograph showing my four units and office room. The building is made of matched lumber so that they are ab- solutely air-tight if so desired. It is equipped with steam heat, electric light, hot and cold water and both telephone systems. In the office room the grain bins are zinc-lined and moisture proof. The top is upholstered so that when the lid is down the room has a very pleasant appearance. I have today broken ground for two more units, as my young birds are coming on so fast that I must make room for them. Be- sides supplying the Elmira market, I am sav- ing my most promising young ones in order to increase my flock. I have bought from you exclusively because IT liked your business methods and believe you are fair and square. Your birds are good breeders and throw heavy, white-skinned squabs. Business is good and as fast as I make money I enlarge my plant.—L. S. W., New York. SOME AT WORK AFTER LONG JOUR- NEY. The pigeons (dozen pairs) arrived, August 12, in good condition with the excep- tion that two of them had each one wing hurt. I have waited to see how badly they were hurt before writing, but think they will pull through all right for one of them has taken a mate and is building on the floor of the pigeon house. Five pairs of them are building and three pairs are driving, while several others are paired off.—B. V., State of Washington. FINEST BIRDS PERFECTLY MATED. CHANGED HIS HOUSES. I want to tell you about my birds. I received them the Satur- day of the week you shipped them, turned them out on Monday and they went right to building. I have got three setting and I see the others are starting to build. They went right to work without any trouble. They go into the house every night just as if they were raised there. They are the finest birds I ever saw. I have just finished another large pigeon house and flying pen and I have put my white ones into it. Since I read your Manual I have changed most all my pigeon houses. I find they are so much better than mine. If any one is going into the pigeon business I would advise them to get one of your books on birds. I am sorry I did not get one longago. Just as soon as I can get rid of my common pigeons I want to replace them with yours. I have got to build another pigeon house and it will be about October before I get through with it, and I shall need nestbowls and other supplies-—C. E. G., North Carolina. SMALL ORDER FOLLOWED BY LARGER. Enclosed you will find an express money order, for which please ship me the following: 12 pairs Extra Homers, one dozen wood-fibre bowls, 25 pounds hempseed, 100 pounds Canada peas. Please ship as soon as possible. The three pairs of Extra Homers you sent Tuesday reached here Thursday in fine condition. Thank you for your prompt shipment.—G. J. A., New Jersey. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 200 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 NEW JERSEY WOMAN RECEIVES $4.00 TO $7.00 A DOZEN FOR SQUABS FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRAS. From the six pairs of birds I bought from you in 1905 and the extra pair you kindly gave me I have raised 215 birds. My squabs average 11 pounds to the dozen, sometimes more. The birds work all the time. They breed on the average of nine pairs every year. T have never had to give them a drop of medicine since I have had themas they keep in perfect health. ? T have lost about five pairs of squabs from the rats getting them, but never any from sickness. IT have built my coops after your suggestions in your book, The National Standard Squab Book, and am not troubled any more from rats. I have never seen any birds to compare with mine in size. 1 have seen hundreds of pigeons but every one praises mine upand remarks how large, full and broad they are across the breast. So far I have been selling my squabs here in town. They bring from $4.00 to $7.00 per dozen, according to the time of year. This price I get for them right out of the nest without killing or picking. I feed: kaffir corn, cracked corn and wheat every morning, and every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday I give them hemp seed and Canada peas (on trays) as much as they will eat. They have fresh water twice a day in summer and once in winter and once every week I scald out their drinking fountains with hot water to keep them sweet and clean. 3 I have one box of grit and one of oyster shells in the coop all the time and instead of putting it on the yard floor I put it in boxes. I also have a lump of rock salt and a salt-cat in each coop made as directed in your Manual. Once a week I clean their coops and take the white- wash pail in with me and whitewash the boxes out and sprinkle slaked lime on the floors of the coops and the yards. Your book has been a great help to me, and I have read it over many times and try to follow its directions in every particular. I am thoroughly satisfied with my birds and feel I have had great success with them and would not have any other breed or kind were they to be given to me free. I am now ordering 30 pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, same as I got before in 1905, making $75.00 worth, at the rate of $2.50 per pair. I enclose check for same, $75.00.—Mrs. S. V. F., New Jersey. QUICK START BY A 700-PAIR FLOCK. In January and February, 1907, a customer in the Mississippi valley bought 700 pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. On arrival of the birds he wrote: ‘‘ They are as fine a lot of thoroughbreds as Jever saw. You deserve the success you enjoy for your business methods.”’ The last consignment left us February 4 and reached him February 8. Nineteen days later he wrote us: “Our birds are doing very well. Have 400 pairs of eggs and squabs in the house, and probably 50 pairs driving. If the market will take all of our supply next month, we will put up another house at once and buy the birds of you, for you have always been fair and just with me.” On March 5 he wrote: ‘‘ Our squab house is a mass of squahs and eggs. The birds were at work within three days after placing them in their rooms, which shows that the wood fibre bowls and surroundings suited them, and that they were properly mated. The special lot of 50 pairs is the most remarkable pen we have ever seen. - In 30 days after their arrival, there were 40 pairs on eggs. We feel it our duty to compliment you on your fair, honorable and just dealings with us.” SIX DOLLARS A DOZEN IN CANADA FOR SQUABS WEIGHING NEARLY ONE POUND EACH. About two years ago I purchased [from you 15 pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. They have given excellent satisfaction in every way. All the squabs raised in two summers weighed 10-12 pounds to the dozen and at all times I was able to get $6.00 per dozen for them, indeed, I could not nearly supply the demand. I had offers to supply one of the largest hotels in Canada if I had enough stock. T think I am as enthusiastic a squab raiser as can be found. I have always kept fancy pigeoEs for pleasure, but never until I raised these from you have I raised squabs to sell.—A. M., anada. INCREASE TWENTY-ONE FOLD IN TWO YEARS IN OKLAHOMA. Would you please inform me where to ship the pigeon manure to a tannery? We have 200 pairs and we have burned 15 bushels this year. As I heard that you shipped the manure, I thought that I would write to you for my information. We are thinking of getting some more pigeons from you. Two years ago the 15th of February we got 11 pairs from your Company and now we have 231 pairs from those 11 pairs.—C. O. L., Oklahoma. BIG FLOCK IN KANSAS BRED FROM SMALL BEGINNING. Some two years ago I pur- chased from you 38 Homer pigeons. I now havea pen of 500 of the nicest birds in this locality, { am expecting to build larger pens and divide the bunch, and I wish to get all the printed matter I can on the subject of squab breeding, also all the information you can give me by letter regarding the mating of birds, even if I have to pay a reasonable fee. Please let me hear from you by return mail and oblige —G. G., Kansas. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 201 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1907 . é ta i ie a 8 ee cor if ee YY ON A POLE AT TOP OF FLYING PEN. INDIANA WOMAN WON FIRST PRIZE AT HER FAIR. QUICK INCREASE IN SMALL FLOCK. HOW SHE FEEDS THEM AND CARES FOR THEM. In the spring of 1907 I bought 15 pairs of your Plymouth Rock Homers. In March they started to build their nests. At present (October) I have 82 young squabs with eight pairs on eggs. When the squabs are four weeks old they weigh 14 to 16 ounces apiece. They are very rich eating. One pair of birds raised me from six to seven pairs of young squabs (in less than eight months). When the squabs are two weeks old I clean their nestbowls out twice a week. Twice a week I sprinkle slaked lime around. I use tobacco stenis. Also every day I give my coop a good cleaning. I have no kind of lice. I sprinkle a little slaked lime on the floor. I have a good many visitors. They say, how can you keep it so clean? Mr. Kline, Mr. Martin and several others were here to look at my birds. They thought they were fine. Some of my young birds are larger than some of the old birds. Some of the young birds have raised some young squabs for the second time, of which the first eggs were no good. I feed my birds in the morning. I give cracked corn, wheat, kaffir corn, buckwheat and barley, all mixed together and feed fresh water, plenty of it. Also their morning bath. This is their morning feed. At noon they get lettuce or cabbage leaves or Swiss chard. They are very fond of dry bread or cake. In the evening I feed the same as the morning feed except I scald a little oats; when cold, I mix it with the other feed. I put a teaspoonful of carbolic acid in their drinking water once a month. I am feeding sunflower seed once a week. When my young birds are six weeks old I pull their tail feathers out. I find out they do better. It seems to help them to shed their feathers quicker. I band my birds when four weeks old and place them in another coop. My coop is 16 feet long, 12 feet high, 10 feet wide, with a double floor with tar paper between, also it is lined with tar paper and has three large windows in it. I have 132 nest boxes. They are 12 inches square. I build them like you have them in your squab book. I would like to send you a picture of the squab house, but I planted lima beans and spun them up the wire. T will send you a picture later on. I got first prize at the fair. I have seen several kinds of pigeons but they don’t compare with mine in size and weight. We eat squabs about every Sunday. I make pot pie, also I have soup. I make what you might call noodle soup. They are the best stuffed with dressing made with one egg, one onion cut fine, little parsley, pinch of salt and pepper, a little grated nutmeg, the hearts and gizzards of the birds and bread broken in small pieces, water enough to moisten. This is enough for three birds to dress.—Mrs. S. B., Indiana. MOVED HIS FLOCK, BUYING MORE. NO AILING PIGEONS. Well, it has been About a year ago, I purchased 12 pairs of Homer pigeons from you. At that time I was located at Lowder, Ill. About February 15 this year (1907) I moved them from Lowder to Waverly, which is about eight miles. I now have 34 pairs. Will be in the market for more birds at once. Also quote me prices on supplies.—G. C. H., Ilinois. ONE-POUND SQUABS. NEVER LESS THAN $3 AND AS HIGH AS $4.50 A DOZEN OBTAINED IN SOUTH DAKOTA. In Sep- tember, 1905, I bought some Homer pigeons from you. Most all squabs that I have raised from your Extra Homers weigh one pound at five weeks old and I have got as high as $4.50 per dozen for them, never less than $3 per dozen. You may use this information as it is correct.—J. H. K., South Dakota. some time since I received the 13 pairs pigeons from you and I will say I am quite well satisfied with them. They are all work- ing but two pair and I have quite a bunch of good healthy young ones in my rearing pen and think I would have had more if I had given them more time and care, but I have too much other work. I keep the house clean and have it white- washed, and don’t believe I have an ailing pigeon in the loft. I think I have some lice but they are not bad. I spray my lofts once or twice a week, being careful to choose a bright, warm day.—C. R., Illinois. VERY FINE FLOCK. I purchased some of your Plymouth Rock Homers a few years ago. I have a very fine flock of birds now.— J. M. W., Pennsylvania. rn LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 202 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 FIRST PRIZE ON ONE PAIR, FIRST PRIZE ON COOP OF FOUR PAIRS, COMPETITION LIVELY AMONG SEVERAL HUNDRED BIRDS. (September, 1907.) air, the speckled wing birds, and first prize ribbon on coop of four pairs. The judge said that the hen bird was fine, but when the Fair was over. I will do so now. secured from you and one pair from my pen. I promised to write you about the birds * I took first money on one Three of the pairs cock not so good. Of course I did not have time to trim them or fix them up for the occasion. I had to go up against several pigeon fanciers but came out with flying colors all the same. had several hundred birds of different kinds at the Fair. We I informed several where those birds came from and how long I had them. Hoping this will be as satisfactory to you as it is to me.— A. C. M., Maryland. TOOK ONE PAIR TO EXHIBITION, WON FIRST PRIZE, WAS OFFERED FIVE DOLLARS FOR THEM, TURNED DOWN OFFER. me. am very well pleased. County Fair. They were red checkers. of birds. It has been a long time since you have heard from In the first place, I must let you know that my birds are getting along very nicely. 1 I have 15 pairs of old birds and 75 young birds. I received first prize. I told that man that I would not sell my birds and that if he wanted any birds I I took one pair to the I was offered $5 for the pair would give him your address so he could buy some.—Mrs. B. A., Indiana. BEST PAIR OF HOMERS IN THIS ALABAMA COUNTY EXHIBITION. ORDERS MORE BIRDS. Your favor of October 19, 1907, was duly received. j the prize on our Homers at the County Fair, we will state your information is e won the prize for the best pair of Homers with a pair of blacks we got from you. our winnin correct. In answer to your query about We expect to make a better display at the next Annual Fair and if we see that we have a lot of prize Winners we will probably enter them at the State Fair at Birmingham. We hope you will assist us in our efforts by sending us extra good birds in our next order.—C., O., Alabama. TOOK 18 TO THE CENTRAL MAINE FAIR AND WON il PREMIUMS. I purchased three pairs of you at $2.50 per pair and bought two pairs of C. E. pigeons on hand. Melvin at $2 a pair, and this is the product of the two kinds. I have over 100 I took 18 of them to the Central Maine Fair at Waterville the past week (September, 1907) and got 11 premiums on the 18 birds, The others are all about the same, good, healthy birds.—S. A. P., Maine. FIRST AND SECOND PREMIUMS AND SPECIAL COMMENDATION AT THIS ILLINOIS POULTRY SHOW. The pigeons you sent me obtained the first and second premiums at the poultry show with special commendation. particular would be very hard to beat anywhere. tells.’—O. J., Illinois. ANOTHER WON FIRST PRIZE AT AN ILLINOIS COUNTY FAIR. They have won first prize at the County Fair. Homers bought. They-are fine. for pigeon houses.—T. H. W., Illinois. ONE CUSTOMER WON THE PRIZES AT THE FAIR WITH OUR BIRDS AND HIS NEIGHBOR WISHES TO GET SOMETHING TO BEAT THAT. Enclosed you will find money order for which please send’me three pairs No. 1 Homers, one drinker and six bowls. Colors, one pair blue checkers, one pair reds and one pair blacks. Please send mated birds. Send some good birds because I want to beat your customer Mr. N. in the poultry show _here soon. He got the prize at the Fair. I have some blue barred hens. Please send me all the circulars that you send out because I want to start in the business right.—B. R., Alabama. COW PEAS SUBSTITUTED FOR CANADA PEAS. I enclose you what they call “ cow peas ”? here to ask you if they are what you call “‘ Canada peas.” The pigeons I got of you are satisfactory in every respect. Will probably get more March 1.—D. H., Illinois. Answer. Cow peas are not Canada peas but they are fed largely to pigeons and if they are plentiful in your State, feed them. I was informed the judges stated that one pair in I thoroughly demonstrated that ‘“‘ blood I have some of your Send plans BETTER BIRDS THAN ANY IN THE BIG POULTRY AND PIGEON SHOW IN MONTANA. WANTED SOMEBODY HE COULD RELY ON FOR THE GENUINE. I am verv-well pleased with the stock I received to-day. They are the finest lot of pigeons I ever saw. I received your letter and direc- tions this morning and the pigeons this after- noon. Thank you for the prompt and careful selection you gave me. Many thanks for the extra pair of pigeons. They seemed glad to get out of the box. They look fine for the long trip and all perfectly well. I did not expect to see such fine birds tor I did not know how they would get through the snow blockade in the Dakotas. Although I have seen only one letter from your customers in Montana, I think that if I follow your direc- tions closely, I can make a success of it. There ought to be a good market here and in the big poultry and piceon show there were none could stand beside these. The “ National Standard Squab Book ” convinced me that I wanted somebody I could rely upon for the genuine.—M. G. S., Montana. ———EEE——— LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 203 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 CHEAPEST POSSIBLE CONSTRUCTION. Single boarding, covered with roofing, no shingles. The long, shallow wood trough is for the birds to bathe in. The water enters from a faucet in the foreground. After the birds have bathed, the water is emptied by pulling a plug at the end. The trough is cleaned with a broom. The man who sends this photograph writes: “TI raised 1650 young ones from March 1, 1907 to July 1, 1907 (four months) from 450 pairs of breeders in this building.” MADE A TRIP SOUTH AS FAR AS VIRGINIA AND FOUND OUR BIRDS THE BEST ALL ALONG THE LINE. NONE OTHERS ANYWHERE NEAR THEIR EQUAL FOR SIZE AND UALITY. I have sold lots of squabs this summer. I average about 800 a month. Besides that I have worked up a little side trade in selling mated birds, but only the very large ones, such as I raise myself. Such orders bring me $3 a pair. I can’t raise them fast enough to supply my trade, but I guarantee to do what is right by them all. I can say the credit is yours for supplying me with the old birds, as you did, but I only wish I had sense enough to have held on to all J ever got from you. Mr. Rice, I claim to have raised the largest Homers that any man can raise. 1 visited a plant in Pennsylvania. While I was there I was also down to Philadelphia and Delaware as far as Virginia and I saw your fine birds all along as I went, but none others were anywhere near their equal as far as size and quality went. I will take the largest Homers you have to-day and breed them in my coops and raise the young ones myself, and the young birds will be larger than the old ones, but that is experience that does that.—L. Y., Connecticut. A WHY WE HAVE MADE A SUCCESS. I CANADA CUSTOMER FINDS PROFIT- wish to thank you very much for the nice selection both in size and perfect marking. I readily see why it is you have made a success of Homer breeding. I have long since found a satisfied customer is by far the best advertis- ing medium in building a substantial business. 1 will give you my future orders. I hope to add frequently to my nice loft of birds. No off-color or inferior birds can exist in my pens. Wishing you success—W. B. T., Texas. ABLE OCCUPATION. About six months ago I purchased from you seven pairs of your Extra mated adult Plymouth Rock Homer pigeons. Have had very good success with them. Starting with seven pairs, J have now (June, 4, 1907) fifty-six hardy Homers. I also got a Manual from you and find it very helpful. On the whole, I think squab rais- ing is one of the most profitable industries pursued to-day. You can publish this letter if you wish.—J. M., B. C., Canada. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 204 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 CONNECTICUT WOMAN’S BIRDS BREED BETTER THAN MANUAL STATES. SHE HAS SEEN ONLY ONE LOFT OF BIRDS AS GOOD AS HERS AND THAT MAN BOUGHT HIS STOCK OF US. I will give you a statement of the birds I received from you the 23d of April, 1907. My birds do very much better than you state in your Manual. They arrived in perfect condition and are very large and beautiful, have always been perfectly healthy. There has never been only one that was sick and that was caused from moulting and raising birds too fast. I took her away until she had recovered and her mate cared for the - young birds. These birds lay when their young are from 12 to 21 days old. Some of them are sitting on their fifth lot of eggs. They have hatched 48 young birds in four months and just three weeks, and expect more will hatch this week. Some of the young ones are beautiful. I have never had young birds remain in their nests over three weeks. One pair build on the floor and their birds leave their nest at 17 days old. These weigh at three weeks 14 ounces, others at ten days weigh one-half pound each, some at three weeks weigh one pound. : I have some that are very delicate from which I shall use for flying. These birds do not weigh but 14 ounces at four weeks old. I have seen but one loft of birds as large and handsome as these birds, and those were owned by a Mr. Cornwell of Milford. He bought his first birds of you and claims that they raise 11 pairs of birds a year. One of my neighbors who was watching my birds said: “ In all the birds I have ever seen these are the largest and most lovely.” I have followed your advice in the care of them and would like to know if mine are doing as well as the average youhear from. If I amsuccessful in flying the birds will let you know. Enclosed you will find money order for 50 pounds of health grit—Miss A. A. W., Connecticut, CHAIR SEATS USED FOR THE BOTTOMS OF NEST-BOXES, CHEAPER THAN LUMBER HOW TO CHOP UP STRAW FOR NESTING MATERIAL. I note you say use long boards for bottoms of nests and short pieces perpendicular. I reversed this before seeing your plans by standing up long boards 12 inches apart, toenailed to wall. These boards have three-quarter- inch by three-quarter-inch cleats for bottoms. I use 12-inch three-plv perforated seats. These seats are varnished, are light and strong, as your excellent bowls. They are slightly concave in center, just fitting the nestbowl, and the perforations do not extend beyond margin of bowl. I fasten bowls to them with stove bolts. I can remove nut in a moment and have bowl and base separate for cleaning, and they are cheaper than good lumber, which costs five to six cents a square foot. Seats 12 inches square can be bought for three cents each. They come 10, 11 and 12 inches square. You suggest no easy way for chopping straw in proper length for nests. I have stumbled onto a cheap and easy plan for small fellows like me. Use a common mitrebox and saw. Place mitrebox on table near end and a receptacle beneath. One or two strokes will cut through a big handful of straws and as you move up for next cut, the short ends drop ix so receptacle. I hope you do not consider all this didactic (or what not) for to tell the truth I have gotten more pleasure and information out of your Manual than I could have gathered with endless and expensive experimenting, and I want to help if I can in any small way.—P. O. L., New Jersey. HIS BATH-PANS ARE MOUNTED ON A PIPE AND HE EMPTIES ALL WITH ONE TURN OF ACRANK. FILLS ALL BY TURNING ONE VALVE. My self-feeder is just perfect. Two of the ranches about here are fitting up with it. I also have all my windows raised or lowered at the same time and with only one motion. One or as many as you like can be detached and remain closed. I can stand in my feed room and do the whole thing without taking a step, - My bath-pans are all mounted on a one-inch pipe running through the flying pen. The crank is just outside the end of the pen. It locks when the pans are up for bathing. The water is turned on by a faucet outside the flying pens. Now to empty this, no going inside the pens, frightening the birds and swashing the dirty water onto your hands. You just unlock the crank, rock the pans to and fro two or three times, turn down your crank and every pan dumps its dirty water onto a drip board running outside the pen. Leave your pans down and no snow, ice, or droppings can get ioto them. id drinking fountains all work from the passageway. Not a particle of filth can get into thern. Now I have not written this in any spirit of egotism. I consider it just common sense economy of my own construction.—J. W., New Jersey. THIS FLORIDA CUSTOMER BEGAN WITH TWELVE PAIRS OF OUR EXTRAS IN 1903. We now (September, 1907), have about 400 to 500 birds and during winter and spring have killed on an average of 25 squabs per week. To be accurate in this I cannot, as no account was kept, but must say the birds have proven very satisfactory indeed. Will give Mrs. B. your letter upon her return and she can answer it also,—J. C. W., Florida. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 205 1907 SQUABS SHOULD NOT BE SOLD DRAWN. THE COOK IS THE ONE WHO DRAWS THEM. The six pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers have increased to about 60 since last May 20, breeding right on all the time, just the same now (January, 1907), as last summer, all large youngsters, whicii weigh with feet off, head off, entrails removed. just over half a pound. Please let me know whether commission men weigh them that way, or if they leave the feet and head on ?— P. A. W., Pennsylvania. Answer. Squab dealers always weigh them with the head and feet on and undrawn. Never draw your squabs before selling them. They will not keep so well in the markets, and the marketmen do not take them that way. The heads, feet and insides are removed by the cook. THE START. In this barn, the customer whose picture is printed on this page made his start. It is still in use but the greater part of his breeding is done in a long multiple unit house nearby. AFTER ONE YEAR’S SUCCESSFUL TRIAL HE BUILDS A HOUSE FOR THREE HUNDRED PAIRS. The pigeons I got of you a little over a year ago have been doinz finely, Am now (April, 1907) building a house to accommodate three hundred pairs. Enclosed find check for $23.04 for which please send me two gross of the fibre nest- bowls. I will have a picture of my new house taken a little later on and send to you. I could not give you any definite figures as to what your birds have done for me, as l had some other birds in with them. How- ever, the ones got of you are the best and largest. One pair especially has raised a pair of squabs almost every month. I expect to put some of your birds to themselves as soon as my new house is ready, and may be able to give you figures on them later on.—H. B., Indiana. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 GRAIN AND SUPPLIES TO THE GULF STATES BY STEAMSHIP. Please quote me price on 200 pounds of mixed feed but with- out chops. I cannot get wheat or hemp seed, and I find my birds do better on your mixed feed. The birds I ordered from you some time ago are doing finely. I am very much pleased with them.—B. E., Mississippi. Note. We ship a great deal of grain and cther supplies to customers living in Gulf tates by boat from New York to Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston and other ports, a quick and cheap route, much faster than rail, and more satisfactory. The shipments get less handling. THIS CUSTOMER Started with a dozen pairs of our birds and has run them up to 800 pairs, paying a handsome profit. This is spare time work for him, as he is regularly einployed at his trade. WONDERFUL MATINGS. MORE SALES PROMISED. I received the 12 pairs of. birds O. K. in fine shape April 11, 7 p.m., 1907. They are a nice-looking lot of breeders and all you claim them to be, as two of them laid eggs while in transit and two more laid to-day, April 13, so you see there is some- thing doing. The other six pairs are doing well. All laid but one pair, and I think they are coming along all right. I assure you that such fair treatment means a continuation of sales wit me and I shall recommend the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. to those who are buying breeders. Will return baskets to-day. You can use this as a testimonial if you wish. —W. B. H., Massachusetts. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 206 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 BEAUTIFUL PAIR OF SPLASHES. The second bird on the left and the last bird on the right are types of oddly-marked Plymouth Rock Homers FEEDS HIS BIRDS LOCUST LEAVES AND PEPPER GRASS. BOSTON DEALER ALWAYS GIVES HIM MORE THAN THE MARKET QUOTATIONS BECAUSE HIS SQUABS ARE WORTH MORE. I purchased 12 pairs Extra Homers of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, in February. 1906, the best stock I could buy. to January 1907, when I began to ship the squabs. and I receive from $3 to $4 per dozen for them. I saved all my squabs for breeders up They average 9 pounds to the dozen, I ship to the Boston market. I feed my birds on wheat, cracked corn and kaffir corn in equal parts, with peas and hemp- seed as dainties. I feed them in wooden traps, not finding any self-feeder which I like. A box containing grit, oyster shells and charcoal is kept before them all the time and the flying pen outside covered with coarse sand. I find pine needles to be the best nesting material, the birds building a small, neat, compact nest with them. I sell the pigeon manure to parties in town at 50 cents per bushel. feet long by 14 wide, with a passageway three feet wide on one side. L My flying pen is 36 feet wide, 18 feet long and ten by fountains placed in the passageway. feet high, divided into three parts. I find my birds to be very fond of locust leaves and pepper grass, eating it like grain. like peas and hempseed so well that they will fly on to my hand for them. My squab house is 36 The birds are watered They My birds are mostly blue checkers, with a few reds and silvers among them. j I ship nearly every week to a large commission dealer in Faneuil Hall Market, who always gives me more than the market quotations. among them, and are raising big, fat squabs at the present time. Massachusetts. MOVING, GOING INTO THE BUSINESS ON A LARGER SCALE. Our Homers have done fine since we have had them. We have doubled. So far we have lost only one pair of squabs and we think the parents smothered them. Then one of our young birds of our first pair got out and away and we think he was frozen or caught by a cat, for the night was a cold one. Now we are going to move and take a place where we can go into the business on a larger scale, so we will hope to send for more birds as soon as we get coops ready.—Miss H. L. A., New Jersey. PLYMOUTH ROCKS BEST IN MEMPHIS. I have lost only one bird from sickness I have had no trouble with lice at all. My birds keep very clean and are also very tame. I go to see all the pigeons around Men\phis but find none as fine looking as yours. Your Manual is a fine teacher, why it is worth a dollar, I hope to have success by following your Manual as I have done so far.—W. A., Tennessee. My birds are all in fine condition, no poor ones Gunes 1907) —B.) B. Ke, SQUABS TEN POUNDS TO THE DOZEN. GOING TO SHIP TO NEW YORK FROM IOWA. If you remember I bought some fine Homers of you a year ago last September. They were the Extras. They have done well. Must have now 150 birds, fine large ones at that. I can send squabs to New York from here for $1.50 per 50 pounds. That is what I want to do eventually. I weighed 12 squabs just as they came, one month old. They weighed a trifle over 10 pounds. One pair weighed two pounds exact.—J. C., Iowa. SUPERIOR HOMERS BREEDING EX- TREMELY LARGE SQUABS. Accept my thanks for your fair treatment with regard to my order of June. The birds are breeding extremely Jarge squabs. Since then I have had given to me twelve pairs pedigreed Homers, but yours are superior in every way. Enclosed find P. O. money order, for which please send me six pairs Extra mated adult Homers and twelve wood-fibre nestbowls.— #. R. M., Massachusetts. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 207 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS SS ee ed ica reniine meio Yontioe PLYMOUTH ROCK BLUE BARS AND BLUE CHECKERS, BOY IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY 13 YEARS OLD GOT RID OF HIS FLOCK OF COMMON BIRDS AS SOON AS HE SAW PLYMOUTH ROCKS AND WHAT THEY WOULD DO. The nappies ordered of you came on time. My pigeons put them to use as soon as they arrived. I bought six pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers in January, 1907. I now (July) have 32 large, full-breasted birds. Some of the young ones are going to work now. Iam 13 years old and was anxious to do something to make a little money while going to school, and saw an advertisement of your Homers and made up my mind to try them. I am more than satisfied with my investment and within the next year I expect to have a very nice little income. In your Manual you show a diagram of a self-feeder, and I had one made which is very satisfactory, as it saves so much work and attention. I can get all the grain recommended by you except the buckwheat and hempseed, and I use red (instead of white) wheat, and my birds are thriving and doing well. I hope to be able to dispose of all I can raise here in my home market, as they are so lar ze and fine. In fact, there is all the difference in the world between my Homer sguabs and the ordinary scrub squab, and it will pay any one wanting to go in the business to get the best to start on. I weighed some of my squabs this morning (just three weeks old) and they average one pound each, or two pounds to the pair. JI had a flock of common birds and the squabs were dark skinned and weighed about eight ounces, and when I read of your birds I at once sold out and ordered from you, and I certainly feel that I made a good trade. I expect to order six pairs more soon. Thank you for the promptness and care taken of my orders.— G., Indian Territory. THREE DOLLARS A DOZEN FOR PLY- MOUTH ROCK SQUABS IN ARKANSAS. Please send six more pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and one dozen nest- bowls. We are able to get $3 a dozen for owr squabs at the hotels here-—W. A Arkansas. LARGEST EVER SEEN IN ONTARIO. The weather has been very cold here, 30 degrees below zero, so I have kept a coal oil stove going most of the time. Your birds have been greatly admired. They are the biggest that have ever been seen here.— G. S. B., Ontario. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 208 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS ; 1908 ON A RUNNING BOARD IN THE SUN. NESTBOWLS VERY PRACTICAL AND ARE A NECESSITY. BUSINESS SHEET OF A BEGINNER WITH SQUABS IN CANADA. On May 5, 1906, I received your lot of seven pairs Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, one pair out of the seven being free, as some nestbowls were bought previously, to allow for the express charges on them. I may say that these bowls are very practical, as none of my squabs have suffered from sprawled feet as is noticed when earthen- ware nappies are used. The breeders were put in the pigeon house the same night and it was not long before they became acquainted with their new home. Full instructions were sent before the pigeons reached here and as these were clear it was very easy to follow them. Sixteen days after their arrival there were two eggs in a nest. This was an event, as many friends were interested. They were much surprised to see these three-week-old squabs weighing 14 ounces and even more than 16‘ounces at four weeks. Their common pigeons were looking very small against my Plymouth Rock Homers which were looking so fine. It was really funny to hear them taking notice of the wonderful difference. Mine were looking so fine with their large breasts, their bright-looking eyes, their wings which look to be detached from them. The opinion of my friends was that they were the finest birds they ever saw. At the end of the first month there were four squabs and six eggs, at the end of October 12 pairs of eggs had been !aid and hatched, making a total of 22 pairs of squabs at the end of six months. All the squabs of the first August were eaten at a family dinner and proclaimed the finest squabs that were ever served on such an occasion. Since that time we disposed of the squabs for breeding purposes and for eating. Last winter I had 15 pairs of squabs laid but as the winter was very cold some of the squabs died because the parents were not acclimated, but Iam sure that this winter will not be so fatal as they will be acclimated. Since April, 1907, I have had 29 pairs of eggs, of which. 26 pairs of squabs have been eaten. In consequence, pigeon keeping in Quebec has proved to be a success, a paying business, when proper birds are -used—that is, the Plymouth Rock Squab Company Homers. Business Sheet of an Amateur Squab Breeder. May 5, 1906 to September 1, 1907. Total of eggs laid, 66 pairs. Total of pounds of grains, 638, at a cost of $11.47. Rations of Grains for Feeding Purposes. Winter Summer IPEASM eee neta No eT-ts SEAL Te aL enero thiore av alate caine aes BOllbs; 30 lbs. WECEAVV eat antepe se cto cola ches Cmiels Save chloe Gckes Ma cutee? LL Orl bse 25 lbs. Bi GlewMeatr rer cette te errant ie Citnten e Sea ena care eet LS: lps: 15 lbs. Cracked corn (not sifted)....... 3 a tie GOLDS: 30 Ibs. During September and October I fed 30 pounds red wheat and 40 pounds peas. The pigeons are sold in Montreal for: 50—70 cents per pair in winter, 45—55 cents per pair in autumn, 30—40 cents per pair in spring, 25—35 cents per pair in summer. Average price, 40 cents per pair —G,. G.. Canada. KNOW WHERE TO BUY WHEN THEY BEAUTIES, EXCELLENT LAYERS, VERY WANT THE PIGEONS WHICH ARE THE HEALTHY. InSeptember, 1904, I purchased VERY BEST IN EVERY RESPECT. In from you 12 pairs of birds. We have in- February, 1906, I bought pigeons from you creased our flock to over 100 pairs so at from which I am raising the finest flock of present (October, 1907) I am obliged to sell Pigeons that I ever saw. I amsendingto you some of our young birds for the need of herewith with hopes of getting more from you making room ‘or others. They are beauties that are equally as good if not better than and'give good satisfaction. They are excellent the ones-I got last year. The enclosed order layers, hatching fine, large squabs weighing, is partly for myself and partly for Mr. Ritter, from eight to 12 ounces and are very healthy. who has been corresponding with yourecently. Perhaps next year I shall be situated so I can We want pigeons that are the very best in order about 50 pairs of your first-class every respect.—W. A. G., Ohio. breeders.—E. FE. H., New Jersey. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS Serer Bane PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY . Q we 1908 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1907 INTERIOR OF MASSACHUSETTS CUSTOMER’S HOUSE. Wire netting is used always to separate the units, not board partitions. This breeder has not set nest boxes up against the wire netting, but this is done in almost every case. NEVER HAD A SICK BIRD AMONG OURS, BUT BIRDS FROM ANOTHER SOURCE ARE WEAK AND POOR BREEDERS, HANDLED UNDER THE SAME CONDITIONS. You will probably remember me as having bought two dozen pairs of Plymouth Rock pigeons from you last November. Out of the 25 pairs you sent me, I have 20 pairs working. Onc bird died, one got away and one cock bird I killed. JI thought I would try some one else’s birds to see what they would do, so I bought two dozen pairs from I built a new house exactly the same as I put your birds in, and have given them the same treatment, but they are not doing as well as your birds. They do not seem strong and vigorous like your birds. I would like you to send me 24 pairs of your very best Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I am not particular as to color so long as the quality is there. I have kept the birds I got from the other man in a pen by themselves as I want to give them a fair chance. -They may be young birds, as they do not seem to care for their eggs and young as they should do. I give them exactly the same treatment as I give the others, but they do not seem as vigorous as your birds. I have never had a sick bird among yours, since I got them, only the one that died soon after I received them—J. W., West Virginia. NEWS OF OUR SUCCESS CARRIED TO GOOD MATINGS. FOUR NESTS SIX INDIA. Having heard something of your DAYS AFTER REACHING KENTUCKY. wonderful success in this business from a Homers received in splendid condition on gentleman from America, I should very much March 8. They are surely a beautiful lot of like to hear full particulars. I have some birds. Am very much pleased with them young nephews in California whom 1] should and hope to duplicate order in a short time. like to help make a start in some way.— They have built four nests already. (March 14.) M. C. H., Bombay, India. —I. P. Y., Kentucky. LOST ONLY TWO YOUNG SQUABS. Will you be so kind as to tell me where I can get a good cut of a pair of Homer pigeons? My birds which I bought of you are doing well. I have not lost any but two young squabs before they were grown, They are certainly nice.—L. ., Georgia. ONE HUNDRED SQUABS A MONTH WEIGHING ELEVEN TO FOURTEEN OUNCES. I have nothing but your Extra stock exclusively and am now turning out 100 or more fine squabs weighing 11 to 14 ounces and over every four weeks.—E. M., South Carolina. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY . 210 1907 SIX SQUABS WEIGHED A LITTLE OVER FOUR AND ONE HALF POUNDS. I am sending you by mail a photo of one of my pigeon houses. 1 cannot have both houses taken in the same picture because they are too far apart. This picture was taken when I had only 25 pairs of birds in it. I now have 45 pairs in it, all your birds, and they are doing fine. The birds are not quite through the moult yet but they have been breeding right along. I killed six squabs to-day and they weighed a little over four and one-half pounds after they were picked; so that’s not so bad, considering that they are moulting. Please let me know if you can let me have two pairs of good Carneaux, something you can recommend, as I would like to get good ones.—W. L., West Virginia. WOMEN ENJOY SQUAB RAISING. HE HAS THE LARGEST HOMERS IN HIS PENNSYLVANIA TOWN. I think it is time to fet you know about my birds which I got from you in April, 1906. Well, they are doing all right. You know IJ got three pairs. Now (May, 1907) I have 36. About 16 young ones died last winter on account of the very cold weather we had. I must thank you very much for the birds which you sold me. We have quite a lot of people that have Homer pigeons around here, but I have the largest of them all, so I am well satisfied and shall always recommend your squab farm and your Homers.—H. D. K., Pennsylvania. EXTRA POCKET MONEY. I thought I would write and tell you how my birds are getting about. I have raised squabs enough to pay for their expenses and extra pocket money.—]J. D., Massachusetts. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCKS SUPERIOR TO ANY RUNT CROSSES AT MUCH LESS COST. I have been interested in your advertisements for some time, and if you will favor me with any suggestions regarding my own birds, I will be grateful. About two years ago, I got some Runt-Homer crosses of the best strain, thinking them best for heavy squabs. They are as prolific as can be, but the squabs weigh only 14 or 15 ounces at four weeks old. The surroundings, feeding, etc., are all right, as I am only keeping a few pairs for pleasure of it. Would like to be put aright.—P. A. R., California. Answer. The strain of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers we have developed are superior in weight of squabs and rate of breeding to any Runt cross, at one-fourth the cost of Runts. The only birds superior to our Extra Homers are our Carneaux. These breed squabs weighing 12 pounds and more to the dozen, and breed faster than Homers. NO LET-UP IN BREEDING IN STATE OF WASHINGTON. FINE, FAT SQUABS. Since last August I have been a very sick man; in fact, came very close to the divide, but have not crossed over yet. (April, 1907.) About my pigeons, I have not noticed any let up about their breeding since they com- menced last May. I have about 150 all told now, fine big fellows. I have fed them red wheat, kaffir corn, hemp seed and the small yellow seed you recommended, have forgotten its name, with grit, clam shell from the beach, salt and charcoal once in a while, fountain of water in the house and running water in the yard. The birds do not like strangers. They are not afraid of me I have some fine fat squabs. You can im- prove on your hopper feeder by nailing a lath on the inch piece to which the feeding holes are nailed. Let it stand up one-half ‘to three-quarters inches above the one-inch piece. It does not allow them to pull out the grain so fast. I send you a picture of the house and yard with a few of the pigeons on roosts.—G. H., State of Washington. TWELVE PAIRS OUT OF THIRTEEN PAIRS AT WORK IN TWELVE DAYS AFTER RECEIPT. I thought it might be of interest to you to know how my little flock of birds are getting along. It has been just twelve days since they arrived and I now have twelve pairs out of the baker’s dozen at work. It strikes me that there is “‘ something doing.” I have a nice, roomy home for them and do everything that I can to make them happy. and enjoy the care of them very much. feel now as though I will succeed and if I do Af will build me a unit plant next spring and will stock it with your Homers. I go East about once a year as far as New York, and the next time I go, I will go over to Boston and visit your plant.—B. A., Georgia. eee LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPAN 211 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 = eS " mae 4 Aes AT THE BACK OF A BARN. Showing how a New York customer made a handsome home for his birds without doing any building. (This flying pen is shown in detail on next illustrated page.) THAT THE WORK IS NOT BEYOND THE PERSON OF AVERAGE ABILITY IS PROVED BY THE SUCCESS OF THIS 15-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO HAD NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE AND NO GUIDE BUT THE MANUAL. | Please send me prices on pigeon supplies, also prices on breeding stock, as I have mislaid those that I received from you about a year ago when purchased pigeons of you. I am only a boy of 15 and must wait until I can earn enough from the ones I have. My Extra Plymouth Rock Homers have done very well. My brother bought six pairs of you and he sold them to me immediately after they began work before winter was half way begun. One pair died, so that left me only five pairs of breeders. I was so interested in these that I forgot about the pair that died. They worked fine until cold weather set in, having averaged a pair of squabs from each pair every seven weeks, but during the cold weather we raised less. Our loft being upstairs, in an old granary, was pretty cold. This spring (1907) they began work in earnest again, laying their eggs again before the squabs were two weeks old. One young pair only four months old raised a pair of squabs weighing one and one-half pounds. I have now about seventy-five (75) birds old and young and lots of eggs. We got 50 cents a pair for the squabs we sold, but I did not wish to sell many because I am to raise them for breeders. It certainly pays to buy the Extras, for everybody who sees them says they are splendid, but I believe your Manual is just as necessary ty make it a paying business. I do not see how I could raise them without it. Perhaps I will want some more breeders if I get the building ready this summer.—G. L. G., Wisconsin. ONE SALE LED TO ANOTHER. No OUTGROWN THE COOP. Please send me doubt you are acquainted with Carlton five dozen nestbowls and one drinking Daniel, who is a first cousin of mine. His fountain by express. My coop has got too pigeons looked so fine that they encouraged small to hold the birds. The dozen pairs me to buy of you. I don’t think mine can be you sent me have increased to 125 birds— beaten.—F. W., Indiana. F. C. W., Massachusetts. PR me NR EE RR A nc LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 212 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 SHIPSHAPE FLYING PEN. This is the flying pen of the place illustrated on preceding page. By the use of inch boards the owner has finished off the timbers so that the effect is permanent and beautiful, ; THIS NEW JERSEY BREEDER RECEIVES $4.50 A DOZEN FOR HIS SQUABS AND THE DEMAND IS SO GREAT THAT HE CANNOT FILL HIS ORDERS, SO BUYS MORE BIRDS. In sending my second order (January, 1907) for your Extra mated birds, I would like to put in a few words in regard to the birds I received from you in 1904. My birds have done finely. I sent to Boston $30 for 12 pairs. The birds arrived in the finest shape that was ever seen in this part of New Jersey. I reccived the birds in May, 1904, and had eight pairs ef squabs in July. I then went to work and kept all the squabs for a short time until they got six to seven months old, then I went to mating them the way you show in vour Manual. I now in January, 1907, have 200 birds which is only one-fourth of the birds I raised, but the demand for squabs was so great that I could not get the chance to save any for breeding. That is the reason why I send an order for 50 pairs of your best birds. My houst is 12 feet wide and 26 feet long with a hall three feet wide, one window on the north side and three windows on the south side, with 200 nests. My first house was 12 feet by 12 feet, but I found out that when handling Plymouth Rock Homers it does not take long for them to make money for a larger house, and to get a start in a business of our own. I would like to tell you that I put one advertisement in a paper of our town some time ago, not to sell my squabs for I had more orders than I could fill, but to let my friends know that I meant that there was money in handling your birds. The advertisement brought me so many orders that I didn’t know what todo. , The demand for squabs is so great that I get $4.50 per dozen. My squabs average nine to 12 pounds to the dozen. I am going to build house No. 3 this spring and then I will need more of your fine birds. I would like to tell you a few words in regard to the Manual. It is the finest I have ever read for the reason you show how to run a successful squab business. I use the self-feeder which you show in your Manual. I always find the feed clean and dry, which is the main part of the feeding part. I feed cracked corn, red wheat, Canada peas and hempseed. The feed bill will not exceed 85 cents a year per breeding pair. I can figure on nine pairs of squabs per year at 75 cents per pair, which leaves me a net profit of $5.20 per year for each pair of breeders. I am perfectly satisfied with the results obtained from your birds and wish you continued success.—A. N., New Jersey. VALUES HIS BIRDS AT FIVE DOLLARS USUAL STORY FROM IOWA. The birds A PAIR. I would not sell my birds for five received from you last winter are doing dollars a pair now.—C. E., New Jersey. finely.—E. R. W., Iowa. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 213 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 BIRDS FED ONLY CRACKED BARLEY. KNOWS WHERE TO GET MORE BIRDS. I have some fine birds and am stuck on that last basketful you sent—tnose nice dark checkers, and some of tne nicest sky blue I ever saw. I have some young birds from the last ones you sent me that will mate in two or three weeks, so you can see they did not lose much time after shedding feathers. There was a man at my place, whose name I forget. He said his birds were from your place and that my birds were livelier than his. I told him if he would follow your book he would be all right. I told him he was feeding too much, or he was not giving them the right feed, and he said he was feeding cracked barley so he cannot expect much from his birds. I went to the market to find out what they are paying for birds. They are paying 25 cents apiece for old common birds and he said that they pay more for Homer squabs. My birds are getting along finely. I am going to get 60 cents a bushel for manure with straw in it, which I think is a good price. If I want any more birds I know where to get them and that is from your place.—J. C., Wisconsin. READY SALE IN LOUISIANA FOR ALL SQUABS THAT CAN BE PRODUCED. PRICES ARE GOOD, RANGING FROM $2.50 TO $4.00 A DOZEN. I received your National Standard Squab Book on the evening of the 5th inst. and have studied same over carefully several times and will say that I am perfectly satisfied with it and consider your Manual one of much value and indis- pensable to one who intends to raise squabs. I expect to order from you in half dozen and dozen lots, until I get me a good flock of breeders. (This.I will have to do on account of my limited means and again I am not at my home. I am employed by the railroad company as foreman and my house is 25 miles from my work. However, I am con- fident that I will be in a position to quit railroading in 12 months from now if I have good luck with birds.) I have an ideal place for a squab plant containing 12 acres of good land and nice dwelling and out buildings. I have also investigated the marketing of squabs in this territory and find that I can get ready sale for all that I can produce at from $2.50 to $4.50 per dozen, according to weight and plumpness.—T. H., Louisiana. THIS ILLINOIS YOUNG WOMAN HAS GIVEN US HALF A DOZEN ORDERS FOR BIRDS BETWEEN 1903 AND 1908. Please find enclosed two post-office money orders for $125 and send me 50 pairs Extra Plymouth Rocks. My mother’s’ sickness interfered with my plans. I have lost many orders by not having enough breeders. I think it safe to try now.—Miss J. M., TMincis. HAS KEPT PIGEONS FOR YEARS. PLYMOUTH ROCKS DO BETTER THAN ANY HE EVER BRED. I had 35 pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers to start with, They are fine Lirds and very good breeders. I have kept pigeons for years. but yours do as well and in some respects better than any I ever had. I intended to breed them for squabs, but there is such a call for good breeders that I have not had any chance to sel! squabs.—A. T. K., Massa- chusetts. ; FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY EARNING POCKET MONEY FOR TWO YEARS. About two years ago I bought three pairs of your best Homer breeders and they are getting along very nicely. I am only 15 years old. I am running my business the way described in your National Standard Squab Book. Have you a 1907 copy of this book?—J. A. M., Wisconsin. NEST OF STRAW AND FEATHERS. Some birds build a scanty nest, using only a few wisps of straw, with perhaps a feather or two. nestbowl is an absolute necessity for such pairs, otherwise the eggs soon roll apart or out of the nest box. In April, 1907, a Missouri woman wrote us as follows: “Enclosed find draft for $11.52, for which please send me one gross of nestbowls. One year ago I started with 40 pairs of Homers. Now I have something over 400 birds. I have lost a great number of eggs, and feel like I must have the nestbowls, as they pre- vent the eggs from rolling out. Send them at once.” GETTING RID OF COMMON PIGEONS AND PURCHASING PLYMOUTH ROCKS. THE MOST WEIGHTY BIRDS HE EVER SAW. I have a number of common birds which I am either going to sell, or kill them for my own use, but I will exert every effort to sell them and purchase more birds of you, as I think yours are the most weighty birds I ever saw. As soon as I am rid of what common birds I have on hand now, you may expect my order for some more of your breeders.—T. W., New York. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 244 1907 QUICK WORK BY THE NEW FLOCK OF A NINE-YEAR-OLD BOY. I should per- haps have written you earlier of my _boy’s success with the Plymouth Rock Homers which you sent. One pair were nesting in three days and inside of three weeks there are, I think, ten of the thirteen pairs at work, and if my recollection serves me, inside of four weeks he had ten or a dozen squabs hatched. It is now nearly five weeks since he had them and some of the scuabs are nearly large enough to market. I consider this a pretty good record.—H. C., New York. Note. The above gentleman known business New Yorker. only nine years old. is a well- His boy is DIFFERENT SIZES. This shows two squabs, one of which is growing faster than the other. This means that it is pushing its smaller mate out of the way at feeding time and getting more feed from the parents. In such cases, the bigger one will grow fast and the smaller one will be stunted. The latter should be helped by being taken out of the nest and put alongside a squab of its own size in another nest, the larger squab there being brought back to grow up with a mate of its own size. The parents in both cases do not neglect the new comer. MARYLAND CUSTOMER SATISFIED AND ENLARGING. On November 27, 1906, I received from you 50 pairs of Plymouth Rock pigeons. I put them into what I considered an up-to-date house, using nappies for nests! I am starting another pen and expect before fall to have 150 pairs of good stock, I feed cracked corn and wheat and I also give the Canada peas when I can get them, a little hemp and rice once in awhile. 1 am entirely satisfied and when I am in the market for more birds, Elmer Rice’s birds will do for me. Thank you for your many kindnesses.—W. B. C., Maryland. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 UICK BEGINNING BY MATED PAIRS. ALL AT WORK WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER DELIVERY AND A PAIR OF SQUABS ON HIS TABLE WITHIN SEVEN WEEKS. MORE ORDERS FOLLOW. Within seven weeks from the date of receipt of the birds I ordered from you, I have had a pair of broiled squabs on my table, and such squabs I never saw before. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 28. MIXED GRAIN. 29. MIXED GRAIN. 30. MIXED GRAIN. The above are samples of mixed pigeon grain. No. 28 is a good mixture. No 30 contains good grains but also has oyster shells and grit in it. No. 29 contains an even larger proportion of granite grit and oyster shells and the grains are poorer. The reason why some grain dealers put oyster shells and grit into their mixtures is that these two substances cost them less than half of what grain costs, and by selling the mixture at the price of good grain, they sell grit and oyster shells at the price of grain. If the breeder wishes to mix grit and oyster shells with his grain, it is much cheaper for him to buy them separately and do his own mixing. SELLS SQUABS FOR THREE DOLLARS A DOZEN TO A MAN WHO CALLS AND TAKES THEM ALIVE OUT OF THE NESTS. Since February each’ pair of my Plymouth Rock Homers has thrown five pairs of squabs, all weighing 10 and 11 pounds to the dozen, Am a great believer in feed, ie., quality and variety, and feed each morning equal quantities of cracked corn, red wheat, and Kaffir corn. In the afternoon I substitute Canada peas three times a week and hemp seed twice for red wheat, and this mixture has kept my birds in good working im. The self-feeder which I made according to your instructions was somewhat of a failure in my case. The birds managed to scatter an enormous amount of feed on the floor, causing a great waste, which I have obviated by the use of troughs. I feed twice a day and have by observation got the quantity needed to satisfy them down very fine. Very little grain is tossed out of the troughs, which are six feet long by 12 inches wide with one.and one-half inch rims. Was very careful to see if there was any falling off in the weight of squabs when I made the change from self-feeder to trough, but none was noticeable. Have followed your instructions otherwise and must say they have worked out beautifully. Your Manual has proven a veritable storehouse of practical information and advice. Some time ago I bought some birds from a friend which he purchased from and must admit that the squabs from your birds are whiter meat. From present indications, I am going to get at least one pair of squabs more per pair of breeders from your birds than from my other stock. Hereafter it’s your stock for me. I keep a card file system which enables me to tell in a moment just what every pair in my lofts is doing. The squabs raised from your stock are all throwing healthy offsprings at four and a half months of age, which I think is very young for birds to go to work. IT am selling my squabs now to a party who takes them out of the nest, saving me the killing and dressing, and pays me $3 a dozen for them. In the fall and winter I will get from $4 to $5.50 a dozen for them, and all the market I can supply.—A. D., New Jersey. Bi i a aa a SS SS LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 296 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS FIRST-CLASS MARKET FOR GOOD SQUABS AND PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN IOWA. I received six pairs from you two years ago and started to raise a flock from them. I purchased your Manual and followed it in every detail as far as possible and will state I have had fine luck. My flock now consists of 50 good mated pairs and they are working very well. I have sold some squabs and a few older birds. I receive $2 per pair for old and 75 cents per pair for squabs. I can safely say I have made a good profit on my purchase, as I paid $10 for six pairs of your birds direct from you. My order was sent in with Mr. J. Haas’s as three of us took six pairs each. Two of us are still in the business, but he was compelled to sell out on account of moving away. I think that the squab business is one of the best. If one follows the instructions of your Manual he will succeed far ahead of anticipations. Iam well pleased with my success, and_now I am enjoying the benefit of my old birds, as I have squabs most of the time for my own table use and sell to customers here in the city. In the spring I will increase my flock. As far as sickness is concerned, will say that I have not had any. My flock is in the best of health and has no vermin. Others will fare the same as I have if they will follow the instruc- tions of your Manual in regard to care and feeding birds, also in keeping fresh water in pens. I have a hydrant in my yards and turn it on so as to keep a flowing stream at all times so I do not have any trouble in this way at all. I have my birds all marked so that if any one of them should happen to be killed or die I can pick out the mate and pair it off with another. This is also a very profitable plan so as to keep all workers in one pen. I have had no trouble in selling my squabs as the market is always open for Homers. There is a vast difference between the common pigeons and your Plymouth Rocks. There is a man here who raises the common pigeons which he sells for $1.75 per dozen, but there is no comparison between the two, as the Homers from your farm are so far ahead, and the consumers of the squabs say they would rather pay more and get good birds. We feel that there will be no opposition from him in the squab business as our price has not been kicked on yet, nor do I think it will be. I will send you a small order for some more birds in the spring as I want to increase my flock from your birds. I again thank you for past favors and will do as much as I can to push the squab business and to hold up prices. If you have an opportunity to refer any of your customers to me, you can feel assured I will say your firm is square and will do as you say. I would be pleased at any time to help you, I will do you some good here as our stock of old birds is not for sale. Our squabs are all ordered ahead of time, so let me know, as there is a fine big i ae for your Homers and your birds will meet with the approval of any and all.— . G.S., Iowa. SPLENDID FIELD IN COLORADO. ONE HOTEL TAKING MORE THAN THIS LARGE PLANT CAN SUPPLY. The writer would like to know the names of one or two good poultry journals in which we can place an advertisement for partner in increase plant, which is at present 2000; 1200 of these birds are from your plant. Would like to procure 500 pairs from you to infuse new blood into our flock. Perhaps you might know of one who has some experi- ence in this line who would like to come to Colorado or Denver. There is a splendid field here for the business. We have but one customer, a hotel, which we attempt tosupply. This hotel consumes 20 to 30 dozen a week. They pay us $3.60 a dozen dressed. Denver has many hotels and restaurants besides a great demand from the dining-car service from here to the coast. I have been in this business 14 months. I sent for your squab book four years ago and have gradually been drifting into the business. My wife looks after every detail of the plant while I have been working at the tin trade, which I soon hope to abandon and take up the squab business exclusively. We have solved the problem of keeping down the mites and have little or no disease among the birds. I hope in the next two years to have a squab plant worthy of the name. Any advice you can give to help the cause will be appreciated. If possible, would like to have the name of some party who would come West to engage in the business, with whom we. might correspond.—H. J. D., Colorado. CHICKEN RAISER OF FIVE YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IS PLEASED WITH HIS SQUAB WORK. The last lot of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers came in fine shape. Some of them started to work at once. Five pairs have eggs and are setting on them, and six pairs now have nests. The first 25 pairs I received from you, June 12, 1908. I will take a snapshot of my place when I get my big squab house up. It is going to be a dandy for 300 pairs. You will get the order from me for the Extras. I think they are grand birds, and the squabs are so large they are bigger than chickens. I feed good grain and hemp seed and some rice. I clean my house once a week and sprinkle lice killer in the nest boxes. I have raised chickens for five years but squabs have got them down and out as far as I have seen. There are other little jobs of work you could do on the place with squabs, whereas if you have 600 chickens you have to attend to them from daylight to dark, and then some. I must say one word for your squab book, I think it is just grand. I would not take $10 for it, and not have one, and I don’t see how any one could get along without it, even if he was an old-timer at the squab business.—J. B. B., Missouri. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 297 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS A SOUTH CAROLINA PLANT. What this breeder has accomplished here he tells in the letter printed on this page. GOING TO MAKE IT A REGULAR BUSINESS. NESTING MATERIAL IN THE MANURE. A little over a year ago I bought 12 pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers from you. . Now I have over 100 birds in my houses and have started to sell some squabs. I am more than pleased with my birds, they are doing fine. After a while I expect I will have to get a few more from you so as to mix in some new blood. My birds have averaged nine pairs of squabs to the pair for the year. I find the squabs at the killing age weighing from 13 to 15 ounces per bird, and for what birds I have sold, which has been only a few, I have received $3 per dozen. Ihave been holding most of my birds for stock; as it was my intention at the beginning to raise a stock before entering the market. I am feeding a scratch feed with a little hempseed about once a week. My birds have been perfectly healthy. Out of the original 12 pairs I have lost only four birds. It costs at an average of five cents a month per bird and I have in my houses 130 birds; which I consider a very good increase. I am more than pleased with the birds, and intend to go into it on a business basis, making it a regular business, and I do not see why it should not be a success. My houses are of the plainest kind, costing about $125. They will accommodate 300 birds Thave one pair of birds that I have raised, which lay four eggs to the setting. This is the first incident of its kind that I have ever heard of. They will set on these four eggs for about 10 days, and then throw the eggs out, one by one, in consequence of which I lose the setting. These birds have done this thing on three occasions. Two of the eggs would be fertile and two infertile. I at first thought that perhaps some other pair had laid in the nest with these, but after watching carefully I found that the eggs came from the one pair of birds. The manure from the birds is amounting to something and I would like to get the address of some good party who will take it off my hands so that I could communicate with them. Would you kindly advise how to get rid of the nesting material or do you let it go in with the manure ?—T. L. O., South Carolina. Answer. Straw and feathers caked in with the manure are acceptable to the tanners. They do not like to get manure in which is a large amount of discarded tobacco stems, as these stain the hides. Es LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 298 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS NOTE HOW THIS BREEDER BUILDS HIS SELF-FEEDERS. On December 20, 1907, six pairs of No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers were shipped to me. _I lost some squabs caused by the old ones eating green sprouts and from cats, but as soon as I made the floor tight and mended the wire on the flying pen I had no more trouble. Now (September, 1908) I have 42 old and young, with those I raised mating up and starting to build their nests and lay. My birds are all in rugged health and are doing well, breeding fat, plump squabs. I have compared them with other breeders, but mine are far better. _ Mies I give them plenty of fresh water for bathing and drinking and scald out the pans and drink- ing fountains with hot water once a week. I save the manure, as it has a ready sale and helps to pay the feed bill. I clean the nest bowls and floor once a week, sprinkle slaked lime over the floor, sprinkle a little insect powder on thesquabs, and vermin does not bother them. I feed cracked corn and wheat, one-third wheat to two-thirds corn for winter, and for summer one-third corn to two-thirds wheat. In addition, I feed rice, barley, millet, sunflower seeds, Kaffir corn and Canada peas with a little hemp seed as dainties. I put a small trough below the holes of the self-feeder on each side. In this way, the grain which falls out is caught by the trough and there is little waste. I also have a protected box divided in halves. In one side I put health grit, in the other oyster shells. All the covers for my self-feeders are three inches wider than the feeders. This prevents soiling the grain, as pigeons are very par- ticular about clean grain. My squabs weigh eight pounds to the dozen. My birds have bred at the rate of from seven t> nine pairs a year and one pair has bred ten pairs per year. The cost of feeding averages five cents per pair per month. I think well of the squab business and expect before long to buy more as it is a profitable business, considering the small capital invested. I use egg crates and orange boxes as I have found them best and cheapest. The unit system is best as it is easier to keep track of several small flocks rather than one !arge one. A person breeding pigeons must study and learn their birds to make a success of it. I have read and re-read your squab book and think for clearness of description, plain explana- tions, and good clear illustrations it is the best live-stock book I have ever seen. When in doubt. consult the Manual.—J. Y. E., West Virginia. FLOCK INCREASED FROM SIXTY TO THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY IN EIGHT MONTHS. I got my flock of 30 pairs of Extras into their permanent quarters in February. I now (October 5, 1908) have about 360 head of the finest young birds youever saw. I have just put my flock through the moult and they have begun to work now in good shape. I have squabs now in my house that were raised by my young birds (the ones which I raised myself) and their second pair of squabs weighed over one pound each at four weeks of age. Is not that good work for the sec- ond pair that young birds raise? What do you think of my increase in stock from 60 head to 360 head in eight months; is that good work or not? I can get orders for all squabs I can raise at $3 per dozen f.o.b. cars here, but I have sold aoe dozen and I got $4.50 for them. I do not care to sell any until I get a big flock of reeders. I am making some arrangements now to build squab houses and I want to get about 150 or 200 pairs of breeders from you in the spring; as I want to get into shape to fill orders. I had an order the first of this month for ten dozen per week at $3 per dozen. This would have been a standing order for all winter if I could have handled it. I have one pair of young birds that laid four eggs, hatched and raised all of them. Has that ever happened in your flock? Write me what you think of my success and advise what price you will make me on an order for 100 pairs of Extras.—G. W. T., Louisiana. FAMILY TRADE BRINGS HIM AS HIGH AS EIGHT DOLLARS A DOZEN FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS. Enclosed you will find check and order for pigeons and supplies for $116.29. Please ship sundries by freight at once and the pigeons on July 23. The birds I got of you in February, 1908, are doing finely. Have raised three and four pairs each, squabs weighing at 25 days from 14 to 19 ounces alive. I have several pairs more, all raised from your Extras, so have about 155 birds altogether now. I am clearing out the chicken pens and filling them gue Pigeons, as I am fully convinced they are a much better paying proposition than the chickens. Several other firms have written me for orders, but as you took such pains with my little drib, and the birds have done so well, you people get the rést of the orders. I have the largest pends in the city, and they attract much attention from the hundreds of visitors at my poultry yards. : The Manual isa gem. It is plain enough for any one and I really think I have it memorized. Have several other works on pigeons, but have laid them away. They are not in the same class. The market is good here, my birds bringing from $4.50 to‘ $8.00 a dozen, all family orders. I have worked them right into my chicken and egg customers. Could sell 50 pairs a day if I had them,—J. A., Pennsylvania. ELE LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 299 EXPERIENCE OF PROMINENT WASHINGTON PUBLIC MAN BREEDING PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS I wish you would send me an outfit of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, mated and banded. I want to see how they will turn out. _I have already quite a large lot of pigeons “but they ane ydomn=a so poorly that 1) do. net: expect to skeep. vitem ae expect better results from the ones which I order, The letters from customers printed in this book are evidence of the wide- spread interest on the American continent in squab breeding not only for revenue and for one’s table, but also as a pastime and instructive hobby. It will not be forgotten that the master mind of Charles Darwin evolved “The Origin of Species’ from pigeon breeding. The ideas he conceived and the laws he discovered might have been worked out with other animals, but not within the span of his lifetime, with the thoroughness he accomplished, because pigeons breed rapidly, and in other respects are ideal for experiment. Prominent in political life at Washington are customers who give part of their spare time enthusiastically to this work. One of these ordered of us in January, 1908, as indicated by the letter printed at the top of this page. The next letter was as follows: IT am greatly pleased with the birds sent me, and: they seem to be all that‘you have said in regard to them. We wrote him in December, 1908, to interest him in our Carneaux, and received the following letter: I have your letter of some days ago in regard to the Homers you sent me: “They were very fine eae E-was well pleased with them. One disaster tare another has followed these birds until now I have none Lert. Ofirst., an owl sot in -amone Laemrana pulled heads off, which was followed by some other misfortune. > f shall never experiment heresaca aa with: them, but: when retire .from the field. oieamap laborsand. go “back home, 2 certainly intend sto keep pigeons. I thank you. very much* for e@adimaage my attention to your new Plymouth Rock Carneaux. We are not at liberty to print the writer’s name. We call attention to this to point the moral that serious-minded men of large affairs turn to squab raising with lively and sustained interest. (Incidentally, another moral is, Beware of owls !) 300 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS WON THE PRIZES IN TEXAS. My pigeons took first, second and third prizesand I credit it much to your good stock that helped me.—I. R., Texas. IMITATION GRITS A FAILURE. Enclosed find money order for which please send me 100 pounds of your health grit and 100 pounds of oyster shells, pigeon size, I have tried other health grits that are sold nearer my city but find my birds will not touch them.—_H E. M., New York. READY MARKET IN MONTANA. I have about 90 young and have sold about 125 squabs. I can get $3.00 a dozen plucked and notrouble aboutselling them. I have paid as high as $2 per hundredweight for wheat but am now getting wheat at $1.15 per hundredweight ; corn $1.90.—L. E, Y., Montauk ORDINARY QUARTERS. The Pennsylvania customer whose letter is printed on this page is doing well here. SEVEN PAIRS QUICKLY AT WORK. ORDERING EVERY MONTH. The seven pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers arrived on April 24 in first-class order. Five nests are finished (May ‘Os one has two eggs and there are two other nests in the course of construction, which speaks mighty well for your stock, Ithink. I expect to send you an order the latter part of this month and intend buying every month. In that w ay I will not feel the investment so much. One could not ask for better stock than you sent me. I am well pleased and shall be glad to boost your stock among my friends. My neighbor is more than ever chagrined at the job lot that was shipped him from the southern part of the State and will undoubtedly send you an order before long. Thank you for the pains you must have taken in selecting my birds. (Later. August, 1908.) I write you to give you the address of a gentleman w ho is going into the squab business. You can use my name or not, just as you desire, but one thing you can use to him ismy recommendation. When I return from my vacation, September 1, I intend placing another order for 10 pairs more of Extra Plymouth Rocks. My birds have done fine and as long as I get such birds from you, you can expect my order and all others I can throw your way. There isall sorts ofrivalry here on account of the show in January.—J. B., Pennsylvania. YEAR’S TRIAL SATISFACTORY, AND GOING AHEAD. I thought you might be interested to know that the birds we pur- chased of you last January have turned out finely, we having lost but two, and this on account of flying against the wire, breaking their necks. We decided to give the birds a thorough trial for a year, being novices at the business, and I am sure as soon as the year is up, we will place another order with you, as your birds have been greatly admired by other raisers here, and they have done what you said they would. We have had no trouble in selling the squabs, which have ranged from ten to thirteen ounces each, receiving in nearly every case from 50 cents to 75 cents per pair.— C. W. C., Pennsylvania. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 301 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS TEXAS WOMAN DELIGHTED WITH HER PROJECT. I am enclosing an order for some Homers intended for a Christmas pres- ent to my young nephew, and wish you to ship the birds so as to arrive about the 24th. In March last I bought of you six pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. My flock now (December) numbers 25 pairs, the first birds hatching the 16th of April, and I have seven hens due to hatch on the 17th of this month. I think my success has been creditable and to me very satisfactory. I have lost less than half a dozen young ones, and believe the loss of these was due to a lack of rock salt in the fly. My aim is to increase the flock to 100 before beginning to market the squabs. Squabs sell in our market for 25 cents each and are scarce and in demand. My pen consists of a house 8x8 feet in which the birds roost, lay and hatch. Connected with the house I have a fly eight feet wide, 20 feet long and eight feet high; with which accommoda- tion the birds seem perfectly contented. Many of them seem to know me and are not afraid when I go among them. I feed twice a day, about 8 a.m and 3 p.m., giving them what they will eat of whole and cracked corn, wheat, millet and Kaffir corn, when pro- curable. Occasionally I throw in bits of cabbage leaves which they seem to relish very much. I have your Manual and have followed instructions as nearly as circum- stances would permit, and with it as a guide and reasonable attention, do not see how any one could fail to succeed in a pleasant and pleasing pursuit. I believe it also profitable, even in my small way. I bought your fibre nest bowls and have them screwea to pieces that slip into the egg crates that you mentioned in your Manual. This makes cleaning the bowls and boxes a very easy matter. I intend in the near future to build another pen, divide my flock and test the question of “‘ pigeons for profit.”” Thus far I am delighted with the project, but love for my birds may interfere with selling squabs for slaughter. My squabs weigh on an average of three-quarters of a pound, live weight, at about three weeks of age. I have had neither sickness nor lice, and on the whole am most highly pleased with my birds.— Mrs. R. E. B., Texas. USES A WATER FOUNTAIN WHICH HE MADE FROMA BOTTLE. In February (1908) I became interested in Homers and thinking they would give better results than common pigeons, I sold my flock of common birds and sent you an order for three pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. Three days later I received them. Some friends of mine had Homer pigeons which they considered excellent birds, but they could not beat mine. My friends have been anxious to get some of my Homers, but I intend to keep all I raise until I have quite a flock. Up to date (October) one pair has raised six pairs of squabs since I received them. The other two pairs have done nearly as well. The common pigeons I had generally stopped breeding during the moulting season, but your Homers kept right on. I feed what is called here ‘‘ scratch feed,” composed of buckwheat, peas, Kaffir corn, sunflower seed, cracked corn, wheat and several other grains. J also give a tonic every Sunday with a little hemp seed. I use a feeder which I made, .as shown in your Manual, and a water fountain which I made from a bottle. I have followed your Manual HOME MADE. For this little plant the breeder has utilized what he had; expending hardly a dollar. - He has done very well in these rough and ready quarters, however, as his letter here printed shows. (See letter of M. J. H., New York.) . in caring for my birds and think it is an excel- lent book. Sometime in the future I intend to give you another order. I send by this mail a picture of my place and birds. The small pen is where I keep my young stock until they mate. The one with the Homer in the window is where my working birds are kept.—M. J. H., New York. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 302 APPENDIX G The year 1909 was notable in the squab and pigeon world by reason of two important happenings: the founding of the National Squab Magazine and the organization of the National Squab Breeders’ Association. The maga- zine is a monthly periodical. The first number issued bore the date Febru- ary, 1909. At this writing (January, 1910) twelve numbers have been issued and the second year begun. This periodical was an instant success, taking at once a commanding position. It is the first successful attempt made in this country to print a handsome, up-to-date squab or pigeon periodical with only original articles and illustrations giving instruction by competent writers. A flood of letters at once poured in commending the undertaking and with its third month’s issue the magazine had the largest circulation of any pigeon periodical. So valuable and interesting has been each number of the magazine that subscribers obtained through the summer and fall called for back numbers in such volume as to exhaust the supply of all single back issues. At present, copies of the double holiday issue dated January, 1910 (the last issue of volume one) are on hand and will be supplied as long as they last at twenty cents each, or that issue will be given free to all who subscribe for one year during the first three months of 1910. The price of each regular month’s issue and of specimen copies is ten cents. The price of one year’s subscription is one dollar (for Canada, $1.24). A few bound volumes of the first year’s issue were placed on sale January 1, 1910, at five dollars a volume, transportation charges prepaid. The owners and publishers of this magazine are the Squab Publishing Company, 220 Purchase Street, Boston, Mass. The magazine is open to all for both contributions and advertising, for all breeds of pigeons. The adver- tising rate is low, and advertisers have been getting amazing results on account of not only the largest circulation but also the high quality of the readers, who are able to buy. The magazine has a strong editorial staff, hav- ing the exclusive services of the best writers on squab and pigeon topics. It is a periodical of genuine interest and value, serving only the special industry of squab raising, and as such is recognized by the United States Government and admitted to the mails at pound rates. We commend this magazine highly. We write for it and take subscrip- tions for it. We urge everybody interested in the subject of pigeons or squabs to subscribe for it. It will be found really original, helpful and entertaining. It is entirely different from any other periodical. Any person who sub- scribes through us and is not pleased with the magazine can apply to us and get his money refunded. By permission of the Squab Publishing Company, owners of the copyrights, we print on the following pages, cut and condensed, a selection from the hundreds of articles printed by the magazine during 1909. (The first volume of the magazine contains over four hundred pages, each page 714 inches by 10% inches). We have selected accounts written mostly by customers of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, who bought either Homers or Carneaux, or both, of us. Those who wish to duplicate the successes which these are making should get our birds and our help. We have also reproduced on the following pages recent letters from leading marketmen, and these are stronger than ever in giving us credit for the found- ing of the squab industry and for the remarkable excellence of the Plymouth Rock squabs which now dominate every market wherever squabs are sold. 303 304 APPENDIX G . MEMBERSHIP BUTTON. This photograph gives a view of four of the buttons, exact size. Two of the buttons are turned so as to show that each has a back piece to hold the button securely on the back of a buttonhole. NATIONAL SQUAB BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION. This was formed in 1909 and before the close of the year obtained eight thousand members, constituting the largest pigeon organization in the world. It was organized by the magazine and the headquarters of the association are at the magazine office, 220 Purchase Street, Boston, Mass. It costs noth- ing to join and there are no initiation fees or annualaues. If you are breeding squabs or pigeons for market or for recreation, send in your name and get a button and wear it. To secure a button, send ten cents (either a dime or United States two-cent stamps) to the National Squab Breeders’ Association, 220 Purchase Street, Boston, Mass., saying that you are a member of the association and want a button. If you are not yet a member, say that you | wish to join. Your name then will be enrolled and a button mailed you. The button is not cheap celluloid or enamel, but is made of solid copper alloy, bronze, with a dark finish like the familiar G. A. R. button. (It is not a brass button.) The buttons of the Spanish War Veterans and other organizations are of the same type and are delivered on deposit of at least twenty-five cents and generally one dollar. Our button is as good as it is possible for a bronze button to be made. Wear the button and talk up the association among your fellow pigeon men and others interested in squabs. Get them to join. The objects are: To profit financially by refusing to sell squabs at less than a profit. To encourage the eating of better squabs and more of them. To find out the best places to buy grain. To learn how and where to sell squabs as well as how to raise them. To unite as squab and pigeon breeders, not to fight each other, but to help, in any way that comes up. To boost, and not to knock. To use the influence of what is now the largest pigeon organiza- tion in the world, on any topic, or in any work that may come up, in the broadest and best way, for the good of all. To get acquainted with and understand each other, so that when button wearers get together they can rlasp hands in good fellowship. Watch the magazine from month to month for bulletins of progress. APPENDIX G I TAKE SQUABS TO MARKET IN A BASKET, by Thomas Hanigan. Four and a half years ago I bought twelve pairs of first-class Homers. They proved so in- teresting and convincing that I bought six pairs more a few months later. These were all I ever purchased, but they bred so well there are now 250 full-grown birds, and I have been marketing nearly all the squabs for the last year. I never had any pigeons before, so I studied their hab- its and requirements as I went along, aided by the standard literature on the subject. In these four years, but two of the pigeons ‘‘ went light ”’ and there have been but six cases of canker with the squabs, never any with the old birds. There never has beenany sickness. One night there was a commotion in the flock. Taking my lantern, I went to investigate and found a rat in the loft, which I killed. Iconcluded that the only way the rat could have got in was by climbing a post of the fly- ing pen, which was against the barn and near the opening _ tothe loft. To guard against its occurring again I took a two-foot strip of zinc.and nailed it around this post, and have never seen another rat. There has been no trouble with lice or mites, for I used to- bacco stems when I could get them, for nest- ane material, and I spray a little phenol dis- infectant around the loft every time I clean out, My regular employment as baggage-master on the railroad makes it necessary for me to leave the house at 6 o’clock in the morning and I do not get home again until 7.30 at night. This forces me to feed and water very early in the morning, and kill the squabs for market in the evening. Cleaning out the pen is a once-a-week job, left until Sundays. This does not take very long. My staple feed is red wheat and cracked corn the year round, in the proportions of two-thirds wheat to one-third cracked corn in summer and the reverse in winter. For change and luxury, I give a little kaffir corn, millet, buckwheat and hempseed. Health grit, which I buy regularly, fine ground oyster shells, lump salt and straw are kept before them all the time, and common gravel on the ground of the flying pen. The one hundred pairs of Homers which are mated supply me with an average of two dozen squabs a week for market. Killing them in the evening, as I am obliged to do, MR. HANIGAN’S SQUABS WEIGHING A POUND APIECE. there is some food left in their crops. I neither bleed, pick nor dress them, for this is the way I sell them at the Boston market. They weigh a pound apiece. As my run on the train takes me to Boston every day, I put the squahbs in a basket and carry them with me. There IJ sell them to the marketman who will give me the best price. There is never any trouble in selling all I can raise. Last week (the first week in April), I got $3.60 a dozen; the week before, $4 a dozen; and the week before that, $4.50 a dozen. Selling in this way there is no bother of picking, pack- ing, icing nor paying express charges. I have never tried to sell any squabs to the summer people who come to my town, for they seem to think I ought to sell them cheap because I am in the country. ENJOY GREEN THINGS, by Edward Rob- erts. I have a newidea. Pigeons eat water cress and radish tops, also green mustard leaves, and they like all. I feed them all the bread they can eat. One pigeon laid an egg in a nestbox with no bowl and without even building a nest, so I put straw in a nestbowl and placed the egg in it. She took to it right off and laid another egg in two days, by its side. She is setting now.—L. Franklin. (‘078jd aUO UO OXe SMAIA BAG O80N9 [TV “UMoIg “ ‘O Aq ydeaB0,04g) ‘C10 SUGAM UNOA CNV SMGUM AGUHL ‘SHAAM OML ‘YIAM ANO SHVAOS KNVANUVO & es WY Q q cS a, a, SS APPENDIX: G I GIVE UP CHICKENS IN FAVOR OF SQUABS, by Thomas F. Cook. Two years ago I had had no experience whatever with squabs, in fact had no inten= tion of ever raising any, when a gentleman living near me, who was forced by lack of time to sell his pens of birds, numbering about 400 Homers, offered them to me, and as I had read quite a bit at that time of how well others were doing raising squabs, I decided to try my luck. Of course moving them disturbed them but after a few weeks they settled down to work and were doing very fairly, when some one told me where I could buy some very cheap feed, viz.: frozen Manitoba wheat, which turned out to be the dear- est feed I ever bought. The pigeons did not like it and would not eat it if they could help it, but I kept feeding it to them as I thought it was cheap and plenty good enough for pig- eons. The result was they got poor and practically quit : laying, and the few squabs I did succeed in raising were sn thin I could not market them. It took me months to get them back in good trim again, but I finally succeeded in doing so and they were paying me very well indeed when one night in last August my barn was burned down and the pigeon house with it.. I managed to save about 100 birds, but their breeding was over for some time till I could get another house and pair them up again, but I had seen plainly that, rightly managed, there was money in squabs so hearing of a lot of about 900 that were for sale in Thornhill (about 15 miles from here) I bought them with the building they were in (a one-story frame structure fifty feet long by fifteen feet wide), shut the birds up in the house and pulled the flying pens down, then sawed the whole build- ing in two through the centre pen. We moved it up here on trucks and set it down on a good foundation and built twenty more feet in the centre of the one we moved, making a building seventy feet long. It was quite a bit of trouble and expense moving the building that way but it paid me, as the birds went right on breeding, in fact with the exception of a very few eggs that rolled out of some of the nests they did not seem to know they had been moved. As a main feed I use corn, Canada peas and buckwheat alternately, with a little hemp, kaffir corn and wheat as dainties, also plenty of grit and a lump of rock salt always in each pen, also lots of clean water before them at all SQUAB PLANT MOVED FIFTEEN MILES. times, and a bath placed in each flying pen every morning during the summer. In the winter I give them a bath only on nice bright days when it is warm enough so that there is no danger of the water freezing. I might say that all my birds are thorough- bred Homers. I intend to buy some Car- neaux later on and intend to cross with the Homers, as of course the larger,the squabs the more I can get tor them. My squabs now average about nine to ten pounds to the dozen. have been raising quite a lot of chickens, but am gradually dropping them and intend to increase the pigeons, as they pay better, take up less room, are less trouble, and the re- turns come in every week. There is no slack time with them as far as my experience goes. Under proper conditions and right treatment they breed every month in the year. HOW TO GET GOOD FEEDERS, by James Y. Egbert. Feeding qualities of pig- eons in a flock vary almost as much as the number of birds in the pen. Some feed their young early and often and stuff them full, making large, plump squabs. Others feed moderately and their squabs are not so fat. Some parent birds can raise three and oc- casionally four squabs, but the latter is rare. A squab breeder should observe his birds and mate those of good feeding qualities. In this way he would build upa flock of large, sturdy, well-fed birds. Good feeding qualities are handed down from one generation to another. 308 HOW A FERTILE EGG LOOKS AFTER SIX DAYS. The nucleus with the veins radiating from it may be clearly seen at this time. The white space at the end of the egg is the air space. Around the egz inside may be seen the white membrane lining. HATCH ONLY EGGS OF THE LARGEST BIRDS, by M. C. Martin. Many buyers of limited means who wish to start with six ora dozen pairs of Homers, demand the very choicestbirds to breed their flock from, i.e. they insist that all be the very best or ‘‘top.’’ As a matter of fact birds are not all the same size and weight. Just like buying apples. You have to take them as they come. They are already “‘ sorted ’’ and the merchant will not pick them for you. So with birds. The writer desired to breed up a flock of the very finest Homers and Carneaux and this is how he did it. In a dozen pair about half of them will be exceptionally fine and the rest only ordinary. Whenever one of the smaller birds lays, you will find that at least one of the largest hens has done the same. Throw away the eggs of the smaller bird and substitute for them the eggs of the larger bird. The smaller pair will hatch out the eggs of the large pair of Homers. In about ten days or two weeks the large hen will lay again. Repeat the process three or four times and then let the large hen set and hatch out her own eggs. When she lays again rob her nest and so on as before. If you cannot find enough small birds to hatch the large ones continuously, of course do the next best thing. Always make the smaller pairs hatch the eggs of the large ones and never their own. In this way you will get almost as many birds in a year from the very largest, as in the natural way you would have raised from large and small both. This would hardly pay in raising squabs for market, but it assuredly pays when increasing your flock of birds. The same plan may be used with the Car- neaux or any other high-priced birds. Use the small Homers to do the work of setting for your Carneaux and it is amazing how conic the large birds will multiply. n changing the eggs from one nest to APFENDIXO GC: another, you must be sure that the birds have laid about the same time (not over three days’ difference) or the one setting will either have no bird milk in her crop or, if she has set too long, the milk will be so thick the little squab cannot take it. This is the only precaution necessary, the birds will do the rest. All eggs look alike to them, but unlike the chicken very few will set longer than nineteen or twenty days. Some might object to this method as being cruel and contrary to nature, but a study of the case shows that it is not. A pigeon has a short memory and‘a very strong nesting in- stinct. Rob the nest one day and the birds will many times go to nesting the very next day, showing that they are not very much “upset ’? and are willing to try again right away. Fifteen or more pairs of squabs may be raised from one pair of birds in this way without affecting the health of the old birds in the least, and the young are strong and healthy. A complete explanation of this method of forced breeding is found in Rice’s manual, the National Standard Squab Book (see page 231) and the writer can testify to its verity, as he has tested it thoroughly and boasts of one of the finest flocks of Homers and Carneaux in the West, obtained by this method of forced. breeding. After the eggs have been sat on for four of five days, hold them up between yourself and the sun, and if they are fertilized, you will clearly see a nucleus with a network of veins clustered about it. It looks just like the one- celled animal in the lowest scale of animal life, such as the amoeba. If eggs are not fertile, they will appear trans- parent with only a small patch of red coloring matter within. Shake the ecgs and they will be found to be spoiled. Throw them away and the birds will lay again in a week or ten days. If only one egg is fertile, look for more “bad” eggs, and many times you will find several nests with one good and one bad egg. By holding them before you in the sun or be- fore a lamp, you can with a little practice, by the appearance of the nucleus (if during the first week of incubation), match up the eggs just as well as to wait until each pair of birds hatches and then arrange the young two ina nest. Two or three weeks’ time may be saved ona pair of birds by this method. My motto is: After five days, always have two fertile eggs in each nest. NINE OF TEN SQUABS FEMALES, by Dr. H.N. Kingsford. I bought a pair of Car- neaux in January, 1908. This has turned out to be a peculiar pair, in regard to the sex of the young which they have bred, as I have raised five pairs of young from them, nine of which were females, the remaining one a male. The first four pairs were eight females. I have four hundred pairs of birds. I use a great many pigeons in my work in teaching I make them pay. APPENDIX G HOW TO KEEP MICE OUT OF GRAIN TROUGHS, by W. L. Plumer. For those who, like the writer, have been annoyed by the depredations of mice in the self-feeders within the squabhouse a sketch is given show- ing arrangement which, while simple, has proven entirely effective against these little rodents. Squab breeders are in many cases losing a much greater amount of grain from this cause than they ‘realize, as while it is compara- tively easy soto build the squabhouse that it is secure against the entrance of rats, the little mouse will in some way get in, and in numbers unsus- pected by the breeder unless he has paid a night visit to the lofts. At the time I followed the general custom of placing the feeders upon the floor, it Was no uncommon occurrence on the morning rounds to disturb one or more mice which had lingered within the feeders from the night before. After some slight alterations the self- feeders were arranged in the following manner: In the centre of the unit or loft are placed two uprights two by four, thirty-two to thirty-four inches high and thirty inches apart, with strips four by ten inches on bot- tom of each, which are nailed to the floor. This together with two short braces gives the necessary support. On the top of each up- right is placed an inverted three-gallon crock, a board five by eight inches first being nailed to top of uprights, and on these the crocks rest rigidly. A NEW WAY TO COOK SQUABS, by Mrs. M. E. Slight. I clean them and split them in halves, then fry them in olive oil and butter, two-thirds oil and one-third butter. I first brown in the oil and butter, then cover them with water and simmer until they are cooked dry, then I slightly brown them again and make a cream gravy to eat with them. I ship my squabs alive to San Francisco and average $3 a dozen for them. I have sold some to the sanitarium also. BURLAP WINDOWS VENTILATE, by C. A. Herrold. I have two hundred Homers all working, and I am selling squabs from them that run from eight to nine pounds to the dozen. They bring me from $2.50 to $3 in Chicago sold by commission men. I have no trouble in keeping my birds in healthy condition. I think the first thing a beginner should learn is to ventilate the pigeon house. They must have pure air to breathe. Do not ventilate so that the wind will strike the birds. I think the roof should slope both ways, with a ventilator in each gable sixteen inches by twenty-four inches. The window on the south side should be taken out and left out in winter as well asin summer. Put a roller at top of window with gunny sacking to pull down in bad weather or in very cold weather. RAT-PROOF SELF-FEEDER FOR GRAIN. MISSOURI BREEDER SHIPS TO PITTS- BURG, by J. B. Beckman. It was a year ago the twelfth of this month (June) that I re- ceived the first twenty-five pairs of Homer breeders and I have at present two hundred and fifty pairs of working Homers, and fine ones, too. I have quit selling squabs in my town for they will not pay over $3 per dozen, so I ship to Pittsburg, Penn. I get $3.75 for nine-pound, and $4 for ten-pound squabs. My check comes every week, and it amounts to $12 to $15 a week. I can raise a good deal of my feed. I have fifteen acres of land, high up onahill. Ihave about five acres of Canada peas, and the vines are loaded. Ihave kaffir corn and millet, and big corn, all for my birds, and about two acres of sunflowers—and all doing well. I have a five-horsepower gasoline engine for pumping my water for my birds. We are going to enlarge our plant before fall for three hundred more pairs. With what buildings I already have I will then be breed- ing seven hundred pairs. I think things look good for me. FRANTIC OVER GREEN VINES, by Louis A. Hart. I am having fine success with my Carneaux. All four pairs that I bought have families, besides some of the squabs that have mated. I am enlarging my flying pen, en- closing a lettuce and a tomato bed. They do so much better with more room, and they go frantic over green Canada pea vines. ; 1 am raising some very fine Homer squabs but not enough to supply the demand for this kind of stock. In my position as meat cutter in one of the highest class markets here, I have a good opportunity to market all the squabs I can raise.—Henry A. Lindenschmitt, Colorado. 310 APPENDIX G — ses - REFERENCES» = == FIDELITY Trust Co. COMMERCIAL AGENCIES =af—_— TELEPHONE CALLS 5302-5303 WortTH asl Mgton Street NEAR CHAMBERS STREET , a 9/29/09, Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Treasurer, NEW YORK, Plymouth Rock Squab Coe, Boston, Mass. Dear Sir: We are very pleased to note the signal success of the Squab Mag- azine, and the small card which we inserted with our name, has brought us numerous inquiries from all over the country from Squab Raisers, as to market prices and conditions, and has resulted in the receipt of ship- ments of some very fine birds. There is absolutely no limit to the quantity of Squabs we can handle, and as our trade is constantly extending, we are anxious at all times to keep in touch with raisers of good Squabs. It is a source of satisfaction to observe the better quality of birds now being received on the market, due, no doubt, to the eliminating of poor breeding stock, greater care and attention given to the keeping and feeding of the birds, and more intelligent dressing and shipping. i @, we believe, to the ucational efforts of yourself, and the testimony is present in the superior ty o e uabs now be recelved, as compar Ww a lew years ago. We endeavor at all times to give our shippers the best possible prices, make prompt returns, and are pleased to furnish all the inform-. ation In our power. We wish to thank you for the courtesies you have shom us in the past, and with best wishes for success in your continued efforts to improve tne squab industry, we are, Very truly yours, rSs/LLO (lhe as rE APPENDIX .G HOW THE CITY MARKETMAN WANTS SQUABS, by A. Silz. Squab raisers should bear in mind that squabs should not be more than three to four weeks old when killed, and atter being killed, it is very essential that they be allowed to bleed properly, by hanging head downward, otherwise the blood congeals and tends to turn the bird more or less dark. The best-selling squab, at all times, is the one oaee is perfectly white and free from blem- ishes. Within a short time after being killed and after being dry-picked perfectly clean of all feathers, it is a good plan to immerse the squabs in ice-cold water until such time as they are to be packed for shipment. They should never be held for anv length of time, as it tends to make the birds flabby, and by the time they get to the dealer, who places them to the trade, they present a very stale, unde- sirable appearance, and in the majority of cases, must be sold at a sacrifice as a result of this condition. We receive, from time to time, among the fancy squabs, some nice, large, plump birds which would otherwise be perfect were it not . for one or more red blotches which appear on the back of the bird and detract from its appearance to such an extent that high-class trade will not touch them at all. If squab Taisers can arrive at some method by which these red blotches will be eliminaced they will very naturallv benefit, as the birds will bring better money, at all times, where this con- dition is not apparent. During the summer months, the squabs, after being properly cooled, should be care- fully packed between layers of cracked ice, using a laver first to cover the bottom of the package, then a layer of squabs arranged head downward, then another good layer of ice, a layer of squabs and so on, and when the pack- age is filled a good double layer of ice on top, so that the birds are completely enveloped, This will keep them thoroughly chilled and prevent any chance of spoiling while en route A SILZ DRAYLOAD OF SQUABS FOR ONE OF THE TRANS- ATLANTIC STEAMSHIPS. A. SILZ. to the dealer. Care, however, must be exer- cised, even here, that too many squabs are not put into a package. It is better to use a little more ice and not pack the squabs very tightly, as this all tends to bring them to market in the best possible condition. WHY, WHEN, HOW TO TRANSFER SQUABS. It is a noticeable fact to all squab breeders that there is apt to be a difference of size between the two squabs in a nest when they are three days old and upwards and that the difference in size becomes more apparent the older they get until they are pretty well feathered. This condition is found less with Homers than with any of the other breeds, but Homers are not exempt from it. The reason for it is that one egg hatches from one to two days before the other. As soon as the first one hatches the parents begin to feed it and it will double in size in a day or two so that when the second squab hatches it is only half the size and strength of the firstone. Havea flat-bottomed basket or box with a handle that you can carry on your arm. With this go through all your nests twice a week and even up the sizes of the two squabs in each nest. First, take a hasty glance through the nests in a pen to get an estimate of how many pairs of squabs need attending to and their relative sizes. Then take one of an uneven pair and put in the nest of another uneven pair so that the two will exactly match, remove the third one thus formed and either put it in the first nest or in some other so that they will exactly match in size and so on. I there is a nest with but one squab do not hesitate to put another with it if it be of the same size. JAMES SQUAB YARDS... SQUAB PEN FOR POULTRY SHOW. This is good advertising for a poultry show, much better than merely showing the old birds, for a stranger to squabs is intensely interested in see- ing the young and actually realizing how quickly they grow to market size. HOW I SELL SQUABS FOR SIX DOLLARS A DOZEN, by Lynn L. James. My _ intro- duction to squabs came through buying only three pairs of Homers a year ago, or to be more exact, on February 15, 1908. I was then, and had been for some years, a breeder of high-grade poultry, single comb white, buff and brown leghorns. I had read a good deal about squabs and being over-cautious, per- haps, started with only the three pars. I bought them at the right place and my experience with them was so encouraging, they did so well, that on July 25, 1908, I ins vested a hundred dollars in sixty pairs more from the same concern. ‘These have kept on with the good work and this month I am buying fifty pairs more. I certainly have had unbounded success and now havea house of four units more under construction. I have five units full of breed- ers and cannot get enough squabs for my trade. JI have no competition in my Pennsyl- vania city, and the enclosed card will show you my prices. : I have discarded poultry entirely. All pigeons for me. As the old saying goes, they have chickens ‘‘ beaten to a frazzle ’’’—and I did exceedingly well with them also. The accompanying photograph shows my exhibition coop at the poultry show here. I built that exhibition pen for the poultry show after my own ideas. The nests contained squabs of all ages with the old birds caring for them, all finished in red and white same as my APPENDIX G coops are, The news- papers gave it a good notice. I have exhibited at va- rious places this fall and winter in hot competition and taken all the first and second prizes, and it all helps my advertising as my cards, etc., are all trade-marked. I am breed- ing from two hundred pairs now, getting from $3.50 to $6 per dozen. I sold $24 worth of squabs yesterday and turned away telephone orders amounting to $12.50 since noon to-day, but won’t do that long. People here say they never saw _ such large squabs. Iam getting the whole city stirred up over ite The mortality list is very small compared with chick- ens, and squabs are less work, while for profit, well, chickens may as well quit: trying. I have all three hospitals ordering squabs, and hotels clamoring for even the smallest. It’s great, I tell you. Guess I have blown my own horn enough, but I get enthusiastic over it and forget to stop. The card which Mr. James refers to in his letter above is what is known as a private post- card. On the front is a place for the one-cent stamp and the address of the customer. On the back is the following printed matter, the places for the prices being left blank and filled in by pen when the card is sent out. (Italic type indicates what is filled in by pen ) Trade Mark ae rade Mar Cosas here Squabs We are pleased to quote you prices on fresh sees for the month of February, 1909, as OLlLOWS: Prime, 10 lbs. to doz., per doz. $6.00 No. 1, 8 to 9 lbs. to doz., per doz. $5.25-5.50 No. 2, 6 to 8 lbs. to doz., per doz. 3-75-4.50 Unpicked Squabs twenty-five cents per dozen less the above prices. Telephone orders given prompt and careful attention. Bell Phone 1208-R. People’s Phone 710-R, JAMES’ SQUAB YARDS Mr. James sends out the above postal car¢ (no letter under a two-cent stamp needed) to past and prospective customers, once a week, or as needed, and they order by either of the two telephone systems or by postal or letter. APPENDIX G HOW TO MAKE A CHEAP SHIPPING CRATE, by F. B. Shepard. The crate we use for retail, or indi- vidual, trade in dozen lots asshown in the picture is made of strips of any light, tough wood except pine, as the odor from pine might taint the squabs, The strips should be sand-papered so that the crate will look and be clean. The'cover is fastened at the back with wire loops, not hinges. ‘The cover is fastened at the front with pieces of iron wire three inches long, which you bend around the heads of two nails. The strips of wood are seven-eighths of an inch or one inch wide. The nails are wire brads, three-quarters of an inch long, not only driven in but clinched where possible. Each squab is wrapped in waxed paper. Six squabs are put on the bottom of the crate, breasts up, and six more on top, breasts up, thus the crate be- ing filled. The express company is conquered by such acrate. It is so light (it weighs only seven- teen ounces), that the additional express charges amount to little or nothing. It has cost less than would be asked to transport it back home, so your customer can keep it. SELLING 2000 DOZEN SQUABS A WEEK, by Ray S. Long. A short time ago I had occasion to step into the New York store of Heineman Brothers, to see how their business was, and it is needless to say that I was greatly impressed with their methods of handling their big trade. They have a very large, spacious building in Washington Street well equipped with every modern appliance for carrying on their extensive business, which is located in one of the busiest sections of lower New York. They handle all kinds of poul- try, game, etc., but that which most attracted my attention was the enormous trade in squabs. This trade is attended to in a very quick and efficient manner, consequently they have to have plenty of squabs on hand in order to supply the demand, which calls for from fifteen hundred dozen to two thousand dozen squabs weekly, most of which are used by many of the large hotels, restaurants and steamships They are at all times in a position to handle good squabs and pay the highest prices for them, as they cater to a fancy trade which demands a good squab, one that is white and plump weighing from seven and one-half to twelve pounds to the dozen. They pay the best price for birds of this weight. In packing for shipment, great care should be used in arranging the squabs according to size, color and general appearance. It takes only a little more time and attention but it more than pays one in the end, for the squabs command a better price. The squab market in New York is never overcrowded with first-grade squabs. I ad- vise those who are raising squabs to raise only ANo. 1 birds, for then they need never fear of 313 TEN-CENT SHIPPING CRATE FOR ONE DOZEN SQUABS. Inside dimensions, in inches, 14 long, 7 wide, 6 high. Strips are one inch wide. Weight 17 ounces. not finding a good active market for them at all times. Everywhere the trade is demand- ing good squabs and is willing to pay for them. It doesn’t pay to waste one’s time raising in- ferior ones, so get busy and produce the kind that is wanted. The Heineman Brothers are always ready to receive squabs, so do not be afraid of send- ing them too many fine ones, for they can handle any number. You wili be pleased and encouraged to know that many of those who ship squabs to this concern state that their parent stock is from Mr. Rice’s famous Plymouth Rock birds. Letters come to them telling of the good re- sults obtained which are simply due to their being started right by Mr. Rice, and it pays to start them right, for then one does not meet with the discouragements that many do who buy cheap birds; further, their trade is con- tinually demanding squabs raised from the Plymouth Rock stock, giving evidence of the sterling qualities of these birds. MATTING STRAWS FOR NESTING, by Edward Rice, Texas. A good substitute for tobacco stems is matting straws unwoven and cut into five or six-inch lengths. They make a thick and compact nest and the birds like them if they are sweet and not too old. In this way a cheap but good nesting material may be provided. Some may think that they are not good because they don’t keep away mites and lice, but I think cleanli- ness is the best thing for that purpose anyhow. WIRE DOOR FOR VENTILATION, py Edward Rice, Texas. In order to give my pigeons plenty of fresh air I have removed the wooden door in my loft and put a wire one in its place. The air inside the house is always fresh. As the door is in the east end of the house it allows the sun to shine in and warm up things on winter mornings, and also aliows the easterly breezes to blow through it in summer. Sometimes I close the door on cold nights. 314 APPENDIX G Telephone. Connection \ eae Sept. 24th,1909. Mr. Flmer C. Rice, Treasurer, Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. Dear Sir: We herewith wish to state, that with all Our numerous shipments, we take great pleasure in noticing the fact that they use yOur breed Of birds. This class of birds has given us and Our custOmers the best Of satisfaction, we having no cOmplaints whatever Offered us during the entire past seasOne We have asked a large majority Of our shippers where they at first purchased their stock to go into business, and fina yOur name at the top of the list. There is none who takes such an interest in the breeding Of squabs as your firm dOes, and we assure you that anyone purchasing your stock will be satisfactorily recompensed for his venture, and will always be perfectly satisfied with the Outcome of using your breed Of birds. We can Only say, they are the best for them to handle, and past experience has taught us they wil] make more money in shorter time, DOING BUSINESS DIRECTLY WITH YOU, than with anyone else. Yours very truly, SH Barca B. APPENDIX G HOW TO TRAIN HOMERS TO CARRY NEWS, by Alfred Lloyd. To obtain best results in condition and endurance in the flying game regularity in feeding and exercise is nec- essary. We generally fly the birds three times a day, about thirty minutes to a fly, for a week orso. After that we give them one hour three times a day. Our first toss would be two miles; the second toss five § miles; the third, ten miles; the fourth, twenty miles; the fifth, thirty-five miles; the sixth, fifty miles; the seventh, sev enty-five miles, and the eighth, one hundred miles. After that the birds ought to fly one- hundred-mile jumps right up to five hundred miles. Of course one might takea bird from the loft and jump it to five hundred miles and have it come back, but it is simply a chance. I jumped one my- self from thirty-five to five hun- dred miles, but it took five days to get home. The above training applies to mature birds, but for train- ing young birds it is different. Young ones should not be flown before they are three months old, and it is better to wait un- tilsix months. There are more Homers whose training begins at six months than at three. Young Homers should not be given more thana hundred-mile fly for the first three tosses. The best way is to give them tosses of three, five, ten, fifteen and twenty- five miles. After that, they can stand jumps from twenty-five to one hundred miles. The picture on this page shows an opening guarded with wires set where the window of the squabhouse generally is, or at the end of the flying pen. The bird pictured has just completed a flight and is about to push the wires further and drop down into the middle of the coop. As soon as the bob wires move out from a vertical position, the electric cir- cuit is made by the contact breaker and the electric bell rings to inform the owner that the bird has arrived home. Two cells of dry battery are shown in the picture, also the electric bell. The battery and bell may be set anywhere on the premises, even two hundred feet away in the residence of the owner, if desired. As soon as the bird has dropped into the pen, the wires fall back toa vertical position and the bell stops ringing. A battery of two cells would cost fifty cents. An electric bell costs about fifty cents. The wiring would cost half a dollar more. The bob wires and frame cost about twenty-five cents a wire. You can buy them with two, four or six wires, etc. The whole outfit is in- expensive, and is the source of much pleasure iN 315 i im W iy BOB WIRES WITH ELECTRICAL ATTACHMENT, and enjoyment. The bent wire and cord shown in the picture are for the purpose of raising all the bob wires by a pull from the back of the squabhouse, so that the birds can go out for their exercise. The cord is released so that the bobs will drop and be in position for tripping when the first bird comes home. HOUSE TO HOUSE CANVASS, by William H. Woodruff. As wehave no very large quantity of squabs, our method has been to make a house-to-house canvass for custom- ers. This prevents creating demand without supply, as advertising would do. We have sold squabs for over two years and have al- ways received at least seventy cents a pair to private trade. We shipped a dozen to New York and got $2.55. From this express charges were deducted. The best plan, es- pecially with a small flock, is to build up and hold a good private trade. SALT BAKED IN CANS, by A. L. Thomp- son. I take a common empty tin fruit can and punch holes in the bottom for drainage, then fill with salt, and dampen, after which I put in the oven and bake hard. You can put these cans in any place in the squab- house and if you lay them on the side, the pigeons cannot soil the salt. One end of the can is open, the other end closed, 316 MISS DUNHAM’S PROFIT-PAYING SQUAB PLANT. HOW TO CURE SQUABS IN NEST OF CANKER, by M. C. Martin. It is a well- known fact that Venetian Red paint is one of the best regulators for poultry in general. I have éried this on squabs repeatedly and it invariably cures the canker in three or four days. Have some Venetian Red paint in the squabhouse, and whenever you see a pair of squabs looking sickly, examine the mouth. If you find a cheesy deposit, take a pinch of the paint between thumb and forefinger and drop into the open mouth. Do this morning and evening for three or four days and the canker is gone. This plan may be used with old birds, but they very seldom have canker and are, more difficult to catch twice a day, but with squabs it is a matter of only a few minutes to straighten up several dozen of them. Venetian Red is a fine regulator and may be used in the drinking water to ward off canker but to cure the ailment it must be administered in larger quantities as explained above. The droppings become red, showing that the paint has passed completely through the alimentary canal and cleansed the di- gestive system of impurities collected which have caused the canker. Venetian Red is a powder which retails in a paint store for five to ten cents a pound, but in a drug store you may be charged fifty cents a pound for it, and some poultry remedies have it in fancy package style at the rate of a dollar or more a pound. FLAXSEED INSTEAD OF HEMP, by Paul Gosser. I feed some flaxseed to my pigeons besides hemp. Flax is cheaper and the pig- eons like it nearly as well as hemp. My pigeons like lettuce leaves very much. In the morning I throw some into the pens and at noon they are alleaten. I sell all my squabs in Pittsburg. I get from $3 to $4.50 a dozen for them. APPENDIX G HOW I MAKE MY SMALL FLOCK PAY WELL, by Mary Dunham. I bought six pairs of the best Homers in October, 1904. After studying them and breeding them for a year I bought twenty- four pairs more in Octo- ber, 1905. In June, 1908, I bought twelve pairs more and in October, 1908, an- other twelve pairs. All of my birds were bought from the same source. They have all kept steadily at work. One pair has raised ten pairs of squabs a year and there are others which al- most equal them, In the fall of 1907, I began tosave the squabs from the best breeders. I had to keep them in the house with my older birds because I had no other pen for them. They disturbed the breeding pairs somewhat but the following spring they mated and got down to work, I sell all the squabs I can raise to the local - marketman. At first there was no sale for them in my Connecticut city, except in the summer when the wealthy people from the larger cities were sojourning here, but the - marketmen bought all I had last winter. When ready for market my squabs weigh from two pounds totwo and one-half pounds a pair. They are white and fat and the dealer has complimented me about them many times. I find the business very interesting and would like to engage in it more extensively if I could get more time to devote to the birds but it is impossible to do so at present. I am often praised for the fine appearance my birds make when out in the flying pen. Last week a gentleman told me my little house is the neatest and the birds the finest looking he had ever seen. NO NEED TO GRIND PIGEON MANURE, by Harry Howe. Having read in the maga- zine the different methods of handling pigeon manure for the making of commercial fer- tilizer, I will tell you the result of my own experience. I take the cleanings and then pack them in barrels. When I have severat barrels of them, I form a pile outdoors con- sisting of a layer of manure, then a layer of loam, sprinkling each layer with air-slaked lime until it shows white. Keep on until you haye used all the manure on hand, then cover the top well with loam, and wet the whole pile. After a few days, when it com- mences to steam, it should be well turned Over, repeating the turning over three or four times. You will finally have a fertilizer as fine as sugar which can be thoroughly dried and bagged, or used at once. This for a variety of crops cannot be heaten. APPENDIX G WHY I PREFER SQUABS TO CHICKENS, by Mrs. Lizzie A. Trout. I wish to keep on increasing my flock of pigeons as I like the work better than raising chickens. I have learned that if one would succeed in squab raising he must like it and by so do- ing acquaint himself with the little things that are of great value to the success- ful squab raiser. The following are important points: care of the birds, what to feed, how to feed and when to feed. My squabhouse is_ built on the slope of a hill facing the south andas this is a warm and pleasant loca- tion I do not have frozen squabs in the winter. I give them tobacco stems to build their nests and by frequent cleaning give no chance for the lice to live in my squabhouse. I find that to givea variety of feed is the best. A good mixture is six quarts of sifted cracked corn (not too fine, because if it is fine it takes out much of the meal from the corn, which otherwise would help to fatten the squabs), six quarts whole wheat, two quarts buckwheat, two quarts Canada peas and two quarts kaffir corn. ‘Every other morning I give them a few handfuls of millet seed and twice a week hempseed. I think this is a good mixture for them. I also keep within their reach char- coal, salt, fine oyster shells and a grit of which the old birds are fond. Before I used this coarse grit, I noticed that a few of my hens would prefer being out in my outside pen or yard, and were in a constant hunt for some- thing, and trying to pick up bits of gravel and stone. It’ appeared to me that perhaps a coarse grit might be a help to these birds and I find it did the work well. I always try not to have left over any feed, or very little, until the next feeding time so I know that their grain will be sweet and clean. They will be more eager for their feed. I do not like the idea of throwing feed on the floor and they will get the feed more or less dirty even if you do clean the floor once a week. I feed in a box six feet long, two feet wide and three inches high. The birds cannot scatter the feed in this way very much. This box is large enough for a loft of fifty pairs as they never all feed at the same time. Feeding should if possible always be at the same hours, seven o’clock in the morning and four o’clock intheevening. This will give the birds plenty 317 BLUE-BARRED RACING HOMER. A beautiful flyer bred by Paul F. Miller which has covered five hundred miles in one day. of time to feed their young before night. I wash my fountain and give my birds fresh water twice a day in winter and three times a day insummer. They are as glad for the nice fresh spring water in the hot summer day at noon as vou would be for a plate of ice-cream. As to my choice in chicken or squab raising, I prefer by far squab raising. There is not half the work, with much quicker results and feed for the purse. No unruly hens to contend with. No squabs to run after when a rain is coming. They are already cared for. No lamp to fill and trim, no thermometer to watch, no eggs to turn, no trays to change. The old birds do all this work themselves. No wind to blow out the brooder lamp and chill the squabs at night. All this vou must con- tend with if you want to raise chickens. Feed your pigeons the right kind of feed, give them plenty of fresh water. Then they will care for the squabs themselves and in four weeks’ time the squabs will be ready for market. There is a field for prosperity in squab raising. When President Taft started on his 1909 trip, he was given a banquet by the Boston Chamber of Commerce. One line in the menu was roast squabs, two thousand in number. 318 APPENDIX G FIRST-CLASS HOMERS, SILVER AND SPLASH. Plymouth Rock Homer stock produces squabs which sell for $3.50 to $6 a dozen in Utah, unplucked. SQUAB PIE, by James Y. Egbert. Dress, draw and singe four squabs. Stuff them with the chopped livers, hearts and gizzards and fine bread crumbs, mixed with chopped pars- ley, a large lump of butter, pepper and salt. Run a small skewer through the body.of each, fastening the wings to the sides. Cover the bottom of your bake-dish with thin strips of ham. Season with chopped parsley, pepper and salt. Over these lay the squabs. Be- tween every two squabs put the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, and three or four in the center. Cover the squabs with a_ thick brown gravy. Cover this pie with puff-paste se pakke in a moderate oven for an hour and a half. BRAISED SQUAB. Clean, wash carefully. Put a large olive in the body of each. Bind legs and wings neatly to the sides of the birds. Fry six or eight slices of fat salt pork in the frying-pan until crisp. Strain the fat back, lay in the squabs and roll them over and over in the boiling grease until seared on all sides. Take them up and keep hot. Add a tablespoonful of butter to the hot fat, and fry an onion, sliced, in it. Lay the squabs on the grating of the roaster. Pour the boiling fat and onion over them. Add a cupful of stock. Cover and cook steadily for three-quarters of an hour. When the squabs are done wash with butter, dredge and brown. Remove to a hot dish and make the gravy. Serve with currant jelly. STARTED SMALL, GREW UP BIG IN UTAH, by Walter Bramwell. Two years ago I purchased twenty pairs of the best Homers. Being cashier of a small bank in a country town, much of my time in the morning and afternoon was unoccupied. I sent for the birds out of curiosity and for recreation and study. They immediately impressed meas being very interesting. My little flock commenced operations shortly after arrival and as they rapidly increased in number my interest in- creased in proportion. It required little time for me to discover that my Homers, properly handled, were money makers, and to that end I have built up a fairly large business, hav- ing now more than twenty- five hundred breeders, At first my plant was in a small town but in the meantime I have moved to the largest and best city in the State. The. market conditions at that time were verymuch undeveloped and when I would mention squabs there would bea round of laughter from my friends. However, to-day, through persistent effort and the production of first-class squabs. the demand is greater than I can supply. During the present winter I will enlarge my plant to four or five thousand breeders, and later on will be prepared to furnish all squabs desired by my patrons. My customers con- sist of cafe, club, hotel and railroad officials, who buy the best, and whose patronage is very satisfactory to me, because Iam not compelled to sell to commission men and can thus de- mand a larger price for my product. The price in this State is from $3.50 to $6 per dozen, undressed. The future for the business here appeals to me as being a very bright one and I feel con- fident that my business stunt of squabs will reward me handsomely. The business is attractive and profitable be- yond expectation, provided the proper atten- tion and skill are exercised that would be de- manded in other lines where success is at- tained. I am delighted with my birds and business and trust all who are or may be in- terested in the same line will have their efforts crowned with success. PECULIAR COLOR RESULT, by C. C. O’Neal. About the young birds from the cross of two Carneaux males with two white Homer females, generally they are of solid black plu- mage, sometimes dark-shaded checkers. F A APPENDIX G HOW A _ BIG OHIO PLANT SHIPS SQUABS, by F. J. Bunce. On Monday morning while the attend- ant is watering, and before the birds are fed, the rounds of the pens are made and all of the squabs that have dropped to the floor over Sunday are placed ina crate, and these with enough more to make six dozen, are re- moved to the killing room for the early morning start. These are enough squabs to run the pickers several hours and give the breeders plenty of time to feed the young before more squabs are re- quired for the killing room. There is no set age at which a squab should be marketed. Some will be ready at three and a half weeks, some at four and some not until five weeks of age. If the squab on the nest is solid and plump and is full feathered under the wing, it is ready for the market. Do not hurry them off the nest un- less it be absolutely necessary to fill an order, as a few days longer on the nest may make ten-pound squabs of birds that would not weigh more than eight pounds if dressed too soon. We do not suspend the squabs from a string to pick them, as the most of the large plants do, but pick them in the hand. Our picker has always contended that he could pick a squab while the other picker was hanging his up and taking it down. Place the left hand around the base of the wings after drawing them together and draw the head back between the thumb and first finger. Insert the killing-knife well back in the mouth and drawit sharply upand forward, twisting the knife as you remove it from the mouth. Care should be taken not to insert the knife too deeply into the brain, as the birc will bleed too freely and cause the skin to set before the feathers have been removed. As soon as the incision has been made, re- move the wing and tail-feathers first, follow- ing this with the neck, and then the balance of the body. The squabs are then placed in the buckets to remove the animal heat. When the buck- ets become full, the bodies of the squabs are washed off, the blood is removed from the mouth and the filth from the feet, and they are placed in another and larger tub, where they remain until it is time to pack them. We wish to say here that we never leave the squabs in the tanks over night, if we can avoid it, as they are apt to get soft. If un- avoidable, ice the water heavily, but always do your best to get them out on the first train for their destination, ae matte. ra Cah hh hie 7 3 Ne Bony Ls he $4) aS aa ae my XK, A SRY i SAPS SE eR Seon or ee rome. v bas EXTERIOR OF ONE OF THIS OHIO PLANT’S HOUSES. Never use a box for packing your squabs as some will recommend, for the simple reason that the express messengers will up-end the package, also pile other boxes on your ship- ment, and when it reaches your market, your commission man reports it arrived in bad order and you are given a nice little cut in your remittance. We use a small keg for small orders and a cracker barrel for larger shipments. First fill your barrel or keg with water and let it stand until it drains out to swell it, then line it with a good grade of white parchment paper to make it air-tight. This also helps the ap- pearance of your package. Before placing any ice in the package bore a small hole in the bottom of the barrel to drain off the water which would gather from the melting of the ice. Place a iarge scoopful of finely cracked ice in the bottom of the barrel, then place in the barrel in very nice order a layer of squabs, a thin layer of ice and another layer of squabs, repeating until barrel is three-fourths full. Then fill to edge with ice cracked to about the size of a man’s fist. Fold the balance of your parchment paper over the top, remove the hoop, place a piece of burlap over the barrel, replace the hoop and drive down in place, holding it in place with small lath nails. Fasten your express tag to a strong cord or wire and run through the burlap, fastening Same securely. Question: I have bought a set of steel figures to number leg bands but the figure 9 is missing. Answer: To make figure 9 hold the figure 6 die upside down. None of these pte has both a9anda6. One die serves for FLYING PEN WITH BOB WIRES. The small holes guarded by the bobs can be seen at the top of the flying pen. he pigeons cannot get out unless the bobs are raised. They can enter when- ever they please by pushing back the bobs, TWIGS ARE GOOD FOR NESTING MATERIAL, by James Y. Egbert. I have tried hay, straw, pine needles, leaves and twigs for nesting material. The birds wil! use twigs in preference to any other material, building a neat, compact nest lined with a few wisps of hay or straw. I cut the twigs into five or six-inch lengths and place them in a berry crate, then after the squabs are taken from the nest I clean the twigs and replace them in the crate. In this way, the pigeons use the twigs over and over again and the breeder does not have to supply so much new nesting material. suppose that on the seashore, where Homer pigeous originated, they used twigs lined with dry grass in their nest building. I find it is a good idea, in preparing my garden, to plant a few rows of sunflowers, and in the odd corners or along the border scattered seeds may be sown. In this way a squab raiser can have all the sunflower seeds he needs for hi> pigeons at a trifling cost. Pigeons are very fond of these seeds and if a breeder raises his own the feed bill is cut down just so much. Sunflowers require little cultivation and will grow and thrive in almost any location. Question: Are squabs ever scalded before plucking? Answer: Yes, but it is not neces- sary, nor do the dealers want them scalded. They should be dry-picked. APPENDIX G SEVEN YeaRS PROF- ITABLE ERIENCE, by P. A. Heiermann. [ have been raising squabs for nearly seven years and have found it a good pay- ing business. I started with one pair of common pig- eons. After having them a few months and learning their habits, I bought ten pairs of good Homers, Their squabs were much larger than the common pigeon squabs. I then be- gan to save all of the largest squabs and banded them so as not to inbreed, and numbered the bands and kept arecordof them. At present I am getting from $3 to $5 a dozen for my Homer squabs_ dressed, according to size, but at wholesale I get $3.50 a dozen straight through. I sell most of my squabs at retail, and then cannot supply all my orders. The city in which I live’ has a population of about sixty thousand and I have a home market:for all the — squabs I wish to put out. My squab plant is on the car line and can be reached from all parts of the city. I never have donated any squabs to get customers, but at first when I had no market for them I telephoned parties whom I thought would want them and I soon found places to sell. When I got a new customer I always gave him a few of my cards, and by so doing I soon built up a large trade, as a satisfied cus- tomer is the best advertisement. I feed wheat, cracked corn, peas, kaffir corn, millet, hempseed and other different kinds of grain, but I always keep changing so as not to feed one kind too long. I feed three times a day in long troughs, and do not use any self-feeders, but in the moulting season I do not feed so much. I always keep plenty of fresh water before them at all times, also grit, oyster shells, charcoal and rock salt. It costs me about $1.25 a year to feed a pair of breeding Homers. Question: Can you tell me how it comes that one of the pairs of blue checkers has an almost white-feathered squab? Answer: Colored Homers do not breed true to color. Blue checkers may breed blue bars, or blue checkers, or any other color. A white young- ster from colored-plumaged birds is rare, like a white calf from a black bull and black cow, and is generally called a throw-back, or re- version to one of several constituent types. The white Homers breed true to color as a Tule. APPENDIX G WHAT ONE PAIR OF CARNEAUX PRODUCED, by Mrs. M. White, The first of May, 1908, I bought a pair of Carneaux. In fourteen months I bred forty from that one pair. I send you two films show- ing me feeding my pigeons. In my story you will notice that I say I fed some of the squabs after taking them away from the parent birds. I did this by chew- ing up soda crackers and then moistening them in my own mouth with malted milk. Then I held the squab to my mouth and fed the bird in the natural way. Any squabs may be readily nourished in this manner. As they grew older, I gave them grain by hand. In the upper picture Mrs. White is feeding two squabs in the natural way. In the lower picture she is feeding two squabs out of herhand. Her experience with one pair of Carneaux is quite a jolt to those who are afraid of jinbreeding. Starting with only one pair of Carneaux, she has done more in fourteen months than another might with six pairs in the same period, having turned out a good-sized flock of two-score birds. Ofcourse she could have accom- plished nothing without inbreeding. It was all inbreeding, except the young bred by the orig- inal pair. Her flock are fine, large and rugged birds. This is the record of one pair of good Car- neaux in competent hands. DELAWARE HOTELS PAYING $4.50 A DOZEN, by N. H. Case. I can sell my four-weeks-old squabs faster than I can raise them. There are three large hotels in my nearest town in this State (Delaware) whose proprietors all say they will give me $4.50 a dozen, for as many asl canraise. They want them killed and bled. They offer me this price for both winter and summer. Each hotel keeper says he can handle from two to two and one-half dozens a day, so it looks as though there ought to be money in them— no expressage and payment on delivery. 321 MRS. WHITE AND CARNEAUX. I am sure there is a fine opening here for squabs as San Antonio (Texas) is a city of 100,000 population and nothing of the kind here. I never have seen anything but common squabs here and very few of them. A friend, Mr. Hobbs, is working in a near- by country town, and he says they are al- Ways ringing up from San Antonio asking if they can find any squabs—J. W. Mann, Texas. : ASSAY DAK SSS SS SSA SESS SS we E ocd Va 1 i ie APPENDIX G NORTH CAROLINA SQUABS IN OPEN AIR, by Julius A. Caldwell, M.D. We have been experiment- ing with twenty-five pairs of the best Homers. We put them in a wire pen 24 feet x 12 feet x 12 feet built against an old house whose roof projected out about five feet. This afforded some protection from the weather. I send you a ‘ sketch to show you the idea more in detail. Find- ing the work a pleasure as well as profitable, even in such anelementary manner as this, I decided to build a unit squabhouse and it is Re \7 ‘ now built. I am huvide a Wy Ny) : Ni a i some Carneaux to try also. Ms KX ite i HORSE RADISH AND VV RK SPLIT PEAS, by Edward ws arty SLAW IVA Gerhard. A good tonic for ASS WANs ‘a Sorsihee 4 He TStgg ENV pigeons is horse radish. RS a Ey NNT Munch ER ; Plant it close up to the fly- FRESH AIR FOR THESE NORTH CAROLINA PIGEONS. CANADA COTE BUILT OF COTTON CLOTH, by F. V. Dickson. It may be of in- terest to your readers to hear something about a Canadian squab plant. Last fall I tried the experiment of building a squabhouse with cotton walls, two stories in height. Ordinary cotton, at ten cents per yard, was used. This was tacked to the up- tight scantlings, which were set at a proper distance to suit the width of the cotton. Poul- try netting was put on outside of the cotton. On the east side, from which direction come our prevailing high winds, another thickness of cotton was put on. This house was cheap to build, and is light, dry, and airy. It is cold, but I have as vet seen no harm resulting from that cause. A number of my birds have been occupying it during the past winter, and they have done as well, and raised as many squabs, as any of my other birds. At present the flock consists of about three hundred and sixty pairs of birds. For the squabs I get $4 a dozen, the buyer paying the express charges. Question: What, if any, is the difference between the squab-breeding Homer and what is generally called the Carrier pigeon? If the Homer is not the same as the pigeon generally used for long-distance flights, can it be trained for such flights? Answer: There is no dif- ference between the squab-breeding Homer and the message-carrying pigeon. A carrier Pigeon is a Homer which has been trained. There is a variety of pigeons known as English Carriers, but these are not used for message carrying. Everybody breeding squabs from Homers can fly the young which he is raising. ing pen so the birds can get at the leaves to eat them. They are very fond of them. I feed my pig- eons split peas, which they enjoy. These peas do not cost me very much. [ get them for seventy-five cents a bushel. It is the cheapest feed that I buy. With wheat at $1.20 a bushel, it does not pay to feed very much wheat. I am raising squabs weighing from twelve ounces to sixteen ounces apiece, with the help of mysplit peas. These squabs make the finest eating any one can have placed before him ONE YEAR’S WORK, by Ward Edwards. One year ago this month I purchased four pairs of the best Homers. I now have one hundred and thirty-five pigeons in all. Of course they are not all. old enough to raise yet, but if they continue to raise as fast, by another year I will have over a thousand. I should have bought more breeders and not had to wait this long for them to multiply. I have followed the directions in Rice’s Manual very closely and had no trouble with my flock. I have kept close track of my matings and have had little or no trouble of inbreeding. I sell many squabs to private residences and although raising to multiply have made a nice little sum along with it. Question: Is rye a good food for pigeons? Answer: If cheap and pure, it is useful in connection with the other grains, but most rye contains ergot, or false rye, which acts as a mild poison, harmful to both pigeons and poultry. The ergot grains are larger than the rye grains. When you buy rye, look at the grains and if they are not uniform in size and color, don’t buy. APPENDIX G FLOCK OF GOOD HOMERS, by Leroy Wiles. The two squabs in the picture are Homer squabs. The father is a large red checker and the mother is a black Homer. These squabs weighed one pound apiece, when four weeks old. They are black checkers. Both of them turned ‘out to be males. One is now mated and has a nest with two eggs. I banded the one that is mated with one of the bands of the usual size and it would just go around his leg, so you can see what a leg he has. The little boy holding the nestbowl is my _ brother He is nine years old. I amnineteen. I think that he is going to be just like me in regard to pigeons, as he likes to go out with me and watch them eat and feed their young ones. have some more _ squabs growing up and I think they will be fully as large as the two in the picture. I SELL SQUABS FOR FIVE CENTS AN OUNCE, by W.E. Blakslee. I have a way for keeping young squabs in the nests made around on the ground. I nail four pieces of board a foot long into box shape and set it over the nest. This keeps the squabs quiet and the old birds have free access to them all the time. The young birds cannot get over the top of it, and the old ones can easily get into it for feeding them any time. I find it a simple matter to work up more trade than one wants if you go at it in the right way. I adopt the plan of selling my birds by weight—five cents per ounce. When asked what my price is, and I tell them this they exclaim that they can buy all the squabs they want for forty-five cents apiece. There are many flocks of common pigeons in this surrounding country. I don’t run down the birds that they are buying, nor do I stand and argue the question with them. I ask them to weigh the birds they buy and see what my price would make them cost. They find they are getting more six and seven- ounce birds than anything else and at my price they would cost only thirty and thirty- five cents instead of forty-five cents. They come back to me and want to see my squabs and are astonished at the size of them. They find I have squabs instead of jack-knives to sell. Most of my squabs are eleven and twelve ounces. I have some eight and nine 323 MY BROTHER AND MY BIG HOMER SQUABS. and I have a good many twelve to fourteen. I have no trouble in making customers under- stand that they are getting meat for their money—for they have proved the fact to their own satisfaction. When you have the right squabs, your biggest trouble is 100 many wanting them. Question: Do you know of any way to dispose of pigeon wings? It seems to me that there must be some concern which buys them. Answer: The wings of the colored Homers are not used to any extent on women’s hats, but the wings of white Homers or white pigeons of any kind are in active demand by milliners. Wholesale milliners try to buy these for ten cents apiece. They sell them to the retailers for thirty cents to fifty cents apiece, and when the milliner makes up the hat for her customer she gets from $1 to $2 for the white wing. I would advise you to sell your white wings for at least twenty-five cents each. Question: One young Homer that hatched had a great deal of white in it, although the old ones were blue. Is this liable to hap- pen any time? Answer: Yes. The colored Homers do not breed true to color. 324 Qu Sa SoA ag WIRE NAILS INSTEAD OF CLEATS. Question: I would like to inquire if stale bread crumbled into small pieces about the size of corn would be good to feed to squabs. I do not mean exclusively but at times. I have a large bakery and have considerable stale bread which I thought I might be able to use to good advantage in connection with the squab business. Answer: Yes. Do pigeons breed as well on the seashore as inland? Amswer: I think so. The species originated in the cliffs on the seashore, according to the ancient writers. I have seen a fine flock of squab breeders at Buzzards Bay, where they fly out over the salt marshes and get a good deal of their living from small snails, eaten shell and all. Question: Can peat moss be used for nesting material? Answer: Yes, and it will drive away lice. It is good for nests for setting hens (fowls) for the same reason, An attempt was made in Indiana to use this peat moss for upholstering furniture but this did not work very well. It is used for bedding horses. Question: AVP PION DEX SG ONE DOLLAR FOR EVERY LOUSE FOUND ON MY BIRDS, by F. Beltran. As I believe in exchanging ideas, I am going to tell you about my last arrange- ment of nestboxes such as I draw them here. The whole thing is plain. The bottoms rest on only four nails, two on each side, that is all. My aim has al- ways been to have not the smallest hiding place for mites, etc., and when I could not avoid having them, then to have them movable so as to be sure to reach the pests, easily, whenever I wanted. Everything inside of my house is absolutely smooth ana affords no hiding place for those pests that live in the cracks here in our Mexi- can climate. The lice which live on the bodies of the birds would be also a thing of the past in every house of mine, if only the man in charge would keep as close a watch on the squab-raising pens as I keep on the breeding stock and raising pens, where I would give a dollar for every louse found on the bodies of the birds. SET YOUR STANDARD HIGH. It is not merely the birds, it is the intelli- gence and skill behind them. In buying breeding stock, whether pigeons or poul- try, of a man you are not buying simply his birds but you buy his knowledge, skill and experience. He has attained a cer- tain standard which may be high or low, as you can judge for yourself by reading what he says, and knowing his record in the business. All Homers and all Carneaux are not by any means alike. The best ones are furnished by the men of most skill and intelligence, because they have set their standard high and do business accordingly. The man of nostanding may offer to sell you birds at half the price of the man whose standing is high, and it almost invariably happens that such birds indeed are found to be worth about half price, because the offering of them at a low price is a confes- sion of the advertiser that he has not a high standard and is not making his birds indis- pensable, but is satisfied to take the trade of people who want the cheapest they can buy, and such people are satisfied with poor stock. I have seen something in the magazine about high altitudes and dry climates. Up in this part of Canada it is very dry and we have to make our pigeons breed on the ground so as to get the dampness, for the eggs will dry out if they are up on the wall in nest- boxes. So we do not put more than twenty pairs of pigeons in a house twelve by twelve, and we let them build nests on the ground.— J. H. Smith, Saskatchewan. Question: Are pigeon wings salable? An- swer: The wings of colored Homers are not used to any extent on women’s hats, but the white wings are readily salable to wholesale milliners. APPENDIX G HOW TO TAKE PIG- EON PICTURES. Almost everybody has a camera these days and with a small one, costing two dollars, it is possible to take excel- lent pigeon pictures. The film can be enlarged to any size. Choose a day when the sun is out and take them in the flying pen when they are walking around on the ground. Do not take them while they are on the perches because then they are drawn out of shape. They strike a natural and handsome pose when they are on the ground. Youshould sit on a board on the ground. Hold your camera not over six inches from the ground and point it at the birds. Have a pocketful of hempseed and throw it out to the birds in front of the camera from four to eight feet from where you are sitting. Do not snap the birds while they are pushing and _ scrambling for the hempseed but wait until they have eaten and raised their heads expect- antly as if looking for more. This is the time to press the button. Try to get a group of the birds in this manner, showing six or eight birds. The best view of a pigeon is obtained broad side, but sometimes an excellent picture is ob- tained from the front or even from the back, such a view showing the width of the shoul- ders. Photographs showing squabs four weeks old alive or dressed or novelty pic- tures like!the one on this page are always interesting. COMMON SQUABS TOO SMALL, by Charles F. Manahan. I watch and study the ways and habits of my Homers whenever I have time. I live near a summer resort in Mary- land in the Blue Ridge Mountains and have a small truck farm and haul my vegetables to these cottages and hotels. I think I can sell the squabs from several hundred pairs after I get them introduced, as there is nothing in this neighborhood but common pigeons. Where I sell them, the people say they are the finest they have ever bought. On one occasion I did not have enough and told the person that I could get a pair of a neighbor to make vut the number. After I had the head and feathers off, I saw much difference, so I put the pair I got from the neighbor on months old, squabs just three weeks old.—Gottlieb Pfister, New 325 GRANDPA, BABY AND SQUABS. I send a photograph of myself and grandchild, Miss Janet Pfister, eighteen York. the scales and the two weighed just a pound. I then put one of the Homers on and it weighed fifteen ounces, so the Homer squab weighed only one ounce less than the pair of common ones. Question: I have been contemplating for two or three months trying the squab business. I wrote to a commission house in Chicago to give me prices on squabs and they quoted me $5.50 per dozen for eight-pounds-or-over squabs. I also wrote to another commission house about the sale of squabs and they sent me a price list in which it priced squabs at $2.50 and $3 a dozen for choice squabs, and as low as $1.50 a dozen. Answer: If you were to go into a hat store and offer a man $1 for a hat which you happened to see and liked, and he should laugh and tell you you could not have it for $1, that the regular price was $3, would you be disappointed because he would not take your $1 and give you the hat? You are not obliged tosell for $1 a dozen just because you are offered that amount. 326 APPENDIX G NEW YORK CITY SQUAB MARKET BOOMING, by William R. McLaughlin. The New York City squab market, with which I have been intimately connected for many years, buying and selling to a trade which I know thoroughly, is steadily increasing in demand, especially in January and the fol- lowing eight months, when no game can be had. There is no possibility of overdoing the production, as the squab business is here to stay. There is a good demand all the year round for birds running from seven pounds to twelve pounds to the dozen, at good paying prices, and breeders should place themselves right at the start by buying birds enough to ship from five to ten dozen squabs at a time. In this way they will save considerable on express, as the charge on this quantity is a trifle more than on one, two or three dozen shipments. The very small shipments are unsatisfactory to handle as they do not con- tain enough birds of any particular size to keep a good average scale. There is no line of goods I handle which has grown so much in the last few years as squabs, especially since the squabs have been sold ac- cording to grade and size, and I believe they will continually crowd to the front. I want squabs all the time. I know there is nothing around a farm pay- ing any better and holding to a more steady price all year round, than good squabs from seven to nine pounds. As regards increase, I will say that in one little town in New Jersey where I started a few shippers and got them to raise according to the scale of selling by weight per dozen, when I first started, the business in that section was something like $5000 a year and has since grown to $25,000 a year, and you could not get them to go back to the old way for love or money. They have all made money and grown from small shippers to large ones. I DO MY KILLING IN THE EARLY MORNING, by B. F. Babcock. I have two days in each week for the killing of my squabs—Wednesdays for the city markets, and Saturdays for my home orders. At this time of year (July) I start in killing at five a.m., and have all squabs killed, plucked and delivered by ten a.m. I have two covered baskets which I take with me to the lofts and the squabs which are to be killed are put in them. Then they are taken to where I kill and pick them. I have a boy who does all the killing and helps pick. My wife and myself do the most of the picking. As soon as the squahbs are picked they are thrown into a pail of cold water. For my home trade, I leave them in the water only until all are picked. Their feet and mouths are all cleaned of foul matter, then they are delivered to the customers. I do all delivering myself. For the_ city market they are left in the water from five to six hours, according to what train they are to be shipped. I have at home a large hotel trade, having a standing order of four to six dozen a week. Prices range from twenty-five to seventy-five cents each according to size and weight, the average being about fifty cents each. In shipping squahs to the city markets I pack all squabs in ice, first putting in a laver of ice, then a layer of squabs. I have not shipped very many to the city markets as my home trade takes nearly all that I can raise, but have always when shipping received the highest market prices. The inexperienced wiil at first find in using the squab killing knife, that they do not stick the squabs right and that some will live for quite a long time, and have to be stuck the second time, This has been my experience so I tried this plan so as not to let the squabs suffer any. I made a killing machine, the same as described in the National Standard Squab Book, pages 114-115, which breaks their necks and kills them at once. I then use the squab knife and bleed them. As soon as the squabs are plucked they are at once placed either in a pail or tub of cold water, into which some salt has been put. If you use a twelve-quart pail put in three to four pinches of salt, that is, what you can hold with your thumb and fingers. If a tub is used put in according to size. This will give the squabs the fine white skin desired by the New York market, taking out all the dark or red spots. It also gives them plumpness. I leave them in water from four to five hours, which takes out all the animal heat. I then clean the feet of all foul matter and wash all the blood from their beaks and mouths and wrap their heads in white tissue paper. The paper costs very little and the trouble will more than repay any one. It gives a fine, clean appearance when your dealer opens the box and your squabs will bring the top prices. I pack all shipments in ice, putting in a layer of ice first, then a layer of squabs, keeping this rotation up until the box is filled, but being very careful not to get the box too full. No breeder will ever be sorry for any extra pains he takes with his shipments, as it will pay in the long run. SOFTENS PEAS IN WATER, by Elmer Streckwald. I know a woman _ breeding squabs who softens peas by moistening them in water. Her idea is that they will not be so hard to digest, especially for the young pigeons. J have not tried this myself. Of course they should be softened fresh at each feeding time, or allowed to soak three or four hours before feeding time, for if they were allowed to stay damp over night they would ferment. This woman also feeds her squabs on bread crumbs and she has told me tha* she finds the use of a moist mixture an im provement over the dry feeding. This spring I sold my squabs to middlemen in Boston for $4 and $4.25 a dozen. My plant is paying a profit. APPENDIX G $9 TO $12 A DAY FROM SQUABS AND EGGS, by J. E. Ross. In May, 1910 I pur- chased thirteen pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, and as it is more than a year now since I received them, I thought you would like to know what they have been doing and what I have been doing. The birds arrived on a Saturday afternoon, and by Friday of the following week twelve pairs were sitting on eggs, and they are still at it. -From the original thirteen pairs I have raised one hundred pairs of the finest birds that you would want to look at. I have not lost any old birds, nor have I had any sickness in the flock, nor been troubled with lice. Out of the thirteen pairs, nine pairs have raised nine pairs of squabs from May, 1910 to May, 1911, one pair eight pairs of squabs, and three pairs eleven pairs of squabs in the same time. My squabs weigh from twelve ounces to seventeen ounces at four weeks old, the majority of them weighing from fourteen to fourteen and one-half ounces each. I sell my squabs by the ounce, five cents an ounce, to private trade. I feed a mixture of Canada peas, red wheat, buckwheat, kaffir corn, whole round corn, lentils, millet and hempseed. I use the self feeder described in Rice’s Manual. It costs me six cents a month per bird to keep my flock. I have many visitors who come to see my Homers. They all say that they are the finest they ever saw. I will tell you how I came to start in the squab business. About three years ago I met with an accident on the railroad where I was employed, and it left me in such a condition that I was unable to do any work without sitting down to rest very often. I found it very hard to get work where I could do that, and as my small bank account was getting smaller, I had to do something very soon. A friend of mine told me of the squab business. Iread Rice’s Manual until I had it off by heart, then I sent for the birds. I have never re- gretted the day that I spent the thirty dollars for the Plymouth Rock Homers. I have sold several pairs of breeders for four dollars a pair, and have refused a number of sales at that price, for they are worth that much to me. As I went around in my Long Island town selling my squabs, the people would ask me for fresh eggs, so I decided to buy eggs and sell them with my squabs. When I first started with squabs I was not making a cent. I am picking up from nine dollars to twelve dollars a day now with my squabs and eggs. At present I have more orders for squabs than I can supply, and my place will not accommodate another pen of birds. I am looking for a larger place now, and if I can get it I am going to put in two more pens of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and I am going to get them from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., so you can expect to hear from me again, ’ 327 LOOK OUT FOR SUBSTITUTION. Many newspapers from Maine to California have poultry and pigeon columns of advertisers selling breeding stock. We have noticed, and no doubt our customers have, the freedom, not to say litense, with which ‘‘ Plymouth Rock ’’ Homers and Carneaux are offered in such columns. In nearly every city there are some irresponsible hand-to-mouth dealers sell- ing all breeds of pigeons, and every Homer and Carneau they can get hold of is promptly labelled or advertised as ‘‘ Plymouth Rock?’ and sold on the strength of the reputation our birds have made. This substitution some- times can be worked on a buyer who may be afraid to send money by letter. We have stopped a good deal of it with the help of customers who have called our attention to cases in their States. The use of our trade mark, unless specifically authorized by license from us, is illegal and we will be indebted to friends who will point out to us cases of violation as they see them. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, it is true, and the fact that our pigeons are the standard for comparison or for making sales, in the different markets and advertising mediums, is gratifying, but competition of that kindis unfair. We give only to customers the right to sell their killed squabs as Plymouth Rock squabs, no matter where they live, and we want no better testimony than is printed from month to month to prove that this trade mark is worth money on the price of the squabs. It is the right kind of an introduction to the big squab buyers. Every week letters come from somebody who has bought of our “‘ agent ”’ and has some disappointment to record. We have no agents anywhere. All trading with us is done direct with our Melrose farm, or Boston office, or it is not Plymouth Rock business. WHAT TO DO WITH STRAY EGG, by W.E. Blakslee. Young birds are liable to lay their first eggs anywhere, in a nest, on the floor, and sometimes even you will find their eggs out in the flying pen. They lay their eggs, but many times a pair pays no more attention to them. Many seem to think such eggs are not fertile, but I find the chance is that they are. Save them and put one in each new nest of your other birds the day their second egg is laid. This is your chance for a few extra squabs. What if you do have three in a nest? When you match up your squabs you may need these extra ones that you may get this way. Every squab saved counts to the good, BIG HOMER INCREASE, by N. A. Huston. My stock of six pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers was bought in 1907, March 22. I have about three hundred birds today, Jan- uary 31, 1910. My intention now is to raise as many squabs as I can for market. I made an outlay of about $250 on my squabhouse last spring, raising on three-foot posts, new floors, etc. Expect to enlarge in another year if nothing happens. MOOU HLNOWATd WOU GHXd CIO SYAGM UNOd sdynvs c s Ss = 8a) AY A, < APPENDIX “G WE SELL NO SQUABS FOR LESS THAN $6 A DOZEN, by Elmer E. Wygant. A few months ago I wrote you to the effect that I was having some photographs taken of our buildings, to show you what we have been able to do with the twenty-five pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers which we bought of the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, in April, 1909. When the birds arrived, we placed them in a box stall, built a small pen on the outside, and did not pay any attention to them except to water and feed for over three. months, when we found we had to prepare other pens for the young, which were coming very fast. In fact, every pair shipped us were all raising squabs at this time. They came so fast that we have been compelled to put up a building which is 128 feet long, eighteen feet wide and twelve feet high. At this writing (June 3) it is filled with three hundred mated pairs all breeding, besides ten pens in the large barn with four hundred mated pairs. I can see where I made a mistake when starting and that was that I should have bought about five hundred pairs and saved the time -we have taken to breed. For since last August, when we began to sell squabs, we have been compelled to refuse orders owing to our wish to breed to one thousand pairs. We have made a point not to sell any squabs less than $6 a dozen dressed, and guarantee every squab to weigh three-quarters of a pound, dressed, or no sale. We are careful not to kill any birds if under the above weight. We have supplied banquets and hotels at the above price and in doing so we show a common pigeon by the side of a Homer, which settles all arguments at once. We feed entirely according to the directions in Elmer Rice’s book and have had no trouble in keeping all the birds in fine condition. The main point, in our estimation, is to have clean coops, fresh water at all times, and see that every bird is given enough to eat. If these instructions are lived up to at all times, there is no reason why anybody should not make a success of raising squabs. (By Ray E. Brown, Manager.) Owing to the fact*that Mr. Wygant, the proprietor of Etwinoma Farms, is also the owner and manager of a Jarge summer resort, this time of the season finds him rushed, so he has handed me your request for further details regarding the way we are getting along with the squab business. We started small and enlarge as we grow. We are at the same time growing a large poultry business. Make up your mind what variety of pigeons you want, how many you want, and remember the best is what you want. There are a great many varieties suitable for squab raising. We prefer the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, which we find come up to all the requirements called for by the squab demand. , Regardless of the variety you start with, it is quality you want, not quantity Buy your foundation stock from a reliable breeder. 329 Tell him what you want and pay his price. Don't think the price too high considering quality, as he knows the value of the birds he is quoting you prices on much better than you, and bantering over prices with a reliable breeder is only waste of time. Also remember that saving money buying cheap stock birds is not saving, only wasting. This being a large farm covering 300 acres, we find valuable use for all the pigeon droppings in the orchard. We raise some of our grain, which is but a small advantage over those who have to buy their’ entire amount. Our main advantage is that our entire lofts and farms are connected with running water. The successful squab raiser should study the National Standard Squab Book, subscribe for the Squab Magazine and take advantage of some of the many good hints published in each and every copy from men who know from experience. A correspondent in Maryland writes to us March 20, 1911: ‘‘I have seen some of your Plymouth Rock Homers in this neighborhood and they are fine birds, so fine indeed that I am anxious to get rid of my Carneaux to get them instead.’” That is quite a recommenda- tion, is it not? We might add, that the Car- neaux which we sell at a higher price than our Homers are bigger and better than our Homers. Many people buy only by labels and prices; in other words if pigeons called Carneaux were offered them at one dollar a pair, they would buy them, without any thought further. There is not much satisfaction in that kind of trade either for seller or buyer. BOTH HATCH ON SAME DAY, by Leroy Wiles. I think it is a good idea for a breeder to save all his eggs that do not hatch and when a pigeon lays her first egg, take it out of the nest and put in one of the infertile ones, then when she lays her second egg, take out the infertile one and put back her own that was taken out the first day she laid. (The infertile egg can be told by putting a mark on it.) This will keep one squab from hatching a day before the other. Then very few squabs will get stunted. Considering the question of ‘‘ How best to reach the retail trade,’’ would say, although I have not tried it out, I believe a good way (and one of small cost) would be to send post- cards, either neatly printed or written, to each doctor in the city, stating that if any of his patients are in need of squabs, the writer is in a position to supply them.—H. A. Knelly, New Jersey. Charles S. Eby, a Michigan customer, is taising squabs from Plymouth Rock Extra Homers weighing from one pound to nineteen ounces apiece. The smallest squab he ever weighed registered fifteen ounces. He has the rene Homers and he knows how to feed to atten, 330 NOW, BUSTER, DON’T MOVE. CARNEAUX PRICES. It is a peculiar thing about the pigeon trade that whereas there are a certain number of purchasers at, say, six dollars a pair, the number will treble and quadruple at three dollars a pair, with no further inducement than the price. This is an absurdity and in the old days did more to drag the pigeon business down than any- thing else, for few selling pigeons at cheap prices could afford to replace dead birds, odd APPENDIX G sex, etc. Cheap pigeons are never cheap, but in most cases are a total loss and a source of the utmost vexation from start to finish. Ina pigeon transaction, the price is a very small matter. What you wish to know is: Will I get them prompt- ly, or wait from three to six months while the, birds are being bred for me? Incase there are some dead ones in the coop on arrival, will the seller promptly make good, or will he refuse, putting the blame onto the express company, which never pays such claims unless the deaths have been caused by a wreck? In case [ am not satisfied with some or all of the pigeons, have I any redress? Who pays the express, myself or the shipper? In case J find some youngsters, or more of one sex than the other, can I force the seller to - make good? So, you see, suppose you can buy Carneaux at $3 a pair, and do not buy character,reputation and good service with it, you get less than half of what you would have secured had you paid $6 a pair and received satisfaction. The friendship and good will between. buyer and seller is avery important matter in a pigeon sale. If one finds he can buy regular ten-cent soap for six cents, why one would - of course pay six cents. Soapis not alive and does not breed. It can be transported without risk. It is not likely that you would ask for a refund of the money. But there is some risk in buying pigeons and it is to your advantage to trade with a firm which will take the risk, and not compel you. I can talk Homersallday. Iowe a great deal of my success to the National Squab Magazine. I start- ed three years ago with thirty-six Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. I have now nineteen units on Mr. Rice’s plan, and have between 1200 and 1500 birds. In June I shipped 434 squabs to a northern market, first week in July 115. We have no local market in summer, this being a winter resort. My best prices are obtained in the winter. I sold in two and a half months eight hundred squabs at six dollars per dozen.—W. C. Hyer, South Carolina. Your Manual, the National Standard Squab Book, is the best and most thorough publica- tion on pigeons and squabs ever published. I am more than pleased with it. I sha!l send on an order early this spring, possibly earlier, and if your birds are like your book, there shall certainly be another order.— W. C. Val- entine, Illinois, APPENDIX G HOW I NET $4000 A YEAR WITH SQUABS, by Oscar Maerzke. | have been in the squab business thirteen years. Ihave a mixed flock containing both common pigeons and Homers. The squabs from the Homers are larger and bring more money, and the Homers breed better than the com- mons. I make $4000 a year profit. I always have run the business alone, up to last year, when [| took a partner, Charles Lutovsky. Inthecounty where we live (Wisconsin) many of the farmers breed common pigeons. We have an automo- bile with a rack on_ back to hold pigeon crates. My part- ner goes out daily in this automobile, to gather up the squabs from the farmers, cover- ing regular routes. He brings them home alive and I[ kill and pluck them and ship them along with the squabs we raise. We have shipped squabs as far East as New York. Just now we are shipping to Chicago, about 150 miles distant. We use any kind of a second-hand box, provided it is clean and fairly tight, for shipping, put- ting a layer of ice ontop of the squabs and nailing the box up tight. empties are not returned to us. My home is half a mile down the street from the squab plant. I have built one residence from squab profits and am now building another alongside my present home. It costs us $3500 a year to feed our birds, or a little less than $1 a year a pair. An im- portant part of the daily ration is a wild seed mixture, bought cheaply. We get it from a brewery. It is what is left after cleaning barley for malt. The brewery, having no further use for this refuse, sells it cheap. It is perfectly clean, dry, sweet and good, how- ever. The pigeons are very fond of it and it does them good. Of course, when they are eating it they are not eating the more expensive wheat and corn. The mixture contains the small black kernels of wild buckwheat, also cockle seed, flaxseed, the seed of: pigeon grass, and some barley. We store it in bins and it eee not have much of a tendency to heat or spoil. PThe squabs from our common pigeons and the common squabs bought from the farmers weigh about seven pounds to the dozen. They are smaller, do not look so good and do not bring so much in the market as the Homer squabs. The squabs trom our Homers weigh eight or nine pounds to the dozen and we have some ten-pound Homer squabs. When I started in the business a squab was a squab, no matter what size, and brought a flat price, but now, on account of the enor- The 31 MAERZKE’S $4000-A-YEAR PROFIT SQUAB PLANT. mous number of superior, large-size Homers which Elmer Rice has imported from Belgium and sold in this country, the small-size native American Homers and the common pigeons have been overshadowed in the markets. Squabs are now graded by weight when sold, and the more they weigh to the dozen, the more they bring. I have always sold to commission men and dealers in the large cities. We have no heat in our houses. In the winter the temperature goes as low as twenty degrees below zero. The squab production falls off some in winter and we lose a few squabs and eggs by freezing, but this is trifling compared to the cost of installing and running a heating apparatus, which is out of the ques- tion with our houses built and located as they are. We have so many pigeons in each of our three flocks (and a fourth flock of one thousand pairs to be soon added) that the houses are kept quite comfortable by the heat given off by the birds. Mrs. W. R. Lycan, a customer in far off Oregon, writes us March 31, 1911: “I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers just one year ago and have raised over seventy, lost very few. One pair has raised nine pairs and is setting again. This notwithstanding the fact that we have moved during this time and had them in a coop for several days, and have never had a flying pen; just have them in an open-front chicken house. How’s that?’”’ 332 HOW A MAN OF 75 MAKES $25 WEEKLY, by John D. Ludwig. I am making $100 a month net profit squab breeding with 1400 mated pigeons, mostly Homers. J am seventy- five years old. In front of my house I have a sign: ‘‘One squab contains two to five ounces of liquor protoplasm. This is the liquor of life, without which nothing can live. Thirty good squabs have more protoplasm than a beef weighing eight hundred pounds.’ I live onthe Southern Pacific railroad line, and thou- sands of people read the sign. At the present time (March) I receive $3.75 a dozen for Homer squabs, and $4.50 a dozen for my larger squabs, net. Last year I sold 8199 squabs. My customers call at the aviary for my squabs. I put from twenty- four to forty squabs in a box alive and the expressman calls for the boxes. My market is Oakland and San Francisco. I cannot raise the number of squabs that are called for. My squabs are always plump and fat, and weigh from twelve to eighteen ounces each. The boxes I ship the squabs in are the size of Swift turkey boxes and have a partition in the center. I place eighteen or twenty squabs in each compartment. The boxes are returned to me and the poultrymen pay the express both ways, on the squabs and empties. They are paying as high as $5 a dozen in San Francisco, one year contract. Is it hard work to take care of 1400 pigeons, they ask me. I have two boys, George, the older, thirteen years old; Edwin, the younger, nine years. In vacation they did all the work around the aviary. Gathered all the squabs formarket. Removed the dirty nests. Cleaned them. Dipped them into the whitewash barrel. Set them aside ready for future use. Placed clean boxes for the dirty ones taken out. Raked out the houses and lofts. Shoveled the manure in the wagon and delivered it to the florist. Mixed the feed and placed it in the hoppers. Gathered and handled eucalyptus leaves to refill nestboxes. They ran the place in fine order. (The boys did that during their vacation from school. I was on a trip to Sonoma county.) At present they go to school. After schoc] hours they are on hand and we do the work. Both love pigeons and are pleased to be with them. Boys certainly can make money raising squabs for market. They must learn all about pigeons. Must attend to business or they will lose the cash they invest. Start with only a few pairs. Does it pay to raise squabs? Yes, it does. Tam making money. But like any other busi- ness you must learn the details. Learn the habits of pigeons and how to take care of them. I write you these few lines to let you know that we are still in the business, and I will tell you of our success after a year and a half. We wish to enlarge. We have now working about 135 pairs of the old original birds, of which seventy-five pairs were secured from your company, and the balance elsewhere, but like most new beginners we of course got a APPENDIX G few of those so-called Homers, and that meant we were stung, but the seventy-five pairs that we got from you are certainly fine workers and are going great for us. Out of the last year we have saved something like one hundred pairs of young birds out of those we bought from you so now we have about 240 pairs turning out squabs for us, and we are shipping on an aver- age of four dozen squabs a week and also are supplying some few small breeders around here. Besides the Homers we have thirty-eight pairs of Carneaux working but have not put any of their young on the market yet. We are proud of our success, which we lay to the birds bought from you. We want to add another sixty- foot building to our present holdings and to secure about three hundred pairs Plymouth Rock Homers from you. You have the only pigeons that we care to handle. We ship our squabs to Heineman Brothers in New York.— E. J. Quigley, West Virginia. ONE YEAR’S RECORD, by Emil Oetteking. I kept a record of the feed consumed by eight pairs of Homers in the year from January 1, to December 31, 1910, with the following result: Whole corn, 177 lbs, at $1.55 per 1001 bs.— $2.63 Red wheat, 1681bs. at 2.40 per 1001bs.— 4.03 Kaffir corn, 1221bs. at 2.30 per 1001bs.— 2.81 Buckwheat, 51lbs.at 2.25 per 1001bs.— 1.15 - Peas, 158 lbs. at 3.80 per 1001bs.— 6.00 Hemp seed, 91bs.at 6.00 per 100 lbs.— 0.54 Total, 678 lbs. $17.16 I killed 129 squabs in twelve months from the eight pairs of pigeons. This is at the rate of sixteen and one half squabs per pair, or eight and one-quarter pairs of squabs to each pair of parent breeders. I suppose you are always ready to read of a customer of yours that has made a success with pigeons, so I am writing to give you that information. I started my flock two years ago with three pairs of your Plymouth Rock Carneaux and now (March 26, 1911), am the proud owner of nearly two hundred pairs of as fine birds as there are in the country. I have sold squabs, youngsters and mated pairs, and at no time have I had any trouble in disposing of them. The breeders are always of good color, good size, and as for breeding qualities, they are hummers. I want to thank you again for starting me right. Still have my original pairs (three), which are as busy as ever.—Cadet H. Hand, New York. Two weeks ago I killed and shipped my first squabs. I never killed and plucked a squab or fowl of any kind so you can imagine the task Thad on hand. I had elevensquabs. For the best I received seventy-four cents a pair clear, or eighty-three cents gross; for the smallest forty-four cents a pair clear or fifty-five cents gross, an average of $4.20 a dozen gross, or $3.70 after packing and shipping expenses were deducted. How is that for a ‘‘ greenie ’’ in the business — good, bad or indifferent?—Park F. Esbenshade, Pennsylvania. APPENDIX 1G HOW AN IOWA FAMILY MAKES SQUABS PAY, by R. L. Allen. I am very much in- terested in the pigeon business. I believeit is only in its infancy and that better times are com- ing. I send you a picture of our unit house which, as you see, has eight separate apart- ments. We have three other houses not shown in this pic- | ture. These apartments are | each eight by ten feet. They ~} are eight feet high on the high side and six feet high on the low side. The fly yards are ten by sixteen feet, eight feet igh. Each of these apartments has an average of one hundred and twenty-two nests, and an average of one hundred and twelve mated, working pigeons. We find it better to have more nests than birds. The girl in the picture is Lila Allen, sixteen years old, another member of the firm, who has charge of the feed supplies. Once every day she goes all through the plant and refills the automatic feeders that are in need of grain. In these feeders there are compartments to accommodate two kinds of grain. We also have a little contrivance of our own in- vention to keep salt and grit always before them. We are not prepared at this time to furnish the pictures of Mrs. Allen, who is bookkeeper and secretary, or of Mr. R. L. Allen, general manager. In this pigeon plant, each member of the family and firm has. his or her work to do, and each receives a share in the receipts. We have one thousand breeding pigeons. I find in traveling about over the country that where there is a bunch of pigeons that the owner is “‘sick of ’’ and complaining because there is no money in them, the house is in bad condition, feed and water supply is poor, and the pigeons are not evenly proportioned in regard to sex. Under such conditions good results are out of the question. The owner is trying to sell them cheap, and if he gets a buyer, unless the latter is a good judge and understands how to cull them closely, he too finds out a little later that there is no money in the pigeon business. Then the poor pigeons get the blame for it all. HOW THEY BREED IN ONTARIO, by W. Ernest Williams. In March last I pur- chased three pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers and to date (October 27) I have twelve pairs of youngsters that have been spared for breeders. In March all three pairs had eggs within two weeks of being in their new home. In my pen I have up to the present twelve pairs of youngsters that are flying about, and VIEWS ON THE ALLEN SQUAB FARM. have killed two pairs for eating. One pair fell out of its nest or was pushed out and killed when only two weeks old. Now I have one pair about four days old and two pairs on eggs. Mr. Baker and Mr. Burgess will’ no doubt want to buy my birds after seeing this, but not for $5 a pair if I know it. Just look: sixteen pairs and two pairs of eggs. This is a straight fact and no fairy tale, I can assure you. I have been getting three dollars per dozen for my squabs. At one of the Chicago markets I asked the man what he would pay me for what he called fancy Homer squabs. He said they were too high for his market, and that the hotels and big restaurants paid six and seven dollars a dozen for them dressed, done up in one-half dozen lots, and they had to weigh just so much. I also spoke to a party that used to be in a meat market where squabs were handled, and he told me they paid around forty cents apiece for squabs and sold them as high as seventy-five cents apiece. — Henry Huecker, Illinois. I ordered three pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers six months ago. I had other Homers in my house but in the scramble for nestboxes, the new ones were easy winners, they were so much bigger and stronger. I am raising some big squabs from them. The largest I had were a pair of red checks, one weighing twenty ounces and the other twenty-two ounces.— Walter Sieverling, Ohio. 334 APPENDIX G SQUAB MONEY KEPT THIS BOY IN SCHOOL, by Elmer Krider. I am a boy of seventeen and live with my grandparents in California. Both my mother and father are dead, so you see I had to find some way of making money without having to quit school. While reading a paper one day I saw the Plymouth Rock advertisement and sent for a free book, then bought the complete pigeon guide, which I found was the same as having an expert squab raiser with you all the time. By studying this Manual I got a clear view of the squab industry, purchased twelve pairs of Homers in September, 1907, and up to this writing (September 27, 1909) have three hundred and sixty, including one hundred mated pairs. I ship the squabs at the rate of about seven dozen every month to San Francisco, where I get never less than thirty- five cents each. Boys who were my best friends wanted me to go out in the fields and work with them for $25 a month. I told them I would not quit school to go out in the hot sun and work for $25 a month. Then here is where they began to tease me about the pigeons and that I would not make a cent out of them. So, what happened is, that I have kept on with my school, making a clear profit of $20 a month with little work. This just shows what a great chance the pigeon industry offers. There is one man here who came from Minnesota to raise squabs and on arrival took the ginseng fever and began raising it. Now he is beginning to see his mistake in not sticking to squabs. SQUABS SELLING IN BOSTON $7 A DOZEN, by Elmer C. Rice. Just one year ago this month I wrote an article telling how squabs were selling in Boston at seven dollars a dozen, the highest known up to that time. This year (1911) squabs are just as high, and appear to be scarcer. In the Boston Globe for January 27, 1911, squabs were quoted at $5.00 to $7.00 a dozen. In the Globe for January 20, $5.50 and $6.00 a dozen. For January 13, $5.00 and $6.00 a dozen. For January 6, $5.00 and $6.50 a dozen. For December 30, $5.00 and $6.00. The Globe prints the squab quotations in a special market article every Friday afternoon throughout the year, along with quotations on meats, butter, cheese, eggs, fruits, vege- tables, fish. When squabs weighing eight pounds to the dozen sell for $6.00 a dozen, this means that the buyer pays seventy-five cents a pound; ten pounds to the dozen at $7 a dozen, seventy cents a pound; twelve pounds to the dozen at $7.00 a dozen, sixty-seven cents a pound. This is double the prices at which chickens sell, pound for pound, and indicates how profitable it is to breed squabs. MY SQUAB PLANT PAYING 221-2 PER CENT PROFIT, by H. C. Longcoy. For any one entering any business, the iirst ques- tion coming to mind is; How have others succeeded? So a few figures of actual facts are here submitted. I have been raising squabs in Ohio for five years and have made big money for the time spent on them. I get all my grain, grit, etc., at wholesale. I sell through a retail store. They give me $3.50 a dozen, flat rate, the- year round, I have fifteen pens of breeders at present, but, for example, we will take one pen of twenty-one pairs of large crosses with actual figures. These birds have done no better than the others: Grain for 365 days $30.57 Cost of house (pro rated) $1.57 per pair or 32.97 Value of birds, 21 pairs at $4 84.00 Interest on $84 plus $32.97 (investment) 7.01 Depreciation on investment 10% 11.69 Actual outlay $30.57 plus $7.01 plus $11.69, total $49.27. Twenty-one pairs produced 246 squabs during the year at $3.50 per dozen $71.75 Droppings sold 3.90 Income $75.65 $75.65 minus $49.27 equals $26.38 profit, or $1.25 1-2 per pair. Very few business propositions pay 22 1-2% net; so I say a squab plant well taken care of is the best money maker I know today. POISONED PEAS, by C. W. Blanding. I found it extremely hard to procure Canada peas, and to take their place I bought some peas of a dealer which he recommended as . pigeon peas. In less than two weeks my birds were all dead with the exception of a few pairs. A careful examination proved that the peas had been doped to prevent the worms from bothering them, as they are very poor sellers. You can bet now that I know what my feed is when I buy it. Question: No two accounts agree as to the average yearly increase from working pairs of pigeons, and I am at sea as to what I might reasonably expect from say fifty pairs in one year under favorable circumstances. Answer: Accounts differ with regard to the average yearly increase of a flock of birds, because the ability of each breeder varies. It depends mostly on yourself what you will do with a flock of pigeons. Jf you are skilful you will get the maximum results. If you are not skilful you will get the minimum results. If you have average ability you will get average results. It is impossible for.anybody to pre- dict what you will do at squab raising. A buyer appreciates that prices mean very little when he puts $20 into a lot of pigeons, obtains twice the number obtainable for the same money elsewhere, but finds on getting the birds from the express company that perhaps one-third of them are desirable, and he can get no relief, frequently not even an answer to letters. It is our belief that the customer is the best judge of what is shipped him, that the pigeons themselves talk more convincingly than printed matter or letters. wer an APPENDIX~G RAISING SQUABS BY HAND, by E. Guenther, M.D. My squabhouse recently fin- ished is, fourteen by twenty feet and cost $150. I put tin pans on top of the posts under the sills to keep rats and mice from working up. On October 2, I took out thirteen squabs (Homers) which weighed four- teen pounds. During the sum- mer I lost a pair of Homers which had hatched out a pair of young Carneaux. The young birds were thirteen days old when the old ones flew away. They were yellow Carneaux and I was very anxious to raise them, so I got my boy Harold to iookafter them. Oneof the pictures shows Harold feeding one of them by mouth, which was the way they were first nourished. When they were older they were fed with a spoon. They are now in the rearing coop and doing well. The other picture shows Harold and my girl Blanche feeding a young Carneau with a spoon. SIX DOLLARS A DOZEN, by George N. Childs. I am having good luck with my Homers. I have quite a few calls for squabs. Ican get six dollars a dozen for them. I follow Rice’s Manual to the letter and find it to be just the right thing. I would not take $25 for it if I could not get another copy. I sell my squabs to private families. They made the price themselves and are willing to pay six dollars a dozen. This Pennsylvania town is very rich and I can sell all the squabs I can turn out. I cannot say enough or too much for the squab business or my birds. There was a man here this morning from a New York town and he said he had been to see a squab plant there which had seven hundred birds, but had not any to come up to mine. I am going to have a picture taken of my place and will send you one. FLYING PEN ON EAST SIDE OF BUILD- ING, by M. C. Martin. For warm climates, I think the flying pen should face the east instead of the south. In the summer when it is so intensely hot, if the pen faces the south, the sun shines on the flying pen all day long, and except in the early morning and late in the evening the birds must stay in the squabhouse to escape the sun. If the pen faces the east, shortly after noon there is shade in the flying pen, and all the birds off of eggs will be found njoying the shade, and very few suffer during the hot season. In the winter the flying pen should have a windbreak on the north side, then remove this in the spring again. My plan for perches in the flying pen is to have six-inch boards all around the sides of the pen. One may have two or three tiers of 335 RAISING SQUABS BY HAND. boards on a side if needed. This leaves more flying space in the pen than the ladder system. Question: I have a good-sized flock of Homers which have been working fine, but recently I bought two pairs of Carneaux. One pair worked all right, but the other pair although they are mated do not work properly, so I have come to the conclusion that the Carneaux are not so good as the Homers and I think I will stick to the Homers. Answer: It has been my experience that a party will buy, say ten pairs of Homers and be well satisfied if eight or nine pairs go to work soon. On account of the expense of Carneaux, they may buy only two pairs. They expect both pairs to be perfect breeders under the change of circumstances, although they do not expect an absolutely perfect percentage with their Homers. It is a well-known law stated by all competent observers, that some pigeons will breed properly only when at their old home or with their old partners. It is also true that birds which breed properly in one pen may not do so if sold and shipped away to a new pen. Therefore, in every flock there may be some pigeons coming under these exceptions. Such birds should be mated up with new birds, or later on with birds of your own raising. It is impossible to do much breeding with Carneaux, or with any pigeons, unless you have from three pairs to twelve pairs, so as to have some material with which to work. Anybody who buys one pair of birds and_ figures on perfect results is taking a chance. From the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers that I bought and received May first this year, I have one hundred pairs, some of which are beginning to mate; will have a big bunch mated up by spring.—A. E. Perkins, Iowa. 336 TELEPHONE SQUAB SALES $6-$9 A DOZEN, by R. E. Sons. Having read all the books relating to pigeons and carefully thought over the matter, I decided to try as an experi- ment forty-eight pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and to see for myself if I had any demand for squabs. When they arrived I was well pleased with their looks and was better pleased when I saw them getting busy ten days after their arrival. Then when my first squabs hatched I commenced to look for ways and means to sell. The markets were selling them at forty cents each so I decided to try fifty cents each. I inserted a small advertisement in the local paper but could trace no business there. I then wrote several prominent people and received two answers, each with orders too large for me to fill. I then started in to call the wealthy ladies by telephone, asking them if they would like some fresh killed squabs, as I had so many for sale, and by this means I sold my first birds. This I continued, always calling new people, and when I de- livered my squabs I always placed my card on the package and requested the cook to keep the card in a conspicuous place, and when she wanted fresh killed squabs to call me by telephone. Soon orders were coming in far beyond my supply. I then ordered fifty pairs more Homer breeders from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. As soon as they were working and I was able to market their squabs I found I could not meet the demand. I ordered again fifty pairs more, but even then I could only meet about half the orders. My plant has always been open to inspec- tion and I tamed my first pen so that they would come and eat hempseed out of the hand. This was a great success for many wealthy people stopped to see how squabs were raised and I found I sold quite a lot simply because they would eat out of the hand. These I sold for pet squabs. I weaned them when they were four weeks old and received from nine to twelve dollars a dozen. I refused all offers for the old birds. Some of the wealthy people thought that fifty cents was too high as the markets had by this time cut their prices to thirty and thirty-five cents each, but I explained how I plucked and chilled the birds, which were only killed upon order, and that if they would try a small order, they would be convinced. Some would place an order for one and two and in nine cases out of ten they would try to get my squabs, and if I was sold out then go to the market. All this summer I have received fifty cents each for killed squabs four weeks old, seventy five cents for live squabs five weeks old and one dollar for six weeks old, weaned and trained to eat and care for themselves. I have not at any time had any squabs ready to kill that I have not had an order on my books to fill. In fact, I have not had a chance to eat one myself. I have four more units about half completed which I will fill with Homers as APPENDIX~ G I believe they turn out squabs that are just right for the home market. For canker, I put three drops of squab-fe-nol in one-half a glass of water for a wash, using a small swab. I then powder the throat with half Venetian red and half burnt alum, and find that this mixture works quickly, effecting the desired cure. Here is a record to date (March, 1910) of the three pairs of Extra Homers bought of you last March, 1909. It is a record you can be proud of. I will swear that it is correct, as I have them banded and keep a book to record them. Pair No. 1 hatched April 1 (1909) 2 squabs; May 12, 2; June 18, 2; July 21, 2; August 24, 1; September, none; October 4, 2; November 14, 2; January 8 (1910), 1; February 20, 2. Total, 16 squabs in 10 months. At present date (March 20) building another nest. Pair No. 2 hatched April 5 (1909), 1 squab; May 18, 2; June 24, 1; July 28, 2; August, none; September 1, 1; October 5, 2; November, none; December 1, 2; January 26 (1910), 1; March 8, 2. Total 14 squabs in 10 months. At present (March 20), sitting on two eggs. Pair No. 3 hatched April 15 (1909), 2 squabs; May 27, 2; June, none; July 15, 2; August 28, 2; September, none; October 11, 2; November, none; December 11, 2; January (1910), none; February 6, 2. Total, 14 squabs in 10 months. From these three pairs I have now twelve working pairs of birds that I have yet to see the equal of in California.. I hope this record may be of some use to you, and it will be if you are as proud of it as lam. I never had raised a pigeon in my life until I received your birds. You gave me a fair and square deal both on my Extra Homers and Carneaux. I follow your Manual from A to Z. The ;sesults speak for themselves.— Fred M. Parkison, California. I have adopted a way for holding my nest material which you can print if you wish. On the wire partitions between units, at the bot- toms I put a thirty-inch width of the wire, fasten this at bottom and ends, fill from the top with stems, straw, etc. This makes a clean pocket for keeping the nest material in the pens, and it also makes a good break from wind caused by the flying of the birds. Don’t cut wire to make this. Use a regular made width, then you have the edges in shape.— W. E. Blakslee, New York. I am very proud of my flock of Plymouth Rock Homers. From the twenty-four pairs I bought a year ago, I now have two hundred and eighty-eight birds, all beauties. My neighbors and every one who sees them say they are lovely—Mary R. Forbes, New York. T have four hundred working Homers. They are producing seven pairs of large squabs to each pair of breeders a year. Half of these breeders are too young to do their best. I hope to enlarge my plant in the near future.— D. D. Powell, California. FAP PEN DRX 6G HOW TO JUDGE WHEAT FOR SQUAB RAISING. I have found, in travelling over all parts of the country, that there is a great difference in wheat. It is divided into the two general classes of red wheat and white wheat. * There is also winter wheat, which is planted in late summer in time for it to send up its blades or leaves, then remains like this over winter and starts to grow again with the first opening of spring, thus having a long or full season to mature or ripen in. Spring wheat is wheat planted in the spring, thus having but a short season to mature and ripen, for the farmer has to wait until the ground is sufficiently thawed and dried out to work it. The very best staple feed for pigeons every- where on this continent is the first or best quality of the red, winter wheat —the same as is used for making the best quality of flour. Necessarily, this is the most expensive wheat in cost, but the cheapest feed, all things con- sidered, for squab raising. In appearance, it is copper-colored, well filled out or smooth on the surface, not puckered or wrinkled, clear colored, almost transparent like a small chip or a fine specimen of brown flint, not cloudy. It should be well seasoned, dry and hard to bite. This kind of wheat is not offered for sale on the general market and it takes a fairly skilful buyer to procure it. It can seldom or never be bought by the bag except direct from the farmer or possibly from the flour mills, and the flour mills would only let you have the poorest of this grade. ' Next to this, in desirability for pigeons, is the number one, red, winter wheat often sold by grain dealers. Then comes the number two, red, winter wheat which may have considerable wild seeds and some chaff mixed with it and it may be somewhat shrivelled or wrinkled. This last is not objectionable for squab raising if the kernels are clear, transparent-like and hard. But if the majority of the kernels are cloudy and especially if they are soft or easy to bite, I would never buy it. In some sections, the screenings of this red, winter wheat can be had cheaply and it is not objectionable if the kernels are clear and hard, as stated above. The next on the list is red, spring wheat. Though not so good as the winter wheat, it is all right to use, provided the kernels are clear and hard. It hasn’t as much nourishment for pigeons and is more likely to be soft or im- mature and hence cloudy. Any genuine, red wheat, although cloudy, may be fed to pigeons without serious harm, but it will not produce the results you are looking for with the squabs, neither in quality nor number. If this last kind has to be used more peas and hempseed should be given. White wheat may be fed for squab breeding, if handled with judgment, in any part of the country, if it is impossible to get the red wheat. Wheat of any kind, which has been “‘ heated ’’ and has the slightest musty smell, or has the slightest amount of bluish mould or dust on it, must not be fed to pigeons. It is much easier to find good wheat and to detect it if it has been spoiled than it is to judge cracked corn. 337 BEST WAY TO FEED SALT, by Edward G. Rice. I have heard many people say that coarse ground salt is all right for pigeons. In my experience it is not. The pigeons when eating will sometimes get too much and it will killthem. I used it for a while, but of course when it began to kill my pigeons I stopped it. - It is best to put a lump of rock salt in a box of grit or gravel and wet it thoroughly every day. The pigeons will eat this grit or gravel after it has been flavored by the salt and you will find that it keeps them very healthy. It is almost as necessary for pigeons to have salt as it is for them to have feed and water; that is, if mou erect them to keep in good condition and work. TEN CENTS A PAIR A MONTH, WEST VIRGINIA, by J. L. Wallace. I have kept a record of the feed, and find that my Homers cost me ten cents a pair a month, or $1.20 a year. I have now moved into my new home and want to make arrangements to get my squab plant fitted up as soon as possible. I work in the bank from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., which gives me ample time to look after a good- sized flock. I wish to join the National Squab Breeders’ Association. Please enter my name, also that of Fred Le Blond, Jr. Send two buttons. The Homers that I bought of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company are the handsomest and best birds that I have. I sold off every one of the old ones and now have my loft full of the offspring. They are certainly fine birds. The squabs weigh from nine to twelve pounds a dozen. I have turned the entire financial part of the business over to my boy, who is ten years old, and even if it does cost me money each month, I am perfectly satisfied to pay it for the splendid training it is giving him. He keeps an accurate account of all money, pays himself a salary, and just about breaks even. I consider training a young boy along these lines to be invaluable, as it gives him a fair insight into business methods, and not only in handling the business itself, but in teaching him the importance of watching details so as to insure success.—F. E. Le Blond, Ohio. I sent you in a couple of orders a few days ago and from time to time you will hear from me, as my birds are giving you some fine adver- tising in these parts. Of course you know as I do that it is the man behind the gun and I tell these people that when the birds arrive, they will be all right and just like mine, but it is up to them to get the same results that I do. My short experience with your firm has convinced me that you have the stock all right and that you are responsible in every respect. — A. Penn Krumbhaar, Louisiana. I began my plant with four pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers in April, 1910, and I now (April, 1911) have over ninety strong, healthy birds including twenty-six mated couples.— Ethel M. Watson, California. APPENDIXEG ‘SNOWDId LHd WHHL TO OML DNIGCTOH NVNNVHOd SHSSIN AHL , ie canes NO APPENDIX G SQUAB SUPPLY FALLS SHORT OF DEMAND,* by Burton T. Beach. Epicures are coming to think that squab on toast is as appetizing as quail on toast, provided the bird is bred scientifically, killed at the right moment and properly kept in the larder. Squab meat is one of the few forms of food the supply of which falls absolutely short of the demand in the United States. Scores of ban- quets given last winter in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston were arranged with- out squabs in the menus for the sole reason that it was not possible to get enough to go around. “My chef,’’ said the proprietor of the famous Manhattan hotel, ‘‘ tried to gather eight hun- dred squabs for a dinner in February. The committee insisted that we get them. After searching the markets and squab farms and cold storage houses all we could find was five hundred, and we had to cut out squabs. Very likely there will be a similar shortage next winter. And it will be a genuine shortage, not an artificial one.” The first solid food given to Mayor Gaynor after the shooting was squab. Medical men are more and more inclined to prescribe squab in the dietary of invalids, especially children. One of the most nourishing fluids is the juice of the squab killed when about able to leave its nest voluntarily. Six years ago the business had a boom, but the boom soon collapsed. In 1907 there was a vigorous revival: improvement has been con- tinuous. On Long Island, near New York, the Misses Bohannan, after five years of unremitting attention, have built up an excellently organized plant, with improved modern appliances, and are exploiting a flock of four thousand birds, soon to be enlarged by half as many more. One who never had met them save at a social function in Manhattan or in their parlor at Knollside Farm would not suspect that they knew any more about pigeons than could be learned from books or an inspection of rare columbide at the zoological gardens or a visit to the Basilica of St. Mark’s, in Venice, where the pigeons are a whirling wonder. Confronted suddenly with the necessity of making parental capital yield at least four times what it would yield if deposited in savings banks or invested in securities, they decided to try squab farming as likely to bring a better return than the New York market for poultry. While there are plants larger than theirs de- voted to raising ‘‘ breeding birds,”’ these young women have the satisfaction of owning one of the largest devoted exclusively to raising squabs for food. Question: I have my nestboxes numbered and know what each pair does. In the even- ing I transfer the records to a book, and thus know from week to week where I stand. I give the birds quite a lot of bookkeeping. Answer: It is easy to do too much record keeping. The record should be kept either on the nestboxes or at the back of each pen, and in a card index kept handy in the squab- O09 house. Do not make memoranda which later you have to transfer. Write it only once, for keeps. Do the record-keeping in the squab- house, otherwise one is liable to spend as much time over his records as over his pigeons, which is a poor use of time. Evening work, if any is done, should be devoted to writing letters and postal cards, advertising matters, etc., pushing sales. The marketing is quite as important as the raising, that is, intelligent marketing which gives the breeder a fair share of the money which the consumer pays. A BIG SQUAB SHIPPER, by E. L. Kauff- man. Please send me the Association member- ship button. I think your ideas are all right. Push the price and urge more squabs eaten, as all squab raisers and shippers want that. The last year I shipped over one hundred thousand squabs to the New York market. We seem to have a fine country for squab- raising, and I hope it may come to be one of the great things. Wish you good success. This is not an uncommon experience: ‘* Be- fore I commenced to correspond with you I bought five pairs of Homers of a dealer near home and I got eight cocks and two hens, and he will not exchange back so I can mate mine up. Now, Iam about ready to get the ones I had written you about, special offer No. 2, and I would like to get also six of the No. 1 hens to mate with the six odd cocks I have. If you can fill the order in this way I will send the money as soon as I hear from you.’’-—H. W. Nims, Minnesota. I entered my five pairs of pigeons, each pair of solid red Carneaux, white Maltese, white Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, blue checker Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and blue checker Swiss Mondaines, at Seymour, Colum- bus and Franklin Poultry Shows (Indiana) and captured all fifteen first premiums, or five first premiums at each show. Our judges said that my birds cannot be beaten. Don’t you think it is a good record to win fifteen straight first premiums?— George S. Beyer, Indiana. The pigeons which I bought from you a little more than a year ago (six pairs Plymouth Rock White Homers and six pairs Plymouth Rock No. 1 Homers) are certainly fine, and I now (June 27) have nearly three hundred birds and they are splendid pigeons. I have at present two pairs that have three fine squabs each and also one pair sitting on four eggs. I haven't been trying to dispose of any as yet, butin a month or two I am going to be in a position to sell quite a lot of squabs.— E. G. Davidson, Illinois. The three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers I bought in March, 1910, multiplied so fast that up to November inclusive, I raised thirty- four squabs, and every one of these weighed one pound apiece alive when four weeks old.— John N. Moeller, Connecticut. *Copyright, 1910, by the New York Herald Co. All rights reserved. MR. LLOYD PAID $50 FOR THIS HOMER. It is an investment because he sells for good prices the racing stock bred from her. Question: I send you a newspaper clipping showing today’s San Francisco quotations: pigeons $1.50 a dozen, squabs $2.50,a dozen. I spoke to a Chinaman the other day and asked him what he asked for squabs and he said fifty cents each. He showed me some and they were common pigeons. The China- men are big squab eaters. Would it pay me to ship to Eastern markets in large lots or would you seek a home market? Amswer: Sell squabs right where you are. Your present doubt is caused by assuming that those figures you saw in the newspaper are correct, just because they were in print. As I explain periodically, those figures are what the commis- sion men would like to pay to get the squabs, not what they are obliged to pay a breeder of intelligence. The Chinaman gave you the straight tip. He said $6 a dozen, therefore sell at wholesale at $3 and $4 a dozen. For scouring out the drinking fountains and bathpans, I use baking soda and scalding hot water. This cleans and purifies the vessels and leaves them fresh and sweet.—James Y. Egbert, West Virginia. My birds are coming on so fast that I have to build larger quarters for them. The demand for squabs here continues very good, prices, too.—Walter I. Hayes, Colorado. APPENDIX G $50.00 PAID FOR A MILE- A-MINUTE FLYER, by Alfred Lloyd. I have bought for $50 the Atlantic combine winner (see photograph) which won the three-hundred-mile race in the Malden district. This Ho- meristhe best heninthe United States flown in 1909. She was competing against thirty dis- tricts, two hundred lofts, 1274 birds in the contest. The race was from Midland, Ontario, to Everett, Massachusetts. This bird made a speed of 1753.22 yards, or very nearly a milea minute. One of my customers | flew a bird that he bred off of birds which he bought from me in the greater Boston concourse race. He won first diploma in Malden district and won third diploma and third cup with 1864 yardsaminute. This Homer is a straight bird im- ported by the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. The man who flew the birdis Joseph McKane, of Malden district. The race was flown October 17, 1909. I stopped at the Kirkwood Hotel, one of the leading hotels of Des Moines, and asked what they were paying for Homer squabs, and I found they were paying $4.25 a dozen for those weighing seven pounds or over to the dozen. I asked if they could use any, and they said they could not at present, as they are getting a regular supply from some one out of town; but they told me of two other hotels that can use quite a number at the same price, so I consider our home market pretty good.— Charles Starkey, Iowa. I could have sold the last order of pigeons a dozen times over, but none of my pigeons are for sale. I was quite proud of the comments and attention they received at the depot. You selected a fine bunch of birds, and I sincerely thank you. If I have occasion to order more soon, you will get my order.—Dr. I. B. Thomp- son, California. If you will look at your books, you will find I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers of you about two years ago. I have sold about $100 worth of squabs outside of what we have used ourselves. At the present time I have about nine dozen mated pairs.—John Freel, Illinois. I have the beginnings of a really good pigeon plant of the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. From the original eight birds which I bought in April, 1910, I have now, January 26, 1911, ceventy, fine birds—Ethel M. Watson, Cali- ornia. APPENDIX .G DO NOT HELP SQUABS OUT OF THE SHELL, by M. C. Martin. I have received inquiries about squabs dying in the shell. Some have said that they had helped dozens of young out of the shells and that many of them had died in the shells, and many that they helped out died later. I had the same experience several years ago. I used to become impatient after the eggs were ‘“pipped,’’ and have killed many a squab by helping it out of the shell before it was ready. Some young break the shell slightly two or three days before they gét out, others come out quicker, but for pity’s sake let the eggs alone and do not try to get the squabs out ahead of time. A little one that cannot get out of the shell itself is not worth helping out, for it is not healthy and will very likely die anyway, but the harm is this: You kill so many good young by pulling them out before they are ready. One writer stated that the young seemed stuck fast to the shell and she had to pull them out. The young were very likely all right had she just left the eggs alone and let the young run their own business, viz., getting out of the shell. ‘* Care killed a cat,’’ and it has killed many a pigeon as well. There are two kinds of squab breeders, those who are too stingy to feed a sufficient amount of the higher priced foods or luxuries, and the other class who treat their birds like pet canaries, and feed too much of the rich foods. Don’t help the young out of the shell. Let nature attend to this. Don’t give baths excepting on warm days in winter weather. Don’t be stingy, but ‘‘ treat ’’ your birds to the luxuries as several writers have indicated in the magazine columns in their bills of fare for feeding. Don’t “‘treat’’ the birds all the time to luxuries or they will become like candy-fed children, disordered and sickly. Don’t jump at conclusions about your birds and their habits. ‘‘ Make haste slowly,” and study the birds. My plant now consists of twelve units, and the structure is fourteen feet wide and 120 feet long. Three years ago I started with five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers, having no intention of increasing my flock this soon, and now I have 400 pairs of birds. I am now building another structure containing six units, sixty feet long and fourteen feet wide.—Frank Hucht, Kansas. My Homer squabs weigh aliveasI sell them, nine or ten pounds to the dozen. The Car- neaux or Carhomes weigh at four weeks old, while yet on the nest, one pound each, or about twelve pounds to the dozen, average. I got my first pigeons in 1906, Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. In 1908 I got Carneaux same place. —Graham Roys, Michigan. The sunny squab breeders are the successful ones. Follow the failures home and you find debt, gloom and snarling. 341 REASON WHY SQUABS DIE IN THE SHELL, by Elmer C. Rice. Squabs dying in the shell have puzzled many. In ail such cases, I formerly gave these causes: a damp loft and lack of vitality due toimproper feeding. The second is rather indefinite, being a result rather than a cause. I have no doubts now that the two causes, and the only two causes are: dampness and lack of ventilation. I have been keeping track of letters of this kind and have watched to see the results of advice. The average case of squabs dying in the shell is mild, affecting only a few. Be- ginning over a year ago, however, Alfred Karker, a Wisconsin correspondent, had an adventure which he tells as follows: ‘‘ Last year I wrote you asking what caused the squabs to die in the shell, and you told me it was either a damp loft, lack of vitality, improper feeding. Last spring I lost at least sixty to seventy squabs this way, and this spring I am having the same trouble. I have been feeding only the best grains and as you direct in your Manual. My loft is in the hay-loft of m barn directly overhead the horses, and I thin the steam from the horses goes through the ceiling and condenses in the hay-loft and causes this dampness. In cold weather the rafters in the hay-loft are all covered with white frost which shows that the moisture must come from the horses below. What would you advise me to do, and how can [I arrange it to overcome this trouble without changing the location of the loft? I ama subscriber to the magazine and think it the best published. Thank you for any information you can give me. I replied as follows, February 25, 1910: “That trouble is surely caused by dampness if you can see the white frost on the timbers. You can dry off this dampness by letting more fresh air into the lofts. You should arrange a ventilator so as to get plenty of fresh air. Do not be afraid of the cold. The fresh air will dry off your loft.” April 21, 1910, Mr. Karker again wrote: ** Received your letter of February 25, and wish to thank you for the advice you gave in regard to dampness in my loft. Since I tried your plan I have had no more trouble.” In other words, to use language easily remem- bered, squabs in the shell may be drowned by too much water, or suffocated by bad air. I find that pigeon breeders able to tell damp- ness when they see it are as scarce as those able to judge grain. In case of doubt, no matter where you live, summer or winter, take out your windows entirely and stretch cotton cloth. There are absolutely no sick pigeons or squabs housed in dry, open-front houses and fed on a variety of sweet, sound, old grain and grit. Ability, or lack of it, to control health, as well as profits, is in the caretaker. The birds you sent me in October, 1908, are doing fine work, also those shipped to me last August. I have one red checked cock raised from your No. 1 Homers that weighed nineteen ounces at four weeks,—Jerry F. Kaftan, Ohio. APPENDIX G t “SUANOH MOOU ud sadvaos d WLIHM WOUd Ca aTOSuwaa M-HNO APPENDIX G I SELL SQUABS AT MY DOOR FOR $5 A DOZEN, by Harriet L. Ayres. I have bought the share in chickens and pigeons from the young woman who started with me, so I own the stock now complete. I began three years ago last September with six pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. They started to lay within two weeks after they arrived. I purchased six pairs more Extras of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company one year Bee dest July. I have raised about five hun- ed. I have had a great many compliments on my pigeons for their size and beauty as well as for their hatching. I have been with them and watched them so often that I know their little ways very well. I find it very interesting. Ihave kept track of some and know they have hatched nine pairs to the year. They average about one pound apiece, over ten pounds to the dozen. I get $4.50 and $5 a dozen right at my door in private trade. I sell them for luncheons and for the sick and have sold some at our hotel here (New Jersey). I feed a mixture and find my birds do better on that. I give them their dainties of hemp and Canada peas separately. They have plenty of fresh well water. They have a lump of rock salt, and oyster shell, pigeon grit and charcoal before them all the time. The sickness I have had would not be worth mention and have not been troubled with lice, as I believe keeping them in a clean place is the root of health. I keep a cash record of everything and will say they more than pay for themselves. The pigeons alone paid for my partner's half of poultry and pigeons when I bought her out last May and a great many other things I have not the room to mention. JI am pleased with the business and am convinced there is money in it and expect as soon as I can get the plans and material to put up two unit houses and progress in that business. I keep on raising chickens for the eggs as the two are well combined. I consider Rice’s Manual a good one. If followed, one cannot help succeed. I have found experience a very good teacher but one must love the work and be interested in the birds to make a good success. On three previous occasions we have bought your pigeons and found them satisfactory, especially the white ones. We find that your birds go to work rapidly, and we have a good demand here at a good price.—Olympian Homer Squab Company, Kentucky. My stock were Homers received from your company. They have been doing excellent work for me. I began the business in a very small way about two years ago with three pairs; now I have about 250 breeders on hand. —C. H. Burton, Maryland. Squab. breeders, don’t forget that no one is interested in your getting good prices for good squabs but yourself, 343 HOW TO CURE PECKING, by Eleanor G. Ames. There is one thing I have to offer which may be of help to the breeders who have trouble with squabs being pecked. It is a remedy I have used with great success. Dust a pinch of powdered aristol on the spot. It will cure the sore, and as the pigeons do not seem to like either the taste or smell of the aristol, the squabs are let alone. The powder is quite expensive, but a little will last a long time. I have had great success with my Plymouth Rock Carneaux as breeders of squabs averaging seventeen ounces each. I cannot supply the demand for squabs among my own friends and acquaintances. I have one Plymouth Rock squab just three weeks old that weighs one pound, two ounces. I think there is some class to the Plymouth Rocks. The squab is a Homer and the largest I have raised. I have about three hundred now. We get $4.50 per dozen and all we have sold have weighed from ten to twelve pounds to the dozen, which I think is very good. I bought three pairs of Carneaux from another party over a year ago. One pair has done very well, one other pair laid a few times, but never hatched a squab, and the third pair never laid for the whole year, and they were turning gray and I thought I had fed them long enough, so killed them. If I ever get any more it will be from the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Co.—A. H. Eldredge, New York. In looking back over my file of your Squab Magazine, I find that I have received twelve copies of the paper since I sent you my last subscription of a dollar, and as I would not miss a copy of the pigeon man’s best standby, the Squab Magazine, I am sending you an express money order for one dollar, for which please send the magazine for another year. I have about fifty pairs of Homers, as fine, tracy, broad chested and fast breeders as any one would wish to own. They are from Plymouth Rock stock mostly and that accounts for it. Though only in the business one year this month, I find that poor stock at any price is dear and as for my part I wouldn't take any as a gift and mix them with mine.— R. R. Muirhead, Washington. There is a great demand for squabs in Colorado Springs. The butcher charges eighty cents a pair for them. Our butcher, while selling us a pair last week, said that he thought they made the most popular dish. I men- tioned the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. and he said, “‘ Their squabs are quite famous.”— Howard B. Carroll, Colorado. I hope to be able to build another pigeon house this spring, in which case I would place an order for birds with you of about the same number as last year, because I was and I am well satisfied with them.—Stefan Schwarz, California, RED AND PURE WHITE CARNEAUX. This photograph is the first ever printed of pure white Carneaux, obtained by breeding out the red of the splashed birds, exactly the opposite procedure of those who have bred out the white to get all- Fully ninety per cent of Carneaux have both red aad white in their plumage and these two colors are characteristic of red Carneaux. the breed. When you find eggs on the floor, do not throw them away unless they are broken or cracked. Some of my best pigeons have come from eggs that I have found on the floor. Put an egg in a nest that has only one egg in it. If you find three eggs in a nest, take one egg out and put it in a nest where there is only one.—Pruyne Van Alstyne, New York. The Homers that I bought of you two years ago are doing fine. The squabs at four weeks old weigh from fourteen to sixteen ounces apiece, and they have been breeding eleven pairs a year. I think that I will want one or two pairs of Carneaux in the spring.—Harvey C. Jasperson, Wisconsin. The Homer females I ordered from you arrived today. I must say they are the finest birds I ever saw. Your Extra Homers must certainly be large birds, as these are the largest I ever saw. When I order again I will know just where to get them.—Karl Fach, Jr., Mis- sissippi. Pigeons which are observed and studied are more entertainment and less work, APPENDIX {G HOMERS ARE THE REAL MONEY MAKERS, by J. W. Arthurs. My experience in the squab business dates from the spring of 1908. I use tobacco stems for nest material, I have absolutely no lice trouble. All my houses are from eighteen to twenty-four inches off the ground. No rat trouble. I weighed all feed consumed by one hundred pairs for one year. It totaled 7500 pounds, and at a cost of two cents per pound it makes the feed cost of $1.50 per pair. In the same time the pigeons produced 1300 squabs at a cost per squab of eleven and one-half cents not including cost of labor. This year feed is fully fifteen per cent cheaper than last. During the four summer months last year I sold from 400 pairs, 1800 squabs. I sell all squabs to a dealer in Philadelphia. I have tried several breeds of pigeons and as yet have found none that I can do as well with as the Homer. It is a wonderful bird, and I believe it will have to be the basis of most large squab plants for some time. My ideal squab pigeonis one that has the many good qualities of the Homer and that will produce a one- pound squab. I weighed this week two squabs out of the same nest, eighteen and twenty- three ounces, and as far as I know they are straight Homers. Personally, I am delighted with the raising of squabs as a business. I enjoy the work and am satisfied with the result. I have had ex- perience with chickens and can obtain the same results with one-half the labor with pigeons as I could with chickens. The birds I received from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. October 31 pleased me very much, Every pair is sitting on eggs, except one pair of Maltese with squabs five days old. Enclosed you will find Money Order for $10 for which send me six pairs more of your mammoth crosses. This is my third order. I would have sent you a larger one but my loft would be overcrowded, as I now have a large flock of Homers which I raised from the six pairs of No.1 stock purchased of you January, 1909.—Mrs. Ada T. Hayden, Massachusetts, A little thing is a little thing, but faithful- ness in the little things of squab breeding is a very great thing. More squabs, better squabs, higher prices for squabs. More business squab talk and less politics and personalities. APPENDIX G SQUABS PROFITABLE TO ME FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, by William P. Gray. We often read in the poultry papers of hens that do phenomenal laying during a short period of time. Usually this will be for the spring months, with no account given for the fall laying. Such reports are of little value, and are misleading to the novice. Yearly records are what count. It is the same with pigeons: the birds that breed through the fall and winter are the ones that raise ten pairs of squabs a year —-they are the mortgage lifters. For the past fifteen years, pigeons have continued to be a goodinvestment with me. The average cost of feed per year for a pair has been $1.20, and I have never sold a dozen Squabs for less than $3 a dozen. My birds in large flocks always average better than twelve squabs per pair per year. T have been engaged in the poultry business in all its branches, both for myself and manag- ing large plants for others profitably. I believe my observations are of some value. The advantages of squab raising over broiler raising are briefly as follows: 1. One thousand squabs can be raised successfully on a plot that one hundred chicks would be crowded on. 2. No such expensive equipment is required to raise squabs, as With broilers on a large scale. 3. No incubators to watch or cranky setting hens to fuss with. 4, Small chicks require five feeds a day and constant attention, while in squab raising with a hopper filled with food once a day, the old birds attend ta the wants of the squabs entirely. 5. Squabs do not get into cold corners and get chilled, nor wander of. in the bushes and get lost. 6. Squabs do not require a range where they are liable to become the prey of rats, cats, hawks and crows. 7. The death rate is almost nothing in squab raising, while it js something appalling in young chickens. 8. Squabs mature in one-third the time that broilers do. 9. Squabs are raised the year round at a good profit, while broilers are rarely raised success- fully more than six months in the year. 10. Three squabs can be picked in the time it takes to pick one broiler, and the three squabs will sell for twice as much as one broiler. 11. No need of getting soaked to the skin driving stock to shelter every time a shower comes up, as squabs are always safe in their nest. 12. No night work in all kinds of weather as in the broiler business, stoking coal or standing on your head to look at a brooder amp. 13. The broiler raiser must be continually on the job. He has no Sundays and no holidays, while the squab raiser can often with a few hours’ work in the morning filling hoppers and fountains have the balance of day himself. 345 I can state without any qualifications that my experience has proved squab.raising to be the best paying branch of the poultry industry. Every ten cents’ worth of feed used will maintain a pair of breeders and Taise a squab selling from thirty cents to fifty cents. I trust these facts may put some one on the right track. I am at present caring for 1800 head, mostly small chicks, also hens, pigeons, squabs, ducks, and geese. SQUAB ORDERS TOO LARGE FOR ME TO FILL, by C. S. Eby. I am going to make a specialty of Carneaux, as I am having good success with them. I started in a four by eight chicken coop with some Homers. I then built a unit squabhouse, and have it full of Homers, and have no more room for any more units. I am now looking for a larger place so as to go into the business on a larger scale, having the desire to raise them by the thou- sand. I still get from sixty to seventy cents a pair for squabs wholesale, and they retail here (Michigan) at ninety cents and one dollar. I have been doing all wholesale business and I am now going in for the retail trade. I can sell all the squabs at sixty cents a pair and better. The only trouble I_ have is that the orders are larger than I can fill and that makes it hard on me. A few weeks ago I went to a market downtown and inquired about squabs, and the marketman told me he sold them whenever he could get them. So I left my telephone number with him. A week or so later he telephoned me an order for two dozen. I had been selling right along and did not have enough squabs to fill it, so he told me his opinion of me. I resolved not to advertise unless I am sure of the goods. I am going to move into a place where I can raise a thousand pairs of pigeons. I have been in the business two years and feel confident that I can make a success. My birds have been greatly admired and praised for their size and quality. I beg to advise you that the shipment of 115 Extra Plymouth Rock Homers reached here in good shape Saturday night and on Sunday morning I liberated them in their new home. I wish to thank you for your liberality in sending me the two extra pairs, and for sending me such a fine, healthy lot of birds, not one of them being in any but the best of condition. I have some very fine stock, originally bought from you, and this last lot of birds, taking them all the way through, equals the balance of my stock, which has been bred from year to year to pro- duce only stocky, full breasted birds. Your guarantee accompanying the shipment is very broad and fair, and had I known its terms, my letter of October 21, 1911, to you would have been superfluous, for the guarantee itself covers everything. I then asked of you concerning matings. I am very much pleased with all of the birds, and especially with the pair of Carneaux, which are un- doubtedly the real thing.—B. N. Spangenberg, New Jersey. 346 HOW I DRESS MY SQUABS. “The method here described applies to those which I deliver to I draw them and cut off the head and feet. believe in selling squabs alive to a retail trade.’— R. C. Boyd. families. WHY SQUABS SHOULD NOT BE SOLD ALIVE, by R. C. Boyd. The squab from which the above picture was made weighed seven-eighths of a pound: a_ white-skinned Homer. The picture shows the way I dress my squabs for my private customers, with one exception: I draw them and take crop out perfectly clean. I also give with each order a couple of printed recipes. I do not sell live squabs to customers except on_ special request. I give them no reduction. I charge the same for a live squab as I do for a dressed one. Consequently my customers do not order live ones. One should not sell live squabs to private trade because (1) some will order to get them a little cheaper than dressed ones. (2) It is a knock against the squab business. (3) No cook or other servant in private families likes to dress poultry. If they have to do it, you bet they could burn them a little or have them cooked in some way that would make the mistress not want any more squabs in her house. When I solicit customers, the first thing they ask me is: “You dress them, do you? How much are they in the rough?’’ Answer: Seventy cents small, eighty-five cents large. ‘“‘ How much dressed?’ Answer: Seventy cents small, and eighty-five cents large. I hope all other squab men who are catering to private trade will not sell any squabs in the rough. The seventy-five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers which I purchased of you are doing good work. They are the most carefully selected birds as to size and color that I ever purchased. The Carneaux are large birds, and breeding rapidly—D. D. Powell, Cali- fornia. It pays to be a live squab breeder. Remem- ber that the inscriptions on the tombstones of the dead ones do not tell what their faults were. APPENDIX G $30 FOR GRAIN, $100 TO $120 FOR SQUABS, by J. B. Beckman. I must say am doing fine with my Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers and they are doing fine with me, so we get along very well. I do for them and they doforme. You ought to see the swell addition I am putting on my plant for three hundred pairs more. I have not shipped very many squabs for I have been saving them for breeding birds. I have now seven hundred pairs * not counting squabs. I never lost a breeding bird in the last moult, and the house is just a mass of squabs, nests and eggs. I was the first one in this Missouri town to start a squab plant and they all laughed at me and assured me Imust have money to burn, and went so far as to tell me I had no sense to put up such a fine building for the old pigeons. If I had listened to them I would not have a fine plant worth about $2200, with birds, and just as it stands I would not take for my place now $6000. But I havethem all thinking when they come out and see for themselves what is going on at my house. Last Sunday there were fifty-one persons out to see the fine birds and I feel very proud of it, too. There is a man close to me who is running a dairy farm. He has ten milk cows and he said when I showed him my account in the German-American Bank, just on my squab plant from last March to first of September, 1909, that I had his father beat on his dairy business. He didn’t say how much. From March 18, 1909, to September 11, 1909, I sold $392.63 worth of squabs from 229 pairs of breeders, expenses $150.35, total of $242.28 net -profit. If I had 1000 pairs I would have made a nice piece of money and you see I will make more when I get better posted on these lines, raising my squabs and marketing also. There is always something to learn about this. ; I am shipping seven dozen fine squabs per week, which bring me from $25 to $30 a week, and it costs me $1 a day for feeding, or $30 a month. I tell you it’s fine doings. I have been in this business now almost two years, have made quite a success, and I am well pleased when one comes to see my plant, for it is a dandy. I do not My Plymouth Rock Homer squabs are dandies. Weighed several pairs of squabs already, and one pair twenty-six days old weighed two pounds four ounces. None less than three quarters of a pound each have I found yet. My birds are all working now and I expect great doings from them, for they are certainly hustlers—Norman E. Crozier, New York. APPENDIX G See : See TS REDE FS PSR ASS ED SEE THE BIG SIZE OF THESE EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN TEXAS. TEXAS JUDGE ON SQUABS vs. CHICKENS, by Ocie Speer. I am one of the justices of the Court of Civil Appeals for this State (Texas) and my interest in pigeons and poultry is purely for diversion, and I must say T have found it most interesting. As between pigeons and chickens, I am decidedly for the former. This conclusion has been reached after a very thorough comparative test, for one season, at least. During the past spring I have expended nearly two hundred dollars in incubators, coops, chickens, eggs, oil, and feed. Have set nearly two thousand eggs, hatched nearly one thousand chicks, eaten only about twenty, and now have, of all ages, only about one hundred. They began dying immediately after they were hatched — indeed, hundreds of them made greater haste, and died in the shell— and those that didn't die of bowel trouble waited to die of sore head and roup. I have fertilized my kitchen garden with their decaying carcasses. I have tried all the remedies, from copperas to car- bolic acid, and fed everything from bran to alfalfa. I have all the chickens I want — in a Pickwickian sense. I have eaten more broilers and had more pies from my few pigeons than from all my chickens. I have never lost a pigeon, but afew squabs have died of canker. I fed many bushels of grain and chops in an automatic feeder and finally canker appeared in my loft. I immediately ceased using the box and threw the grain on the gravel bed of the flyer, and the trouble disappeared entirely. If I use the feeder again I shall remove the board bottom and replace it with screen wire, which will act as a sieve for the dust to which T attribute the canker. The plain way to get good prices for squabs is to refuse to sell at poor prices. f %. pa 1 RR, ONE YEAR’S GROWTH. I would like to write to let you know how I have succeeded with my Carneaux and Homers which I pur- chased from Mr. Rice of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company about one year ago last March. Starting with twenty-six pairs of Carneaux, nine pairs of colored Extra Homers and four pairs of Whites, I now have over three hundred Carneaux, one hundred Extras and fifty Whites. In fact, so many that I have no more room, and will have to sell some.—William McK. Ewart, Pennsylvania. I have been very successful in the squab business. Have one hundred pairs of the finest Homers that you ever saw, all raised fron thirteen pairs of Plymouth Rock Extras. All my squabs are sold to private trade for five cents an ounce. My lowest weight has been ten and one-half ounces, highest seventeen and one-quarter ounces each; average weight thirteen and three-quarter ounces each. Have sold several pairs of breeders for four dollars apair. Trusting that you are doing a success- ful business, I still remain a friend of the pode Rock Squab Co,—J. E. Ross, New ork. Replying to your favor of recent date, as to how my ten pairs of Plymouth Rock Car- neaux were doing, I beg to advise that I now have about three hundred very fine birds, sixty working pairs, and all in the very best of health, never yet had a sick bird. I expect to be in the market again soon, either for more - Carneaux, or some of your famous Plymouth Rock Homers, as I like your way of doing business very much. I thank you for your kindly inquiry, and wish you continued prosperity.—W. A. Sharp, Minnesota. 348 MY FEEDBOX IS SIMPLE BUT GOOD. This illustrates the idea. wide. board is removable. from this type of box. Fred Ambrose. It prevents soiling. ONE WOMAN’S SUCCESS, by Mrs. Ida Knosman, Indiana. My success is due to the Extra Homers and service given by the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company. In July, 1910, I bought twenty-four pairs of Plymouth Rock Extras. Now (October, 1911) I have sixty mated pairs and 150 youngsters. I intend to start buying adult birds January 1 and increase my flock to six hundred. I will buy of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, so I'll get Al birds. My experience has taught me that it is cheaper to buy adult pigeons than to wait and raise the young and feed six months. In June, 1910, I purchased thirteen pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, and now (November 2, 1911) have about eighty pairs of breeders and 140 youngsters. Have just started to sell my squabs and find a ready market. Can get $4.25 per dozen for eight to nine-pound squabs. I am on a rented place, but expect to move in the spring and build more lofts and increase my breeders. If you know of any one in this locality who has Plymouth Rock breeders and cannot dis- pose of their squabs at a fair price, would be pleased to have their address, as at present I can dispose of ten to fifteen dozen more squabs a week than I can supply. There are a great many breeders here who have what are called American Homers which breed a squab a little larger than the common pigeon. Enclosed find ten cents to join the National Sauap Breeders Association—H. W. Moore, hio. I received some of your goods last spring and I am very glad to say that they have given me very much satisfaction, especially the birds, which have raised squabs weighing Over a pound apiece.—J. W. Bolgiano, Mary- land. The board on the sides should be about three inches wide and the opening above it two and one-half inches The box may be any length to suit any size flock. The top I feed grit and shells’ also The birds cannot squeeze into this box.— APPENDIX G I FEED ONLY ONCE DAILY FROM THIS BOX, by Fred Ambrose. I consider the feed question of the most importance in raisirig squabs. I lost more birds my first summer through canker by feeding too much cracked corn than I would lose in ten years from other ail- ments. Last summer I used Venetian red in the drinking water as a preventive, and had only two cases of it. I cured both of these with two doses each of Venetian red put in their mouths dry. For going light I use the red and pull out all the tail feathers, and very seldom I lose a bird. I find that the birds must have grit before them all the time. I once neglected this for one week, and got a large num- ber of undersized squabs. I opened some of them and found that their gizzards were about half of their normal size, consequently they could not digest enough food to fatten up on. It costs me about ten cents a month per pair. to feed the birds, and I receive fifty cents fora pair of squabs, twelve ounces or over, each. They invariably weigh that at three weeks, some of them weighing a pound at that age. I have raised my stock from the Plymouth Rock Homers that I got from Mr. Rice. All my squabs are sold alive to marketmen in this vicinity. I haven’t tried to work up a retail trade, not having time to attend to it. I have read a great deal about mice scaring pigeons so that they don’t breed, but from my experience I must say that I can’t see it. I had lots of them in my loft and got just as many squabs as I ever got. I caught five in one trap one night so you can see they were pretty plentiful. One built a nest in a nest- box, right alongside of a pigeon nest with eggs in it, but the pigeons sat on their eggs just the same. Of course rats are another thing. I send a sketch of the box I use for feeding grain, grit and shells. It can be made any length to suit the number of birds and will keep the grainclean. It hasan advantage over some feeders because a larger number of pigeons can get around it at once. This enables the parents to feed their young at daylight instead of squealing for a couple of hours while the old birds are scrapping around a self-feeder to get a chance to fill up. I received the birds and Manual, and cer- tainly cannot recommend either too highly. I am an old breeder of pigeons and thought I knew about all that was to be known, but on perusing the Manual, I found out I could still be taught. It is the best book of its kind that I ever read, and would not part with it at any price if I could not get another.— Charles Jansen, Illinois. , F * a : r : APPENDIX G 349) FLORIDA’S BIG DEMAND, by W. M. Brown. We wish to get every person in Florida in- terested in squabs. We could at the present time sign one contract with one concern for four hundred dozen squabs at $1800 for a four months’ sup- ply at one hundred dozen a month ($4.50 a dozen) and could more than double it. We did not desire to cater so much to the tourist season, but “went after the leading restau- rants in our nearest city and got them,for the year. In one afternoon we had contracts to take every squab that the squabhouse we had built could supply,and at top-notch prices Not only these, but one hotel made a request that we submit to them a proposition so that they could be guaranteed fifty- five dozen squabs a week. These are not half the demands that have already been made upon us to supply squabs. ~ There is only one thing in this matter which is lacking, and that is competition. We want it and we would like it from the North. Thereis now the best opportunity for squab raisers to come here and do well. The bugbear which has held back so many squab raisers as well as poultrymen from com- ing to Florida is mites and lice. This fear is shown by people who are prone to lazi- ness for there are no more mites and lice here than inthe North. Another condition which is becoming more and more dominant every year in this State, which any squab raiser by a little push can use to his advantage, is this: The people of inland Florida are making the coast towns their sum- mer resorts. The influx of Northern tourists during the winter compels a great majority of the Floridans to stay home and attend to business and their recreation must wait over until summer, and as it is much cooler here than in the North, naturally they come to the coast. They are epicures to a large degree, and you will notice that they are always after a nice fish or an excellent turned chicken, but this summer they are to a good extent to be treated on this section of the coast to the -luscious squab. I am a subscriber of the Squab Magazine and think it a very up-to-date squab periodical. I have one thousand birds and anything new I like to try in the line of good cheap feed. I have been very successful in the business by following your Manual, which I would not be without.—Walter A. Hagedorn, Ohio. HOW THEY BUILD SQUABHOUSES IN FLORIDA. Only one thickness of boarding, (Mr. Brown is seen standing by fly-pen in lower picture.) In 1909 I sent to Boston for Plymouth Rock Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. I have sold squabs for breeders when about three months old for $1.00 per pair. I have always fed the best grain and given them plenty of fresh water and have had but one or two sick ones. The hotels will take all that I can raise at from $2.75 to $3.00 per dozen. In the fall I am going to build for one hundred and fifty pairs. I have raised my flock of sixteen birds in less than two years to over one hundred and fifty.—F. S. Sadler, Okla- homa. T have about three hundred Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, and they are fine ones. The weight of a fifteen-day squab which I examined yesterday was three-quarters of a pound.— L. O. George, Maryland. I purchased six pairs of Homers from you in 1903 and was pleased with them. I want some good Carneaux for foundation stock, good heavy birds for squabs. Am not par- ticular as to feathers.—E. W. Lewis, Colorado, MR. HOWE’S SQUABHOUSE AND HIS CARNEAUX. I am writing to ask you about picking and dressing squabs for market. I just picked and shipped six dozen to Heineman Brothers,, New York, and I find it simply impossible to get the feathers off the head and upper part of the neck without tearing them. Does the market object to the feathers being left on the head and upper part of the neck? Any information you can give me along the killing and picking line will be highly appreciated. The Select Homers I purchased from you about twelve months ago are doing splendid work. Out of the twenty-five pairs two pairs lost their mates, which left me twenty-three working pairs. From them I have sold a good many squabs, and some mated pairs that I mated from them, and have mated up alto- gether about one hundred and fifty pairs of fine Homers. Answer. You do not pick the feathers off the head and upper part of the neck. Leave them on. Do not cut off the head. Clean pick the body and wings. Be sure you ship the killed squabs as a “‘ gen- eral special’ with twenty-five per cent off for 1ce. APPENDIX G FAT SQUABS FOR ME ON THREE GRAINS, by H. A. Howe. Starting a year ago I stopped using hemp entirely, substituting a mixture of one part oil meal, one part table salt and three parts sharp sand. This I keep before them in hoppers all the time, and be- coming accustomed to it they eat it freely. The only grains I feed are peas, coarse cracked corn and red wheat. I givea mixture of these grains twice daily, at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., in an open feed trough with a re- volving stick running along the top (see page 108 of this book), I give them just what they will eat up clean between feed- ing times, feeding more corn in winter than in summer, increas- ing the amount of wheat in summer. This method may be in defiance of many of your feeding schedules, but I am turning out Plymouth Rock Carneaux squabs that average a pound apiece, and Plymouth Rock Homer squabs that go: better than ten pounds to the dozen. The markets here (Massa- chusetts) from October 1 until July 1 are very good, the prices running from $3.50 up to $5.50 a dozen for good squabs. The squab plant is locatedon a side hill that slopes to the south and consists of a build- ing of the shed-roof type that houses five hundred breeders, both Homers* and Carneaux. During the past winter I re- moved the top sashes from the windows in the pens, substituting cotton cloth, which has been very satisfactory, giving a drier house and healthier stock. I have for the past two years given all young stock raised for breeders their 'iberty during the entire summer, thereby reducing my feed bill and developing hardier breeders. A few more words and I shalt make these in the form of good advice: Start with good stock, enlarge slowly, give the business a chance under sound business principles and failure will be an unknown quantity. If nothing happens I am going to put up two extra buildings this fall and winter, and next spring I will want from you at least five hundred pairs of selected Homers. I am planning to come up that way about that time, and will call on you and make arrangements for them. Hoping to be able to do much business with you in the near future, and thanking you in advance for your information, I remain, H. A. Henkel, Virginia. APPENDIX G SQUABS, FRUIT, POULTRY, VEGETABLES RAISED HERE BY MR. VAIL. I SELL MY SQUABS BY TELEPHONE FOR $6.60, by Harry M. Vail. My wife and Icame to New Jersey last May from New York City with the intention of starting in the poultry business. While we were waiting for our incubators to hatch our first chicks, we became interested in the pigeons that were already on the place. Our admiration for them later changed to genuine love. There were nearly seven hundred pigeons in the lot. Since the accompanying photograph was taken we have increased them to 1280. The breeding house is 172 feet long, divided into fourteen pens with movable double nestboxes. The floor is of concrete and the inside walls are of asbestos plaster. The house throughout is equipped with a self-regulating hot-water sys- tem, the same as are my brooder houses. I am running a combination poultry, squab, fruit and vegetable farm. We do no advertis- ing, as our squabs and other products do it for us. Squabs at this writing (February 13) are bringing $6.60 a dozen retail and $5 whole- sale. Naturally I do no shipping. One of my hotel customers supplies me with two barrels of bread a week. It costs us noth- ing and as I serve him anyway it costs nothing for hauling. I feed the bread slightly mois- tened, with a small quantity of commercial beef scraps added. It makes a splendid filler for squabs. I never try at first to see a prospective cus- tomer personally, as you might as well try to see the King of England as the people of Montclair. I secure their telephone numbers and call them up. I invariably secure my first introduction that way, state who I am, and what I have to sell. I mention several cus- tomers that I am already serving, and in a town like Montclair they all know of one another. I make an appointment and am seldom disappointed by the customer. If you are fortunate enough to secure them as cus- tomers and if you have the goods, you seldom have trouble holding them. I guess I owe you a report about the Extra Homers that you sent me in July of last year. They have excelled my expectations. I have more than one thousand birds at present in spite of having sold some squabs since and having lost a good many during last winter while I was in the East, in consequence of carelessness by my former partner, and in spite of having moved them twice. They are admired much, especially my ‘old Guard,” - as I call my original stock bought of you.— Stefan Schwarz, California. A little over a year ago we purchased some Homers from you and for breeding they beat any that I ever saw. I do not think there are any that can beat your birds for breeding qualities—William E. Merritt, New York. There are very few of my squabs that come less than ten pounds to the dozen. I have a good Plymouth Rock stock of Homers to breed from bought from Mr. Rice.—F. G. Fillmore, Missouri. 352 PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER OF BELGIAN ORIGIN. Other breeds come ard_ go, but our large, first-class Homers have The original photo- graph from which the enlargement was made is seen in the lower no equal as money-makers in the squab business. left-hand corner. I have been steadily building up my flock of Plymouth Rock Homers, selling only enough squabs to pay for their feed, and have found my birds all you represented, often having squabs weighing eighteen ounces. Both of us have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of handling them. We sell their output to the steamers sailing from Galveston, having felt out the market and knowing it to be good.— W. S. Faires, Texas. APPENDIX. -G INDIANA WOMAN GETS $3.65-$4.60 A DOZEN, by Mrs. M. Bunyard. My Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers are doing splendidly. I do not see how they could do much better. They are fine healthy birds and splendid workers. I have sold since April 27, 1910, sixty-one dozen squabs, besides giving some away. I have got a good price for allI havesold thissummer. Ihave been getting from $3.65 to$4.60 a dozen for the last month. Our banker says there must be a lot of money in pigeons from the amount of checks we bring in. I hardly ever lose a squab. | [ haven’t given a dose of medi- cine this winter. I kill, pick -| and pack all my squabs my- self. I have five squabhouses, one built in the Icft of the barn and three in the barn with the flying pens outside built up to the barn. I have one squab- house in the coal shed. I find my birds like clover hay || (that has been threshed out for the seed) to build nests. They never know when to quit building with it. Some time ago I wrote to you in regard to purchasing twenty- five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. I was finally per- suaded by the proprietor of a local plant to invest the money in a larger breed, Runt-Duchess- Homers. He represented them to be faster breeders than the Homer and said that they bred larger squabs. The former is anything but true, and he barely gets byon the latter statement. { am sorry that I did not then know of the breeding qualities of the straight Carneaux. I have recently taken in a partner and we have decided to rid our- selves of this mixed breed if possible, and fill this unit with straight Carneaux from. your company,—T, R. Frank, Rhode Island. Our stock was originally purchased from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., both Carneaux and Homers and we can assure you our stock is good. We have several letters from Messrs. Silz of New York, to whom we ship most of our birds. We also supply the Hotel Royal Poinciana, Palm Beach, Florida, during their season, and we can assure you that nothing but the best holds their trade.—Seminole Squab Farm, Florida. APPENDIX 1G HOMERS MORE PROFIT THAN LARGER BIRDS, by Martin L. J. Steele. Two years ago I became interested in squabs but as I knew noth- ing of the care of pigeons I began raising them in mind only. I spent nearly a year studying the question from’ all sides, and last February put in my first lct of breeders, fifty pairs straight Homers. March first I bought fifty pairs more. This lot consists of Homers, Dragoons, Mondaines and two pairs Maltese. After a careful comparison of loft No. 1, Homers, and loft No. 2, crosses, I find the Homers are the more profit- able. One item in favor of the Homers is feed. For example, my fifty pairs Homers are doing well on five quarts of grain daily, while the fifty pairs of crosses take from eight to nine quarts. The price of squabs in the Washington, D. C., market did not appeal to me. Three dol- lars a dozen for nine to ten- pound squabs in December did not sound right. So I began advertising by using a card headed with a picture of a pair of squabs in the nest, and reading as follows, the date and prices being written in ink: We are pleased to quote you the following prices on SQUABS for the month of July, 1910: Fresh dressed; per pair.) -./..27...-.. $0.75 Peathers On; per pair... cece es oa 65 Live, per pair Ne ssyobegegctaeualants sues) aeteaecsbens -60 I mail these cards about the first of each month to a regular list, and to all who have not ordered by the middle of the month I send another card. I find it much better to vary the cut at the head of the card. he ton in 1904. The three pairs which I bought of you in March, 1909, have done splendidly. I now have forty- five pairs working and a few young- sters. Have sold a good many, and we have eaten a great many. I have worked up a fine trade and now sell to the swell clubs in Portland at thirty-five cents each. They will take all I have. Enclosed find an order for thirteen pairs more of your Extra Homers. If these only do as well as the ones I got before, we will be satisfied. We simply can- not get along without the magazine. It is fine.—Mrs. W. R. Lycan, Oregon. If grand opera were fifty cents a ticket the 400 would not attend. The higher squabs are priced, the more the rich want them, always provided the quality is there. PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN MONTANA. — My pigeons are straight Homers raised frm some I bought in Bos- I have twenty-one ounces at four weeks. a rooster six months old from this pair that weighs 24} ounces, crop empty.—James T, Fisher, Montana. a pair which raise squabs from eighteen to They are both 1909 birds. I have In January, 1910, I bought a few breeders of you, six pairs of Carneaux. I have a nice flock of one hundred mated pairs now (October, 1911), besides having sold all their produce since last May. I have been getting from $4.50 to $6.00 per dozen for them during the summer, the town I live near being quite a summer resort, and I had not breeding stock enough to supply the demand. Now the market is over for this season, and I must look further afield for an outlet. I notice in one of your books that you have requests from commission men asking you to send them the names of your customers so they can keep them posted on the price of = (HAE: Would esteem it a favor if you would advise some reliable commission houses to furnish me with quotations for the different grades of squabs. Iam nearer Rochester and Toronto than other large cities, but I suppose distance is not much of an obstacle if reach the best market. My squabs will average about nine pounds to the dozen.—R. L. Ralls, Ontario. I would like to buy ten Carneaux hens, as I have a surplus of cocks on hand and I would like to mate them up and have them working. The birds I have came from your place and I find they are very good. I do not want to buy the hens from any other, for I do not think there are any to be gotten as good as yours.—H. D. Marsden, Pennsylvania. i £ i ‘ 4 i i 4 | t a It is just a year ago since I purchased six pairs of the Plymouth Rock Extra Homers and I had very successful results. present (December 7) fifty. mated pairs and haye sold just 387 squabs, I find that my expenses were $74.50, which I find that the birds like the wood-fibre I also find that squabs Enclosed you will find picture of birds, seventeen of them, all reared from one pair of which brought me $218.50. leaves a profit of $144. nappies better than any other sort of a nest. are reared fifty per cent easier than chickens. blue checkers.—George Briggs, Jr., Connecticut. Last May I bought one hundred pairs of pigeons crossed between a Maltese and Runt, bought them at first sight on account of their size, but have found out since that they can- not deliver the goods like a Homer, and am very much dissatisfied with them. Thought you might be in a position to let me know where I might get rid of them, and if not, let me know the best advertising medium. They cost me five dollars a pair. As soon as I can unload them I will be in the market for two hundred pairs of your Plymouth Rock Homers.—F. J. Baker, Indiana. I am glad to say that the twelve pairs of Homers you shipped me in March are doing fine and have increaseed to about seventy-five pairs (August 20, 1911).—William M. Wilson, North Carolina. ALL RAISED FROM ONE PAIR. Ae NOES G: HOMERS ARE MOST RE- LIABLE FOR SQUABS, by Fred Fisher. I have close onto two hundred mated pairs of Homers. I am selling between $35 and $40 worth of squabs to San Francisco markets per month. Some people here are in favor of the Maltese and Runt pigeons crossed. To be sure they raise a large, fine squab, but in the moulting sea- son they act like a poor chicken, taking from two to three months to moult, and at the same time they eat their heads off. This year in moulting season I did not notice it at all with my Homers, and shipped just as many squabs then each week as I am shipping now. The Ho- mer is the squab breeder. I feed in open troughs twice daily, about 9 a.m.and 2 p.m.. giving each pen enough so they , will have feed before them all the time. I feed my birds dry blood once a week with good results. I give each pen the top of a fruit jar filled with the dried blood, and the birds are very fond of it. It*kéeps them in good health and sharpens ** their appetites. I feed red wheat, kaffir corn, red oats, cracked corn, whole barley and cracked horse beans. Enclosed find fifty dollars for which send me your Special Offer No. 5 at the earliest pos- sible date, as I have a good summer trade here that I can- not supply. I want to get the birds started as soon as pos- sible. You will no doubt par- don my delay in acknowledging the receipt of your Manual. am positive that any one follow- ing your instructions is sure of success. If I could not get another book like it, you could not buy it for twenty times what I paid for it. Every one I have talked with has praised your Homers. The marketman told me that if I had Homers I could get a better price for my squabs. I am now receiving the highest market price for mine, which is three dollars a dozen, alive.—F. L. Thomas, California. I have at We would like to exchange some Carneaux raised from the two pairs gotten from you last June, with a friend who has some thorough- breds but he will want a guarantee that ours are the same. Will you send us proof of some kind to show him? From the four birds gotten just one year ago, we now have thirty- four in all, twenty-two of which are mated pairs. Don’t you think that is doing well?— Mrs. J. H. Moynodier, Maryland. APPIN DEXOG 355 I SELL SQUABS AT RE- TAIL IN MY TOWN, by Charles H. Marston. In No- vember, 1907, I bought twenty- five pairs of Homer pigeons and like many others I thought that I had a bargain because I got them cheap, but there is where I learned something. They had not been well kept and did not do a thing all that winter but eat, and how they did that! It took some time to get them filled up, but about February 1, 1908, they began work and did finely all the year, so that at the end of that year I found they had paid their way and a little more. Having weeded out some of the drones, I began the year 1910 with sixty pairs of mated birds and at the present time of writing (February 26) I have fifty-three pairs either with young or setting on eggs, making me think that the out- look for 1910 is pretty good. From the very first I have been a believer that in every community there are some that will buy dressed squabs, and I have built up quite a trade in my town and the adjoining towns in this part of Massa- chusetts. [ am very enthusi- astic on squab raising, and am satisfied that there is money in it. The Homers I received from you are doing splendidly. I have no trouble in getting squabs a month old to weigh a pound. I have a pair sixteen days old weighing fifteen ounces. I had a man offer me about ninety Homers for $25, MR. but I would hardly take them as a gift. The best his squabs weigh when four weeks old is between nine and ten ounces. Thank you for the good birds you sent me:—H. J. Read, Ontario. Thought you might be interested to know how I made out with my Carneaux entries at the Suffolk County Fair for 1911: Solid red, first premium; red and white, first, second and third premiums; yellow and white, first, second and third premiums. All birds raised from Plymouth Rock stock. I won as many prizes as were allowed on my entries, so I have no kick coming.—_Cadet H. Hand, New York. The eleven pairs of Carneaux I received from you last October are doing well. I have one hundred and eighty or more birds now (September 15, 1911).—Dr. J. W. Cutler, California. MARSTON AND TRAINED HOMER. We stocked up with twenty-five pairs of your Extras in 1909. We stocked up with Carneaux in 1910. In Carneaux and Homers we showed thirteen birds, six pairs and one odd bird. We won thirteen ribbons, $12.50 in cash at the Virginia State Fair, 1910.—Frank W. Danner, Virginia. I have been in the squab business raising your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux, but sold out and now I want to startin again. I have handled a great many of your birds and I[ have found that they prove satisfactory in every respect.—Arthur New- comer, Pennsylvania. Single men who do not make squabs pay should get married and let their wives show them how. 306 YOU CAN SEE THE WATER IN THIS FOUNTAIN. KALE FOR MY BIRDS; FERN BRAKE FOR NESTS, by Mrs. W.R. Lycan. I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers one year ago and have raised over seventy, lost very few. One pair has raised nine pairs and is sitting again. This, notwithstanding the fact that we have moved during this time and had them in a coop for several days and have never had a flying pen, just have them in an open-front chicken house about ten by fourteen feet. How’s that? I have not arranged my plant as I want it yet. We bought us a small place (in Oregon) entirely unimproved, and it takes time and money to get things going right. I feed kaffir corn, cracked corn, wheat, peas, stale bread and occasionally sunflower seed. I also find they are very fond of nice tender kale. Now and then I give them rice. I give my birds what is called ‘‘brake’’ out here (it is a kind of fern and very soft) for nesting material. They seem to like it better than straw. I have just finished reading your $1.00 Manual and find it absolutely the best work on the care and rearing of squabs that was ever written. Mr. Rice deserves much credit for the writing of this book. I have a few pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and find them far superior in size, weight and vigor to any Homers I have ever seen.—R. L. Chipman, Washington. A good man has good pigeons, and con- versely, a tumble-down man with a rickety home has pigeons to match. APPENDIX AG HOME-MADE FOUNTAIN, by Heyward R. Barret. I am sending you a drawing and the description of a swinging drinking fountain for pigeons which I have found to be very satisfactory. It can be made of a ‘ Buffalo”’ lithia water bottle as well as a whiskey jug. As the top of the jug is larger than the pan the drop- pings can not fallinto the water from a bird perched on top. The one illustrated is made of a glass whiskey jug which can be obtained most anywhere and holds from a gallon up. Cut two pieces of wire the same length and twist tightly around the jug, leaving the ends ex- actly opposite one another for axles. The pan should be about one and one-half inches deep, and the jug should be suspended one inch above the bottomof thepan. By making it out of a glass jug you can easily see when it is empty. Simply turn the jug up and fillit andlet it drop in position, and it will supply water only'as it is diminished from the drink- ing pan. Cost about ten cents. Three friends of mine visited me Sunday, especially to see your Plymouth Rock Homers, and they were surprised to find such large, handsome and well marked Homers. My Philadelphia Homers are not in the same class with yours in any shape, manner or form and you can duplicate my order. I like to deal with honest, reliable people whom I am con- fidently sure are treating their customers tight. I am going to build another unit to my plant this week and so I will be ready to put nothing but Plymouth Rock Homers in same. It will cost me $10 for the unit. My Philadelphia birds are certainly picking up after feeding and watering according to your Manual, as I have not lost another squab in the shell. One pair brought out three squabs and are feeding them in fine shape. This same pair of birds lost five pairs of squabs in the shell until after I had worked according to your Manual. I thank you kindly for the fine birds sent me.—Frank J. Lyons, Ohio. I have bought health grit of other houses nearer home but find my pigeons do not take to it like yours. I bought from you twelve pairs of Homers and now have nearly one hundred and fifty—Willam M. Wilson, North Carolina. I have some of your Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and will say that there is no other stock known to me that can even compare with them.—John Overbrook, Illinois. APPENDIX -G SQUABS FOR ME IN- STEAD OF FANCY POUL- TRY, by W.H. Brown. I have had a stock of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers since January 1, and have been saving most of my squabsfor breeders. I have sold some squabs and received thirty-five cents each for them. People say my squabs are the nicest they have ever seen. I have had calls for ten times as many squabs as I have raised; some one is wanting from two to a dozen every day. There are squabs to be had here (North Carolina), but none like mine. They sell for twenty-five cents each and weigh about six to eight ounces, while my squabs weigh twelve to sixteen ounces, so you can plainly see why the people are after mine. I have also had many calls for breed- ers, and hope some day to be able to fill them. I have been raising fancy poultry for five years, and I find the pigeons have got tie chickens skinned a country block. They are a great deal less care and more profit. The pigeons for me every time. I have plenty of room and can raise most of my ‘ feed, and intend making squabs my business. I live two miles out of the city,and have been for the last four years with the largest retail grocery firm here, and in thisway have learned all the best people, and how to deal with them. I am going to build a new squabhouse soon. WHY I PREFER PINE NEEDLES FOR NESTS, by H. A. Rice. Nest material is indispensable to the squab breeders as well as to the chicken, turkey, duck and geese men. This we learn as one of our first lessons in the handling of all domestic fowls. When it has to be bought, we try to get the least expensive material, and usually that is the last real thought, so we hike after a bale of straw, cut it open and spread it out on the floor or in crates or nests, so the fowls can get at it. Now, everything goes well for a while, but by and by the day surely comes that we find the chicken and squabhouse is alive, yes, just crawling away, and so we have a job on hand. Here is the job: Take a pencil and paper and count the number of straws you put into the house for your birds (sure all fowls have lice more or less), count the number of lice eggs and lige in each (incubator) straw. Do not use straw. It is an incubator, and your birds the brooders. I have this winter experimented with pine needles, the fohage from pine and fir trees. The birds like it equal to the tobacco stems. I use alfalfa. The chaff or foliage is just the thing for your hensif cleaned and mixed with bran. -Your pigeons will eat it if mixed with salt after it cools. (Do not give the salted to the hens, as it is sure death.) On page 349, December number of the Squab ood CARNEAUX SQUABS SEVENTEEN OUNCES EACH. Magazine Brother Newcomer says he feeds cabbage and lettuce as green feed. The lettuce is all right, but no cabbage for me. I have known of the finest fowls and birds and canaries to be killed by feeding cabbage. It bloats them just as it does cattle. (I once lost in that way, a cow for which I had paid $60 in gold.) Often people ask me about feeding green food, and I always advise against the practice. If your birds have their liberty, then that is different: I notice that oats and barley are not recom- mended for pigeons with squabs because the sharp points are supposed to cut the thin crops of the young. Do you suppose there would be any harm in feeding vetches mixed with oats? The farmers around here raise vetches and oats together, the oats to hold the vetches up, and when they are threshed together the two grains are mixed. I can get this mixture about harvest time quite cheap, about $1 to $1.25 a hundred. So if I could feed it, I should like to do it. The mixture is about two or three times vetches to one of oats. I should naturally suppose that if I gave the birds plenty of wheat and other grain they would have sense (or instinct) enough not to feed their squabs anything that would hurt them. I have been in the pigeon business about three years. Have now about 140 pairs, mostly Homers, with a sprinkling of Runts and Carneaux, all doing nicely.— H. Denlinger, Oregon. Vetches are a first- class food for pigeons. Feed that mixture by all means, if you can get it at that price. The breeder who is selling squabs at low prices is either ignorant or is himself low- priced and can be bought cheap on any proposi- tion. = es NO ADVANTAGE IN BREEDING CROSSES, by J. Wallace Williams. I do not raise any crosses. I believe in improving the thoroughbred Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux. I’ve never seen the advantage in crosses, if there’s any. When you breed a first-class Carneau to a first-class Homer, where’s the advantage? You get a freak pigeon. Let us improve the thoroughbreds. Plymouth Rock Homers for squab breeders are hard to beat. I put thirty pairs in each pen. Every month in the year you will find from sixty to one hundred eggs and squabs in each pen. Before writing this article, I counted in one pen of thirty pairs, fifty-six squabs, twenty-eight eggs and six new nests. What’s the name of the freak pigeon that will come up to that record? Squabs well sold are easily raised. OSTRICHES AND WHITE HOMERS. APPEND E XN. ARIZONA SQUABS AND OSTRICHES, by Francis Shaw. We have twelve hundred Ho- mer pigeons here in Arizona. We have good birdsin Arizona and plenty of good fanciers, but not many good squab breeders. The Salt River Valley can’t be beat for poultry and pigeon climate. Squabsare a side line with us as we are in the ostrich business, and have over four hundred of them on this farm, and are now hatching more. HOMER SQUABS' SELL WELL IN MONTANA, by James T. Fisher. I have been taising pigeons on a city lot, and can’t enlarge very much. I have a good market here. (Montana.) I get from thirty- five to fifty cents each for all I can raise. I have only eighty- one pairs of breeders, from which I sold thirty-nine squabs in December and forty-two in January. Ialso have one hun- dred and twenty young, which are mating up now. The smallest squab I raised in the last three months weighed eleven ounces. There were only two under tweive ounces. They will average thirteen and fourteen ounces dressed. I have one (a Homer) that weighed twenty-two ounces alive at four weeks. This is the largest I have ever raised. I have raised several that weighed eighteen and nineteen ounces. I bought my stock of Homers in 1904 from the Plymouth Rock Squab Com- pany. feed mostly wheat, whole corn, millet and hemp- seed. I mix salt, grit, charcoal and a little alum together and keep before them all the time. I burn and grind bones for them in place of oyster shell. I clean my houses every week and spray with carbolic every other week. I have lost but one squab in three months with canker. The eight pigeons I bought of you nearly three years ago have increased greatly. have 214 mated pairs and I am making a nice profit on them.—Ward Edwards, Texas. Percy Perkins likes to write letters asking for information about his pigeons. It takes more time than studying the birds, but he gets a splendid collection of opinions. Pigeons for breeding or squabs for eating cannot be sold by advertising where nobody exists. Get into the marketplace, not the cemetery. APPENDIX G HOW TO BLEED SQUABS NEATLY, QUICKLY, by W. E. Blakslee. When killing squabs, this device will be found useful. It is a rack of funnels made of tin, open at top and bottom. Hold the squab in the.eft hand, stickit with the killing knife and put it inone of the funnels, head hanging down through the - - lower hole. The object is to drain out the blood. This does away with the necessity of hang- ing the feet from a string, and prevents spattering of blood. The live squab may be put in “the funnel head down and out and then stuck, if preferred. This is the method used in Europe by the quail market- men. These quail are caught in Egypt in nets and trans- ported alive to London, where they are fattened for a few days and then killed. All of the marketmen have the same methed of using this rack of funnels, their racks being from eight to ten feet long. London consumes these quail by the hundreds of thousands. The trafic is an old one and this funnel method of bleeding is thoroughly practical, needed by fast workmen. HOW CLEVELAND SQUAB PRICES WENT UP, by Mrs. Carl Moeller. From December 31, 1909, to December 31, 1910, our thirty pairs of breeders aver- aged eight pairs of squabs. No pair went below fourteen squabs and one or two pairs had the first pair of eggs December 31, 1909, and the tenth pair of eggs December 31, 1910. As these were Homers, it seems very good to us. This average is of squabs sold or raised to maturity. Others do not count. One year ago this month, nine- pound squabs, alive or dressed, were bring- ing at the most two dollars a dozen. Whole- salers in Cleveland were actually insulted if you asked them to buy by weight. They sim- ply refused to talk business if you mentioned price and weight together. Five-and-six-pound- per-dozen squabs brought just as good a price as the larger ones. In March, 1910, prices be- gan togo up. We found a dealer who knew a good squab from a cull and would pay by weight. We sell all our squabs to this one dealer and receive a steady price the year around. At wholesale nine and ten-pound squabs are now bringing $3.00 and $3.50 a dozen dressed. They may go to $4.50. Cleve- land isfast creating an appetite for squabs and all we need to make things boom is a union of all squab breeders in and around Cleveland, A => —e ee eee & = - ba em me 712.2 wee weenie —— SS - How to cut the tin, make seam and bend. each funnel to board. 359 = == SS ——LSSSSSSSSS a = SOA 10 22, FUNNELS TO BLEED SQUABS. One wire nail fastens and then some good live advertising that greater Cleveland may know what squavs are, where to get them and how to eat them. About two years ago I purchased three pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and two pairs alone have increased to about fifty- five by now (the other pair having own away when I released them about three months after I received them). I am very enthusiastic about the raising of squabs and in order to have even pairs and also to introduce new blood, I wish to purchase about ten females. My males have increased more than the females so that I need about this many to even up. I desire the Extras. At present I am enlarging my unit house and in the near future expect to increase my flock to at least five hundred pairs.—W. M. James, Ohio. 360 APPENDIX G HOW I LEARNED TRUE CALIFORNIA PRICES, by Stefan Schwarz. In the leading San Francisco daily papers, squabs are quoted at $2 and $3 a dozen at present (May 29, 1911). Everybody knows that squabs are numerous at this time of year, and that com- petition is active. Circumstances did not encourage me. Anyway I did not expect a very ready demand, or good prices either. Iam breeding a flock of several hundred pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. I asked my grain man for the address of a commission house, and he sent me to a big one of first-class reputation. Who can describe my great surprise as one of the members of the firm told me: ‘‘I will take all the squabs that you will ship to me and I am ready to make a contract with you for one thousand dozen squabs a year, for which I will pay you $3.80 for Homer squabs weighing ten to twelve pounds, and $4.50 for Carneaux squabs weigh- ing fourteen to sixteen pounds.’’ It is a puzzle to me how my fellow squab raisers in California can afford to go so much below these quotations just mentioned, unless they ship squabs which weigh considerably less, or are fooled by the newspaper quotations, as I nearly was. Squab buyers must buy squabs. Squab breeders alone can furnish squabs. It is the business of the seller and not the buyer to make the price. MALE AND FEMALE PIGEON BILLING, OR KISSING, HOW I LEARNED TO GET GOOD PRICES, by A. J. McCauley. I sold all of the Plymouth Rock Extra Homer squabs I raisedin eleven months to a marketman in St. Louis, Mo., for prices ranging from $3.25 to $4.80 a dozen. I started in to ship to the market people in December, 1909, and until January 21,1910, received $3.60 a dozen; from then until February 25 I succeedea in get- ting $4.20 a dozen. I again wrote them to advance the price as I had been offered more elsewhere. The price was then advanced to $4.80 a dozen. This price lasted until April 10, when they tumbled to $4.50 a dozen, then in the same month they cut them to $4. In May they cut them to $3.60. In June they cut them to $3.50. From July until November, when I quit shipping to them, I was getting only $3.25. At this time I wrote them to know if it wasn’t about time for squabs to start to advance in price. The answer I got was quite an eye opener for me, fcr they said that they had been putting squabs in cold storage all summer and that they had quite a lot of birdson hand that they had bought reasonable and consequently could not pay any more for them just at that time. I at once got busy with other buyers in Chicago where I received $4 for eight-potind squabs and $4.25 for nine-pound birds. At present I am shipping my birds alive for $4 a dozen to a place near Chicago. I am putting forth every effort to be able to gather a lot of squabs through the months of February and March, when I hope to get $4.80 or $5 a dozen; then I expect to be able to ship squabs by the barrel next summer and will either ship East or store them until the prices advance. Some people are dead set against whole corn because it is so big, and claim it chokes the squabs, but I notice when I feed cracked corn and whole corn together, they always pick out the whole corn. The females seem to like it when they are on eggs especially. One reason I feed whole corn is because the cracked corn gets sour in the least dampness, and soon I see sick birds. A breeder about two miles from my place buys squabs and he told me the other day that he got $4.50 per dozen himself. I went down a few weeks after and he offered to buy fairly good squabs at thirty cents each, or $3.60 per dozen, netting him a profit of ninety cents on every dozen. I take the maga- zine and it certainly is a beauty.—P. E. Foster, Massachusetts. All squabs are good, but some are better, APPENDIX G HUNGRY CALL FOR SQUABS IN MONTANA, by W. M. Safley. We started in the squab business in May, 1908, with two hundred of Ply- mouth Rock Extra Homers. We have sold squabs most of the time since, but have saved four hundred, of which about two hundred and fifty are at work.. We have sold about forty-five dozen squabs since June 1, 1909. There is no trouble about the market here in Montana. We have quarters for one thousand birds and ex- pect soon to fill the houses. I am inthe business to stay. We are at present getting $3.50 per dozen for squabs_ unsorted, plucked, F. O. B. We ship to Helena, only thirty-three miles, so have never used ice to pack in. Weuse peach crates mostly, packing two dozen in a crate, but will use the corrugated boxes as soon as we can. The young shoots of grease wood are our nest material. HOW THE MARKET RUNS AFTER SQUABS, by John E. Gilbert. About six years ago I began to look into the squab busi- ness from a straight business viewpoint. All I knew about the business was what I read and after reading I got to thinking. I first wondered whether I could sell all the squabs I raised. I often had read about the large hotels using thousands of squabs a week, so I ventured to go to several hotels in Philadel- phia, the Bellevue-Stratford, Bingham and Walton, and each chef in charge told me he could use all the squabs I could bring him, but they had to be prime, large ones. There was an old breeder who served the Bingham Hotel regularly every week, but with hotels you must have quantity as well as quality. As an ordinary person cannot comprehend the demand for squabs I will say that when hotels and other large institutions cannot be supplied by the breeder himself, they turn to the commission men, who “.cve hundreds of shipments daily from all parts ot the country within a radius of five hundred miles. Com- mission men take ny quantity, small or large, and can be better relied upon by the hotels _ because of the large army of squab breeding shippers pouring squabs into one firm. If a breeder cared, he could increase his flock large enough to supply the trade direct, and make a good deal more on his squabs. Every person without doubt has wondered whether he really could sell the squabs he could raise, and whether there really is a big demand for squabs. It is positively a truthful fact that- the demand for squabs is equal in some sections to the demand for eggs, although this may not seem so to many, when you think how many people eat eggs. You never have Four pens after a snow on April 13, 1909. melted before noon. EFFECT OF MONTANA APRIL SNOW. The snow was all Photograph from W. M. Safley. heard of squabs being seized from dealers by the United States food experts and destroyed as you have very often heard about eggs. The factis, there is at times an over-production of eggs. The demand for squabs everywhere cannot at present be supplied, and will not be supplied for some years to come. In many localities it is not necessary to ship squabs now, as commission men have buyers in all parts of the country to take the squabs right at your place, and pay you cash. There is more competition in buying squabs than one would imagine, as each dealer has his trade to supply and must have the squabs. When commission men will send out their men to visit the squab plants to get the goods direct, and have your assurance that you will let them have your squabs, this should be confidence enough to cause any one to enter the squab business. HOW TO KNIFE A SQUAB WITHOUT PAIN, by F. J. Bunce. In killing squabs, by inserting the knife well back in the throat, the picker will come in contact with a little, hard lump, which is the brain cell. The knife should be drawn sharply through the brain and up toward the point of the bill. It is always possible to tell if the sticking has been done properly. If it has, a con- vulsive shudder will pass over the bird, the wings draw back and the eyes become set, but if the bird continues to kick and gasp for breath, the sticking has not been done cor- rectly. If the sticking is right, the bird should be perfectly dead in two minutes. If the bird does not die as fast as the picker thinks it should, another quick incision should be made. This as a cuic will be sufficient. Ain f ; ] ] WMO, NON iz. MR. TROXEL’S SQUAB KILLING CHUTE. I CAN SELL i100 DOZEN DAILY IN OREGON, by Louis A. Hart. The squab market here is quoted in the papers at $2.50 per dozen, but I just ignore that price and go to Mr. Hotel Man and engage my pound birds at $5.50 and the nine pound to the dozen birds at $4.50. I find the market firm and demand, well, say, I guess I could sell one hundred dozen every day if I only had them Only you who are near New York city can appreciate the position that I am in, for it surely looks good to me. The staple grain is wheat, al- though some corn and barley are raised. I am located close to a broom factory, so for nesting material I use the refuse broom straws, with all the dead twigs I can find. HOW I TEST EGGS THROUGH A STRAW HAT, by H. A. Davis. For an egg tester, I use a straw hat draped with black cloth that draws together with a string at the bottom around my shoulders. This is practically a small dark room for one’s head, except for a small hole opposite the eye through which the egg to be tested is seen when held to the light. The egg is held close to the hole to shut out all light, and it is surprising how easy it is to tell whether the egg is fertile or not. When we pass through the pen to test, we glance at the date the egg should hatch, and reckon back ten days. Thus we are testing an egg about eight days old, and we have gained more than ten days more than once, by testing, which only takes a few minutes. We like to record on the sticker the date the egg should hatch rather than the date it was laid. We find our birds will drink from the bathpan but since we have whitewashed the bathpans once a week in summer, their bowels are in better condition than before. We put a piece of rock lime about the size of a hickory nut in each drinking fountain also. APPENDI X°G EXPERT TELLS HOW TO KILL AND PLUCK, by Clinton L. Troxel. Being a poultry dresser long enough to dress more than forty thousand chick- ens, I willgive you a goodidea how to dry-pick squabs. They look better than when scalded. It is also much quicker. One can be killed, dressed and drawn in less than five min- utes. I dress them upon a barrel. (This is fixed in a man- ner known to poultry dressers as a chute.) The way it is made is to take a barrel and place it upon a box one foot high. This makes the barrel the right height. Placeanother box, which may be about two feet square, with the top, bot- tom and end removed, upon the barrel. This leaves the re- maining three sides to form a shield around your squab, which keeps the feathers from drop- ping upon the floor. They will drop into the barrel, where they can be saved, then sold. : Over the center of the barrel is a board eight inches wide, which is used to lay the squab upon while dressing. This board is padded so as not to bruise the squab. At far end of the board is a hole two inches round. Below this hole a cup is placed so that the blood cannot drop upon the feathers. At the other side of the hole a sharp hook is set. Place the bill over the hook, hold the feet, and tip the wings in the left hand. Insert a sharp-pointed knife in front of the eye, upward into the brain. Bleed from the side of the throat; sticking in this way causes the squab to give up its feathers more easily, and at same time it also loses its feeling. One would be surprised to see how quickly and easily a squab can be dressed. The tail, wings, entrails and head can be placed in a pail which hangs near. In front right-hand corner, a small shelf is used to support a lamp for night work. In front left-hand corner is another shelf upon which is a cup of water in which to moisten the fingers. After dressing, draw and remove the head, singe and put into pan of cold water for four or five hours. Add pinch of salt to the water. I have no trouble in disposing of my squabs after dressing like above. We find in this locality, with prices high on feed, that it costs $1.25 per pair per year. Our birds average about five pairs squabs per year. We get twenty-five cents each alive for them. This gives us a profit of $1.25 on each pair a year after paying above amount for feed. Did you ever see a drunken pigeon raiser? Rum and squabs don’t mix. There is no such thing as a squab plant with a whiskey bottle hid in the grain bin. APPENDIX G HOSPITAL, CLUB, FAMI- fq LIES, $3.50 DOZEN, by West- | ley O’Harra. I have never |. shipped any squabs as I have hard work supplying the home market (Ohio). Wehavea large new private hospital, which takes five dozen a week. The first club of the city takes ten or twelve dozen just as I hap- pen to have them. Then with the family trade I can dispose of all and more than I can sup- ply. I am thinking of enlarg- ing my plant soon. I get $3.50 a dozen the year round without sorting, feather dressed. I do not believe in starting with a small number and breed ing up your own flock. I tried that for a year without selling any squabs, then bought a large flock of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and began to get re- sults. Onething I accomplished that first year was proper feeding, which I wish to say is the most essential point to the best results in this business. Do not be afraid to give them plenty to eat. I use the self-feeders, which I keep filled with plenty of cracked corn and red wheat. Ihave always had good results with these boxes. If any feedbox is not successful, it generally is due to the fact that it is not kept free of the dust which accumulates in the slit where the grain falls through. I sift all of my corn and wheat and clean my feed boxes once a week, give my birds plenty of good, fresh drinking water, with bath water twice a week. I have found that straw is a good lice producer and that the only way to stop the lice is to use tobacco stems for nest material. HOW TO HANDLE TWO KINDS OF BUYERS, by Arthur S. Burlingame. Selling squabs direct to consumers no doubt will bring in the most money, but all people cannot look after a retail trade, as it takes considerably more time. One can get good prices, however, by grading his squabs according to weight. A breeder of squabs ought to have a price for his birds in proportion to their weight by the dozen. A squab that weighs a pound surely ought to be worth more than one weighing twelve ounces. I have about forty pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and very often get squabs that weigh sixteen to twenty ounces each, and never have had any less than twelve ounces at four weeks old. When I started to sell my squabs, I sold them to a large market and received twenty-five cents each, and sometimes thirty cents, according to their supply and demand. I tried to get more for the larger ones, but they would not pay any more. They told me a squab was a squab, and that they sold them all for the same price. They had them marked on the poultry counter at forty-five cents each. Not satisfied with these prices, I looked around and found a MR. O'HARRA’S SQUAB FARM. smaller market that sold to a more particular trade, and this one wanted squabs that weighed twelve or thirteen pounds to the dozen. For the first Jot I took there I received thirty-five cents each, and have worked the price up to forty cents. I think they sell them to their trade at about fifty-five or sixty cents each. This still left me the ten and eleven-pounds- to-the-dozen birds, which are very good sizes. I went to a good hotel and asked if they used squabs, and they said they used them all the year and would like any that I might bring in, provided they weighed from ten to eleven pounds to the dozen, just the ones I wanted to sell. I quoted thirty-five cents each, and they were willing to pay that. They list on their menu, ‘‘ Native Squab 75c.”’ I simply have to kill the birds. I made a machine according to instructions in Rice’s Manual and it is all right. I catch the squabs after dark and kill them in the morning and let them hang in a cool place and take them to market the next morning. I would rather kill a dozen or more squabs than to kill one chicken. It is much more simple and very much cleaner. My squabs weighing from nine to ten pounds I turn into the first market at $3 to $3.60 a dozen. They seem satisfied and I am. Don’t sell vcur largest birds in the same lot with the smallest sizes, unless they pay you more. You can find several places where the trade calls for the smaller sizes, and others who want the better birds. You can keep all satisfied and hold their trade. I would not put in the large birds (in case your pur- chaser of that size was overstocked) with the smaller ones. If you do, they will expect to get them all the time. Eat them yourself. I have not found much of a demand for squabs weighing from one and a half to two pounds. Always make your deals with the owner of the place; he is the man. Show him what you have and he will appreciate aualitv. RED CARNEAU. SPLASHED CARNEAU. HOW TO PATCH AND HATCH BROKEN EGGS, by M. C. Martin. One who deals in high-priced pigeons can by hatching qut the broken eggs save many dollars. Infertile eggs should be saved for patching the cracked or broken eggs. In warm weather place these inasmall boxinthesquabhouse. Inthe winter keep some ‘‘fresh”’ infertile eggs where they will not freeze, and whenever you find a “‘ good”’ egg that is cracked or broken, select an infertile egg of similar size. If the egg is broken on an end, take an end half of the infertile egg and place it over the egg to be patched, and if the fit is a good one put the egg back in the nest and as soon as the shell lining is dry, it will fit like glue to the ‘‘good”’ egg. If an egg is broken on the side, break the shell of the infertile egg lengthwise and patch the egg as above directed. Unless a good round, sound shell covers the egg, the two will roll together in the nest and the broken or ‘‘dented’”’ shell will soon be broken in by the other egg, hence the reason for patching the egg. Of course if the mem- brane of the egg is broken, there is no remedy, but this is very seldom the case, and the patching can be done very quickly as this is a very simple method. I have a flock of 175 Homers and am getting $4 a dozen for my squabs. I ship them to Charlotte—J. Paul Leonard, North Carolina. APPENDIX AG | HOW A PRACTICAL IOWA | PLANT IS RUN, by P. P. French, M.D. From what ex- perience I have had with a number of different varieties of pigeons, it is my opinion that a good Homer is hard to beat for squab purposes. By keeping our birdsin large pens, it reduces the labor of taking care of them toaminimum. We try to keep the flock as nearly mated as possible. We know they were mated in the first place, and when an old bird dies it is an easy matter to break it open and see whether it is a male or female and then replace it from our small pen with one of the same sex. That method comes the nearest to keeping a flock mated of any I know, keeping the birds in large pens as we do, and while it is not a perfect method, I consider it good enough for all practical pur- poses, and does away with a lot of time spent in banding, num- bering and recording. I tried ° that method when I first started in the business, but soon gave it up and adopted the other method, and have been just as well satisfied with the results. Again by keeping a large num- ber of birds in a pen it is pos- sible for one man to take care of ten thousand birds, except picking the squabs, and I believe in having the same man take care of the birds all the time if possible, because they very much object to having strangers around. Regarding prices I can say that we ship our squabs to Chicago, and last year (1910) they averaged us thirty-two cents apiece net the year round, leaving us a profit of over a dollar a pair for our flock, and by that I mean all expenses for feed, etc., except the work. I go to Chicago in the spring and fall and sell our entire output of squabs for the suc- ceeding six months at a contract price, and by so doing we know just where we are at all the time, and do not have to feel that we are getting stung by sharp buyers, as the element of doubt is removed. I am getting for squabs dressed: 1 pound, $6.00 per dozen; 14 ounces, $5.50 per dozen; 12 ounces, $5.00 per dozen; 10 ounces, $4.50 per dozen. I sell nothing less than ten ounces and have fair luck with my birds, my prices and squabs. My squabs advertise themselves.— Albert H. Gerling, Illinois. Question: Do you believe in pulling out the tail feathers of young pigeons, to help them grow? Answer: No, it is unsightly, and unnecessary. Let Nature attend to this mat- ter in her own way, APPENDIX G GOOD SQUABS SHOULD BE SHIPPED RIGHT, by B. F. Babcock. Shipment of Sep- tember 23, 1909. dozen 10-pound squabs. . $2.13 dozen 9-pound squabs.. 7.00 4 dozen 8-pound squabs.. 1.40 $10.53 The above is a statement of a shipment of Plymouth Rock Homer squabs that I have made lately to a New York commis- sion merchant and shows the actual cash received by me. The following is a copy of part of the letter received from the commission merchant, under shipment of October 14: “We received from you this week a shipment of squabs for which we are enclosing check and account sales. Your birds were very fine and hope that you will continue to send. us your output.” In making the above two ship- mentsno pick of birds was made, taking the birds of killable age fromeach pen. But in the fol- lowing matters I was particular (and it is the only way to bea successful shipper): A clean box, clean paper, clean ice, clean birds, clean mouths, and clean feet, and to make the shipment more at- tractive when the box is opened, is to wrap the heads in tissue paper. No one will ever regret following the above particulars. Ihave a nice printed card which is tacked on the lid of the box. ENORMOUS DEMAND NOW IN CALIFORNIA, by William J. Reid. I have made a canvass of the local market conditions and find the following state of affairs: Several commis- sion men inform me that they cannot supply the demand, par- ticularly during the last year; that small, common squabs, “ rejects,’’ weigh- ing six and seven pounds, find ready sale at $3.50 and $4.00 a dozen; that Homers are very scarce, those that can be obtained being easily disposed of at $4.50 and $5.50 a dozen, alive. From these figures the commission men deduct eight per cent for handling. In Oakland, I bought a pair of dressed Homer squabs, medium sized, for which I paid $1.30. Broiled, they were enjoyed very much by Mrs. Reid and myself. The marketman stated that he can handle all the choice Homers brought to him, at good prices, according to weight; would pay $4.50 and $5.50 a dozen. At the California Market (retail) the poultryman told me he would pay $4.50 a dozen for all the 365 A PIGEON AND TWO BUNCHES OF SQUABS. Homer squabs I could bring him, regardless of weight. All the dealers agree that this is not a temporary condition, but that the demand is increasing faster than the supply, and it seems to me that the forthcoming World's Fair will not hurt the business. A year and a half ago I purchased from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. eight pairs of Carneaux. I now (June, 1911) have over three hundred of all ages, of which some eighty pairs are mated.—Percy A. Bath, Ontario. _ The difference between success and failure in the squab business is the difference between work and hot air. APPENDIX G 366 °41848 9Y} ULOI] S8900NS B SBM PUL AIMOUT poMOLIOY OOTS WIA poqieys sea queyd sty, ‘NODUUO NI GSQOH AVOOS CNV NGYOIHO NOILYNIANOOD VY APPENDIX G HOW TO PUSH AND HOW TO COOK SQUABS, by Fred M.Parkeson. I have seen peo- ple pay seventy-five and eighty cents for a chicken in the mar- kets here that could not begin to furnish as much meat as a pair of my four-weeks-old Ply- mouth Rock Homers, not men- tioning the difference in the quality of themeat. Yetif you or I asked them why they did not try the squabs instead of the chicken they would say: “Well, I don’t know how to cook them.’’ I dare say that every eight out of ten house- keepers in this State have never cookedasquab. Now the ques- tion arises, why? Ican answer it. Every morning excepting Sundays there are pedlars going from house to house here in San Francisco selling fruits, vege- tables, rabbits, eggs, butter and even live chickens. But I have yet to see for the first time any one going to the homes to sell squabs. There seems to be a mistaken idea that the working class of people cannot afford to buy squabs, and that squabs are for the rich only, but such is not the case, as can easily be proven by the way that the working class buys other high- priced articles of food in general. I wish that I were so situated that I could put in a stock of five hundred pairsof Plymouth Rock Homers, I would not hesitate so far as paying me a nice profit is concerned. I wish to offer a recipe for cooking squabs. This recipe has been prepared exclu- sively by Mr. Victor Hirtzler, chef of the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, California: Squab en Casserole Squab, or a small bird of any kind, is very good cooked in a casserole. Have the squab cleaned, then dust ever so lightly with flour and put into the casserole with a piece of butter the size of an egg. Cook for twenty minutes, then add one small tender onion, cut fine, three or four mushrooms and a little chopped celery which has been parboiled in salted water. Let this bake together for ten minutes then add half a cup of strained brown gravy and two spoonfuls of sherry. Let simmer for ten minutes until the squab is tender. It should be very tender when done. Place a napkin neatly about your baking dish and serve hot. Brown gravy is made by browning two spoon- fuls of butter in an iron pan until it is at an even color. Stir all the time. Then add two cups of hot water and a spoonful of beet extract and simmer for half an hour. Salt and strain. You will find this to be one of the most delicious dishes you ever tasted. PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN TEXAS. The two marked with an X are a prize pair of silvers. TRY ROASTED SQUABS LIKE THIS. Prepare much the same as you would chickens. Scald, pluck and clean, tie their wings against the body, place in baking pan on backs, put quarter-inch hot water in pan, place on bottom of hot oven and cook slowly thirty minutes, then baste and put another baking pan over them and put on grate in oven for one hour, basting occasionally while cooking. Remem- ber a slow fire is better than a hot one, and the oftener basted the better, but do not cool Oven opening too frequently. Cooked in this way, you have a dish fit for kings. None of the thin parts are burned and bitter. The flesh leaves the bones freely. The wings, legs and small muscles on the back are all good, delicious. After trying them this way, you will find you can afford them much oftener than you thought you could, as there is more meat on the legs, wings and thin parts than you ever thought there was, when served broiled. Avoid squabs of the common pigeon. Secure good, fat, genuine Plymouth Rock squabs and prepare as above, and you will always want more and consider them cheap at any price. I started three years ago with thirty-six Ply- mouth Rock Homers. have now nineteen units on Mr. Rice’s plan, and have between 1200 and 1500 birds.—W. C. Hyer, South Carolina. BACK YARD SQUAB BREEDING. Showing that squabhouses in the rear of a city home may be A very satisfactory business of For particulars, see made attractive and interesting. . considerable magnitude has been built up here. the accompanying article. WHAT WE HAVE DONE WITH SIX PAIRS, by Columbus Nelson. We started here in the State of Washington two years ago with six pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. From these we now have over two hundred mated pairs of breeders. We sell the squabs in Anacortes at a good figure. Besides saving a number of pairs of breeders during March, over $20 worth of squabs were sold to local fanciers and eager consumers. Ours is the only plant of the kind, so far as we know, in Skagit County. In connection with squabs, my wife and I make a specialty of thorough- bred buff and white Orpingtons and Pekin ducks. We expect to enlarge our plant to two thousand mated pairs of Homers, and then will devote our entire time and our five-acre tract to the raising of squabs for the city markets. We declare, after much work, careful study and experiment, that the business will be a complete success. To break up floor nesting, first let the male and female build the nest and as soon as she has laid the first egg, take her and her egg and nest and put her in a nestbox. Put on a wire door so she cannot get out. The door must be taken away at night, so she will not see you. You will not have any more trouble with them. I have been raising pigeons since September, 1908, and have one hundred pairs of Homers and Carneaux. I send my squabs to New York, where I receive the top price.— Walter Hudson, Connecticut. APPENDIX G HOW I PUSH SQUABS ALONG IN TACOMA, by Adam Sossong. I started with one dozen common pigeons about two years ago to see how it would pay raising squabs for market. I raised one dozen squabs from the commons, took them to the Tacoma Hotel. The first question asked was, are they Homersquabs? Ihad to tell him,no. The answer he gave me was to get Homers and he would buy the squabs at all times. So I came to think that T would sell the commons and buy Homers. I bought two dozen. As soon as I glanced over Mr. Rice’s Manual, I saw some mistakes on my coops and nests. I took the book, read it over carefully and followed his directions up to the mark. I did not have any more trouble selling my squabs, and got more customers in a short time. At present [I have four hundred pairs of Homer squab breeders, which are doing their best and raising fine squabs. Ido allmy selling to hotels and high-class fraternity clubs. My squab- housesarein my back yard. (See photograph.) I praise soaked wheat bread which I give to my birds twice a week, all that they will eat, and green vegetables such as lettuce, clover and cabbage. I will give you the prices on all the feed. Wheat is $2.35, peas $4, kaffir corn $3.50, millet $3, scratch food $2.35, hemp $7, flaxseed $4, buckwheat $6. The prices for squabs are from $3.75 to $4.50; if you supply good squabs, you get top prices, for there is always a big demand. There are lots of markets here that would buy squabs if they could get them and enough of them to keep the trade. I don’t bother with any markets. I have my steady weekly cus- tomers. I dress all my squabs and get top prices. I get letters from Seattle for squabs so I am not worried about not having a sale. I am going to get a few acres next fall and then I will put in a large stock of breeders. The more Tacoma is growing the better squab sales there will be. Take my advice and get interested in raising squabs. Leas 13; [rrp biti; ! ae iy | { I was troubled by three and four weeks old squabs leaving the nests, especially those close to floor. I have begun to wire each in with two-inch poultry wire, tacking a six-inch piece of lath on to the front for a perch, so that par- ents may alight there and feed them through the wire. Most parents feed them O. K. have had a few that seemed to be allowed to starve to death.—E. S. Riggs, Missouri. Keep your squabhouses clean, and neat looking; that is, if you wish to interest visitors. APP ENDY XG: FROM AFLAT TO SQUABS IN THE COUNTRY, by Laura A. Pierson. A year ago I be- came interested in the subject of squab raising through a mag~ azine article,and determined to inform myself with a view to engaging in the business. I accordingly sent for the ‘* Na- tional Standard Squab Book”’ and read it through. At that time we were living in a sub- urban flat, but contemplated moving to our present location, which we did in the spring of There is a barn on the lot, the loft of which we fixed for pigeons, the lower floor for chickens. We built flies to the south and have a nice chicken- run to the east. The chickens are simply to supply our own table, although we have a sur- plus of eggs, and have enjoyed the sale of some at the extremely high prices the past winter. The flock of pigeons we intend to increase as rapidly as possible and concentrate on as a busi- ness. Last August we received thir- teen pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. The birds set- tled down very promptly and have worked well. We now feel that we are sufficiently experi- enced to handle a larger flock and are fixing our quarters for more birds. We have ordered one hundred pairs more. WHAT I AM DOING WITH A SMALL FLOCK, by Walter Sieverling. Six months ago I ordered three pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. They ar- rived in good condition and in a week they had eggs. I fed them the best that could be bought and they repaid me with fine, big, fat squabs. It was very funny to see them claim their nests. I had other Homers in the house at the time but in the end the new Homers were the winners. They were larger and could handle my birds like babies. I have nine pairs working now and in May I had nine pairs of eggs in the nests. The day the first pair hatched out the last pair laid their eggs. They all hatched and I had eigh- teen Squabs all of good size. The largest I had was a pair of red checks which weighed, one twenty ounces, and the other twenty-two. In order to raise good-sized birds, cull your squabs when they leave the nest and after they develop. Pe dal NOTE SIZE OF THESE EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. One of the Chicago houses has contracts with a squab raiser paying $2.50 for six-pound squabs, $3.00 for seven-pound squabs, $3.50 for eight-pound squabs and $4.00 for nine- pound squabs. One man in Iowa has six thousand old birds and has a yearly contract with this house.—H. Huecker, Illinois. Don’t ship to a wholesaler unless you are wholesaling. If you want retail prices, go and get them according to the directions given in the Squab Magazine. PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAU SQUAB. Weight one pound, age three weeks. squab. glass tumbler, to show size. HOW MY BIRDS GET NESTING MA- TERIAL, by Harvey Drake. The usual way is to use crates to hold the material, ‘but what the birds pull out and do not want they throw or drop down until they find what they do want. I have found a way to overcome this. Take a box about one and one-half feet deep, one foor wide and three or four feet long and put it under the window. Then take a board a little larger than the box you use and fasten it to the window for a sill inside like a shelf. This protects the nesting material from being soiled by birds sitting on the window sill, also if a shower of rain comes up in summer when the windows are up, the material is protected. I put the nesting material I use in the box and do not fill it more than one-third full. The birds fly down in this and pick it over until they find what they want, and then fly to their nesting place. A year ago in May I bought five hundred pigeons of the Homer variety and lately I have bought two hundred and fifty pairs more. I am greatly interested and have been greatly encouraged the past three months, as I have been getting $4.00 net for all of my nine-pound squabs, and $3.25 for those weighing less, and never have been able to fill the orders I get.— D. G. Barstow, Missouri. : s. Two views of the same In the upper picture the squab is compared with an ordinary APPENDIX. “G I USE STEMS OF LEAVES FOR NESTING, by Dutch Cropper. I fully believe pig- eons’ prefer dark-colored ma- terial for their nests. Just give them a chance at the stems of different kinds of leaves, such as are easily gathered from under the black walnut, butternut or locust tree; also, the inner bark torn from cedar posts or logs, and the bark of the grape-vine. I have known instances where salt-marsh hay was bought for the purpose, when, with very little effort, material far more desirable could have been pro- cured right on the owner’s place. have made beautiful jack- straws out of rye and oat stalks which were absolutely refused. Tangled oat straw they will use, but give them a chance at one or the other of the above, and note the difference in the archi- tecture of their nests. The Fulton Market Company are now buying squabs at thirty cents a pound and sell them at 4j forty cents a pound. They say they rather quote them by pound, because the size varies so much. The demand is dull just now (August), and they are placing squabs in cold storage. Geis & Waelde will pay $2 a dozen for squabs and sell them at $2.75 and $3. I visited the farm of the O’Harra Squab Company. The proprietor, Wesley O’Harra, has Plymouth Rock Homers. Mr. O’Harra sells his squabs direct to the consumers and gets from thirty- three and one-third cents to forty cents each dressed. Thisis at the rate of $4 to $4.80 a dozen.—R. D. Hiatt, Ohio. VASELINE FOR CANKER, by L. T. Dunn. Please publish this for the good of those who Taise pigeons as it is the most valuable thing I have ever discovered for the pigeon raiser. Just common vaseline is a marvel for canker. Take some on the end of the finger, a good lump of it, and poke it down the squab’s throat. It will loosen the lumps in the throat and you can pull them out easily with a hairpin. Put some more vaseline in the throat after you do this. You will not lose two squabs in a hundred. Question: How shall I whitewash a loft filled with working pigeons? Answer: Drive your pigeons out into the flying pen on a sunny day and shut the windows, then paint the interior with cold water white paint, which will dry before night, then you can let your pigeons back into the house. Begin with the very best pigeons that money can buy; then breed for better ones. APPEN DIAG FRESH SQUABS DISPLAC- ING COLD STORAGE, by Harry U. Bell. Despite the fact that Washington City may be classed as a poor squab mar- ket, the demand for fresh-killed squabs is far in excess of the supply. The bulk of the squabs han- dled during the winter season is the product of the cold-storage plant. .These are bought up during the summer, wherever they can be obtained, the source of supply being from persons with smalllofts of birds, or they are shipped from surrounding country places. The supply of cold-storage squabs has to be very short before they will pay as much as $3.50 or $4 a dozen. The recent investigation of the cold storage has done a great deal towards helping squab breeding in this vicinity. The squab-eating public is now clamoring for a better class of goods, and is willing to take them from breeders, knowing that they are the fresh-killed product. Having had to pay a goodly little sum for cold-stor- age squabs they are equally willing to pay for the fresh product. No one starting into the squab breeding business in this vicinity need fear for his mar- ket. Itis waiting for him. If he produces good squabs and lets a few people know it, it will be but a very short while before he will have as much trade as he can handle. GRAIN WEIGHTS, by W. H. Cunningham. Below are given the weights of various products in their raw state, the figures indicating pounds per bushel: Wheat, 60; corn (shelled), 56; corn (on the cob), 70; rye, 56; barley, 48; buckwheat (in Pennsylvania), 50; buckwheat (in Ken- tucky), 52; buckwheat (in Massachusetts), 48; oats (in Illinois and Massachusetts), 32; oats (in Ohio), 33; oats (in Kentucky), 33 1-3; oats (in Maine and Pennsylvania), 30; flaxseed, 56; hempseed, 48; broomcorn s 2d, 52; sorghum seed, 40. When a pigeon gets out of fix, it fasts some- times three or four days and later comes around O.K. Don’t worry about a bird’s not eating. It knows its own business and is taking its only treatment, fasting. I have noticed this so much among the birds, especially with young- sters, I am earnestly entreating all pigeon friends to let the pigeons do the “‘ doctoring ’’ and let the owners of the birds give attention to feed, water and care of squabhouse, and Nature, the great doctor of all animal life, wih take care of the pigeon’s ailments——M. C. Martin, Kansas. WHITE HOMER AND PEN OF COLORED HOMERS. GROWTH OF AN IDEA. Ten years ago the word ‘‘ squab ’’ was practically unknown. Today it is on the lips of every one not only as an article of food, but in slang, which is a true test of popularity. For example, at the great American preparatory schools, the freshmen are now dubbed ‘‘ squabs,’’ meaning the soft, tender, inexperienced youth, of both sexes. In the West, a ‘‘ squab ”’ is a tenderfoot. In the theatres, a “‘ squab ’’ is a young chorus girl of eighteen years or under. A ‘“‘broiler’’ is a chorus girl between nineteen and twenty-one. ““Squab parties ’’ are gatherings of children. Fried spring chicken, roast turkey, duck, or beef are all good eating, but not as good as roast squab for my taste. It is the choice of all other meat for me. One of my customers, who is a hunter, just recently told me: ‘If I were served with young roast quail one meal and squab another I could not tell which was which.’’—W. B. Glotfelty, Pennsylvania. I am very much impressed with the squab business here in St. Louis, and think there is no better market to be had. I get $4 per dozen for nine pounds and $4.50 for ten pounds. pay no attention to markets.—F. L. Mc- Donald, Missouri. 372 APPENDIEXAG; What do you think of these Homers? The ones with the crosses on flock. They raise squabs weighing sixteen ounces apiece at the rate of ten pairs a I get twenty-five cents apiece for all my squabs alive and cannot raise one-third enough. — them are the two best breeding Homers in my year. They are the largest birds I have. A. F. Ayers, California. HOW TO GET AIR INTO SQUAB HOUSES, by W. P. Jencks. When you see frost on the nails of your roof inside, make up your mind your house is damp. To venti- late a house ten by twelve feet make a box about five or six feet long and about one foot wide. Have doors on the north and south side on hinges that swing in from the top. Close the one on the side where the wind is blowing and open the other one. A small ventilator one foot square open all around will let in more fresh air than one six feet long that is open only on the side opposite from the wind. A ventilator that is not over one foot square in a house ten by twelve with seventy-five or one hundred birds in it is not much use. The average squabhouse ventilators are too small. Make them larger. Try one as an experiment and find out as I did. I have sold all my squabs to a hotel right in the town. They have taken all I could raise and wanted more. They paid twenty-five cents each and took them alive. I did not have to kill them. I now sell my squabs by the ounce. I get two cents an ounce just killed and three cents an ounce dressed.—W. P. Jencks, Rhode Island. We are starting in the squab business on a small scale but with the idea of success and of a large plant. Our enthusiasm is strengthened by the remarkable success of a friend during the past two years. He has fully demonstrated to our satisfaction at least that the squab business is O. K.—H. C. Voss, Ohio. TEN PAIRS OF SQUABS A YEAR. HOW TO IMPROVE A FLOCK BY REMATING, by George F. Lunn. I have about three hundred pairs of Ply- mouth Rock Homers and Car- neaux. If I find a pair that do not breed well, I remate them. I find that it is better to try that than it is to sell them, if they are good birds. If I find two pairs which I do not think are doing what they ought, and mate them over, then they do as a rule very much better. I take them out of the pen and use a mating coop for one week, then I put them in a small pen which I have built for that purpose, and I keep them there until they lay one set of eggs and have hatched them out, then I give the squabs to another pair and put them backinto the pen from which I took them. [I have not had any trouble of their going back to their old mates if they are kept apart for one or two months. Iam getting for squabs that dress eight pounds to the dozen $4 a dozen at this date (May 5, 1911) and think that is very good. January, February and March, I recieve five and six dollars for them in the market. They sold well last winter and the birds have been doing very well. My birds averaged six and one-half pairs of squabs for each pair of breeders for the year 1909, and I think that they will do better than that this year, as they have worked at a more rapid rate so far. RAT TRAPS IN A BOX, by James Y. Egbert. When a breeder is troubled with mice in the squabhouse, he can get rid of them by using one or more traps in boxes. I take a box 13 x 7 x 3 inches, or a tobacco caddy may be used. With a one-inch auger bore eight holes, four in each side. Bait your traps and set them inside, then put a cover over the top so the pigeons will not spring the traps. Traps in a squabhouse should always be protected as pigeons or squabs may be injured if they are not. In this way I cleaned out all the mice around my pen. I am going to buy more Homers soon, and will then have an output of twenty dozen squabs a month. I have standing orders for private trade for squabs. I get seventy cents a pair for the smallest squabs, or $4 a dozen. For the largest squabs I get $1 a pair, or $5.50 a dozen.—R. C. Boyd, Pennsylvania. I have a printed postal card to keep my cus- tomers informed and jog their memory as to the desirability of a course «f squabs. They have the habit now and require no reminder.— Frank R. Tucker, Rhode Island. ZWEN 22) Dy CON LN GME: HOW A HOTEL MANA- GER PUSHES SQUABS, by John Hill. We pay seven dol- lars a dozen for the kind of squabs we serve. Just at pres- ent we have enough, but I would be very glad to know the names and addresses of some breeders of fine squabs. We cook them in any way our patrons want them, but put them on the bill of fare merely as squabs. I rather prefer them roasted, to any other way of cooking them. I ran the advertisements of our hotel in the New York Times and Brooklyn Eagle to stimulate the night-dinner trade. The night following my pub- lished talk about squabs, the sale was forty-two orders. Our average number of orders per night for squabs had been six or seven. That advertisement was read and it brought the business. I have been engaged in rais- ing pigeons for eight years, and as I am employed in the city, the only time I have to attend to my birds is in the morning and afternoon, after returning home. During my experience I have bred various pigeons, but have finally settled dewn to Homers for first choice and Carneaux for second choice. My Homer squabs weigh from twelve to fourteen ounces each, and Carneaux squabs from fif- teen to seventeen ounces each, and I have also crossed the Carneau and the Homer, and squabs from this cross weigh from fourteen to sixteen ounces each. I recently purchased ten acres of ground near the city and it is my intention to convert this entire place into a squab plant early next spring.—T. P. Meyer, Texas. I am getting from $2.75 to $4.50 per dozen for live squabs from the commission men in Cincinnati. I have not started to sell to the hotels yet. My best squabs weigh over ten pounds to the dozen. We grow wheat, corn, sunflower, kaffir corn on our farm. We save much money on feed bills. Corn and wheat are the staple articles of feed and every other day I mix corn, wheat, kaffir corn, sunflower seed, Canada peas, hempseed. Most of the time I feed mixed corn, wheat and Canada peas, the rest every other day. I think the first thing a beginner should learn is to ventilate the pigeon house. They must have pure air to breathe. Don’t ventilate so that the wind will strike on birds. I store grain in barrels covered with tin, so rats can't eat.—George S. Beyer, Indiana. WHITE AND COLORED HOMERS. One thing I have learned about the care of pigeons: first and most important is plenty of clean, fresh drinking water, one fountain in the fly and onein the loft so when the old birds feed the squabs they can get water without flying outside for it. Second, that all grain or seed should be free from dust of any kind, and musty grain should not be fed under any circum- stances. I think most of the pigeon men here feed a little different than in most places. My main feed is wild brown mustard seed. I have fed it with good results for three years. I will give my way of feeding: One and one-half quarts wheat in morning. From three to four quarts mustard seed at noon. One and one- half to two quarts Egyptian corn at night, with a feed of peas and rice once a week each. In each loft is a feeder containing grit, charcoal and sea-shells, in each fly a piece of mineral salt. One reason I feed more mustard seed is that it is a cheaper feed than anything else. It costs here $1.25 per one hundred pounds; white wheat is about $1.60 and Egyptian corn $1.75 to $2 per hundred.—Riley C. Clark, California. 374 HOW I FEED SO AS TO LOSE NO SQUABS, by Fred C. Schrein. I started to raise squabs in 1904 with six pairs of Homers, the Extras from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. They cost me fifteen dollars, and my coops five dollars, total twenty dollars. I did not know a thing about pigeons, and so you see I had to start at the bottom and climb up, and now I am on the top rung of the ladder. When my squabs came, where was my mar- ket? I had to look for one. I took some down to the leading hotels and the managers startled me by remarking that they were not squabs. I asked in some perplexity, ‘‘ Why are they not squabs?’’ ‘‘ Because they are too large for squabs.”’ It was up to me to make good. I replied that for every one of the birds that was not a squab I would give them a dollar. Then they said they had no calls for squabs, but I finally persuaded one of them to try mine, telling him that. I would let him have them for three dollars a dozen. It did not take long before he found out that it pays to have first-class goods to do business, and so it was. I had to educate the people first as to what a squab was, and now I have them pretty well educated, and I cannot raise enough for my trade. I am now catering mostly to private custom and get fifty cents apiece for all my squabs. It makes no difference who it is; every one is treated alike. I have at present about one thousand birds, and if I had room I would have five thousand more. I expect in the near future to go out in the suburbs and build a large squab plant. I use a mixed feed, and everything but corn. The only time that my birds get corn is in the winter months, then in the afternoon I feed it to keep them warm through the night. Do not feed cracked corn at any time unless you can crack it yourself, and know it is fresh. Follow these instructions and I bet you will not have any more squabs die with canker unless your grain should happen to be musty. I know what I am talking about, as I have gone through the mill. HOW I MADE ROAST SQUABS POPU- LAR, by Clara M. Hodson. I have hatched eight hundred birds, kept one hundred pairs and sold the others at a fair profit. I have sold the squabs from twenty-five cents to fifty cents each according to size. They average ten pounds to the dozen, but many of them weigh one pound after removing feathers. I selected the birds I wished to keep, built a small addition to my first house and mated them up as I wished according to the colors, blue, white, black, brown or Carneau red. This is easily done if the youngsters are confined together in a mating coop for a couple of weeks, then are allowed to go into the fly where the young pairs are kept. They will bill and coo, build a nest and go to work. I have quite a number nesting at five months. My pigeon coteisin the rear of a lot 80 x 180 feet on one of the main streets of this Maryland town of eight thousand people. It is the only APPENDI XG pigeon plant in this section, and I have created an interest in my birds and a taste for “‘ roast squab with peas ’’ that make a sale here for all. I cannot always supply the demand. I had pure healthy stock to begin, studied Mr. Rice’s valuable book and the magazine and without any experience have had exceptional luck. No disease of any kind. I feed them a special pigeon feed (which stood first under a recent examination by the Maryland Agricultural College). It has about twelve different kinds of seed and cracked corn in it. I pay $2 per 100 pounds for it. It costs me two cents apiece per week for my old birds and their squabs. Sometimes if the number is larger, I feed a little higher. They are fond of hemp. I watch them and feed them what they like. They are very little trouble. I feed and water regularly twice a day in troughs and fountains, and have the house cleaned every week, some- times oftener, as nests may require. This work is done by a boy twelve years old who loves the birds. My birds are the admiration of all who pass and see them sunning themselves. They know me and many of them know their names, I think. They are far more easily reared than chickens. I have fifteen White Leghorns and fifteen Rhode Island Red hens in a lot adjoin- ing my pigeons, but they are not so profitable. I find great pleasure showing my guests my birds, and all are enthused with them. I recently took a prize serving them roasted whole, stuffed with celery and served with petit pois and crab apple jelly. Let every woman who loves pets try a few pigeons. Question: In what cases do you believe in selling squabs to middlemen, and in what direct to private trade? Answer: I believe in knowing the cost of production and selling to somebody at a profit. The average pigeon or poultry raiser doesn’t know either costs or selling prices. The product of a large squab plant in the hands of an average business man is best sold to middlemen because the cost of finding retail customers for a large output is something requiring bother, skill, time, money and equipment, all of which the middlemen have, as well as the educated habits of people who are trading with them. The product of a small squab plant is best sold at retail because it costs nothing to find the customer if you follow directions. Producers are much more common than salesmen, in all lines. The salesmen have the equipment, the know-how. The producers should try to get it. It must be remembered that it takes training to lead a business life, although few seem to ap- preciate it. The man or woman who raises beautiful squabs but doesn’t know how to sell them is very much of the habit of mind of the professional man, a physician, for example, who can write a book on how to cure a cold but can’t cure one. Many of the misunder- standings in the pigeon business have arisen from the inability of the writers, who never do, to comprehend what the doers were doing. APPENDIX G HOW ONE WOMAN WORKS AND WINS, by Nellie C. Wellman. The business of squab raising had always appealed to me as most fascinating, but living in a city I could not very well engage in such an occupation. But a few years ago, a very pleasant home- stead in the country, my husband’s boyhood home, came into our possession. In the spring as soon as the weather per- mitted, our squabhouse of two units was started, and May 4, 1909, we installed thirty- one pairs of birds in unit No. 1. We were fortunate in securing fine Homers. I began to save the young birds for future breeders and by the last of August had about one hundred youngsters in unit No. 2. We sold no squabs until the first of Septem- ber of that year, and have been most succes- ful in raising fine birds, and also in disposing of them to the very best markets and private customers. I live about twenty-five miles from New Haven, Conn., which was my birthplace and also home for many years, and having an extensive circle of acquaintances, I found no difficulty in selling my squabs. Then, too, being personally acquainted with the proprietors of the best markets, I found them very ready and willing to buy good birds. Another means of our getting customers was through a private chef, who goes to the houses of the wealthy class to cook for private dinners. This chef (a woman) has done much to recommend our squabs, telling people they are the best that come under her notice. Two of the markets take the birds with feathers. Another market wishes the feathers off, but birds are not drawn. 5 For our private trade, we dress the squabs completely, wrapping each one in wax paper and packing nicely in pasteboard boxes. As the birds are all sold in New Haven, this way of packing seems all that is necessary and we have never been obliged to use ice. In the spring of 1910 three more units were added to the house, which now consists of five units besides a grain and killing room at one end. I believe in absolute cleanliness, pure, fresh water, and plenty of it, good health grit, char- coal, salt and oyster shells. My birds have all of these, and I have never had a case of canker in my loft. I hire a man for cleaning and other heavy work, but attend personally to the birds, being familiar with each individually. Several of my breeders have raised nine and one-half pairs of squabs, and few less than eight pairs during the year. If possible I am more enthusiastic as regards squab breeding than ever. The pleasure I derive from being with the birds more than repays me for the labor connected with their care. As a rule, those who offer any class of pig- eons for half price, either have failed to figure out what it cost to raise and mate, or they are selling a poor class of birds. 375 HOW A POSTAL CARD FOUND MY BUYERS, by Frank English. I purchased some Homers and Carneaux of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. I started in to raise my own breeding stock, and my birds proved to be excellent workers. I began to advertise in the local press and by the following post card: SQUABS Rich, juicy, fat squabs are not only a dainty food, but also very nutritious and far superior to chickens. They are especially valuable to the sick and convalescent who cannot assimilate coarse meats. If you have never enjoyed the pleasure of eating squabs, try them. We have them on sale either killed and dressed, or alive as desired by some. We have nothing but the very best, and raise all we offer. No cold storage nor common pigeons. We sell by the single pair and upwards in half dozens, or any number required. 7 FRANK ENGLISH, Squab and Pigeon arm. Within forty-eight hours my telephone kept me busy with people inquiring about squabs. I need not say that in a small Northern Con- necticut section many of the inquiries were both original and provincial. Some wanted to know if I raised squabs for Gloucester fisher- men, Some wanted to know if it was right to skin them. Others desired information con- cerning the nature and purposes of squabs, while a few wanted to learn how to hunt and trap them. Of course, among the Berkshire and Litchfield Hills this simplicity was pardon- able, but out of one hundred postal cards sent out and a small advertisement in a local paper, { received orders for more squabs than I could furnish and the prices ranged from four to six dollars per dozen, according to size. To say that I was agreeably surprised goes without saying. I feel that many of the squab breeders. unfavorably situated for expressing squabs long distances at great expense may take heart by my experience and cultivate a local trade to their advantage and profit. Later (April 25) Here’s a how-de-do! My post cards and the advertisement one of our local hotels has given me have created a furor. I cannot supply squabs enough and have had to refuse orders. I did not dream when I sent out the post cards that I would have such a deluge of orders. The hotel man informs me that he never had such fine squabs before. There are squab breeders as far West as Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas who are shipping steadily to the Eastern city markets. Your success with squabs does not depend upon the markets, but it does depend upon your intelligence in dealing with the markets. The pigeon business is like any other busi- ness; that is, you must talk pigeons if you sell pigeons. FOUR PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. HOW I EXPERIMENTED WITH COW PEAS, by William P. Gray. Although I have always found that it paid me well to feed Canada peas liberally, their price was so high through the summer and fall that in October I decided to try cow peas as a substitute, and accordingly mixed four bushels of cow peas with about eight hundred pounds of other grains. Shortly after beginning to use this mixture, I noticed that about all my squabs were affected with a looseness of the bowels that made my nests the filthiest that I had ever seen them. Several squabs died and those that I have marketed the past two months have been about the poorest I have ever had to dispose of. Ten days ago I made up another grain mixture, this time using instead of the cow peas four bushels of Canada peas and other grains, the same amount as before except for an extra one hundred pounds of cracked corn. Here is the result in ten days after substituting the Canada peas for the cow peas: The loose- ness of the bowels in the squabs has disap- peared. My scales have shown that the squabs taken out of the loft today were the heaviest that I have produced this fall. The old birds act as though they had taken on a new lease of life. Out of sixty-four pairs, sixty-one pairs are working, and seventy-four eggs have been laid the past week. To any wishing to know what my birds are being fed now, I wish to state that my grain mixture for cold weather is as follows: four bushels peas, five hundred pounds cracked corn, four bushels wheat, one hundred pounds kaffr corn, fifty pounds millet, twenty-five pounds hempseed. APPENDIX G I never place a pair of pigeons in a pen unless they are banded. Talso limit the number of birds placed in a pen to conform to the size of the pen, and under no conditions whatever do I allow another bird to be added to this pen. In my case the number is twenty-five pairs, as I have built my pens with this idea in view, for I believe this number is the most practical for all purposes, and I am con- vinced that a greater number than this will fail to produce the results shown by this num- ber of birds. I then make out a chart with the numbers one to twenty-five in a row, and allow twelve spaces for the twelve months of the year. Then I make a note in the space opposite the pair number in the corresponding month when robbing the pair of its young, showing just how many were taken. By referring to this record I am able to know exactly what this pair has ac- complished in a certain period, and if it does not show a stand- ard result I make arrangements to dispcse of one or both birds at once, and in this way I save the feed the pair would consume and also avoid any possibility of either bird causing any trouble in idleness. This takes practically no time and is a big money saver.—F. L. Stock, Missouri. A year ago I moved my drug store about a mile from its former location, and about that time I had about one hundred old and young pigeons to move with squabs and eggs. I caught all the pigeons, old and young, put them in boxes with a sack over the tops, and lost only one young pigeon from suffocation. I lost all the eggs, and strange to say did not lose one squab, which were of all ages from one or two days to a couple of weeks old. I just put them in the squabhouse, and the old pigeons went on feeding them as before. By using a little common sense, pigeons are the easiest thing in the world to raise, and beat poultry all over.—C. Montz, Louisiana. In June, 1910, I purchased a dozen pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and now (October, 1911) have eighty pairs of breeders and 140 youngsters. I have just started to sell my squabs and find a ready market. Can get $4.25 per dozen for eight to nine-pound squabs. I am on a rented place, but expect to move in the spring and build more lofts and increase my breeders. I can dispose of ten to fifteen dozen more squabs a week than I can supply. There are a great many breeders here who have what are called American Homers which breed a squab only a little larger than the com- mon pigeon.—H. W. Moore, Ohio. Ai N DEG DRY GRAIN HEALTHFUL, by Hugh Donlon. Having had trouble and sickness in my birds, especially in the ‘‘ big fellows,’’ I was at a loss for some time to know where the trouble came from. I had grain from different sources to see if that would help, but no better luck. Lately I have taken each day’s feed and - left it on the back of the stove all night, or put it in a warm oven for a short time, and I find a wonderful difference. The birds picked up at once and seem to relish the crisp grain. There is very little grain, after it has stood in damp storehouses for a year or more, that will not draw dampness. I have been feeding dry bread for some time, and see it spoken of but how to feed it is the puzzle that will bother a great many, as it should not be wet. Run the bread through a coarse food chopper and it will come out in the form of pills that will be devoured greedily. It makes great stuffing for squabs. Of course it must be used in connection with grain rations. HOW I MADE A RAT-PROOF GRAIN BIN, by J. E. Maccabe. My feed room is down stairs, and the lofts are up stairs. The tats used to eat about half of the feed. I went to a tin shop and ordered a box of galvanized iron, twenty-four inches wide, thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches high, eight com- partments, four of the compartments six inches wide, and the full width of the box, the other four compartments six inches wide, but only half the width of the box, or twelve inches. Each compartment the full width of the box will hold a bushel, so the whole box carries six bushels of grain. Inside of two months the box had paid for its cost, five dollars. Between the rat-proof feed box and the lime in the lofts I have no more rats or mice. What Lime Did I couldn't go into the loft but what there was a rat or mouse, although I didn’t keep the feed in the loft. The floor was of boards. The rats would go up the side of the building, then they would make their way into the loft. This spring, to make some whitewash, I bought too much lime, so I put some of it around the wall on the floor of the lofts. It extended out from the wall for six inches, an inch in thickness.' From that day I have never been bothered with rats. I was in Seattle last week looking for a mar- ket. I went to all the high-class cafes and res- taurants. Here are a few: The Butler, Mancas, the Rathskeller, Olympus and Gerald’s. All offered three dollars a dozen (feathers on) de- livered. In one I had rather an amusing ex- perience. I went to the chef and asked if he bought squabs. He said,‘ Yes.’’ Iasked how much he paid. ‘‘ Ten cents apiece,’’ he an- swered. I turned and started out. ‘‘ Hey, vait,’’ he called. ‘‘ Gif you fifteen cents.’’ ‘Nothing doing.’’ ‘‘ Gif you twenty cents.’’ “*Come again.” Well, he *‘ came’’ to twenty- five cents each delivered in Seattle.-—Wallace Todd, Washington. 3l7 SQUABS AT GOOD PRICES IN CALI- FORNIA, by Walter E. Hiller. I have moved to California from Massachusetts, where I bred squabs, and am all ready to have my Extra Plymouth Rock Homers shipped on_ here. They have fine pigeons around here. Squabs weigh twelve pounds to the dozen. They get $3.50 to $4 a dozen alive, and don’t even have to twist their necks. Grain costs about the same asin the East: peas $4 per one hundred pounds, hempseed $6 per one hundred pounds. This is a fine climate to raise squabs. I have bought a nice home, one acre of land, all kinds of fruit, large stable, hot and cold water, electric light, bath room and a line of cars, eight miles to the city. I have built two coops, fifty feet long, and am building more. Things are all different here. The house is fifty feet long, four feet wide, ten feet fly, seven feet high; cement floor; everything all open, no windows, very easy to clean out. One coop holds fifty pairs. FOUR PAIRS HOMERS STARTED ME IN 1903, by E. W. Lewis. I purchased six pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers in 1903. I[ did not purchase a bird in the seven years, but selected the best from these four pairs and their increase for breeders. The inbreed- ing did not seem to hurt them in the least, as the seventy-five pairs I have now are never sick, and the squabs at four weeks weigh eleven to fourteen ounces. I put my squabs in a separate coop for twenty-four hours before killing, and then their crops are entirely empty. Then kill and dry pick. In that condition they weigh eleven to fourteen ounces each. I am getting $3.75 a dozen the year round. A few days ago I had a large squab which dressed sixteen ounces. The chef at the hotel I sell to looked me up next day and said, ‘‘ If you can furnish me squabs like that, I will give you $4.25 per dozen the year round.” That decided me to get Carneaux, which I am doing, and I hope they prove all that has been written of them. I have not been in a position to expand as fast as would like. Of the seventy-five pairs of breeders I have now, here is the record for last year: January 1 to December 31, 1910, 748 squabs for which I received $224.90. Feed for the year was $106.75, leaving a profit of $118.15, and the work attending them was a recreation and pleasure. I feed whole corn, macaroni, wheat and kaffir corn as main feed, and hemp, peas and millet as luxuries. (Mr. Lewis, the writer of the foregoing, livesin Colorado. It is often asked by residents of that state whether pigeons will breed well there, on account of the high altitude. His story is proof that they do. We are acquainted with a number of squab breeders in Colorado who never have complained that the aititude had any effect, and we do not believe that it has, either one way or the other. Pigeons seem to breed there as well as anywhere.) The demand for first-class pigeons is greater than the supply. NOVEL FLYING PEN. _ Squabs in the loft of a wagon house. Any fancier can find enough desirable char- acteristics in the Homer and Carneaux utility pigeons to fully satisfy his fancy and at the same time be breeding something that is of some use to the world. I get just as much pleasure in breeding something that’s useful, as any fancier does in breeding useless fancy varieties. If a person wants to breed pigeons for pleasure or fancy, utility pigeons are more desirable, in that by selling or eating the squabs that are not your ideal, you can pay the feed bill. If you have a squab which is off color or has some- thing about it you do not like, you get just as much for it as squab, as if it were just what you desired and you sent it to market. I believe in fancy utility pigeons, and as long as I breed pigeons I will consider the fancy points, even in_squab breeding pigeons.— J. W. Williams, Texas. The most essential point in buying utility pigeons is to get the kind or class that will breed the most and the best squabs. However, the kind that’s in demand must be considered. The kinds most in demand in the South are the Homer and Carneaux squabs. The reason for this is that there are a great many more Homers and Carneaux than all other varieties combined. In fact, all dealers know what Homer and Carneaux squabs are.—J. W. Williams, Texas. APPENDIX G For several years I had been trying to get a flock of well-bred chickens. had paid good prices for eggs and hatched a mongrel lot of chicks. So few were at all what would be called good lookers that I became thor- oughly disgusted with the whole business. Too many casualties and fatalities of the chicks, to be profitable. Too much bother to run out in the storm and pick up the half-drowned chicks. Too many mites to keep off the roosts. Too much of a job for the financial returns. So I de- cided to look to squab raising. Some of my friends have gotten | past the point where they smile as they ask me how the pigeons are getting along. They for- merly acted as if they thought that pigeons were good enough for a boy to have, but for a big strong man with a good pro- fession to bother with pigeons was too much like child’s play. The person that is looking for a pleasant and profitable busi- ness would do well to take up squabs.—C. F. Wilson, Illinois. I will tell you of a little ex- periment I had with a pair of pigeons. I didnot like thelooks of the place where they had their nest so one noon I changed it into another nestbox. During the afternoon while I was away at work a white cock chased the cock off the nest. In the evening when I came home I found the eggs very cold, and I put them back where they were in the first place, caught the hen, put her on the nest, and she stayed. I didn’t expect them to hatch after being chilled, but to my surprise they did, but the young ones were two days behind time in getting out. They are getting along nicely —Edward Knapp, Indiana. Some one gave me an old copy of Rice's Manual five or six years old. I began to study that and soon decided to send for the last issue. It came in due time and along with it a sample copy of the National Squab Magazine. After considerable deliberation and delay I sent in my one dollar subscription for the paper and from that time on I began to see what squab raising meant. For the first few months the magazine was worth more than the subscription price each month. I could not do without it now.—R. C. Clark, California. About a year ago I bought of you thirteen pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I now have about two hundred pigeons, and they are beauties. I have killed but few, as I wish to get a large stock on hand and then offer squabs only for sale.—William C. Davis, Georgia. APPENDIX .G. MINE EAT LOCUST LEAVES, PEPPER- GRASS, by George Jackson. I bought thirteen pairs of the best Plymouth Rock Homers in May, 1909, and now, eleven months later, I have two hundred birds. Every one that comes along admires them. I have a friend who gives me boxes, which I break up and make use of in building. Soin this way I do not have to buy much lumber. We have an offer here (Kentucky) for squabs weighing eight ounces at $3 per dozen, and as ours weigh from twelve to sixteen ounces I think I could get at least $5 for my squabs. I feed seven different kinds of grain, but my young birds do not like the Canada peas. I feed rice and locust leaves sometimes, and as soon as peppergrass grows I will give them that. RICH SQUAB OPENINGS IN CALI- FORNIA, by M. W. Donaldson. Nowhere outside the city of New York is the demand for squabs so strong as in the cities of Oakland and San Francisco, California, with their combined population of approximately 700,000 (census just completed). While Oakland boasts of her hotels, grills, clubs and sanitariums, where squabs find a ready market, San Fran- cisco’s three leading hotels alone could con- sume all the squabs produced in California today, and then run short on orders for this delicious luxury. One dollar per pound can be obtained for the right kind of squabs in the Oakland or San Francisco markets when offered to the right kind of trade. As the game laws of our state are becoming more stringent each year, and prices correspondingly higher for the inadequate supply of wild game brought in, also likewise for young poultry, the only substitute for the squab, there must soon be found by the caterer a means of taking care of his menu along the lines of wild game, and the only logical solution appears solely .in the squab. There certainly is a field here for many who might care to invest in this lucrative industry. San Francisco is a most cosmopoli- tan city and right up to date. Californians are not afraid to spend their money. They want the best money will buy and they get it, regardless of what it may cost. If they should call for squab on toast, they would not hesitate at $2.50 to ask for it. It’s the same in all other lines of trade in California. The people here demand the best and they certainly have it. Squabs will soon be in- cluded, and the best that can be produced, both in size as well as in flavor. The man that gets in first on this market with a modern squab plant will have the easiest and the surest sailing, but nevertheless, sure. Such are the possibilities for the producer of squabs (for the rich man’s stomach) near the Oakland and San Francisco markets of California. About October of last year I bought from your firm nine pairs No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers. At the present time (June 12), I have about eighty-five birds all in first-class shape, besides about twenty killed for the table.—A. E. Buchanan, British Columbia. 379 NEW ORLEANS WAITING FOR GOOD SQUABS, by K. J. Braud. I am raising squabs for pleasure and for my own table use. I received my birds exactly nine months ago, twelve pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, for which I paid $30. I have raised in that time twenty-four pairs of breeders, some of them larger than the parents, and have used for our table seven dozen squabs, and now have ten pairs of young ones in the nests, making a total of 146 birds. Thisis not remarkable, but in view of the fact that I had never had any experience in the business I consider it highly satisfactory, at least to me. I have never lost a single large bird, having all the original birds, and a finer lot I think it impossible to find. I have six pairs of my young ones working, three of which have hatched young squabs, and the other three are setting. Taking things generally, I am highly pleased so far. I derive a great deal of pleasure, and besides quite a delicacy for our table. I have no doubt in my mind that squab-raising can be made profitable here in Louisiana as well as anywhere else. *I feed my birds along the lines set in the National Standard Squab Book, and I feel that any one following those direc- tions can hardly fail if they give them the proper attention. It appears to me that a good market could be created in New Orleans for squabs if the proper energy and push were behind the business. MUST SAY I PREFER SQUABS TO CHICKENS, by Albert F. Neblung. I will tell you why I am going to raise squabs and not chickens. I have been raising both for some time and have wanted to sell my chickens, and have found a buyer at last, and have sold out all I had, also sold all my pigeons, because they were not what I wanted. Now to get a start with the best there is in the line of squab breeders. I could clean my squab coop in two hours, then they would be all tight for one week without need of cleaning, but the chickens needed about two _ hours’ work each morning to keep away lice, then it was never right. The chickens were always wild and would fly as if I were going to kill them all, but the pigeons wonld mind their business, be tame, sit on my hand, and eat out of it. I’d like to see a chicken do that. Then I set an incubator with 108 eggs and hatched fifty-four chickens. The first week I lost fifteen, the second week, fourteen, the next two weeks eleven. Out of the fifty-four I had fourteen left. That is the way chickens do with you. But when pigeons lay, you will have two squabs. You don't have to feed them or watch the heat in the incubator or brooder. Well, to cut a long story short, chickens eat about twice as much as pigeons. About the same with work, if not more. Me tor pigeons! I will have some good Carneaux or Homers. I have room for about one hundred pairs, but will not start with that number. PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAUX IN NEBRASKA. I used oat straw for nest material. The birds leave all other kinds for it. It’s soft, pliable, holds shape, is superior to anything for both hens’ nests and birds’ nests, of any- thing procurable. They build of it large nests which protect the eggs from cold. Having the nest shelves on cleats of iron keeps lice or mites away. With a keg of good, strong whitewash with carbolic acid in it, a man can clean nests in a jiffy. Dip in keg and save lots of time. His lofts look neat at all times. A man could clean many hundred in an hour. [I use plenty of salt in all whitewash. The birds peck at it, and get plenty of lime and salt. In buying birds I always put on an extra fifty cents a pair. This gets the best at all times for foun- dation stock.—William B. Thomas, Texas. AP PENDEXAG. A great many children come into this world every year with a decided deficiency of the liquor protoplasm in their little bodies, and continue to suffer for want of the supply of it, until some bright physician ad- vises that they be given squabs to eat, as it is practically the only known way of supplying this life-giving fluid. It is a well demonstrated fact that nothing is so beneficial in the treatment of children’s diseases, such as dyspepsia, stomach and intestinal, where the pancreatic and gastric juices have vanished and the ptyalin of the saliva has disappeared. This squab elixir is almost instantly ab- sorbed into the veins and is the most nourishing, invigorating and vitalizing juice the medical profession has ever discovered, especially in the case before mentioned, and also in all other “wasting away’ diseases due to malnutrition. It must not be understood that squabs as a life-building food are necessarily confined to the children — far fromit. Any one suffering from dyspepsia, indigestion, chlorosis or any of these system-deplet- ing stomach diseases is equally benefited.—Franklin H. Smith, California. MY SALT CAT, by P. Earl Kolb. Take one part charcoal, one part sifted sand (using the coarse part), one part salt, and add a little lime, enough to make it stick, and add a little water. Mix well. Make one or more wood moulds and fill them with this mixture, then let them dry (I put mine near the stove, for . the bottom part is hard to get dried without heat). When the mass is hard it will come out of the mould like a brick. Place a brick on a board in the cage and the pigeons will peck at it. To retain the peculiar delicate flavor of the squab the favored method of preparing them for the table is as follows: If possible make use of a regular covered roaster; in any event use a pan that can be covered. If you care to stuff them, and oysters are not objectionable, use bread crumbs and fresh oysters, though many claim this method is no improvement. Roast them rather slowly for an hour and a half or two hours, basting with melted butter every fifteen minutes. In frying or broiling them the greater portion of the delicious delicate flavor of this superior dish is lost and you are the loser thereby.—F. B. Shepard, Pennsylvania. APPENDIX G FOUR-WEEKS SQUABS BEAT EIGHT- WEEKS CHICKS, by A. J. Alexander. Six pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers arrived here March 13. Three weeks later I sent an order for ten pairs, so I have a stock of seventeen pairs and have had them about two months. T now have thirty-six squabs, about twenty of them off the nest, and they weigh at from three to four weeks old from three-quarters to one pound each. I am writing this to show you and others how much easier it is to raise squabs than chicks. I hatched twenty-four barred Rock chickens in February and March and now have only eight of them. They have disappeared by night from rats, and some were drowned by being led out in grass by old Biddy. Each day finds me looking them up to see if the eight remaining are all there. My little Rocks are now nice broilers while the oldest squabs can’t be told from the old birds. In fact my squabs are larger at four weeks old than the Rocks are at eight weeks old. After I have time to raise pigeons enough to have a reasonable stock there will be no more chicken raising in mine. I put an extra pick-up pigeon egg into a nest with one egg and three more were laid. The hen hatched four squabs but one died. One nest with two squabs in it was deserted and I lost them, making three squabs lost out of thirty-nine, which is much better than I did with chickens running at large or in a barnyard. Doubling my stock in two months’ time I think pretty good for a new breeder. I FEED WILD SEEDS PICKED ON THE STALK, by Vivian E. Dawley. I saw in the April issue of the magazine an article by J. W. Arthurs, saying that Homers were real money- makers, and I am convinced beyond all doubt that they are as good as the best, and better than the rest. I have eighteen pairs in one pen and since the first of May have sold $20.73 worth of squabs, and on July 24 there were twenty-two squabs and twelve eggs in the coop. All my feed since April 1 has con- sisted of yellow corn, whole and cracked, and Canada peas. Corn is going up in price every week here. It is now (July) $1.50 per bag, and Canada peas $2.40 per bushel. My wild seed I feed at this time of the year, green. I pick it on the stalk and place it on the wire in the flying pen, and the birds get plenty of exercise clinging to the wire and pecking it to pieces. I keep grit by them at all times, as I think it the most essential of anything we give them, except water, which should be given at least three times a day, and the best of spring water should always be used, as river or pond water is softer and creates a slime in the drinking fountains quicker than the spring water. My three hundred birds (Homers) purchased in May, 1910, have given me squabs for sale every month since, except December, paying from five to seven per cent per month on cost of fock and equipment. I am planning to en- large my plant.—D. N. Carrington, New York. 381 HOW I LEARNED NOT TO LOSE A SQUAB, by Mrs. E. C. Monahan. One year as a pigeon breeder hardly seems long enough for advice-giving, but I am so sure that I have the solution why young stock are lost in the first few weeks after leaving the nests that I can't keep it to myself. Advice need not.be taken, anyway. I lose not one bird. When the squabs first leave their nests, I arrange re- treats to give the frightened little things plenty of opportunity for rest from the hazing even the gentle Carneaux give. Next I transfer them to the youngster pen at night and slip them into a roomy corner. For several days after this, I scatter food handy before the callow brood when the older birds are inter- ested in fresh bath water or a little hempseed. The last thing at night, before the newcomers have mustered courage to go above to roost where the older birds already are, I scatter grain as long asit is picked up. AsI am raising birds which at eight months outweigh their parents, who are eighteen to twenty-two-ounce Carneaux, my plan seems a good one. I also keep the same bone and muscle-making dry mash before them in hoppers that poultrymen say is indispensable. lt is dry bran mixed with charcoal, grit, oyster shell, salt, and a very little cayenne pepper and commercial beef scraps. This hopper is liberally patronized by the birds. The squabs in the nests nearly always weigh sixteen ounces at three weeks, and where the nests are low many of them run about at this age. The parents feed them for eight to ten days longer. At five weeks, when the young are no longer tolerated near their former home, I do the transferring. At first any work that required handling the pigeons made me about sick, for fear I would fail or would hurt the birds. I use no net or other device, simply do all the catching at early roosting time. Mated stock is especially easy to handle that way. The pigeons were bought to keep me out of doors, for reason of health, but have developed into a fine pin- money investment, so the plant is to be en- larged soon. I often give the Squab Magazine to persons buying stock of me, and recommend it to all who show the faintest interest in pigeons. I notice some writers suggesting that the first egg be taken from the hen pigeon as soon as laid, and another be substituted, until the second is laid, then both eggs again be re- placed, so that the two eggs will hatch the same day. Child play. Again I wish to say that the birds with Nature as the teacher can run their own business. As a matter of fact, as all experienced breeders know, the birds do not hover the first egg closely in any season; in winter, just enough to keep it from freezing. You can examine the one egg and you will find almost invariably the first egg cold until the hen goes on the nest for laying the second egg, which is about 2 p.m. the third day. Then she hovers the eggs closely, and the hatching process begins with the two eggs in the nest.—M. C. Martin, Kansas. -APPENDEX FIRST-CLASS HOMERS IN THEIR KANSAS HOME. SIXTY CENTS A PAIR, by Charles S. Eby. I have a standing order for all the Plymouth Rock Extra Homer squabs I can raise from a large firm in Detroit (Michigan), and they pay me sixty cents a pair, just as they are off the nest. They told me they were the largest squabs they had ever seen. They weigh from one pound to nineteen ounces apiece. I think I have the largest or rather the heaviest Homer squabs in the country. Don’t you think so? The smallest squab I ever weighed at four weeks of age weighed fifteen ounces. I have lost but three old birds since I started, ood that was with sour crop, caused by poor eed. Question: I am going to start squab raising in a carriage house which is now overrun with rats and mice. How should I arrange the place to keep them out? Answer: ladvise you to lay one-half inch mesh wire netting-on the whole floor, also the walls and ceiling, so as to make it physically impossible for rats or mice to get into the squab room from the outside. If you have a double floor you can lay the wire netting between the floors. You must be careful to screen the ventilators, and in the management of the window, especially when closing for the night. Question: Here in Illinois we have cow peas in plenty. Are they good feed for squabs, and are they as good as Canada peas? I can buy them for from $1.25 to $1.75 per bushel, accord- ing to the season. Answer: Cow peas are not favored so much as Canada peas and are gen- erally more expensive. They are all right to feed to pigeons. Question: I am a woman and dislike to kill and pluck the squabs. Would you recom- mend my shipping the young squabs alive from Mississippi to the northern markets? Answer: No. If you don’t like to kill them, why don’t you raise up your pigeons for breed- ers and sell them alive in pairs, as so many are now doing? WHAT AN EASTERNER SEES IN CALI- FORNIA, by B. F. Babcock. Having been in Southern California and Los Angeles for over a year, it has given me a good opportunity to look around and give to the readers of this magazine an idea of the possibilities of squab business in Southern California. The climate is par excellence (except occasional fog and dampness in the morning, which may cause sickness among the breeders, but this is easily overcome) having none of the extreme Eastern winters and no bad storms. I have not so far seen any squabs in the markets that compare. with the ones that I raised in New Jersey from Plymouth Rock Extra Homers and sent to the New York markets. I have been raising pigeons for the last few years, but never paid any attention to the rais- ing of squabs for market until about a year ago. I had some Homer pigeons, and then I bought a few more, and sold my first pair of squabs in May, 1910, and from that time on I have had sale for all the squabs I could raise. I sell all my squabs dressed, and get seventy-five cents a pair for all. I feed corn, wheat, kaffir corn, buckwheat, hemp, peas, barley and millet. They are very prolific breeders and raise nice squabs. I ama great lover of pigeons and find squab raising very interesting work. I have been a subscriber to the Squab Magazine since January, 1910, and think it is the best period- ical on pigeons ever published, and would not be without it.—Ralph Lenz, Ohio. I bought some fine Homers from the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company two years ago. A friend asked me to try my birds in a Homing Club, but I thought they were not good enough for racing. I joined one of the largest Homing Clubs in Canada. I won a good many prizes in the club, the birds flying as far North as Cobalt.—Peter Chormann, Ontario. The retail prices in Providence for ten- pound squabs are $1.10 per pair, $5 per dozen.— H. C. Card, Rhode Island. APPENDIX G HOW I BUILT LARGE FROM A SMALL START, by W. E. Blakslee. Many times we fail to realize that the things we do for a pleas- ant pastime may become most important later. About three years ago I thought it would be an enjoyable and interesting way to spend my spare time to have a small flock of pigeons, and make a study of raising both breeders and squabs. At that time I little realized what it was going to mean for me later. My first move was to obtain the National Standard Squab Book and study up what information I could derive from that. I found it to be a great aid to me for the ‘“‘ know how,” and what to do, in getting my place in proper shape for keeping birds. As I advanced in my experience I appreciated more and more what the Manual taught. Ifixed a place at the start for a good number of birds, and also a good-sized rearing pen. My first order to the Plymouth Rock Squab Company was for only three pairs of birds. It was my intention to go slow and sure, and let my knowledge increase as my birds in- creased. I can see what it means to me now in being able to handle any number of pigeons with perfect ease. After I got started under way, I found my- self getting more and more interested. There seems to be something very attractive in it if one once gets fully interested. The growth of the squab is a fast and wonderful develop- ment. Any lover of nature cannot help being astonished by seeing it. After one has raised a nice lot of selected breeders, he certainly has done a work to be proud of. As I advanced ‘in raising my flock, I added now and then a few birds from Mr. Rice to mix in with my own raising. I had such good success, and increased so fast, that many times I found myself wishing I could devote my whole time to them. [ little thought then the time would come so soon for me to do. so. My birds have done well and proved a perfect success from my start, and I have a fine large flock at present that is a good investment for me. [I have had the misfortune to lose my health and have had to stay ina higher altitude than my own home all the summer, leaving my home and birds to the care of my wife and daughter, who have kept everything right up to good success and standard. This proves a family might be left in worse circumstances than having a good, profitable flock of pigeons to help out. My condition has made it neces- sary for me to give up my home in the valley for one in the mountains, so I am having to give up my position in the manufacturing line and do what I am next best fitted for, and able. If it was not for my squab experience, I don’t know what I would take up, for I am prepared for maintaining myself only in a mechanical life. It now looks as if the squab business came to me for a good purpose. I now have nearly a thousand pairs, all Plymouth Rock stock. I am getting fine squabs, very few less than ten ounces, most twelve to fourteen ounces and very often I find a few fifteen, sixteen and seventeen ounces. 383 HOW WE RID A LOFT OF FLIES AND MICE, by H. J. Moeller. We are living in the trade center of this state (Wisconsin), but the game laws extend over such a wide range of time, that it is a hard proposition to have our squabs bring the right market prices. At present (July) we are receiving three dollars per dozen for squabs weighing eight to nine pounds per dozen, while the same are being retailed for four and five dollars. The prices of grain, however, are reasonable, thus afford- ing us one advantage over the low prices paid. We have arranged to have always about fifty extra nestbowls on hand, so that when the squabs are taken from the soiled ones we can quickly take them out and replace with clean ones. Then if the time does not permit we can put the dirty nestbowls aside and clean them later in the day. After the nests are cleaned we scrub them with a solution of lime and carbolic acid. We also use the crystal form of carbolic acid as a disinfectant around the coop, placing it on different parts of the floor in cans with the tops perforated. This is a quick way to rid a loft of flies and mice, as neither of them can bear*the odor. For nest- ing material we use nothing but tobacco stems in the warm months and marsh hay in the winter. Our loft is given a good cleaning twice a year, and painted a good heavy coat of whitewash. The floor and nests are at- tended to weekly. I have just finished the job of whitewashing my pen with a very good whitewash made as follows: Dump a bushel of lime into a water- tight barrel and add water until it is slaked, at the same time adding cup by cup, while the slaking is going on and the mixture is very hot, common kerosene oil until you have added a gallon. If added in this way the oil forms a curious chemical combination with the slaked lime. The product when mixed with water to form a whitewash of ordinary consistency gives a smooth, hard finish, brilliant whitewash. Fill the barrel up with water after the mixture has cooled, when a small amount of the uncombined oil rises to the surface and protects the wash against deteriora- tion. Any unused residue keeps for years. Put the wash made as indicated above on the outside of everything that you wish a brilliant, durable white. On the inside use the same whitewash, modified by adding a third of a cup of crude carbolic acid (purchased at drug store) to the water bucket of the wash. The carbolic acid reacts with the lime, making carbolate of lime, which is the basis of most of the lice powders. This is an excellent white- wash to put on the nestboxes and walls on the inside of the squabhouses——H. M. Mayhew, California. Carneaux come not only in red splashed with white, but also yellow splashed with white and solid yellow. These colors are liable to come out at any time, just as several colors come from Homers. ; SMALL SQUABHOUSE. In a corner of the right-hand picture is seen a group cf some of his Homers. PITTSBURG A RICH MARKET FOR SQUABS, by William McK. Ewart. One year ago last March, I purchased twenty-six pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux and nine pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I had no intention of making a business out of my birds, but bought them to please my son. This started me to making an effort to reach two hundred pairs of birds. Last August I started to kill squabs and have been since selling them to a Pittsburg wholesaler who pays liberally and takes all I offer him. I must tell you what grand breeders my birds have been. By substituting Carneaux eggs under Homers, I have been getting my best birds to lay fifteen times a year. (For full directions for doing this, see page 231 of this Manual.) The squabs weigh a pound at four weeks of age, which is what good Carneaux should weigh. Most of my young birds have proven as good and better than my old ones, which goes to prove that my original birds were first class. It pays always to buy the best. A friend of mine told me about mixing Venetian red in the grit, which has proven a first-class way to give it to them. They must get the red when they eat the grit. I have no trouble now with canker. Another plan of his is to equip your nests with wire bobs, made from griddle toasters, which cost five cents each. Have these fastened on your nests when squabs are about three weeks old, and keep them there till you are ready to kill at four weeks. This keeps the squabs from getting out on the floor and running off all their flesh and weight. The old birds feed them through these wire bobs which will swing in if you wish them to, thus letting the old bird into the nest. This, however, requires you to let the old bird out to get feed and exercise. find the cock bird will feed through these wires all right. While raising youngsters I found that more females were dying than males, so I tried the scheme of taking away the first egg and only hatching the second. As a result I now am actually long on hens. APP EN DIAG Four years ago the Healys purchased twenty pairs of Ply- mouth Rock Extra Homers. The increase was conserved, the culls disposed of, and new stock was introduced and added just as fast as the owners were able to pay for it. The market- ing of squabs was also carried along with the growth of the plant, demonstrating conclus- ively that the profits would be greater, and the expense far less than usual to the conduct of a large chicken plant. The houses, fliesand other equipment were gradually gotten in place. As the large stock of poultry was disposed of the proceeds were invested in more adult Homers, and some Carneaux. The flock has grown until now there are 750 pairs of producing birdsin the nine- teen units of houses and flies. Nomore beautiful sight was ever beheld than that presented by these contented and happy birds in their clean and comfortable homes. Shipments of squabs to New York have been successfully made through three summers without the loss of a single bird and no shipment has been re-iced en route. In each box is a tiny outlet for drainage. The rate to New York is $3.50 per one hundred pounds by express, there being no charge made for the ice. The boxes are returned at a very low charge and one box will make the round trip in six days. The New York market alone would take one hundred birds ‘or every single bird offered. There is no way to all the demand and there seems to be no limit to the demand. Mr. Healy, the manager, stated that while he had no stock of any kind for sale, he would be glad to see others enter the business, as there is no element of risk encountered in it, and, with fairly good attention and a little capital most any energetic person could make a suc- cess of the industry.—T. K. Bates, Florida. If you raise pigeons get all you can out of them. Raising squabs is a business, so by all means make it a business. You would not in- vest your good money in a dry-goods business and sit down and expect the business to come to you. Ifa business man with the big, red-writ- ten word of success ever before you, you would fix up your show windows to attract attention, would carry all the newest and best goods, and, above all, you would advertise and advertise well. What applies to one business applies to another. If you go in for squabs, either as your business or as a help to your income, go into it well, and with all your heart. Do not buy your birds and then sit down and wait for results.—Charles B. Durborow, New Jersey. Your birds have proven to be what you claim them to be. I find also that I can depend upon you with absolute confidence.—Sylvester Grote, Ohio. APPENDIX G POOR JUDGMENT IN MARKETING SQUABS. Members of the National Squab Breeders’ Association will be interested in the following letter received from New Jersey: “TI take my squabs to a New York supply house, and am getting top prices. have found out that some breeders are considerably to blame if low prices for squabs prevail. A commission man sold me eight dozen eight- pound squabs for $1.96 a dozen, and the breeder received $1.87 a dozen, minus express- age. I.sold these squabs at $3 a dozen, but I can not always do this, as they smelled a rat.” The above is an instance where one squab breeder profited by the ignorance of another. What happened was this: The breeder of the squabs had eight dozen good ones which he could have sold at retail by the use of ordinary intelligence and the directions given by the National Squab Magazine for $5 a dozen, and at wholesale for at least $3 a dozen. He parted with them at the absurd'y low price of $1.87 a dozen. The expressman or other middleman reported to him that the sale had been made at $1.96 and took off nine cents a dozen commission, probably figuring at five per cent. The breeder did not get the whole of $1.87, because the express charges had to come out of that. It reads like an express company sale. All interstate express com- panies have what is called order and com- mission departments. They will take any farm produce and sell it on commission. In such cases the wagon starts out from the depot with the goods and the driver calls at a con- venient marketplace. It is for the interest of the express company to sell the goods at highest price so that they can get a higher commission but their interest is not nearly so strong as that of the shipper and as a matter of fact, in the case of perishable goods, they are anxious to get rid of the Joad in the quickest possible time. The buyers know all this and taking advantage of the circumstances, buy at what is practically their own figure. The expressman will put up no argument with them and will not move on to another place but concludes the sale then and there. Franklin wrote: ‘‘If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.” If you wish your squabs sold properly, sell them yourself; you are the interested party and don’t think that anybody else will fight your battles for you. The man who sold the squabs for $3 a dozen made his profit because his intelligence was superior to the breeder’s. It is a case of knowledge and skill every time when squabs are marketed. It seems incredible that the original breeder was a member of our associa- tion. Some might ask: Was not the commission man to blame for buying the squabs so cheaply? Did he not rob the breeder? Itis business, and honorable business, to buy in the cheapest and sellin the dearest market. The breeder was to blame, if anybody, in giving up his squabs so cheaply. He would not have done so, had he known that another breeder would step in and buy, and again sell, at a profit. This lack of 385 knowledge on the part of any squab breeder is easily remedied by joining the National Squab Breeders’ Association, subscribing for the mag- azine, reading it every .month,and remem- bering what he reads. The subscription price of the magazine for a year can be saved on every dozen of squabs marketed if the reader will sell as we have instructed him to sell. HOW I CATCH MATES THROUGH PEEP- HOLES, by Arthur H. Penny. I have been in the squab business four years, and have learned by hard experience a few things that may help others just beginning. From my observation, and what I have learned from hotel stewards, commission men, too, I believe that Homers are much the best for the squab breeder, unless he has very fancy private trade. My squabs bring $4 a dozen for all weighing seven pounds to the dozen and over, and I find this a very good price. If I had all ten and twelve-pound squabs, I could not hope to get very much more for them, and taking into consideration the greater amount offeed required for the larger birds, and the fewer squabs produced, I consider the Homers more profitable. J have never seen described my method of mating, which has proven easy and satisfactory. I have several pens for the youngsters that are boarded all around, with a peep-hole, close by a slide in each door. When the birds are mating, I watch them through the peep-hole, and’ when I see a pair together in a nestbox, building a nest, I walk in on them quickly, and almost always catch one in each hand. If I am not certainI have the right ones, I let them go and try again. For this method, rather a small pen is best, and not more than one hundred birds in a pen. COST PER PAIR FOR ME, $1.60 A YEAR, by G. Allan Sorrick. During the first week in March, with a pen of eighteen working pairs, I endeavored to ascertain the cost of feeding a pair of breeders for a year with feed per bushel as follows: Corn .80, wheat $1.20, peas $1.59, millet $1.38, buckwheat $1.11, grit $1.50 per 100. Total pounds fed 30 3-4, cost 57 cents, or $1.60 a paira year. One year ago I made the same test, result $1.80 a pair. I credit the difference to buying feed in larger quantities, and a different method of feeding. The Pitts- burg wholesale prices to jobbers and retailers, which are an advance over prices paid to pro- ducers and shippers, were from December 1 to April $5.50 and $5.75. Newspaper market quotations $4.75 and $5. Few squabhouses are heated. Cold air, if pure, will not hurt pigeons if they are well fed. It is customary for the old birds to hover their young more closely during freezing weather. If the pigeons are not broken in to cold weather you will find some frozen squabs in the squab- house if you forget and leave the windows open on such a flock some night in zero weather. The Squab Magazine has printed articles written by Canadian breeders telling how they breed squabs through the winter as well as the summer in houses built of cotton cloth. 386 TWO KINDS OF SQUABS. The top picture shows Homer squabs ten days old: the bottom a pair of Carneaux squabs almost four weeks old. closer to the Homers than to the Carneaux, so proportionately.) I received the Plymouth Rock Carneaux ten days ago and the other goods a few days before the arrival of the birds. Everything came to mein good shape and is satisfactory in every way. I am not much given to making testi- monials, but I want to say that the birds you sent me are fine, indeed much better than I ex- pected, or bargained for. You advised me that you had now no solid yellow birds, so I was much surprised to find one fine yellow cock and three other birds so nearly solid yellow that the white can be seen only by close examination. I made two entries in the pigeon show I told you about, and won first in class of five. Some of the pairs have already gone to work and have eggs, although they are in the moult.—C. R. Deardorff, Indiana. APE NITE XG AG Since quail can no longer be served at California hotels and cafes, fine, fat squabs are filling the place at first-class tables. A large squab plant” about sixty milesfrom San Fran- cisco has a contract for allits squabs (large varieties), killed and feathers off, at $5.50 per dozen. Another gets $5 alive the yeararound. When wecon- sider that these birds are but four or five weeks old, and re- quire little or no care except that the parent birds are well fed and watered, it certainly looks well for this growing busi- ness. It pays, like any busi- ness, to raise the best. When people ship little, half-fed, half- feathered, black-meated squabs, bred from small stock, there is small profit, and no satisfaction to seller, dealer or consumer. The San Francisco papers have all summer quoted squabs at $2 to $2.50 per dozen, but hun- dreds of shippers have been getting from $3 to $5 right through, according to size and quality. They pay better than chickens. One squab plant in Sonoma County sends as high as 700 fat squabs per month to San Francisco.—W. A. Bolton, California. Iam shipping Plymouth Rock squabs to a hotel in Ind- iana. They give me $3.75 a dozen. They wanted me to sell them by the pound, offering me so much for twelve pounds, but I made one shipment of sixteen Homer squabs that weighed twelve pounds, and they were so well pleased with them, that I finally got $3.75 per dozen to start, and I think I can contract with them for about $4.50 per dozen the year round. The parties I deal with send me a check on the first and fif- teenth of each month. They will accept even half a dozen squabs at one time. The express charges on my shipments are only twenty-five cents.—Mrs. Ida Kosman, Indiana. (The camera was they look larger In South Bend, the people like squabs very much, but they do not want to pay more than $3 per dozen. I sold some squabs in Chicago last summer at $3 per dozen. I paid the mer- chandise express rate for dressed squabs until we got a new agent. I asked him what the express rate on dressed squabs was. He looked it up and found that they go at the general special rate, which is less than mer- chandise rate.—W. O. Bunch, Indiana. _to the APPENDIX. G CHICAGO $4.50 A DOZEN, by Stewart Gal- braith. Send the National Squab Magazine for another year. I like it and prize it next National Standard Squab _ Book, which taught me how to raise squabs at a profit. I live in a suburb of Chicago and get $4.50 a dozen for my squabs twenty-five to thirty days old, not picked, no express charges, and although I have about one hundred breeders, Icannot begin to supply the demand. I have only the best Plymouth Rock Homers. I use a prepared pigeon feed only, costing $2 a hundred in half-ton lots delivered. I have an iron kitchen sink sunk in the pigeon fly. The fly is forty-four by forty, nine feet high, and as I have the garden hose attached to faucet in basement and running to this sink with water running slowly all times (except very cold weather) and keep a solution of perman- ganate of potash in the water, I don’t know what cankeris. Put one-quarter ounce perman- ganate of potash in a pint bottle of water and use about one teaspoonful of this solution to one gallon of water. HOMERS ARE WORTHY THEIR HIGH PLACE, by Harry M. Samson. Only too often the opportunity presents itself for the man with a fairly productive loft of Homers and kindred breeds to launch out upon the sea of uncer- tainty by becoming interested in some of the larger varieties of squab producers. There are about as many varieties of large squab pro- ducers as there are hairs on a dog’s tail, some good, others fairly so and many absolutely worthless. It is not size that counts, but the breeding qualities. An old breeder quoted something that seems to ring true, viz., “‘ Other birds may come and other birds may go, but the Homer keeps on forever.’’ Go where you will, one finds the Homer in evidence. The safe way in shipping is to have a tag of your own printed something as follows: ““‘PLY- MOUTH ROCK SQUABS, from JOHN JONES, COLLIERS, WEST VIRGINIA, PERISHABLE RUSH, FOR ”’ and then write plainly in ink or indelible pencil the full name and address of the consignee, being sure to put on his street address and spell out in full the name of his state. Inside the box:put your in- voice, with your name and address in full printed on it, and send him by mail a letter telling him what and when you are shipping, with duplicate invoice. Sometimes irresponsible grain dealers will doctor peas, and actually make them poisonous for pigeons. Some of the least scrupulous will go so far as to take a lot of cracked corn or other grain which is green with mould and dye it eaas Such grain will make pigeons sick and ill squabs. Cases of sickness and deaths in the squabhouse are in nine cases out of ten traceable to the grain. One must be observing to detect such bad grain and it is not to be wondered that other causes are imagined. The remedy is to buy grain only of reliable dealers. 387 HOW TO FASTEN WIRE NETTING, by W. O. Bunch. Take No. 12 galvanized wire and with a pair of common pliers in the right hand and the wire in the left make a ring about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Then cut off and make another, or as many as you want. These little rings should be open enough so that you can easily put one around the two outside wires of the poultry netting. Then with the pliers pinch the little rings together. An- other nice way is to take hog rings and with hog ringers you can fasten the netting together very quickly and neatly. : Question: In my flock of thirty-five pairs of Homers which at one time were all mated and at work, eight pairs have broken up and taken other mates. One male bird has raised squabs with three females, and built a nest with one, leaving her before she laid eggs, making four matings for him in eight months, or less. Is this customary? Amnswer: In every flock there are exceptions to the rule. For that reason, no seller can give mated pairs whose matings are guaranteed to hold absolutely. I think it is a mistake, as I have many times written, to advertise mated pairs guaranteed, for pigeons themselves settle such matters. Moreover, if one sells what he calls guaranteed mated pairs, this means, in the mind of a rascal, that the buyer can hold the seller responsible for profits he might have made if certain pairs had held continuously together, instead of readjusting, as in the above case. That may seem to be far-fetched, but I have seenit tried. The most satisfactory way to sell pigeons is to let the customer try them for a while and, if hé is not pleased with them, exchange them, or refund his money. That certainly is fair both to buyer and seller. Anybody who would guarantee the flirtings and other love affairs of a pair of pigeons in a pen with many other pigeons has quite a con- tract on his hands. It has been my experience that those who were the most insistent in guaranteeing such matters have been the slow- est in performance. They rectified nothing and in the end, ninety-nine per cent of them went out of business. The reasons pigeons look for new mates occasionally are the same as one sees every day in the human family. The rule among humans, as among pigeons, is that of one wife, one husband, nevertheless there are sailors with a sweetheart in every port, and railroad men with wives at both ends of the line.—Elmer C. Rice. In Savannah there is great interest in pigeons. The Homers and Carneaux have full sway down here. They are raised mostly for pets and not for commercial purposes. The Homer squabs bring from $4.50 te $5.00 a dozen and the matured birds about $3.00 a pair. The Carneaux bring $6.00 a dozen for the squabs. The matured birds are $5.00 a pair straight. The demand exceeds the supply and it is a pity that some large plant is not established here. The hotels sell the squabs as quail._— Timothy F. Sullivan, Georgia. 388 THE PERCY PERKINS ENERGIZER. The inventor finds use for this excellent machine almost daily, in his work among the squabs. SPLENDID MACHINE FOR THOSE WHO SELL SQUABS AT LESS THAN COST, by Percy Perkins. Every squab breeder should make use of cheap and simple appliances to help him in his work. A little ingenuity in such matters will save him considerable ex- pense. I send herewith a sketch of a little device which I find exceedingly useful in producing animation in the breeder. It stimu- lates the thought cells and, incidentally, humiliates the spirit. I have found it helpful in cases like the following, for example. Our butcher called me on the telephone and said he would buy a few dozen squabs if the price was right. I asked him what he considered the right price. He replied in turn by asking me what it cost me to raise a dozen squabs. As I have not raised any yet, I was in some doubt, not to say perplexity, but I promptly rejoined that each batch cost me, as near as I could figure, about two dollarsa dozen. There- upon he said he would give me $2.10 a dozen, which would allow me a profit of five per cent, which is more than government bonds pay. I told him his argument was good and that I would accept and give him a few dozen at his price. He asked how soon I could send them and I was obliged to reply that I would not have any ready for market until probably about February, 1912, as I was experimenting with a lot of young birds and wondering how many cocks and hens there were, and when it would be likely that they might reach adult age. He hung up the receiver with a fearful oath and I then repaired to the corner of the squabhouse where I have my machine set up, and exercised violently with it for half an hour, to remove the vexation caused by my failure to make that five per cent profit. I think the price the butcher offered me was a very fair one, as it would have enabled me to see several dollars which I could view in no other way. APPENDIX G A word of appreciation from a conscientiously handled and well satisfied patient never made me mad yet. Possibly a little of the same thing from a customer of yours won't hurt your business feelings any. Six months ago I bought your Manual. Before that I knew as much about breeding squabs as you do about medicine, and prob- ably less. After reading it over three times I ordered three pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, which arrived April 14, 1911. 1. From these three pairs in just six months I got the following results, viz: Seven and a half pairs killed for personal use and sale, one and a half pairs banded, two pairs eggs in nest now, besides one egg broken in two different nests, and parent birds deserted nests. 2. From six pairs Extra Homers bought of you May 4, 1911: Twelve and a half pairs killed, two and a half pairs banded, two pairs eggs deserted, one pair in nest. 3. From six pairs bought of you June 8, 1911: Nine pairs killed, one and a half pairs banded, one pair eggs deserted, one pair in nest. For the squabs killed ‘I have received on an average one dollar per pair. The squabs I banded were all very large. Kept and moved to a separate pen to mate and save for breeders. I have fed whole corn, kaffir corn, red wheat, cracked corn, Canada peas, barley, and twice a week rice and hempseed, feeding twice daily, except when I didn’t get home before dark, which happens about twice a week. My birds have had no lice or disease, and are strong and vigorous. The house is cleaned weekly, and they have a bath in the middJe of every pleasant day, also a constant supply of rock salt, fresh water, hard grit and fine oyster shell. Average time I spend every day is about ten minutes morning and afternoon, feeding and watering, and two hours once a week cleaning squabhouse. This is a greenhorn record of a small squab plant that is a source of recreation and pleasure, and a fair return to a man who is decidedly not mak- ing a business of squab raising. If my birds go through the winter safely, I shall give you a good order in the spring, for I can handle three times as many as I have now with little or no more demand upon my time.—Dr. Howell S. Bontecou, New York. Your Manuai has been of the greatest assist- ance to me, and since adopting your methods and style of housing, a great improvement has taken place in my pigeons, although I am anxious as soon as possible to get some of your birds, as the demand for squabs is grow- ing here, and will be just as profitable here in the course of a year or two.as in America. I have the best birds it is possible to get here. I have 170 pairs with accommodations for 400 pairs. I want to send for some of your stock. —D. R. MacDonald, Australia. APPENDIX G HOW A MARYLAND WOMAN COOKS SQUABS, by Mrs. Clara M. Hodson. I recently furnished the squabs and recipe for preparing them for a spring luncheon. cannot always fill my orders for fresh birds. Here are two of my squab recipes: Grandma's Pigeon Pie. When I was a little girl, I went from the city every summer to visit my grandparents, living on a large farm on a beautiful river in Mary- land. » There was an old mill on this place of the Dutch type of wind gristmills. It had gone to decay and become a rookery or pigeon loft. I would climb up and gather the young squabs in a basket and take them to my grand- mother, and then we would anxiously await dinner. This is the way she made it: After the bird had been shorn of feathers and drawn, it was split down the back with a sharp knife and pressed flat, or cut in half, as many pre- ferred half a bird, and it serves better. Placing the birds in a large stewing kettle, she covered them with water, cut up a very small onion, and a tablespoonful of minced parsley. This she added with salt, and a tiny piece of red pepper pod, tc the cooking birds, about ten or fifteen minutes cooking. Having made a nice pastry, she lined a large round baking pan with it, and put in the birds and stock. Adding a large lump of butter, half a cup of flour for thickening, and a cupful of rich milk or cream, she would cover the whole with fine pastry, touching here and there with a little butter, and bake until it was a golden brown, serving very hot at the midday dinner with fresh vegetables and plenty of fruit. About it there are pleasant memories. Roast Squab with Peas. Select medium-sized, fat squabs, draw and wash thoroughly, cleansing the mouth and bill carefully. Tuck the head under the left wing, bending wings close to the sides of the birds. Make an incision in which to tuck the legs, after cutting off the feet. Stuff the birds with minced celery (or minced celery and bread- crumbs), salt and pepper birds and rub with butter and a little flour. Place them in a shallow baking pan with just enough water to keep them from burning, and roast about twenty minutes in a hot oven, frequently bast- ing with the juices drawn from the birds. Serve whole or individual plates with a garnish of water cress and two tablespoonfuls of sifted or very small peas. Celery gives the flavor of the canvasback duck to the squab, and the whole makes a very acceptable spring luncheon. Question: Please tell me the proper propor- tion of grain to feed my pigeons, so as to obtain the largest squabs. My squabs although they have been as large as a pound apiece when four weeks old, now scarcely weigh half of that. Answer: The feed has a great deal to do with the weight of the squabs. If your squabs are Tunning light, you should cut down your wheat and feed more corn, Canada peas and bread crumbs, all of which are fattening. 389 HOW I STARTED A BOYS’ PIGEON CLUB, by Reuben Brigham. Knowing how much pigeons have meant to me, I have been always glad to help other boys to learn to care for them and stick to them. About a year ago, the pigeon craze struck the boys in this Mary- land neighborhood, and I helped organize the Sandy Spring Pigeon Club with thirteen charter members, all being boys under twenty-one excepting myself. Our object was ‘‘to encour- age the keeping of pigeons in this neighbor- hood and to promote the more intelligent and profitable care of those already in our posses- sion.’’ We agreed to meet every other Friday night and to admit only bona fide pigeon keepers. Strangely enough, after the first en- thusiasm waned, the attendance and interest continued and it is rare that more than one or two members are absent. Minutes are read, short papers are written and delivered, and pig- eon papers subscribed to and studied. MUSLIN WINDOWS FOR ME, NO GLASS, by W. E. Blakslee. Last fall we put up on our new mountain site a building for our Plymouth Rock squab breeders, two hundred feet long, twenty-four feet wide, with a four-foot wide alleyway lengthwise in the center. Over this alleyway the whole length of the building is a lantern with windowsinits sides. All the doors for the pens are only frames. The ones on the alleyway are covered with wire. The outside ones opening into the flying yards are covered with muslin. The windows in the lantern are also frames covered with muslin. At each end of the alleyway is a tight-boarded door swing ing out for winter use, and a wired frame door swinging in for summer use. The way the doors and windows are arranged makes sure of no direct circulation across the nestboxes. There are no drafts from the use of muslin, but we do plan not to have any direct line of circula- tion across the nests. Our building is on posts six feet above the ground. The floor is double boarded with paper between. This gives a thorough ventilation underneath and the whole building is perfectly free from any ground dampness whatever. Just two years ago I bought four pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and ten pairs of Ply- mouth Rock Carneaux. I have thirty-five pairs of Homers (sold all the rest for squabs) and four hundred Carneaux—sold seventy- three. So you can see that for a beginner I have done fairly well. I never have sold a squab for less than twenty-five cents, and never had enough of them to supply my neighbors. I have just bought five acres and hope to build up a good business. Will want more birds before the first of the year.—W. C. Barrett, California. Have some cards printed with ‘‘ Eat Squabs and Stay Young’’ on them. Send these to all the women in town who are financially able to eat such; and explain in brief why squabs are the best meat. Be sure that you havean extra supply on hand when you do this. 390 MR. STEWARD AND HIS BIG PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. SQUAB BREEDING FOR A STAY-AT- HOME MAN, by Charles E. Steward. Three years ago today I was stricken with heart trouble and not being able to do any work of any account, I sat around the house and did nothing but worry about my trouble so I thought I would get a few pairs of Homers to keep my mind occupied. I sent to Boston for twenty-five pairs of Homers and one pair of Carneaux. Today I have two hundred Homers and twenty Carneaux. Last summer I kept eighty youngsters for breeders, all banded, and left them to choose mates for themselves. Out of the eighty I got thirty- seven pairs and six odd mates. The best part of it was there were no nestmates that went together. I put twenty-five pairs of these young birds in a pen by themselves. Today, June 21, I counted forty-eight young ones and nineteen eggs. This shows that some birds have both young and eggs. Can any one beat it? This shows that it pays to buy good stock to start with. As squab breeders I think the Plymouth Rock Homers can not be beat (if they have the attention). My birds get fresh water twice a day and all the green stuff they will eat, such as lettuce, horseradish leaves and dandelion. For nesting material I use tobacco stems and hay cut about six inches long. I notice that when you use only tobacco stems they become hard and dry in the nests and when a bird happens to bear much weight on the eggs you will find a good many eggs broken with a little dent or crack, and won’t hatch. This is because there APPENDIX G is no “‘give’’ in the tobacco stems. When it is dry, mix hay or straw with your tobacco stems and see if you haven’t less broken eggs. My first squabs I sold all sizes for $3 per dozen. I am now selling eight-pound squabs at $5, nine-pound squabs at $6, twelve-pound squabs at $8 per dozen, less express and com- mission. I have nothing in my pens breeding less than six pairs per year, averaging nine to twelve pounds per dozen.. The Carneau-Homer cross makes a large squab, also Maltese- Homer, but I would not like to keep them for breeders because a well-established breed is so much more reliable in reproduc- ing its characteristics—Mrs. W. A. Roth, Indiana. I have been in the squab business for some time and have done fairly well, but after visit- ing a number of small plants find they all use the Plymouth Rock Homers. Now what I want to know is if you will trade me Extra Homers for forty or fifty pairs of red and splashed Carneaux, most of the Carneaux I have being from parent stock that came from you and bought by a doctor of my town. I want to put in these two pens and buy them, and if satisfactory I will sell my other breeds and replace with your Homers. One of your customers was at my house last evening and he told me that your Homers are certainly first class, and of course I want the best.—George Sisco, New Jersey. HOW I SAVE MONEY BY FEEDING BREAD, by Charlton Green. I have been feeding bakers’ discarded bread, crushed dry or moistened. The pigeons like clean bread and white bread better than rye bread. Besides bread, I feed about half a pound of Indian corn each day. I find the bread an excellent feed for squabs that are just out of the nest. They learn to eat it much quicker and easier than they do grain. I have noticed squabs in nests with it also. I believe itis as good for squabs in nest as it is for the older squabs or youngsters. I don't believe a better feed could be fed to youngsters. The bread costs me one cent a loaf, or from $1.00 to $1.10 per one hundred pounds. Take a piece of paper, wrap it around a pencil, glue and pull the pencil out, dip the paper in pulverized sulphur, hold the mouth of the bird open with thumb and first finger, and blow the contents down the bird’s neck once a day for a day or two, and the canker is gontie.—Harry Wesner, Pennsylvania. Pa er ABPE NDESOSG PEA VINES ARE BEST NESTING MA- TERIAL, by C. S. Persons. In nesting material I have used nearly everything, and I have found that the common pea vines which every one raises in gardens and throws away or burns are their choice. They willleave any- thing else for them. After I have used the peas I pull up the vines and thoroughly dry them, then cut them in lengths of about six inches, leaving as many of the leaves on as well stay. Sweet pea vines are equally as good. ~ In regard to green food, clover, lettuce and Swiss chard are their favorites and a fine tonic as well. A ten-cent package of Swiss chard (or cut-and-come-again spinach) will feed seven hundred birds from June until the third or fourth frost, asitis very hardy. They will pick the stems clean and leave only the stalks. I feed lettuce the year round, in winter buying it by the crate once a week. I feed clover through the summer. : With regard to a market for squabs, the Chicago commission men are paying from $2.75 to $3.25. I do not blame the commis- sion men for buying at these figures but I do blame the producer for selling, for with every- thing as high as it now is, and after deducting express charges and labor, what has the breeder made? He has simply lost money, and the commission man is getting the benefit of the failure to hustle. HOW TO WASH OUT THE SQUABS’ CROPS, by Henry Blake. A handy and quick way for cleaning the grain out of crops when washing squabs is easily arranged if you have piped water supply. Have a fitting made to screw on the bib-cock. One can go to the ex- pense of having a special fitting made. A cheap way is to tinker one up by using an old hose coupling. Solder a piece of bent small tubing into it. To use it, hold the bird’s head down, putting its mouth over the tube, set the water running slowly, work the bird up and down a few times, so the tube goes well up into the crop, and the job is done. If one does not have the water pie, he can use an elevated reservoir either ung up or put up on a bracket. I stew squabs until tender and done, in water seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. I bake biscuits a delicate brown at the same time, being careful not to make them too thick. Take up the meat, add a little milk to the soup, being careful not to put in enough to weaken it, add salt, butter and pepper to taste; thicken with flour, making a medium thick gravy. Split the hot biscuits and add to this hot gravy. When well saturated take up and place hot squabs on top. Serve. De- licious! I have used in this way, too, rabbits and chickens.—Mrs. Dora B. Badger, Washing- ton. Do not keep extra small squabs for breeders just because their parents are fine birds — all birds will raise offs sometimes. 391 NOT TRUE TO COLOR, by Ralph Walker. I have a pair of Homers, the male being pure white, and the female black all over except one white feather in the back and a few on each leg. I have had only one pair of squabs from them that were of the exact color of the par- ents, and they were of different hatchings. Even then the male was white and the female black. Among the pigeons raised from them I have had the following color combinations: Dark brown, female; several light red pigeons, both sexes; heavy booted, solid silver female; black with white on tips of wings and at base of tail and various other places, both sexes; light brown with dark brown bars, female; and also a big dark blue cock with a shiny red blue breast. Don’t you think this is a pretty good color combination? ; Question: Of what value are pigeon fairs and exhibitions in advertising to sell breeding stock? Are the money prizes enough induce- ment to go to the expense of exhibiting? An- swer: The value of pigeon and poultry exhibi- tions as an advertising medium is something to the breeder who relies for sales on persons who come to visit him and look at his stock, but such results are practically nothing in comparison to the results obtained from peri- odical and newspaper advertising. Pigeon and poultry shows are an interesting neighbor- hood enjoyment, bringing good stock of each section together for comparison and gossip. The money prizes are never of themselves of any particular value, certainly not enough to recompense one for the time and effort ex- pended. One should go into a poultry and pigeon show with the idea of making a week of enjoyment for himself and his family, meeting others, seeing what they are doing, etc., but not with the idea of making himself rich or famous, for that never is accomplished by exhibitions alone. Question: I have been reading a story written by a woman who lost money raising poultry and squabs and her figures of produc- tion do not agree with those given in a bulletin which Ihave. Answer: That is why she failed. It is always assumed, in such writings, that intelligence, skill and industry are factors, but one who fails in these branches is seldom either intelligent, skilful or industrious. I have benefited much from the Magazine and am selling my own squabs to private trade for fifty cents each, dressing five cents extra, and ten cents for delivery; Carneaux squabs one dollar each, and have all I can do. Ply- mouth Rock stock.—Miss Marion S. Baker, Massachusetts. The general wholesale quotations on squabs here (San Francisco) range from $3.00 to $3.50 per dozen, although some extra large would bring $3.75. They can be handled better alive than dressed at present. Trade would prefer to do their own dressing.—Har- baugh & Co. (Wholesale Dealers), California. APPENDAGE A PEN OF FIRST-CLASS HOMERS. SQUAB COST AND PROFIT, by H. C. Frankforter. For the last few years I and a friend of mine have been raising squabs and find that there is profit as well as pleasure de- tived from them. We buy feed from a Balti- more firm which costs us till we get the freight paid $2.25 a hundredweight. We have tried it on a separate pair of Homers and find that they ate nine cents worth of the feed from the day the young were hatched until they were salable, so we made it fifteen cents for labor, feed and health grit. We receive from $3 to $3.25 a dozen for our squabs, so you can see that the profit would be from thirty to forty cents on one pair of squabs. ets “Market reports ”’ are generally furnished to the newspapers by the produce exchanges and in every case are not a record of true transac- tions, as are the stock exchange reports, but are the lowest prices which the members of these exchanges hope to pay for chickens, squabs, fruit, potatoes, etc. If you live in a city where such inspired quotations for eatables are being printed, write to the editor and tell him that as a subscriber to his paper you object to such information as being misleading and untruthful, and published in the interest of the marketmen, with no thought of the producer. This will help to bring about a much needed reform. Not every newspaper will stand for such ‘‘ market reports’’ nonsense. The best send out a man or woman reporter to shop and write what they find. Prices of eatables ob- tained in any other way are inaccurate and false. If there are any squab or chicken breed- ers who are fooled into selling at such low prices simply because they have seen those quotations “‘in print,” they ought to have a guardian. Get your retail prices by actual shopping and then make a fair deduction to get at the whole- sale prices. DURABLE WHITEWASH. A _ whitewash adopted by the United States Government and used for coating light-houses and keepers’ dwellings, is composed as follows: To ten parts of freshly slaked lime add one part of best hydraulic cement. Mix well with salt water. This whitewash when properly mixed and applied, produces a clear white that does not easily rub or wash off. T sell all my squabs to private families and sell all I raise. In winter time the prices run from $4.50 to $5.50, in summer $3.50 to $4.50. Every Tuesday morning I ‘phone to every customer one after another until I have my forty-seven customers called, and then I havea boy hired to deliver the squabs. I have a one- horse wagon, painted orange color, trimmed black, and have a very showy horse, which makes a good appearance. It looks very tidy. I feed_a mixed ration which I buy for $28 a ton. I sold over 5700 squabs last year, took in $1575, cleared about $1000. Not so bad for the boy and me.—J. M. Shellenberger, Penn- sylvania. I inquired the retail price of dressed squabs of Robert Barron, a Yonge Street fish and game dealer of Toronto. He informed me that the price was fifty cents each, or $6 a dozen. Mr. Shelts sells his squabs to the dealer whom I mention at $4 a dozen. There is a large de- mand for squabs in Toronto, as it is a city of 400,000 people.—Charles Watson, Ontario. During the past fourteen years I have had considerable experience, always as a side line, in selling eatables to family trade, and the only way I ever succeeded in obtaining a customer was to go right after them. The personal face-to-face interview captures the trade— Raymond W. Dotts, Pennsylvania. Ae eEN DEG I FEED A GREAT DEAL OF SWISS CHARD, by Hugh Steele. The market here (Kansas) is not very good yet, but is improving. I think a few good marketmen would make it the equal of any, as with all the large cities surrounding us, and very strict game laws being made, the demand is sure to come very fast. Our grain market is rather high: wheat ninety cents, corn eighty cents, kaffir $1.50 per hundred. Canada peas cost about $2 per bushel here and hemp sixteen pounds for $1. I feed_a great deal of Swiss chard, which seems to be relished very much. A small bed will supply a large flock, as it is a very rank grower. GOOD SQUAB DEMAND AROUND PITTSBURG, by James G. Bennett. It costs me about $1.40 here (Pennsylvania) to feed a pair of breeding pigeons that raise from eight to ten pairs of squabs a year. That is the cost with good feed. Do not ever feed old or musty grain. In their free state, pigeons can select a variety of grain and seeds, but when they are kept in flying pens, they must, of course, take what they aie given. While you may have seeming success for a time feeding only cracked corn and wheat or any other two grains selected, yet a long continued feeding of such invariably fails to produce as many or as good squabs as when a properly balanced ration is provided. Always have oyster-shell and the best of grit before them, and I find it very healthful to mix a little air-slaked lime and Venetian red with their grit. The lime sweetens their crops and helps the same as oyster-shellin producing eggs. I find kerosene oil and turpentine in equal parts good for canker, two or three drops to a dose. There is a fine outlet for squabs in this section, Pittsburg being the main market. In fact all along the three rivers here there is a good sale for squabs, as there are so many hotels and clubhouses. The supply cannot more than half meet the demand. The price paid by the wholesalers in Pittsburg is $5.25 a dozen for twelve-pounds-to-the-dozen squabs. ONE BOY’S WORK, by Roland Ralph. There is not a very good squab market in Richmond, Va., but I can make two hundred pairs pay me a good profit. I have made twelve hundred dollars clear profit out of three chicken incubators, twenty-two turkeys and a small root beer plant on two acres of ground, which father gave me, and I worked only after school and vacation time. I am situated near the city of Chicago, and I think I have a golden opportunity facing me. Upon having a personal interview with a stew- ard of a certain hotelin Chicago, I was informed that squabs were as high as $7.50 per dozen this summer. The commission merchants were paying $3.50 last week.—W. G. Puls, Illinois. I bought thirteen pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers, part of them a little over a year ago, and the others will be two years this fall. I now Gi une, 1910) have 250 all told.—R. C. Brenmer, inois. 393 HOMERS BREED BETTER IN DARK- ENED PEN, by Richard L. Fishburne. I have found by experience that my breeders do better work in a loft slightly darkened. My build- ings face south, are 10x15x 10 feet, with a fly about the same size for each pen. Around the fly I have planted sunflowers and sweet peas which add to the attractiveness of the place, at the same time affording shade for the birds, keep dampness from the fly and loft and give me a quantity of feed. Once each week my lofts are scraped and sprayed with a ten per cent solution of creolin, and air-slaked lime scattered on the floors. A few applica- tions of this solution will soon saturate the wood and positively prevent any lice in the lofts. About once or twice a week in the sum- mer I use a small quantity of creolin in the bath water and in spraying any birds or squabs that are near, spray without injury or frighten- ing them. The reason Plymouth Rock Homers are so popular is that the squabs they produce are good enough for any market. In many hands, skilful in feeding and selection, they do the work of more expensive breeds costing three times as much, and more. We have a letter dated August 23 from a customer in Connecti- cut, John N. Moeller by name, stating: “I intend to purchase a piece of property and erect a large plant and buy stock of you as soon as I find a satisfactory place to sell squabs in large lots, and regularly. As already stated in previous correspondence, I have raised twenty squabs from three pairs since March 12, 1910, and every one weighed one pound alive at four weeks of age.’’ Mr. Moeller does not say that some weigh a pound apiece, or that the average weight of his squabs is one pound. He states that every one weighed one pound. This is twelve pounds to the dozen. The sales of Ply- mouth Rock Homers are many times more than all other pigeons combined. As we have before written, always remem- ber that prices of pigeons mean nothing with- out service. We throw out twenty-five per cent of all our pigeons, sending them in as culls to market, where we get only the eating price. We don’t put them into shipments and expect the customer to throw them out. Moreover, we don’t keep our best pigeons. Every bird on our farm is for sale. Anybody who calls there and fancies a bird can take it away with him in a coop and we're glad to see it go. My present squab plant consists of 300 pairs Homers, and a few larger breeders, but no Car- neaux. I have been visiting various squab plants in the country, and know what a good Carneau is supposed to look like. Most of the Carneaux that I have seen do not come up to what I call good Carneaux. The best that I have set my eyes on so far are those owned by M. C. Martin, and he told me that they were from you. Enclosed you will find a bank draft for which please send me the eleven pairs of Carneaux under the conditions stated.—J. E. Unruh, Kansas. 394 MY PLANT MAKES $100 MONTHLY PROFIT, by W. A. Bolton. The Sunny Slope Squab Farm is shown in the accompanying photograph. The writer having been inter- ested in pigeons since his school days, when he kept a few for pets, resolved in 1908 to make it a business and made his first mistake by sending to Europe for his Carneaux and Homers, several hundred of them, with the result that about half of the birds died en route, orjust after they arrived. They are splendid birds and after a few months became recuperated and acclimated and proceeded to do their best, but if they had come from good reliable home breeders or eastern breeders, the results would doubtless have been much more satisfactory. Last year the plant practically paid for it- self. Today there are about 1400 birds at work, and taking care of some 1400 more young and old that will soon be at work, besides netting about $100 a month profit. The demand for breeding stock has been brisk since the squab price: dropped, so that but few squabs have gone w market. Our Carneaux youngsters bring from $10 to $15 per dozen and Homers to the market bring $3 in summer and $4 in winter. Next year, I expect to contract all our squabs at $5 a dozen the year round, ot including the Carneaux which are likely to go for breeders as they always have done. I saw the books of one poultry dealer in San Francisco recently, showing where he gets $7 per dozen from one of his customers for large squabs. He pays $5 for the same, alive. The majority of raisers ship alive to San Francisco and Oakland, and the coops that produce best results are not over six inches high in the clear. This prevents the birds piling upon each other. BOSTON 1911 SQUAB PRICES. The following figures for 1911 taken from the Boston Globe show the prices for squabs from January to December of that year. The first price quoted in each case is for the poorer grade of squabs. The prices quoted highest in each case are for squabs bred from our Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers and Carneaux. These figures show that the Boston squab market, like that in other cities, is steady all the year around at highly profitable prices, in no case falling below $3 a dozen, this price coming in the summer, when squabs may be sold at summer resorts in New England at prices equal to the best winter Boston city prices: January 6, $5, $6.50; January 13, $5, $6; January 20, $5.50, $6; January 27, $5, $7; February 3, $5, $6; February 10, $5.50, $6.50; A CALIFORNIA HILLSIDE SLOPE SQUAB FARM. APPENDT XAG, March 3, $5, $6; March 19, $4.50, $6; March 24, $5, $6; March 31, $5, $6; April 7, $5, $6; April 14, $4.50, $6; April 21, $4, $6; April 28, $4.50, $6; May 5, $4.50, $6; May 12, $4.50, $65 May 19, $4, $6; May 26, $4, $6; June 2, $4, $5.50; June 9, $3.50, $5.50; June 16, $3, $5; June 23, $3, $5; June 30, $3, $5; July 7, $3, $5; July 14, $5, $6; July 21, $3, $4.50; July 28, $3; $5; August 4, $4, $5; August 11, $3.50, $4.50; August 18, $3, $5:50; August 25, $3, $5; Sep- tember 1, $4, $5; September 8, $4, $5.50; September 15, $3.50, $4.50; September 22, $3.50, $4.50; September 29, $3.50, $4.50; Octo- ber 6, $3.50, $4.50; October 13, $3, $4.50; October 20, $4, $5.50; October 27, $4, $6; November 3, $4, $6; November 10, $4.50, $6; November 17, $4, $6; November 24, $4, $6; December 8, $4, $6; December 15, $4, $6. When a beginner, like Etwinoma Farms, takes 25 pairs of our Extra Homers worth $50 and in two years multiplies them to 800 pairs worth $1600, do you realize that this is a big return? You can’t put $50 into any bank and get $1600 back in two years. And remember, that in the two years squabs enough were sold to pay the entire running expenses of the plant. Fifty dollars increased to $1600 in two years is thirty-two hundred per cent increase. This is not theoretical, but is the record of something which actually has been accom- plished with our Plymouth Rock Extra Hom- ers. This is only one of hundreds of such phenomenal returns. After you have read this Manual, write us a letter telling us how you think it can be im- proved. Is anything lacking? What do you wish to know that is not covered here? We intend to keep the book full and complete from year to year and welcome suggestions for its improvement. Tell us what your plans for squab raising are and let us help you if we can. APPENDIX G SQUAB MARKET UP IN SALT LAKE CITY, by J. H. Armstrong. I will try and tell you something of the squab and its market in Salt Lake City. It has been only within the past few years that the squab has had a place on the tables of our private families. Only the hotels and restaurants knew what it was to have squabs to serve to their fine trade, but today the squab will be found on the tables of those who can afford it, and, in fact, on the tables of a good many who can not. ~ The squab of today is taking the place of the young chicken. The demand is growing and the “‘hello’”’ for squabs is getting greater every day. I have only one hundred pairs and I cannot breed enough squabs to fill my orders, so I am buying from other parties, and even then my supply is limited; I cannot get enough. I am looking forward to the time when I will have two thousand squab breeders instead of two hundred. I am working slowly, but it is steady. This past week’s market (July) has been good with prices as follows: 8-lb. squabs per dozen, $3.00 hotel and restaurant. 9-lb. squabs, $3.50 hotel and restaurant. 10-Ilb. squabs, $4.00 hotel and restaurant. 10-lb. to 11-lb. squabs per dozen, $4.50 to $6.00 family trade. These prices I have fought for the past three years (credit to the magazine) as I could not get other squab raisers to stay together on the prices until the last few months. New Yorkers are spenders, and money is no object when they desire something that appeals to their appetites. Go where you will, squabs will always be found on the bill of fare. “The demand is simply enormous, as thousands of birds are consumed daily and the demand is continually on the increase. The trouble has been to obtain a sufficient quantity to supply the demand, and I have heard it stated that birds actually were imported to satisfy the demand for extra large squabs. Here is an excellent opportunity for the wide-awake, up- to-date breeder who is in a position to deliver first-class stock to the consumer direct. A veritable hidden treasure of practically un- limited profit awaits him. Just think of the prospects, with our industry still in its infancy. —Harry M. Samson, New York. We have been selling a few Plymouth Rock squabs in Louisville, Ky., at $3 a dozen. The men we sell to say they are the finest they ever handled. As soon as we can get enough to make regular shipments we intend to send them away, as we were offered $5 a dozen for them in June. We keep a strict account of all expenditures in our large single entry ledger and find it costs about ten cents per pair per month to feed them.—James C. Martin, Indi- ana. We have no ground oyster shells here, so we use ground clam shells.—Miss B. Devereux, British Columbia. 395 EGGS AND SQUABS DUE TO CONDI- TIONING. I am inclined to think that there ‘is such a thing as introducing too much red tape in this business of mating and tabbing birds so as to make the task too burdensome. It would be a nice thing if you would give us a line once in a while as indicating where system leaves off and red tape begins.—J. C. Broadwell, Oregon. Pigeons will breed naturally if you give them a chance and if they are in condition. Novices who have had no experience with poultry cannot be made to comprehend that the production of pigeon eggs is a study in conditioning, the same as the production of hen’s eggs. Poultrymen also have their matings but they know enough to look to condition and not to the sexual relations for eggs. Pigeons should be banded, but the system of record keeping should be simple and end in the squabhouse, not be carried into evening work underthestudylamp. The most important work, as the National Squab Maga- zine "has demonstrated, is to sell the squabs intelligently. Squab breeders who fuss about the small matters never accomplish anything. TRANSFERRING BREEDERS, by Ida Dana. I have been transferring my breeders from the house in which they have been work- ing since I received them in May, to one better fitted for the winter. I have been careful to take each family when the youngest squabs were two weeks old, before the mother had started her new nest. When I placed the squabs in a nest in the same part of the new room as that occupied by their nest in the old room, the parents never failed to recognize and feed them. It was before I understood the necessity of this arrangement that one pair, neglecting their own squabs, fed those in the place in which theirs should have been. I granted their wish by putting their squabs into that box, and had no further trouble. FACTS ABOUT NEW YORK FRESH SQUABS, by William R. McLaughlin. I get a great many letters during the year from timid beginners and also from old breeders that in- dicate they fear to make heavy investments at the start or doubt the advisability of increasing their flock for fear of overstocking the market. To all such inquiries I urge them to go ahead and increase their flocks of breeders so that they can ship every few days from five to twenty-five dozen squabs at a time. They run no risk as to demand at good prices all the year round. They run no risk of overioading the market. I have had extraordinary success with Ply- mouth Rock Homers and am more than pleased with the results. I have met with ready sale for my squabs, and if I had the space would increase my flock. I sell my squabs locally and get $3 to $4.50 a dozen, in other words fifty to seventy-five cents a pair. My squabs will average in weight nine pounds to the dozen, in fact in some instances had them to weigh fifteen and sixteen ounces.—H. H. Kangeter, South Carolina. 396 HOW I FEED HEALTH GRIT FRESH DAILY, by M. C. Martin. When I first started to feed health grit, as it was rather expensive, I was not very particular about the birds eating very much ofit. So I would filla covered trough with a good quantity. Result, pigeons would “‘go some’’ for it, when first put in the trough, but would soon eat the choice ingredients, and care little for the leavings. Also, after water was poured on for several days, the grit became packed and hard, and the birds would pay little attention to it. In this way a sack of grit lasted a long time. But I began to study my birds, and found that when they ate more grit, they were healthier and heartier. Then began to experiment and after thorough trial have set- tled on the following method: Provide covered wooden troughs about four or six inches wide and two inches deep, and long enough for all the birds in each pen to eat at once. The top of the trough may be made so as to be lifted off or removed when putting grit in the trough. Once a day feed the grit in the covered troughs and the little birds will soon learn to come for it, and make more fuss about it than when you feed them hemp. Give them grit once a day just what they will eat up in a few minutes. With a little experimenting you can soon learn about how much is best for them. For, by this method, you can overfeed them easily. I use five-gallon cream cans to keep the grit in. Pour in a little water and keep closed, and in this way, the grit is always damp and moist, ready to feed. Grit should be bought in 500-pound or ton lots, thus saving on the freight bill. Now, as to the reasons for using health grit. I find the iron in it enriches the blood corpuscles. The small sea-shells, which it contains, I have noted, make better hatching eggs, as too much crude lime, contained in oyster shells, makes the eggshells have large white deposits on them, causing the eggs to be easily broken. Such eggs seldom hatch, and if they do, the ‘‘ peepers’’ usually die. An- other thing I have noticed is that the birds seldom if ever have sour crop, a common ailment without a liberal use of grit. If you follow the method I have explained here, be careful you do not feed too much. A good, large handful once a day is sufficient for a flock of thirty birds. The other way of feeding as used by most squab men is to put a large quantity in a covered trough and leave it a number of days untilit is all eaten up. SAVES WIRING TIME, by Louis A. Hart. Instead of the old method of tying every other mesh of the wire netting with a short wire, or even running a long wire all the way through the entire length of strand, just take an eight- penny nail and twist it around the two wires three or four times, causing the wires to weave together the same as the rest of the netting. It is very fast, also simple and entirely safe. To undo, just reverse the operation. APPR EN DICG EG PREVENTS STICKING, by C. C. Fraser. I find it a good plan to dust the nestbowls with buckwheat hulls or tobacco dust. This pre- vents the manure from sticking to the bowls and makes the cleaning much easier. If nothing like this is used, the work of cleaning the bowls is quite difficult. One of our customers in New York State, Henry Blumers, who bought a big flock of our Homers and Carneaux last year, has raised six- teen squabs from one pair of our Carneaux in a period of seven months. This is how he tells the story: ‘‘ We noticed in the magazine a party in California having sixteen squabs in ten months, so we thought we would send you the record of one of the pairs of Carneaux which we purchased of you last fall. They hatched: January 10, two squabs; February 9, two; March 14, one; April 22, two; May 7, one; May 25, two; June 27, two: July 15, two; July 31, two; and now at the present writing (August 23) they have a nest started with one egg. We call this the champion pair of the five hundred and fifty pairs of Homers and Carneaux which we bought at that time.” A man in business judges his correspondents by their style of correspondence. Anybody who wishes information of an advertiser should write him a letter, not a postal card, and en- close a two-cent stamp for his reply. If the advertiser has a stenographer, it will cost in her wages at least five cents to write the letter, not to mention the postage as well as the time of the advertiser in dictating or writing the letter. Every advertiser gets a great many foolish and needless inquiries which are a con- stant burden of expense, and scores of such cor- respondents are productive of no business. Hundreds of questions asked daily are fully answered in printed matter sent out by the advertisers. Another point to remember is that advertisers cannot reasonably be asked to make estimates of what the inquirer will do with certain pigeons, or in certain contingencies which come up in daily work in the squabhouse. The only way one can find out what one can do, is to do it, or try to do it. Nobody can tell without trying. We are very particular about the quality of our grain. We never buy damaged or second quality grain, and we have told our grain dealer so in such plain words that he distinctly under- stands it. We govern the amount to give the birds at one time, by the looks of the feed box. If they have not eaten all that was given the time previous, we do not give them so much. We try to gauge the amount so there will be very little, if any, in the feed box at feeding time.—George F. Cook, Maine. I sell the pigeon manure to a tannery for fifty cents a bushel. I find plenty of fertilizer that does not go to the tannery, splendid for the garden and lawn.—Graham Roys, Michigan. Breed for three things: good feeders, good color and good size. APPENDIX G HOW I OBTAINED A PROFITABLE PRICE, by John F. Bushmeyer. My brother has been selling Homer squabs in St. Louis at ten and fifteen cents apiece, not knowing they were worth more; in fact, not even looking up the market prices in the daily papers. We got wise to the fact that they were worth more through the Manual and the magazine, which is a daisy. My brother decided not to sell any more squabs unless he got a better price. One day last week, having three pairs of squabs ready for sale, he put them into a small box and went down to the market; but instead of going to the ten-and-fifteen-cent dealer, he went into the opposite side of the market to walk through, and the first butcher’s stand he passed, the man behind the counter, seeing the box he carried, called him, saying, ‘‘ What have you got there, squabs? ”’ ““Yes,’’ answered my brother, buying them? ” “* Are they commons? ” ““No,’’ answered my brother, ‘“‘they are fancy Homers.” ““What do you want for them?” asked the dealer. **The market price,’’ was the answer. After looking them over, he asked again, “What do you want for them? ”’ “The market price as I said before, if I cannot get any more.” ** Say, Chollie,’’ the butcher called to another man behind the counter, ‘“‘ what are Homer squabs selling for today? ”’ Chollie picked up a morning paper, made a bluff at looking at it; ‘$1.75 a dozen,’’ he answered. ““Wake up and let me see that paper,”’ said my brother, which he did after some stalling, and my brother proceeded to read the market quotations, which were as follows: “* Pigeons and Squabs— Live pigeons at seventy-five cents per dozen. Squabs — Fancy Homers at $2.75 per dozen for eight-pound, $3.25 for nine-pound, $3.50 for ten-pound and at $1.50 for small; common at $1.00 and $1.25 per dozen.’ This is out of the Post Despatch of today. Now if you want those squabs, weigh them up and give me the price.”’ The butcher put them on the scales and they weighed four and a half pounds; for the six he readily produced $1.60 and said, ‘‘ Bring me all you can get.’’ This shows you how anxious they are to get good squabs. “are you I am now shipping all my Plymouth Rock squabs to a Chicago marketman. He pays $3.25 for eight-pound squabs, $3.75 for nine- pound, $4.00 for ten-pound, and sends check weekly. I ship at 4.12 p.m. and they arrive in Chicago at 8.30 a.m. the following day. I am building another fine addition for three hun- dred more pairs of my Carneaux.—J. B. Beck- man, Missouri. Squabs are a good proposition around here. Ours are in demand, many more than we can care for. The trade is waiting for them at $5 to $6 a dozen.—Mrs. Ed Cogley, Iowa. 397 SQUAB CONDITIONS IN ST. LOUIS, by Fred L. Stock. This is intended mainly for the information of the western squab breeder, yet it may prove of some interest to the eastern breeder, to the extent of giving him some inside, as to the conditions now in force in St. Louis. But, in the start, I wish to make my position clear, by the statement that I have no interest in any manner with the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company, as I do not own one bird that was ever purchased from this firm. The market in this city (St. Louis) is without doubt the most unsatisfactory market in the United States today, and will continue to be such so long as the conditons are in force that now prevail, the conditions I refer to being the limited number of really good flocks of Homers in the city. In fact, I can use one hand in counting the owners of these first-class Homers, and in each and every case the original breeders were purchased from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, and their owners have no trouble in finding a private market for their squabs at the eastern market price, owing to the vast difference in quality of squabs from these birds, and the squabs to be found .1 the public market. Many people state how much per pair it costs to feed their birds. The price of grain in California and the Middle States differs so greatly that their estimate gives me no idea whatever of what it would cost me per pair. For this season I am weighing all the feed used in one house. In the past three months they have eaten at the rate of eighty-four pounds to each pair per year. I will continue to weigh fora full year. There is little demand for large squabs in the small towns, but in San Francisco they want large squabs and lots of them. San Francisco is only seventy miles from here, so I ship my squabs alive. The express is fifty cents per hundredweight. A few of my squabs go to commission houses, but most of them go to marketmen direct, and I pay no commission. Several marketmen have asked me to contract my squabs to them by the year at a given price. They are willing to give a good price anyhow so I have not contracted yet. Squabs are quoted at $2 to $4.50 per dozen. My squabs are classed as extras and I never receive less than $3 per dozen and this for only a few shipments each year. I have been unable to find a demand for larger than a one-pound squab on the open market.—D. D. Powell, California. The largest New York hotels consume on an average of sixty dozen squabs a day, each hotel, and the prices range from 75 cents to $1.50 per squab, according to the location and size of the hotel. My readers can draw their own conclusion as to whether squab raising pays in this part of the country.—Harry M. Samson, New York. I can sell all my squabs to private customers from fifty cents to seventy-five cents a pair.— Ray F. Peavey, Massachusetts. APPENDIX G ‘SNOHDId MOOU HLINOWAId HLIM CEMNOLS NUVd avads SVSNVH S.LHOAH YNVEL APPENDIX G I SHIP SQUABS FROM KANSAS TO COLORADO, by Frank Hucht. [I started four years ago in the business. I did not know anything about the pigeon industry but have learned something since. The first Homers I saw were in our town, shipped from the East, one-half dozen pairs. They were fine birds, and I liked them very much. I stocked up with Plymouth Rock Homers. My start was in an old barn almost ready to fall down. It did not take very long when my second room was filling up. I talked the matter over with my wife in regard to building a squabhouse, but she would not listen to me at first and told me I had better sell those old pigeons and get back what money I had spent on the birds I had. I had quite a time to convince my wife that there was money in raising squabs. I began selling a few dozen every week, and got $2.50 and $23 a dozen for them. My wife was well pleased with that, and I convinced her of the fact and built a house sixty feet long, fourteen feet wide, with three-foot aisle, self feeders in every unit. I then had only one hundred pairs and had four units to go on. I sent for one hundred pairs more Homers. That made the house fill up some. A year ago I bought other property in town, which gave me more room. I moved my sixty-foot building to this place and added sixty feet to it, which makes the present structure one hun- dred twenty feet long. (See photograph on opposite page.) My principal feed is corn and kaffir corn, millet and wheat. I have kaffir corn in self feeders at all times. The other grains I throw on floor. I also feed hempseed and peas with plenty of grit. I have now five hundred mated pairs of Homers and some youngsters, and also Carneaux. I ship all of my squabs to Colorado. I dry- pick them in the winter and in the summer months I ship them alive. The market West in the summer is not as good asit has been. I received $2.50 and $3.00 a dozen for them F. O. B. Denver, which I considered a fair market. I got as high as $3.75 for them. Let members of the association, when they go shopping, inquire the prices of squabs, as if they intended buying a pair or a dozen. Mail us the dealer’s full name and address, date and price quoted. These figures would give the true retail prices. Then the wholesale prices will be from twenty-five to fifty per cent less. It has been true, is true now, and will be true, that nobody can be guided successfully by printed quotations, but must find out first what his squabs cost him per dozen, then add what he desires for a profit and sell at that figure. Otherwise nothing but failure will result. I had a dirt floor in my pigeon house, think- ing it a necessity, but after I put in a floor of two-inch plank and raised my house about two feet off the ground I raised squabs with ease and rapidity. Dampness was the cause, produced by the dirt floor.—Charles A. Tupper, New York. 399 NON-FLAKING WHITEWASH. To pre- pare whitewash for fences, buildings, sh interiors, etc., that will not flake and fall off, mix one part fine Portland cement with about eight gallons whitewash. The cement binds the whitewash to the wood and makes a per- manent covering which is unaffected by weather conditions. The small quantity of cement used and the constant stirring necessary to keep the whitewash in good condition for applying, pre- vents the cement hardening in lumps at the bottom of the pail, as might be expected. I have been in the habit of robbing the Car- neaux nestS twice in succession, allowing the old birds to hatch the third pair of eggs. I had robbed a certain pair twice and as the third pair of eggs was laid on the floor in an undesir- able place, I determined to rob them a third time. It seemed pretty hard, but I considered it best all round, so it was done. Nine days later pair of eggs number four appeared, this time in a nestbox. They were allowed to hatch this pair (strong, healthy chaps they are, too) and — here’s where the speed comes in — just seven days after these youngsters were hatched, the hen laid again. These eggs were removed to a Homer pair as usual. It has now been four days since the second egg was laid and I am eagerly waiting to see how long it will take this fine little egg machine to produce again. I call this rapid work and if any one has a breed of birds which can go ahead of it, I should like to hear from him.—George N. Rogers, Maryland. I never knew a thing about pigeons until this March (1910) when I took charge of a hun- dred pairs— seventy-five pairs Homers, twenty- five pairs Carneaux. They were very much run down and neglected on account of my husband not having the time to devote to them that they should have had. I read all the National Squab Magazines over and over again and conse- quently have had better results than I ever dreamed of having. In June I sold $29.25 worth of squabs, besides keeping fourteen pairs for breeding purposes, and in July I expect to do better still—Mrs. Edgar Rapp, Missouri. This story ought to sell some more of the bound volumes of the magazine, price $2.50, trans- portation prepaid. Each volume has over four hundred large pages of original squab matter which will not be reprinted. The first volume includes the twelve issues for 1909, the second 1910, the third 1911, the fourth 1912, and so on. Address Squab Publishing Co., 220 Purchase Street, Boston, Mass. I purchased my Homers from your plant some two years ago, and I have bred them under the most adverse circumstances. I wish to state that after looking at several plants in this town my pigeons are just a little bit the best looking, and if I can get these other pigeons from_your place, would be delighted to do so.—H. G. Cooper, Louisiana. 400 APPENDIX G HOW GOOD SQUABS TOOK THE RIGHT OF WAY, by C. E. Plank. In May, 1908, I purchased one dozen pairs of the Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers, intending to raise squabs for my own use only, but in a year I had on hand seventy pairs, and lacking room had to dispose of the surplus squabs. I called on one of the largest retail grocers, handling groceries, meats, fruits and all good things to eat, who offered me only $1.50 a dozen, saying he never paid over $2 for the best. I told him he must be getting only common birds of about seven or eight pounds per dozen. He acknowledged such was the case. When I explained what my birds were and that my squabs ran ten and eleven pounds per dozen, he was willing to talk, and we finally com- promised on $2.50, alive off the nest, any quantity and at any time, this because I had to sell my birds alive, having no time to dress or even pluck them. I averaged eight dozen a month the rest of the year, or $20 a month, and my feed was costing me about $7. I had one house twelve by fourteen feet, with alow upper story, keeping about ninety birds in the lower part and thirty above. In May, 1910, I built another cheap house seven by eleven feet, stocking it with select youngsters, fifty Homers and twelve Carneaux, allowing them to mate up as they wished. Most of the Carneaux mated with Homers and their squabs all run over a pound each, and these Carhomes are fully as prolific as the Homers. To verify the quality of my squabs, I will say that last month the head buyer for the grocer instructed me to bring no more squabs, as they were overstocked. I told him I had arranged with the owner personally for the sale of my birds, and the conditions. He called the owner, who said: ‘‘ Oh, you are the gentle- man who has the large squabs,’’ then to the buyer: ‘‘ Cut out some of the others, and take all this man brings. We can always dispose of his birds.’”’ His retail price is thirty to fifty cents each, and if I had the time to kill and pluck my squabs, I could find a ready sale for all of them to private parties and hotels at $3.50 to $4.50 a dozen. Comparatively few private families in this Missouri city use squabs to any extent what- ever. I have attended several banquets at hotels and clubs, at which squabs were served, and find them invariably broiled, practically ‘dried up’’ and usually the common birds. It is no wonder that people who try the small birds, served in that manner, are not very “strong ’’ for squabs. While my pigeons are yielding me a big per cent profit on the investment, I know they would be much more lucrative were I to give them an hour or two each day. I see them a few minutes each morning and spend a few hours with them on Sunday. In winter I see them in daylight only on Sunday. An elderly Englishman who raises fancy pigeons of all kinds for shows and fairs called to see my birds recently and said I had the nicest, healthiest lot of pigeons he had ever seen. I lose very few birds with my present manner of feeding. I have tried various methods and find whole corn and kaffir as main food to be the best, with about one-sixth hard wheat. BRILLIANT WHITEWASH. Half a bushel unslaked lime;.slake with warm water, cover it during the process to keep the steam; strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer; add a peck of salt, the same to be previously well dissolved in warm water; add three pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin paste and stir in boiling hot; add one-half pound of glue which has been previously dissolved over a slow fire and add five gallons of hot water to the mixture, stir well and let it stand for a few days, covering up’ to keep out dirt. It should be put on hot. One pint of the mixture, properly applied, will cover a square yard. Small brushes are best. There is nothing can compare with it for out- side or inside work and it retains its brilliancy for many years. Coloring matter may be put in and made of any shade — Spanish brown, yellow ochre, or common clay, etc. I tried to find out if there was any one in London; Ontario, a city of 50,000 inhabitants, who is doing a squab business, but I hear of only one man selling squabs. He is over eighty years of age. He pays the boys twenty-five cents a pair for common pigeons alive or dead. He plucks the feathers, and sells the pigeons to private customers at eighty cents a pair. That is I think a pretty high price, for common old pigeons. There are quite a few breeders of flying Homers in London and I understand they have an association, but apparently they have not yet become much interested in squabs. Near London is the city of Hamilton, with 65,000 people, sixty miles away; also Chatham sixty miles away, with 30,000 people, and St. Thomas twenty-six miles distant, with 30,000 inhabitants. Surely this is population enough to make trade for squab plants.—W. W. Suther- land, Canada. Sulphate of iron is a good tonic and cor- rective for pigeons. Use a tablespoonful to a gallon of water. I grind charcoal as fine as I can and mix it with salt, then dampen it and pack a paper bag and bake in the oven for half a day or longer, so it will be as hard as a brick. Put it in the pen and the pigeons peck atit. I have sold some of my squabs for sixty-five cents a pair. I think there is nothing better than squab raising, both to make money and for satisfaction.—Louis H. Scharff, Pennsylvania. In regard to nest-building, I have found out that by taking mustard stalks and cutting them about three feet from top of tree and then chopping the little thin branches and stump together to about six inches in length, this makes excellent nesting material for pigeons. They will leave all others and pick out mustard sticks. If some of your subscribers will try this, they will see how quickly their pigeons will build nests.—Elmer Krider, California. APPENDIX G HOW TO SAVE MONEY IN SHIPPING SQUABS, by Elmer C. Rice. Having a well- settled belief, formed while handling hundreds of inquiries on the subject, that not one-tenth of the squab breeders on this continent are shipping killed squabs at the lowest express tate to which they are entitled by the rules of the express companies, I am going to give the facts in detail. These remarks apply to all express companies operating between points in the United States and between any point in the United States and any point in Canada, also within the United States on business to or from other countries. They also apply to minor express companies or individuals, some of them too small to have any rules or regulations, but who take their cues from the big ones, and who are governed, if they are doing an interstate business, by the rules of the Interstate Com- merce Commission at Washington, which has put its O. K. on what I write here. Most shipments of killed squabs are now made, on account of the ignorance both of the breeder and of the express agent to whom he is giving the packages, at the regular rate charged for ordinary merchandise. For example, the rate from certain points in Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, and Canada to New York City is two dollars per one hundred pounds for ordinary merchandise. Under this rate a box of squabs weighing for example, twenty pounds, would have a charge of eighty-five cents as- sessed against it. For carrying a box of squabs weighing one hundred pounds, two dollars would be charged. These charges and all similar charges based on the rate made for ordinary merchandise are in error, being much too high. The express companies’ classification has what is known as ‘“‘ General Specials.’’ Thirty commodities, from beef-fat to zwieback, are these general specials. In S, between smilax and stearine, is SQUABS, dressed, with accom- panying language as follows: ““SQUABS, dressed. Charge upon the actual gross weight, except that an allowance of twenty- five per cent from the gross weight may be made when it is necessary to use ice for preservation and it is used for that purpose only. The charge on a shipment packed with ice must not be less than the charge on the net weight, with twenty-five per cent added, unless the gross weight at time of shipment ts less.” Any general special commodity goes at a specially low rate. For example, when the merchandise rate is two dollars per one hundred pounds, the general special rate is only $1.50 per hundred pounds. This applies to squabs. Some of my Texas friends have been shipping squabs to New York profitably as ordinary merchandise, paying six dollars for a box weigh- ing one hundred pounds. Correctly made, the rate should have been $3.90 (the general special on six dollars) with twenty-five pounds of ice out, making a correct charge of three dollars, of just half what they have been paying. I have said it many times, and I repeat it now, that anybody living anywhere can ship $quabs to a highly profitable market, even 401 hundreds of miles distant, provided he will follow plain directions such as I am giving here. Always prepay express charges so as to be able to talk and pay at your end. Do not imagine that anybody at the other end will look out for your interests in the matter of express charges. If you have been paying the regular merchandise rate, do not go to your express agent and make afuss. You might as well throw a dollar into the ocean from the shore and wait for the tide to bring it to your feet. Above all, remember that if you are going to succeed in the squab business, you need the regard, friendship and good fellow- ship of your express agent, same as everybody with whom you come in contact in a business way. _ If you are shipping either live squabs or cull live pigeons to market, the express companies have a special rate for you known as Scale O. This is practically a twenty-five per cent de- duction. For example, when the regular rate is two dollars per hundred pounds, the Scale O rate is $1.50. I think the amount of excess express charges being ignorantly assessed amounts every year to $100,000, which I regard as a low estimate, as it allows only a dollar a month overcharge against ten thousand squab shippers. There are more than ten thousand squab shippers and most of them I believe are paying out more than a dollar a month illegally. The purpose of this article is to put an end to this illegal tax on the squab industry and it will be effective if you will start the conversation with your express agent when you ship your next lot of squabs. MORE LIGHT ON SQUAB EXPRESS CHARGES, by Gerald E. Swihart. I am a squab breeder and have given the matter of express rates and charges a lot of study and time and I think I have it down to the lowest figure. At the head of ‘‘ General Specials” in the Official Express Classification No. 21, article 5, page 17, will be found this paragraph: of Pound rales must be charged on General Special Matter with a minimum of thirty-five cents (except where a lower minimum is speci- fically named for any particular commodity) unless the graduate under the merchandise rate is less; when carried by more than one company and shipping point or destination is an exclusive office, minimum twenty-five cents for each com- pany carrying.” Now as per Mr. Rice’s article (see page 401) when the regular rate is $2, the general special rate is $1.50, as per Scale ‘‘N’’, and going farther and taking a box of squabs weighing forty pounds, and allowing twenty-five per cent for ice, making a net weight of thirty pounds — now take your graduate charges scale and thirty pounds is eighty cents, correct; but under general specials as per article quoted above, pound rates must be charged. Now as that is the case, then if one hundred pounds cost $1.50 to New York, then one pound would cost one and one-half cents and thirty pounds would cost 30x 14%, or forty-five cents. 402 Now another example, using same rate $2 merchandise, $1.50 general special rate, and box weighed twenty-eight pounds. Allowing for ice twenty-five per cent leaves the box net weight of twenty-one pounds and at one and one-half cents per pound makes thirty-two cents; but the minimum charges are thirty- five cents, then the express agent should charge you thirty-five cents for your box. Again, if you are in a place which has but one express company and that company does not have an office in the point to which you are shipping, the charge would not be less than fifty cents, twenty-five cents for each company. For example, you live in a town by the name of X and have but one express company doing business and that is the Cana- dian, and you bring in a box of squabs for New York. The expressman says the rate to New York is $2 and that the box will cost you $1. Then you might say, ‘ Well, I under- stood that the express companies gave a special rate on squabs. Let us look it up.’”’ Have him turn to Official Express Classification and look over about page 17 and you will run across a heading General Specials, then reading that heading you will find the paragraph as quoted at the beginning of this article. After reading this carefully, run on through the list of articles under this head and in the S’s you will find squabs, just as stated in Mr. Rice’s article. You will also find a small letter (b) just before the name squab. This is a note and must be looked up. This reference tells that for a box containing squabs and ice, an allow- ance of twenty-five per cent must be made. Now going back to your box that weighed forty pounds, allowing twenty-five per cent for ice, leaves a net weight of thirty pounds. You will also find in the heading of General Specials, rate as per Scale N. Turn to page 29 and you will find a section marked Scale N, and going down the rate column per 100 pounds to $2, regular merchandise rate, it will be found that the General Special rate is $1.50 per 100 pounds. Now that means one and one-half cents per pound and thirty pounds x 144 cents is forty- five cents. But as the Canadian Express Com- pany has no office in New York and must transfer it to another company in order to get the box to destination, each company says it must have not less than twenty-five cents each; hence the agent must charge you fifty cents and you have saved fifty cents, and the agent is posted for the next fellow. Of, if the place is located so that it must go over three express companies’ roads to be delivered to destination, then the charges would be seventy- five cents, twenty-five cents for each company, but if it went through three companies’ hands when it was only necessary to go through two, then the rate should only be fifty cents. Again, a great many places have a special rate that is cheaper than the General Special. For instance, the regular rate from this point in Michigan to New York is $2.25, and that would make the General Special rate as per Scale N $1.75 and the special rate from here is $1.50, so we can ship from here to New APPENDIXSG York or to Boston just as cheap as to Philadel- phia where the rate is $2 regular merchandise, which would make the General Special $1.50. Another example. I go to the ‘express office with a box of sixty pounds for Chicago. The rate from here to Chicago is ninety cents and per Scale N the General Special rate is seventy-five cents per hundred. ow allowing twenty-five per cent for ice, the net weight of the box is forty-five pounds. Now as 100 pounds would cost seventy-five cents, one pound would cost three-quarters of a cent, and forty-five pounds would be 45x #, or thirty-four cents, but as the minimum charge is thirty-five cents, I should pay thirty-five cents, the correct charge if the shipping office and destination are common points or if express company at shipping point hasan office at des- tination. If not, theneach company would de- mand twenty-five cents and the correct charges should be fifty cents. Again, in all express offices you will find, or should find, notices like this: ‘““The rate schedules applying to or from or at this station and indices of this company’s tariff are on file in this office and may be inspected by any person upon application and without the assignment of any reason for such desire. The agent or other employee on duty in the office will lend any assistance desired ‘in securing information from or interpreting such schedules.” I would suggest that any shipper of squabs go to the express office beforehand and look this matter up and get it clear about the rate before taking the box of squabs. Do not bother the agent when he is busy getting ready for a train or just after a train when he is checking his express; but just ask for the Tariff Book and start in at the beginning and find the section headed Official Classification and in the index find General Specials and then turn to page and article as per the index and go to reading and after reading the heading of General Specials, either run through the articles under General Specials until you find Squabs (dressed) or turn back to the index and look up squabs and read that and also the note indicated by the letter ‘“‘b’”’ before the name Squab. Now you are ready to talk to the agent when he is at liberty and you can ask him to explain the meaning of the sections you have read; then say to him, ‘* What would it cost me to send a forty-pound box to New York,’”’ or whatever your shipping point is. If you think the rate he quotes you too much, kindly ask him to take up the matter with his Route Agent or with his Superinten- dent, and let you know what he finds out. Do not go to him for a few days, say a week, and then drop in some day and say, “ Well, what did you find out about the rate on squabs?” or ‘‘Have you heard anything aboutthe rate on squabs?”’ and see what he has to offer. EXPRESS RATES ON KILLED SQUABS. A lot of letters have come from squab shippers who read the article on express rates and have found out that they have been paying tco APPENDIX G much. They have warm praise for the infor- mation. This science or art of finding out what the lowest express charges are for special industries is something to be mastered and applied. It is a very live detail of salesman- ship of squabs. Mr. Swihart emphasizes the point that on small shipments of squabs from ten pounds to seventy-five pounds, as well as on large, not only is the general special rate applied, with twenty-five per cent off for ice, but also pound rates are applied. This means, in effect, that twenty pounds of killed squabs can be shipped a distance as far as that from Chicago to New York for only thirty-five cents. Mr. Swihart’s article reads as if he were at one time an express employee. This may not be true but he certainly shows an expert knowledge of express regulations. It may appear strange that express regulations are unknown, but who shall tell? It is true that the rate book can be seen, if asked for, at every express office, but not one shipper in a hundred asks for it, and that one cannot stand at the window studying the book half a day to ferret out the truth as applied to him. A banker knows many businesses because he makes money at it. An express agent, how- ever, on a salary of $6 to $12 a week, has no motive to know other businesses and tell every business man how to ship. That is the busi- ness man’s business. The producers of this country know nothing about express rates and should be told regularly in the public prints not only how to sell their goods, but also how to ship them. Not only are squabs general specials, but also (to name what is of interest to the farmer) dressed poultry ot all kinds, butter, eggs, milk, plants, berries, celery, maple sugar, maple syrup, vegetables. You will recall my writing to you that my wife and myself were intending to continue the squab and poultry business which she as Miss Ayres carried on so successfully with your Homers in New Jersey, and now that we have settled in our new home here, I wanted you to know that sometime during this month you will again hear from us, giving an order for probably one hundred birds and supplies as described in the special offer No. 7.—William R. Pearsall, New York. I have a friend who intends to start a large squab plant up the State, and think it advisable for you to get in touch with him at once. His name is enclosed. I have bought some birds from you and am well pleased. If I can do anything more for you would be pleased.—R. S. Quinlan, New York. You will remember that I purchased one pair of Carneaux of you about three years ago. lost the female the first year after raising about twenty birds. I still have the old cock, and have sold a number of pairs of breeders and lots of squabs and still have over seventy-five pairs of breeders and all fine, first-class birds which I can only thank you for. I am getting them. 403 $6 a dozen for all of my squabs at home trade and could sell three times the amount if I had I am strongly thinking of adding more breeders. Please send me one of your 1913 catalogues and price list of pigeons and supplies. —E. P. Tharp, Indiana. The dozen pairs of pigeons which we bought of you the first of June, 1912, are doing finely. We have over ninety birds at present (January 7) which we consider doing well, as we knew nothing whatever about pigeons — merely be- came interested in their beauty at the Buffalo Poultry Show last January, but find them ex- ceedingly interesting, and hope to build up a plant of profitable size. Hope to order some Carneaux in the spring.—Mrs. W. M. Chad- wick, New York. I have read and reread your dollar Manual several times, and think it the plainest and most concise work of its kind I have ever read, and I want to thank you for putting such a book before me. (Mr. Locke is superintendent of the Mountain View Poultry Plant).—Charles M. Locke, New Jersey. There is surely a difference between common pigeons and Homers. This may be of some interest to those who read the magazine, also to any one who thinks common pigeons are more profitable than Homers. To see the difference I weighed some squabs of the com- mons and the highest were nine ounces apiece at four weeks old. Then I weighed one squab of my Plymouth Rock Homers, four weeks old, and it weighed 161% ounces. I also weighed one of my older birds (Homer) and it weighed 171% ounces. How’s that? No other Homers breed so large a squab as the Plymouth Rock Homers.—Wesley E. Budde, Illinois. I have been in the squab business two years and have had lots of experience and disap- pointments. I started with six pairs of pi- geons, mostly common steck, They: did fairly well and after a few weeks I bought some more. Now, if they had -been all: Homers, I would have had twice the number of squabs I am getting now. In August, 1912, I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and have never regretted it. I have made a pair of Carneaux raise Homer squabs forme. I throw their eggs away after testing them and put Homer eggs under them. I expect to enlarge my plant in the spring with Plymouth Rock stock.—Maxwell McCollough, Iowa. I was pleased to receive your dollar Manual, which I consider to be the best book I have yet read on the subject of pigeons. Since reading it I have determined to ‘‘ havea shot ’’ at squab raising. I have had pigeons for twelve years, so I ought to know something about them and also books.—R. M. Thomson, New Zealand. The birds purchased from you a year ago are beating everything in my pens as fast workers. —Joseph McGurk, New Jersey. 404 . APPENDIX G HOW A FRENCH CHEF COOKS HIS SQUABS, by A. Escoffier. To the optimistic American a pigeon is nearly always a squab, just as a hen is always a chicken. In the following receipts a pigeon may be replaced by a well-grown squab, but in cases where genuine squabs from three to four weeks old must be used, that word squab is employed. The meat of the pigeon, though dark, has an excellent flavor, is tender, stimulating, easily digested. It is very suitable for delicate persons who need good nourishment. The squab is a par- ticularly delicate food. It may be eaten from twelve to thirty days after hatching. The pigeon may be served in many ways —as an entree, in a compote, in a pate, as a galantine, cold in a deep dish, or “‘ en terrine,’’ as we say in France. Pigeon Soup with Curry This is one of the most delicious and nourish- ing soups of our cuisine. The following quantities of materials will provide soup for six persons: Two large pi- geons, cleaned, singed and each divided into four pieces; two large onions chopped up; two large soupspoonfuls of butter, three soupspoonfuls of curry powder, five pints of water, half an ounce of salt, a bouquet made of sprigsof parsley, a bay leaf and a mite of garlic (the last named being quite optional) and six to eight table- spoonfuls of rice. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and let it cook for several minutes on a gentle fire. Add the pigeons and cook them from ten to twelve minutes with the onion. Then pour the curry powder over them. Stir the whole with a spoon and add the water, salt and the bouquet. Bring the liquid to a boil and cover the saucepan. After fifteen minutes’ cooking add the rice and let it cook twenty to twenty- five minutes and serve. The above receipt is reduced to its most simple form, and is very suitable for a small household. The soup, however, may be re- fined by replacing the water with bouillon (broth) by straining the onion after cooking through a fine strainer, and by only using the filets of the pigeons, after removing the skin, and cutting the filets in squares, which you add at the moment of serving to the boiling soup, with several tablespoonfuls of rice cooked in broth. Pigeon and Barley Soup The following quantities are sufficient for six persons: Two large pigeons cleaned, singed and divided into four parts; one large onion chopped fine, two medium-sized carrots cut in little squares, six to eight tablespoonfuls of cleaned barley, two large soupspoonfuls of but- ter, half an ounce of suet, a pinch of pepper, a bay leaf and three pints of water. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and let it cook several minutes on a gentle fire. Then add the pigeons, cook them eight to ten minutes with the onion. Then add the carrots, barley, water, salt, pepper and the bay leaf. Cover the saucepan and let it boil on a gentle fire for about an hour and a quarter. _ This soup may be improved in the manner indicated in the: other soups. A few spoonfuls of green peas during the season will give it a particularly exquisite flavor. Cream of Pigeon Soup Quantities for six persons: Two pigeons, cleaned, singed and divided into four parts; one large onion chopped up, two large soup- spoonfuls of butter, half an ounce of salt, one pinch of pepper, six to eight soupspoonfuls of flour, one bouquet made of parsley sprigs, a bay leaf and sprigs of thyme well tied together, two full quarts of water and half a pint of fresh cream. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and the pigeons, let them cook for about fifteen minutes on a gentle fire and then mix in the flour. Let them cook again for a few minutes, add the water and bring the liquid to a boil, taking care to stir the mixture with a wooden spoon, so that the flour may be well dissolved and not stick to the bottom of the saucepan. At the first boiling remove the saucepan to the corner of the fire and then add the salt, pepper ~ and the bouquet. Let it cook again at a gentle fire for about an hour. Finally remove the pieces of pigeon. Cut the lean meat in squares and keep it warm. Strain the soup through a fine tammy or strainer and put it back in a fresh, clean sauce- pan, keeping it hot. At the moment of serving add the cream, mixing it well with the soup, which should be boiling. Pour it into a soup tureen with the little squares of meat you have kept in reserve. You may also at the time of serving add to this cream some spoonfuls of rice or cooked barley or Italian paste. Pigeon and Tomato Soup The preparation of this soup is nearly the same as the preceding, except that the curry is replaced by seven to-eight large firm tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped up. The bouquet is made of the same materials, the proportions of water, salt and rice are the same, but you must add also a pinch of pepper. This receipt may also be elaborated for more expensive tastes, as the other soup is. When fresh tomatoes are not obtainable they may be replaced by tomato puree. Pigeon and Pea Soup a la Paysanne Quantities for six persons: Two pigeons, cleaned and singed; one large or several small new onions chopped up; two saucespoonfuls of butter; two ounces of lean bacon, cut in small squares; a quart of large peas; two lettuces, well cleaned and cut in squares; half an ounce of salt, a pinch of pepper, a piece of sugar, five pints of hot water, a bouquet garni made of sprigs of parsley and a bay leaf. Melt the bacon and butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and the pigeons. Let them cook ten to twelve minutes on a gentle fire. Then add the peas, the lettuce, the water, the salt, the pepper, the sugar and the bouquet. APPENDIX G Bring the liquid to a boil and then cook at a gentle fire for forty-five to fifty minutes. ' Cut the lean meat from the pigeon, then cut it in small squares and keep it hot. At the time of serving add two soupspoonfuls of fine butter, mixing it well, and pour the soup, which should be boiling, into a soup tureen, in which you have previously placed the squares of meat. Pigeon Saute a la Paysanne Quantities: Two pigeons, cleaned, singed and divided into two parts; two soupspoonfuls of butter, four tablespoonfuls of lean bacon, cut in little dice ; two medium-sized onions, chopped up; six medium-sized potatoes, cut in small dice; salt, pepper and chopped parsley. Melt the butter and the bacon ina frying pan or sauteing dish, and add the pigeons, which you cook gently. After fifteen minutes’ cook- ing add the onions, the salt and the pepper; let the onions cook for several minutes and add the potatoes. Finish cooking and add a little good gravy if possible and some chopped parsley at the mo- ment of serving. This is one of the oldest and most favored methods of cooking pigeons in the country. Like many of our most savory dishes, it origi- nated in the home of the farmer, as its name, ““a la paysanne,”’ indicates. Estouffade of Squabs or Squab Stew Take two or three squabs, cleaned and pre- pared for cooking, but not tied up; roast them lightly and then put them in a terrine (a deep earthenware dish of French design). Add to the cooking liquor a glass of cognac and a glass of white wine; boil it several seconds and pour it all over the pigeons. Surround the pigeons with several little onions, browned in butter, and twenty fresh mushrooms, cut in quarters and sauteed in but- ter. Season with salt and pepper. Add sev- eral tablespoonfuls of good gravy. Lay over the pigeons several slices of lean bacon, slightly browned in butter. Cover the terrine close and cook at a gentle fire fifty minutes and serve. Estouffade of Squab a la Cavalieri This is a more refined and expensive method of preparing the squabs than the preceding: Roast the squabs lightly in butter and put them in the terrine with their cooking butter, cognac and white wine. Then surround them with a dozen small lamb sweetbreads, slightly browned in butter, a few slices of truffles, cut . tather thick, and a few spoonfuls of good veal gravy, the whole well seasoned. Cook gently in the oven for about fifty minutes. This and the preceding dish have the ad- vantage that they can be eaten hot or cold. Stuffed Pigeons Take two pigeons, cleaned and singed, and prepare the following stuffing: A soupspoonful of butter, three soupspoonfuls of lean bacon; the livers of the pigeons, chopped up; three tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs, white and 405 fresh; half a soupspoonful of chopped onion, a coffeespoonful of chopped parsley, salt, pepper, spice and two yolks of eggs. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion, let it cook gently six to eight minutes and then add the bacon. As soon as this is slightly heated, add the pigeons’ livers and, if possible, two or three chickens’ livers, the bread crumbs, the chopped parsley, salt, pepper and yolks of eggs. Stuff the pigeons, tie them up with the feet turned in, and cook them in a saucepan thirty to thirty-five minutes at a gentle fire. At the moment of serving, untie the pigecns, put them back in the saucepan, with several soupspoonfuls of good gravy or hot water. Give them several seconds’ boiling so that the gravy and cooking butter may be well mixed. GOOD SQUAB RECEIPTS, by Mrs. E. E. Wygant. Singe, split down the back and dress as for chicken; season with pepper and salt, parsely and onion, celery and bay leaves, a few slices of bacon, and baste with melted butter and water while baking about an hour; include the giblets in the baking. (2) Clean and dress as for turkey, let them drain, and stuff with a moist dressing over night, made of bread crumbs, onions, pepper, salt, parsley, celery, and a few English walnuts, and fasten a small piece of bacon on each breast with a tooth pick, baste often with melted butter and water, and serve on lettuce leaves. YOUTH AND MATURITY, by F. M. Gil- bert. Another joke! I get letter after letter from parties wanting pigeons, with this clause, “they must not be over one year old.’’ Now what idiot has been telling or writing that pigeons breed best when a year old? And these men believe it or they wouldn’t make the stipulation. Suppose I give balm to a few minds. I imported Derby (once champion of England) when he was twelve years old. He died at twenty from a cold. Dundee, the father of the crack birds that Messrs. Topping, Kelley and others of Chicago showed, was seven years old when he came over. I showed K. C. at the first show Kansas City ever gave, and I heard of him two years ago in the East, still breeding and doing well. I bred Unser Fritz and Seventy-Six for some twelve years. I bought the Palace cock at two years old and never got a fertile egg till he was seven. The very best pair of producers I ever owned — the pair that bred me birds which brought $250 in one season, were so old that they were get- ting coarse about the necks. UNBOUND VOLUMES OF THE SQUAB MAGAZINE. Unbound volumes of the Na- tional Squab Magazine, that is, the twelve issues of each year, tied in one package, for the years 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, and so on, are for sale, transportation prepaid anywhere, for one dollar. For the first year, 1909, only the bound volume is offered (and only a few left of them) for $2.50, transportation prepaid anywhere. 406 I will now leave it all to you in regard to sending me another pair. It is a pleasure to do business with you. There are so many dis- honest people in business that a person doesn’t know whom to deal with, but I will say for the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, I will have no hesitancy in recommending you to others.— Clarence Kerr, Ohio. T am glad to state that I just took two blue ribbons at the Pigeon Show of the California Pigeon Club, Oakland, 1912. They were won by two pens of Exhibition Homers, Red Barred, Silvers and Black Homers. They were bred from the stock that I bought from the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company two years ago. These birds, also your Carneaux, are excellent breeders, raising fat, white-meated squabs. I handle the squabs of a good many other people here and noticed that those that have Plymouth Rock Squab Company stock are always sending me the best.—Stefan Schwarz, California. As you wanted to know how I made out at our show with Plymouth Rock pigeons, I am proud to say: I showed 16 birds and got 14 ribbons —7 blues, 4 reds and 3 yellows, also got a silver cup for best display of working Homers.—William R. Mollineaux, New York. It may interest you to know that my Ply- mouth Rock Carneaux took the blue ribbon over all exhibits of their class at the poultry show last week.—Dr. C. L. Rion, State of Wash- ington. Enclosed you will find two dollars, for which please send me by first boat one hundred pounds of your Plymouth Rock Health Grit. There is nothing which will take its place. My birds are doing nicely now. They have gone to work in earnest. I will send some more pictures soon.—Mrs. H. F. Maxwell, Florida. You will recollect that I bought from you six or seven lots of the Extra Homers. These have given excellent satisfaction. At present I am breeding about ten dozen squabs per week from eight hundred breederss Practically all of these have been raised from your Extra Homers within the last two years. Your Extra Hom- ers are breeding nine to eleven-pound squabs for us regularly —K. C. Jursek, Pennsylvania. We are more than delighted with the birds we bought of you nearly two years ago. We have now 250 pairs, besides selling most of our young squabs at fifty cents each. You remem- ber we started with twenty-five pairs. We are going to extend our plant and order some Carneaux.—Lewis A. Briggs, Rhode Island. SIX TO SIX HUNDRED, by A. S. Temple, New York. I started in the squab business June 15, 1910, with three pairs of Extra Homers which I purchased from you, and the flock has increased (January 7, 1913) to more than six hundred birds that will all be old enough to be APPENDIX +G workers by April 1, 1913, and I have kept only the best of the production, killing and selling or using for our own table all that were not up to standard in size. Some of my best squabs weighed from sixteen to twenty ounces at twenty-seven to thirty days of age. Wearein the business to stay, and think after I get a steady market for my production will increase my flock by buying mated pairs from you, as it is quicker than waiting to raise them, although the experience of the past two years with the aid of your invaluable squab book has been of great advantage to me. $7.50 TO $9 A DOZEN, by Karl C. Jursek. We are receiving from private families from $7.50 to $9 for nine and ten-pound Plymouth Rock Homer squabs. From hotels this month (January) we received $6.25 to $7 for nine-and- one-half to ten-and-one-half-pound squabs. In this list are included the Fort Pitt, Lincoln, Henry and Monongahela houses. We cannot of course give a list of the private families. We start building a good-sized addition in the spring. NO SET RULES, by Fred H. Dodge. Please tell me the cost of keeping for one year one hundred pairs of breeding pigeons at the present prices of pigeon grains. How many squabs could I market by taking the best care of the birds? Answer. The matters you speak of vary up and down the scale with management. We cannot give you a set of rules, nor can any- body. You might get a certain number of squabs per year while another breeder more skilful might get more, or still another person not so skilful would get less. The same applies to grain, whether you buy it in paper bags, as the owners of a few pairs do, or whether you buy it in 100-pound lots or whether you buy it’ in ton lots. The best guide for you is to read actual experiences in which breeders tell in their own words what they have accomplished. Success with squabs depends more on your acts than on what you may read or not read, al- though you should study as much as you car and then adapt yourself accordingly. BOSTON GLOBE QUOTATIONS ON SQUABS. January 26, 1912, $5 and $6 a dozen. February 16, 1912, $5 and $6.50 a dozen. March 1, 1912, $6 and $7.50 a dozen. HOW SPLIT PEANUTS FATTENED OUR SQUABS, by H. A. Henkel. We are located right on the western edge of the peanut belt and up to two months ago had never thought of peanuts as a food for pigeons. However, after learning that pigeons were very fond of them, we decided to give them a thorough trial and secured from one of the big shellers a few hundred pounds. These we commenced feed- ing to our birds in one pen which contained thirty-five pairs. We thought it best to feed only to one pen of birds for a while to see how the breeders thrived and how the squabs would be. We fed this pen of birds a proportioned mixture of kaffir corn, cracked corn, red wheat, APP EIN DEX OG and sorghum seed in a Jencks’ self-feeder, and every night and morning we fed in an open trough one quart of cracked peanuts. The birds were in excellent condition, and the squabs were fully up to those that were in the other twenty-four pens that had been fed a large per cent of Canada peas and other costly grains. After this test we commenced feeding all our birds a mixture similar to the above, which gave results equally as gratifying as were obtained from the more costly grains. We find, ‘however, that the feeding of the peanuts in a separate trough is an unnecessary trouble, and recently we have been mixing the peanuts with the other grains. The mixture is as follows, and we guarantee it will produce squabs equally as heavy, if not heavier, than those produced with the more costly grains. The grains proportioned as follows will give best results: 200 pounds kaffir corn, 100 pounds good red wheat, 100 pounds good, sound cracked corn, and 75 to 100 pounds cracked peanuts. The kaffir corn costs us $2 per 100 pounds, wheat $1.50, cracked corn $1.65, and the pea- nuts at present $1.80 per bushel. At these figures this mixture can be made for $2 per 100 pounds. Of course, in localities where grains can be secured for less than kaffir corn, wheat, and cracked corn, it would be advisable to feed them instead. Always adapt your feeding to the grains that are to be had at the lowest prices in your town. In most every section of the United States certain grains can be secured to mix with peanuts that will make an excellent feed which will not cost more than $2 per 100 pounds. On September 18 we shipped north fourteen and one-half dozen Plymouth Rock Homer squabs which were the first we have shipped that had been fed on peanuts from the start. They were nearer one size than any lot we have ever shipped, nice large white ones, and I think will bring better prices than any we have shipped this year. Just two days previous to this we shipped from these same houses five dozen Plymouth Rock Homer squabs that weighed ten pounds to the dozen. PEANUTS HAVE OVER 40 PER CENT PROTEIN, by Edward E. Evans. Until squab and pigeon breeders learn what constitutes food value, until they learn why the American farmer pays $25 per ton for one kind of feed and $45 per ton for another kind, there is no use to talk or write about peas, cowpeas or soys. The general idea seems to be that bulk as compared with price is all there is to the feed question. When your people learn that on the basis of absolute food value a bushel of peas is worth two and one-half bushels of wheat, they will begin to know something about squab production on a paying basis. Red wheat is today two and one-half to three times as expensive as peas, while weed seeds and wild grass seeds (the seeds of fox- tail, pigeon grass and barnyard grass) are not any better. The money that it takes today to buy eleven feed units of kaffir corn, will pay for twenty-eight units if expended in peas. I 407 notice that a great number of so-called ‘‘ bal- anced ration ’’ feeds, composed of a mixture of grains, hemp, millet and weed seeds, are being sold all over the country, in direct viola- tion of the Pure Food act. No such mixture contains to exceed twelve per cent protein and most of them contain much less. The only way to balance a pigeon ration is by the use of legume seeds, 7.e., Canada peas, soy beans, vetches, cowpeas, horse beans or peanuts. Later. Do not misinterpret the statement I made in my previous letter regarding mixtures of grain. The Pure Food act does not stipu- late that such a mixture shall contain a certain specified amount of protein, nor did I state that it did. My complaint was that a great many mixtures of grains and seeds were being offered on the market as “ balanced rations,’’ which they certainly are not. A mixture of cereal grains and seeds such as millet, hemp and wild seed, no matter how many different species or varieties, cannot under the act be called a “balanced ration,’’ for the reason that the above-mentioned seeds and cereals contain only from 10 to 124% per cent of protein. A ‘ bai- anced ration ’’ for pigeons can be obtained only through the use of legume seeds, such as peas, cowpeas, soy beans, vetches, etc., all of which contain from twenty-five to forty-two per cent protein. I notice that a breeder in Virginia obtains good results from the use of peanuts. This success could not be rightly attributed to the large percentage of oil contained therein. As you are doubtless aware, vegetable fats and oils, in other words, carbon, do not produce growth in any animal body, but furnish energy or motion, and some portion of it is stored up as fat. Peanuts are of such great value to squab raisers because they contain more than forty per cent actual protein and are the richest in that substance of any material produced on American farms. This exemplifies the statement made in my previous letter, that American pigeon and squab breeders have much to learn of feeding values as compared with bulk, and until they learn this they can never buy feed intelligently nor use it profitably. I HAVE FOUND THE REAL REMEDY FOR LICE, by George S. Terry. It was not until my fourth year in the squab business that I had any trouble with lice. I woke up one fine June morning to find four hundred pairs of my best birds affected. I consulted authorities who informed me that lice were usually due to filth and poor management in the loft and that the best cure was prevention. This was poor consolation and useless advice. Asa matter of fact I had always given my birds the best of care. [ never yet have failed to make at least two dollars per pair per year net profit from my birds. Considering that I have had no private trade and always sold to commission men, I do not think my results show poor management in the loft. But the lice were there and the birds began to show it. I wrote for advice to friends. I visited neighboring and distant lofts. I was variously advised but no one seemed to have a real knowledge of just how 408 APPENDIX: iG to rid a loft of lice. Some advised perman- ganate of potash in the bath water, moth balls in the nests, various kinds of insect: powder, several kinds of nest sprays, carbolized lime, etc. I tried all these. For three months I wrestled with the lice. I caught and dusted every bird at least three different times: I was getting desperate. I even made a revolving cylinder or dust bag through which I passed all the birds. It was an immense amount of work but did not do the business. It killed some lice, to be sure, but in ten days they were as bad as ever. Finally I hit it, and it is easy when you know how. Simply spray the birds with a mixture of two-thirds kerosene and one- third crude carbolic acid. I close the birds in the loft and take a continuous spray pump full of the mixture and give their feathers a good dose of the evil-smelling stuff. I try especially to hit their backs. They sneeze and sputter and it does spoil their beauty for a while, but no harm ever has resulted in my lofts. A better and more thorough method is to catch each bird and pour about a dessert- spoonful among the feathers along the back, especially just above the tail. This place is the last stronghold of the louse. You will find him here when he has been driven from every other quarter. This treatment, taken with the tri-weekly bath and the usual spraying of the nestboxes, has completely solved the problem forme. May it do as much for you. We are to have a poultry and pigeon show next month. There are quite a few people en- gaged in the business here. I have had a couple of orders of birds from you. I bought them when I was in Kellogg, Idaho. I am not engaged in the business now, but intend to start again in the spring. I thought perhaps you would like to have some advertising left at the show. Iam always interested in telling people about the Plymouth Rock Squab Com- pany, as you sent me fine birds on both of my orders. I am in a position now to tell lots of people about you, as I am soliciting for a tea house here and call on a good many people who raise poultry and pigeons. If you will send me some advertising I will pass it out to good advantage, and possibly I can send you on some orders. I will feel amply paid if you send me good birds when I order next spring. The demand for squabs increases every day. The price paid depends on the size and color and mostly on one’s ability to sell them to the right people.—G. Evans, Utah. The birds you sent me last April are doing nicely. Have saved considerable squabs as breeders, and have sotd enough to more than pay ‘or feed. I have never sold squabs for less than $3.75 per dozen to dealers, and re- ceive $6 per dozen from private trade. These were raised from your Extra Homers. Have had squabs run as high as seventeen ounces, but they average fourteen ounces each. You can use above as an unsolicited testimonial if you wish. Yours for continued success.—H. A. Parkhurst, New Jersey. I recently moved to Utah from Bedford, Indiana, and while in Bedford I bought some Homers from you. They were beauties, and I can’t get along without some pigeons out here. The prospects for squab raising here are good. Iam trying to get some one interested who owns property and can put up a large plant. I have misplaced your catalogue and must ask for another one. Squabs bring $6 to $7 a dozen here now (1913).—George G. Crocker, Utah. Plymouth Rock squabs are bringing sixty cents apiece with prospects of very heavy sales this winter. My private trade is rapidly in- creasing, due to the fact that my customers are doing a little free advertising for me. A satisfied customer surely is your best advertise- ment.—R. W. Edson, Ohio. Received your dollar Manual and it is the plainest and easiest understood of anything that has ever come under my eyes. You may use my letter and name if it will help to get amateurs to read the Manual, as it is surely a great help.—A. E. Edgerton, Michigan. I have only a few hundred now, but will en- large my squab plant as it furnishes the capital. I am greatly pleased with the magazine and look to your National Standard Squab Book for advice, and have implicit confidence in it. I know its advice is good because I have been in the poultry business for twenty years, and have had pigeons for pleasure and have natural love for all the feathered tribe.—Mrs. Edith Love, West Virginia. We find a ready market for squabs in Chicago at $3.50 for eight-pound, $4.50 for nine-pound squabs. We ship at 3.45 p.m. and they are in Chicago for the next morning’s market. We had a severe case of canker in one bird, his own fault, as he must have eaten the dirty feed from the floor, and we cleaned out the mouth with a bit of cotton wound around a match, moistened with vaseline, then we covered the spots with sulphur. Had to treat him for a week and a day and the canker was all gone.— Griffin & Hazen, Wisconsin. I went to one of the markets in Vancouver to buy a chicken and after making a purchase I inquired the price of squabs that were in a crate nearby. The marketman thought I wanted some, I suppose, and said, ‘‘ Seventy- five cents a pair.’’ When he found out that I had no intention of buying he talked with me about them and said he paid sixty cents a pair and sometimes more, but never less.—Harry Gardner, British Columbia. An easy way to lose money in the squab business is to follow the advice of those who talk but have nothing to show for their talking; and, conversely, the successful pigeons and methods are found on the places of the money- makers, who have eager attention when they talk or write. APPENDIX G I went to a market in Lynn and found they wanted six dollars a dozen for squabs, and they were not of extra quality either. They were No. 1 and had feathers on. Squabs in this locality are scarce and the prices are high. The market I refer to is the J. B. Blood Co., one of the largest markets in New England. "The two squabs which I bought cost me fifty cents apiece with feathers on. I enjoyed them after they were cooked. Yours for squab news which will be honest and reliable-—W. D. Hayden, Massachusetts. BONES FOR NESTS, by Lawrence Walter. I have one pair of pigeons which insist upon building their nests of bones that accumulate in the chicken yard. They will do this even if I have a bushel basket of tobacco stems where they can get at them. I also have another pair that lay four eggs every time, and usually three of them hatch. We look forward to the coming of the Squab Magazine with great eagerness. I get $4 per dozen for seven and eight-pound squabs and $4.50 for nine-pound squabs in Chicago.—Mrs. N. E. Wilson, Indiana. NEEDS WAKING OP, by William Smith. I am the only squab raiser in my city in Michigan, and can sell all I can raise for seventy-five cents a pair, plucked. I have forty pairs of Homers and all are doing splendidly. Homers are the best of all my squabs. They weigh nine and ten pounds to the dozen. I feed scratch feed, stale bread and whole corn. I turn down orders every day as high as three dozen at a time. SHAVINGS FOR FLOOR, by Harry M. Samson. Speaking of flooring material, the writer has tried pretty much everything within his reach, good, bad and worse. For the past few years I have used sand from the Hudson River, making what I considered an ideal cover- ing for two reasons: first, its cost was practically nothing; second, it absorbed the droppings. What more could one wish for? Recently I stumbled across shavings, a product to be had at any sawmill at little or no cost. Believe me, I was converted in haste, and I will tell you why. First of all, they give the loft a clean, immaculate appearance, such a thing as the odor of ammonia being an unknown quantity for the simple reason that the shavings absorb the moisture at once, leaving the droppings in the form of dry manure, which is not obnoxious, and is readily swept up. Shavings, however, should not be used if the pure manure is being * saved for tanneries. OREGON WOMAN’S PASTIME, by Mrs. W..R. Lycan. I bought three pairs of your best Homers in March, 1908. Since then I have raised about sixty pairs, all mated and working now, besides selling enough to pay all expenses of feed for the whole bunch and also wire for fly, and I have on the right side of ledger close to twenty-five dollars. I pay here 409 (Oregon) $2.50 per hundred for mixed pigeon feed, about the same for kaffir corn, $1.95 for whole corn, about $1.60 for good wheat. Get thirty cents each for squabs, killed and plucked. Iam getting $6 a dozen for squabs at our home grocer’s'and $7.20 from my private cus- tomers and can sell all Ihave. I cut the head off, pull the skin over the neck and hold it down, and put wings back. I have boxes which hold two in oiled paper. I feel very proud of my birds as [ take all care of them, cleaning the house once a week thoroughly.— Mrs. A. Rheinstrom, Illinois. I have benefited much from the magazine and am selling my own squabs to private trade for fifty cents each, dressing five cents extra, and ten cents for delivery, Carneaux squabs one dollar each, and have all I can do.—Miss Marion S. Baker, Massachusetts. I am getting $4.25 a dozen for my squabs in Cincinnati.—Orson W. Clark, Ohio. SALT AND DAINTIES, by E. J. Lander. Here is one of my own preparations in the way of producing healthy squabs: Take two parts of salt, one part of rice (ground) and one part of wild or mustard seed. Put the two parts of salt and parts of rice and wild seed together in any kind of receptacle and mix well. Then dampen this with water and put a pinch of red pepper in the mixture. Now put in an oven and bake hard. Be careful not to get it burned. Take out the pans after the mixture has baked hard and set in a cool, dry place. The birds eat this with great relish. Fellow breeders, try this, for it makes the birds livelier and brings good sound squabs. I send you a clipping from a Seattle news- paper offering $4.50 per dozen for squabs shipped alive.—C. E. Jackson, Washington. Squabs are in demand in our southern cities at from $5 to $4.50 a dozen. Please send me one of your type dies. I want to get in the game, so for anything you can do or say to help me [ will be very thankful, and will do as much as I can to help make the National Squab Breed- ers’ Association the thing.—E. T. Heywood, Mississippi. . FEED IN MONTANA, by J. P. Runa. Ac- cording to my observations a pigeon eats nearly forty pounds of feed a year. 80 far I have been feeding my pigeons a ready-made mixture. But this feed stands me more than four cents a pound laid down here (Montana) which, of course, is too much. I can buy turkey red wheat here at one and one-fourth cents a pound, barley at one and one-half cents a pound, corn at two cents a pound, and I have a lot of peas that were raised together with and mixed with spring wheat. Could I not make a good feeding mixture out of these? Answer. Yes, certainly. The more peas you use, the better off you will be in eggs and squabs. It is not 410 necessary for Montana squab raisers to send East for their grain. They can buy wheat and peas cheaper than eastern squab raisers. SEATTLE MARKET, by Fred B. Lancaster. I have been reading one of your squab books and believe you are pretty nearly right. J am a breeder of Homers myself.- I have four hundred and twenty-eight pairs of birds, and fine ones too. I intend to buy some more this fall. I will need some soon, as I am now build- ing a large house to accommodate about five hundred more birds. I am now getting $5.25 per dozen for squabs in Seattle, so you see we have a pretty good market in the West, and there is always a good demand for squabs. Pigeons are a good deal like figures in one respect: whereas figures acquire their value from their position, so pigeons demonstrate their value through their owner. The Pacific Market in Ocean Park gives $4.50 a dozen for squabs, and sells them for $5 or $6. The City Market gives $3 and sells for $4.50. I can get sixty cents apiece for squabs from four to five weeks old and twenty- five cents for old pigeons per pair. The squab is the most tender, sweetest, and most easily digested. I would rather have squab than any other meat. A woman in my neighborhood clears from fifteen to eighteen dollars per month from her pigeons. I have blue bar and blue checker Homers.—Homer E. Vincent, Cali- fornia. I raise squabs over a pound apiece, getting as much as five dollars per dozen. I am building larger this spring.—Ernest Madsen, Massa- chusetts. Prices in San Francisco fluctuate according to supply. On one occasion I was quoted common squabs at twenty cents each, Ply- mouth Rock Homer squabs at forty-five and fifty cents each. About four weeks later or during April, 1912, I was quoted common squabs at two dollars per dozen, Homer squabs at three and four dollars per dozen. Prices in Berkeley (May 22, 1912): common squabs $2.75 to $3.25 per dozen, Homer squabs $3.50 to $4.50 per dozen. One market quoted the Homer squabs at strictly forty-five cents each. —Harry Preiss, California. WOMAN GETS $5 FOR EIGHT-POUND SQUABS, by Mrs. W. A. Roth. In 1908 I had a severe attack of the squab breeder’s fever, brought on by reading everything I could get on the subject. Ihad never seen any but com- mon pigeons flyingaround. After reading Mr. Rice’s Manual I decided I could do what others had done. I bought twenty-five pairs of Homers and later twenty-five pairs more, with a pair of Carneaux. At first I fed according to the advice given by so many, two-thirds corn, one-third wheat in winter and the reverse in summer, with Canada peas, kaffir corn, hempseed, broken rice and buckwheat. The APPENDIEXAG birds did well on this in the winter but when the hot weather came in June, the squabs were light in weight, some having swollen wing and leg joints. I wrote to some experienced men for help and feel I owe much of my success to them. They told me the wheat was at the bottom of the trouble and never to feed more than one-fourth wheat in the ration. I use winter wheat. I have learned not to let the birds out on the snow as their cold feet chill the eggs and prevent hatching. My first squabs I sold all sizes for $3 per dozen. I am now selling eight-pound squabs at $5, nine-pound squabs at $6, twelve-pound squabs at $8 per dozen, less express and commission. I have nothing in my pens breeding less than six pairs per year, averaging nine to twelve pounds per dozen. The Carneau-Homer cross makes a large squab, also Maltese-Homer, but I would not like to keep them for breeders because a well-established breed like pure Homers and pure Carneaux, is so much more reliable in reproducing its characteristics. CHICAGO IS AN EXCELLENT SQUAB MARKET, by John Loring Cook. I am in- tensely interested in the squab business, and it is proving to be a successful venture. I put in five hundred birds first and have slowly developed the plant until I have now five lofts and about a thousand birds. Chicago is surely an excellent market, and my plant is doing as well as could be expected. I believe there is good money to be made in the squab and poul-. try business, if the help expense can be kept at a low figure and the feed bill is properly regu- lated. These two items can be kept down if one understands how-to do it. Feed should not cost very much over $1.70 a hundredweight. I FIND MUSTARD SEED CHEAP AND GOOD, by Riley C. Clark. I think most of the pigeon men here feed a little different than in most places. My main feed is wild brown mustard seed. I have fed it with good results for three years. I will give my way of feeding. One and one-half quarts wheat in morning. From three to four quarts mustard seed at noon. One and one-half to two quarts Egyp- tian corn at night, with a feed of peas and rice once a week each. In each loft is a feeder containing grit, charcoal and sea-shells, in each fly a piece of mineral salt. One reason I feed more mustard seed is that it is a cheaper feed than anything else. It costs here $1.25 per one hundred pounds; white wheat is about $1.60 and Egyptian corn $1.75 to $2 per hundred. I should like to hear from some one who has tried mustard seed. The price of live squabs here is from $2.50 to $4.50 f.0.b., San-Francisco. We do not dress squabs for market. PROFIT OF $3.55 A YEAR A PAIR ON HOMERS, by R. L. Chipman. I find the total cost of keeping a pair of breeding pigeons per year (here in the State of Washington) to be between $1 and $1.25 according to the grains used. The production per pair of sixteen squabs per year if sold at thirty cents apiece APPENDIX’ G would leave a net profit of $3.55 per pair per year. These figures are not theoretical by any means, for this income is being derived from squab plants which are carried on in a successful manner. The breeding birds are constant and vigorous workers from the age of six months to twelve years, producing fat, juicy squabs all this time. This is surely three times as long as any chicken can be said to be profitable and you do not need the infusion of new blood every year as is the case with chickens. HOW SQUABS MADE A SICK WOMAN WELL, By Mrs. H. F. Maxwell. One year ago I ordered six pairs of extra Plymouth Rock Homers, and it has been a delight for me to watch them multiply. I have nearly two hun- dred now. My birds are remarkable breeders. I have six or seven pairs which lay three or four eggs and hatch and raise three of them. Ihave never lost a single grown bird, and only a few squabs. The work is all a pleasure to me, even the cleaning of the houses, for I do it all. This fall I shall begin to market my squabs. There is a splendid market here (Florida) with good prices, and I do wish a number of people would go into the business on a large scale. Florida is an ideal place to raise pigeons, since we have no cold, icy winter to contend with. My houses are built with open fronts and the birds seem well contented. I have cement bath pans in the flying pens and use self-feeders in the houses. A friend of mine called on me, and I told her I was raising pigeons. She said, ““Why, we tried that and they all died with bowel trouble.” I took her out to the cotes and showed her how I feed and care for them. She said, ‘‘ Oh! we just threw the feed on the ground.’”’ I told her that was the reason they died, from damp and sprouted feed. She was delighted with my birds and wants to try again to raise them. I told her they were a great pleasure to me and had helped me to regain my health, so I felt they were a good investment if they never brought in any money. I do not intend to be satisfied with less than a thousand pairs. They will bring me a good income. I am also raising Indian Runner ducks and they are very interesting. Oh! if I only could convince more women that it is an ideal busi- ness for women, so much easier than working in the city on a salary, where you are in a close house all day, I believe more would take up this work. My friends laugh and call me a crank on the subject, but I cannot help telling others how interesting it is. I am in splendid health, whereas two years ago I was an invalid. That is what it has done for me. HOW I SAVE MONEY BY FEEDING BREAD, by Charlton Green. I have been feeding bakers’ discarded bread to a pen of eight pairs of breeders and eleven squabs, most of which are just learning to eat. The bread can be fed crushed dry or moistened. The pigeons like clean bread and white bread better than rye bread. Besides bread, I feed about half a pound of Indian corn each day. I find the bread an excellent feed for squabs that are 411 just out of the nest. They learn to eat it much quicker and easier than they do grain. I have noticed squabs in nests with it also. I believe it is as good for squabs in nest as it is for the older squabs or youngsters. I don’t believe a better feed could be fed to youngsters. The bread costs me one cent a loaf, or from $1 to $1.10 per 100 pounds. SOY BEANS FOR PIGEONS. Soy beans are a Canada peas substitute. A region of the world where the bean is indigenous, and where it has been a staple commodity of diet for centuries, is Asia, conspicuously India, China and Japan. Until a comparatively recent date native consumption has kept pace with pro- duction and there has not been much export trade. But with recent development of Man- churia the soy bean crop has come to have a bulk and value that is astounding, the demand from Europe and Japan steadily growing, so that the latest reports of shipment from Darien (formerly Dalny) and Vladivostok indicate that the Manchurian farmers are now raising an- nually about 1,800,000 tons of the beansand beancake. The soy bean flourishes well in the climate and on the soil of north Asia, and Russia as well as China and Japan stands to gain much by the value of the salable crops hereafter to come from the lands they own or control. European nations are finding that the oil from the bean has a variety of uses, edible as well as lubricating; that the flour can be used with wheat and rye to make bread; and that the beancake is admirable as food for cattle. Japanese capital and managers are profiting by the sudden and yet substantial expansion of this Manchurian export trade through their wise administration of the port of Darien and the trading enterprises which they carry on in the zone along the railway that they control. Japanese in Japan also are profiting by the new and inexpensive form of food supply; there the soy bean provides much for a people not over rich in foods and taxed at present to a point that only a people as loyal as the Japanese would bear longs without complaint. Soy beans are exceedingly rich in protein. WHY THE BREEDING OF MONGRELS FAILS, by Charles Darwin. Pigeons with feathered feet have skin between their outer toes. Pigeons with short beaks have small feet, and those with long beaks large feet. Hence if man goes on selecting, and thus augmenting, any: pecularity, he will almost certainly modify unintentionally other parts of the structure, owing to the mysterious Jaws of correlation. Having kept nearly all the English breeds of the fowl alive, having bred and crossed them, and examined their skeletons, it appears to me almost certain that all are the descend- ants of the wild Indian fowl, gallus bankiva; and this is the conclusion of Mr. Blyth and of others who have studied this bird in India. In regard to ducks and rabbits, some breeds of which differ much from each other, the 412 APPENDIX AG evidence is clear that they are all descended from the common wild duck and rabbit. The possibility of making distinct races by crossing has been greatly exaggerated. Many cases are on record, showing that a race may be modified by occasional crosses, if aided by the careful selection of the individuals which present the desired character; but to obtain a race intermediaie between two quite distinct races would be very difficult. Sir J. Sebright expressly experimented with this object, and failed. The offspring from the first cross between two pure breeds is tolerably and some- times (as I have found with pigeons) quite uniform in character, and everything seems simple enough; but when these mongrels are crossed one with another for several generations, hardly two of them are alike, and then the difficulty of the task becomes manifest. Believing that it is always best to study some special group, I have, after deliberation, taken up domestic pigeons. I have kept every breed which I could purchase or obtain, and have been most kindly favored with skins from several quarters of the world, more especially by the Hon. W. Elliot from India, and by the Hon. C. Murray from Persia. Many treatises in different languages have been published on pigeons, and some of them are very important, as being of considerable antiquity. I have associated with several eminent fanciers, and have been permitted to join two of the London pigeon clubs. The diversity of the breeds is something astonishing. Compare the English Carrier and the short- faced Tumbler, and see the wonderful differ- ence in their beaks, entailing corresponding differences in their skulls. The Carrier, more especially the male bird, is also remarkable from the wonderful development of the carun- culated skin about the head; and this is ac- companied by greatly elongated eyelids, very large external orifices to the nostrils and a wide gape of mouth. The short-faced Tumbler has a beak in outline almost like that of a finch; and the common Tumbler has the sin- gular inherited habit of flying at a great height in a compact flock and tumbling in the air head over heels. The Runt is a bird of great size, with long massive beak and large feet; some of the sub-breeds of Runts have very long necks, others very long wings and tails, others singularly short tails. The Barb is allied to the Carrier, but, instead of a long beak, has a very short and broad one. The Pouter has a much elongated body, wings and legs; and its enormously developed crop, which it gloriesin inflating, may well excite astonishment andeven laughter. The Turbit has a short and conical beak, with a line of reversed feathers down the breast; and it has the habit of con- tinually expanding, slightly, the upper part of the cesophagus. The Jacobin has the feathers so much reversed along the back of the neck that they form a hood; and it has, proportionally to its size, elongated wing and tail feathers. The Trumpeter and Laugher, as their names express, utter a very different coo from the other breeds. The Fantail has thirty or even forty tail-feathers, instead of twelve or fourteen —the normal number in all the members of the great pigeon family. These feathers' are kept expanded and are carried so erect that in good birds the head and tail touch: the oil-gland is quite aborted. Several other less distinct breeds might be specified. se In the skeletons of the several breeds, the development of the bones of the face in length and breadth and curvature differs enormously. The shape, as well as the breadth and length of the ramus of the lower jaw, varies in a highly remarkable manner.. The caudal and sacral vertebrsee vary in number; as does the number of the ribs, together with their relative breadth and the presence of processes. The size and shape of the apertures in the sternum are highly variable; so is the degree of diver- gence and relative size of the two arms of the furcula. The proportional width of the gape of mouth, the proportional length of the eye- lids, of the orifice of the nostrils, of the tongue (not always in strict correlation with the leneth of beak), the size of the crop and the upper part of the cesophagus; the development and abortion of the oil-gland; the number of the primary wing and caudal feathers; the relative length of the wing and tail to each other and to the body; the relative length of the leg and foot; the number of scutellz on the toes, the develop- ment of skin between the toes, are all points of structure which are variable. The period at which the perfect plumage is acquired varies, as does the state of the down with wh’ch the nestling birds are clothed when hatched. The shape and size of the eggs vary. The manner of flight, and in some breeds the voice and dis- position, differ remarkably. Lastly, in certain breeds, the males and females have come to differ in a Slight degree from each other.’ Altogether at least a score of pigeons might be chosen, which, if shown to an ornithologist, and he were told that they were wild birds, would certainly be ranked by him as well- defined species. Moreover, I do not believe that any ornithologist would in this case place the English Carrier, the short-faced Tumbler, the Runt, the Barb, Pouter and Fantail in the same genus; more especially as in each of these breeds several truly-inherited sub-breeds, or species, as he would call them, could be shown him. Great as are the differences between the breeds of the pigeon, I am fully convinced that the common opinion of naturalists is correct, namely, that all are descended from the rock- pigeon (columba livia), including under this term several geographical races or sub-species which differ from each other in the most trifling respects. As several of the reasons which have led me to this belief are in some degree applicable in other cases, I will here briefly give them. If the several breedsare not varieties, and have not proceeded from the rock-pigeon, they must have de:cended from at least seven or eight aboriginal stocks for it is impossible to make the present domestic breeds by the crossing of any lesser number: APPENDIX G how, for instance, could a Pouter be produced by crossing two breeds unless one of the parent stock possessed the characteristic enormous crop? The supposed aboriginal stocks must all have been rock-pigeons, :that is, they did not breed or willingly perch on trees. But besides columba livia, with its geographical sub-species, only two or three other species of rock-pigeons are known; and these have not any of the characteristics of the domestic breeds. Hence the supposed aboriginal stocks must either still exist in the countries where they were originally domesticated, and yet be unknown to ornithologists—and this, considering their size, habits, and remark- able characters, seems improbable —or they must have become extinct in the wild state. But birds breeding on precipices, and good fliers, are unlikely to be exterminated; and the common rock-pigeon, which has the same habits with the domestic breeds, has not been exterminated even on several of the smaller British islets, or on the shores of the Mediter- ranean. Hence the supposed extermination of so many species having similar habits with the rock-pigeon seems a very rash assumption. Moreover, the several above-named domes- ticated breeds have been transported to all parts of the world, and therefore, some of them must have been carried back again into their native country; but not one has become wild or feral, though the dovecot-pigeon, which is the rock-pigeon in a very slightly altered state, has become feral in several places. Again, all recent experience shows that it is difficult to get wild animals to breed freely under domestication; yet, on the hypothe- sis of the multiple origin of our pigeons, it must be assumed that at least seven or eight species were so thoroughly domesticated in ancient times by half-civilized man as to be quite prolific under confinement. An argument of great weight, and applicable in several’ other cases, is that the above- specified breeds, though agreeing generally with the wild rock-pigeon in constitution, habits, voice, coloring, and in most parts of their structure, yet are certainly highly abnormal in other parts; we may look in vain through the whole great family of columbide for a beak like that of the English Carrier, or that of the short-faced Tumbler, or Barb; for reversed feathers like those of the Jacobin; for a crop like that of the Pouter; for tail-feathers like those of the Fantail. Hence it must be assumed not only that half-civilized man suc- ceeded in thoroughly domesticating several species, but that he intentionally or by chance picked out extraordinarily abnormal species; and further, that these very species have since all become extinct or unknown. So many strange contingencies are improbable in the highest degree. THE LAWS OR PRINCIPLES OF BREED- ING, by Jas. P. Kinnard. The breeding of pigeons, like everything in nature, is governed by certain laws or principles, several of which are well Tae eniced, and there are doubtless 413 others not yet discovered. Some of the principles of breeding have been discovered and recognized for ages, and being now well known, enable the breeder to prosecute his work with a reasonable degree of success. There are three well-recognized funda- mental laws or principles of breeding: 1. The principle of ‘‘like begets like '’; 2. The prin- ciple of *‘ variation’; and 3. The principle of ““atavism.”” Like begets like, the first great law of breed- ing, enables the breeder to attain success, be- cause it is this principle of breeding that causes a Homer to produce a Homer, a Carneau to produce a Carneau, a red bird to produce a red bird, and a large bird to produce a large bird; and thus enables a breeder to know with some degree of certainty, when he selects his parent stock, what kind of young they will produce. The principle like begets like is more or less modified or interfered with by the other two principles, and it is also assisted or interfered with by another principle of breeding known as prepotency, which is really a sub-principle of like begets like. Variation is that principle of breeding which has a tendency to cause the form, color, etc., of ie young to differ from that of the parent stock. Atavism is that principle of breeding which has a tendency to cause the offspring to breed back (it is called) to one or more ancestors, sometimes even very remote. The degree of strength by which the prin- ciple of like begets like operates, is somewhat governed or controlled by another law of breeding known as prepotency, that is, the power of imparting the quality of the parent stock upon the young. To illustrate, a solid red Carneau that has been produced from a long line of solid red Carneaux, by careful selection and breeding is more prepotent and can be depended upon with a greater degree of certainty to impart its solid red color and other good qualities upon its squabs than a red cross between a Carneau anda Homer. Hence it is better to breed pure-bred stock that has been bred for a long number of generations by a breeder or breeders who possess _ the requisite skill and knowledge of the principles of breeding; for good results are more certain of attainment than when mongrels or crosses are used. The second great law or principle of breed- ing, variation, more or less modifies and inter- feres with the law of like begets like and makes the life of the breeder miserable, as it were, for it causes the qualities of the offspring to vary, sometimes widely, from those of the parents. It is only by the most careful, skilful, and per- sistent system of selecting the best specimens, possessing the most desirable qualities, and rigidly eliminating or culling out all undesir- able specimens, that enables the first law, like begets like, to work in harmony with the third law, atavism, and thus overcome to a great extent the evils of the second law, variation; thus giving the skilful, intelligent breeder a 414 decided advantage over the haphazard, thought- less breeder. It is not my intention in this article to discuss in detail these principles of breeding, because of lack of space, but I may do so in future articles; but it is my purpose here to call the attention of the reader to the great, funda- mental laws of breeding and cause him to think and consider whether to secure the best results, even the breeding of pigeons requires careful thought and study as well as practical experience. I merely wish to mention two matters in conciusion that I will not have time in this article to elaborate: 1. That the haphazard cross-breeding of pigeons is not nearly so likely to produce pigeons of high quality as a systematic course of breeding thoroughbreds that have had their excellent qualities impressed upon them by generations of careful breeding, and a careful selection for breeding stock of those only that possess in a high degree the qualities desired, as in utility pigeons — size, quality, and color of the meat, and prolificness, while at the same time being attractive in appearance. 2. There is nothing in the assertion made by some that there is a principle of breeding which causes the squab to take its color from the cock and its shape and size from the hen, though it is contended for by some breeders and writers. My contention, which is sustained by the ex- perience of the best known breeders of live- stock, poultry, and pigeons, is that there is no law of sex controlling any certain qualities, but that the cock and hen have an equal tendency to impart all their qualities upon their squabs, strengthened or weakened by the prepotency or want of it in each. I may discuss this question further in a future article. The object of this article is not to arouse controversy, but to offer some suggestions in order to arouse the young breeder to endeavor by careful thought, study, and practice to breed better birds than he is now breeding. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN BREEDING SQUABS, by Judge Ocie Speer. Most people who have owned a dozen pigeons stand ready at a moment’s notice to give all sorts of advice about the pigeon business, and I want to exercise that privilege at this time,— possibly to the profit of some beginner. First, one should not expect to breed twelve pairs of squabs a year, from each pair of birds. No one but a Micawber expects every lot in the block to be a corner lot, and none but the most delectable optimist numbers his pro- spective herd by calculating every calf a heifer. It is not safe to buy your seed stock of any breed, however prolific, and count in advance that you will certainly get twelve pairs of squabs from each mated pair, the first year, and that all youngsters will live, mate at four months, and repeat the process of producing twelve pairs of squabs every twelve months. In the first place, if such figures ‘‘ panned out ’’ (that isn’t a good figure, I mean “* hatched out’), everybody would go into the pigeon APPENDIZENG business, and there wouldn’t be room for the birds raised. Furthermore, there would be no glory in achieving a thing so easy to be done. Pigeons won't increase that fast, with any amount of care. Don’t be foolish and expect it. If you get eight pairs of squabs a year, and have parent pairs enough, you stand a good chance to get rich. Second, one should not expect to raise every squab that is hatched. I have tried chickens and they are the best diers I ever saw. Mor- tality tables, if they were kept for chickens, would read something like this: STANDARD MORTALITY TABLE SHOWING LIFE EXPECTANCY OF CHICKENS JNinrorhopojuleintaioq Ara eee ot slowo Arco 6 Nil. At hatching time...... Too early to estimate. One day old. .One chance in a thousand to sur- vive. One week old... .One day (if not too hot or too cold). One month old... .One week (if no sign of sick- ness). 7 Now, every one who has tried both, knows that pigeons are more healthy and easier to raise than chickens, yet squabs can die, and do die. The breeder is lucky if, with the best care, he raises to full maturity, ninety per cent of the squabs hatched. He ought not to raise less than seventy-five per cent. If he raises only fifty per cent, his business may yet be profitable, since squabs, like the good, die early, and their keep has been inconsiderable, and the parent pair ‘‘ get busy ”’ again. Next, one should not get discouraged too early, nor at all. There is no royal road to wealth; not even the pigeon fancier is borne ‘‘on flowery beds of ease ’’ to that earthly haven of ““peace and plenty.’’ Everything worth ac- complishing requires an effort, and an intel- ligent effort at that. Experience proves that pigeon breeding is not only a pleasant occupa- tion, but a profitable one. The business can be made a “ go,’’ even under unfavorable con- ditions, and knowing this, the beginner must acknowledge no such word as quit. But enough of advice. I shall now tell you some other things either interesting or helpful. Item number one. One of my fine Car- neau hens accidentally broke her egg. I don't mean it was broken on the floor and the con- tents spattered about, but the outer shell was broken in a place as large as a pea. I care- fully sealed up the break with a little plaster, commercially known as Cementium, and re- placed the egg in the nest. It hatched on time, and the pigeon is now mated and working in my loft of solid reds. I have repeated this many times. 5 Item number two. I have a pair of birds that have been nesting and laying for some time, but that is all they do. Try as I may, I have never been able to induce madame to sit a single day. She lays every ten days. I shall keep her to see how long she will continue to do so. Item number three. I had a pair of very fine solids reds to mate and set up housekeeping at four and a half months old. They were APPENDIX |G. slow to lay, but at last I got two eggs from the nest. These were placed under another pair. For four or five months thereafter, I never got an egg from them, and at last becoming suspicious of their family relations I forcibly separated them, placing each in a separate coop of youngsters. They are both now breed- ing with new mates, but the new mates are both hens. Oh, yes, the eggs I got from the first nest were laid by another hen. Jtem number four. I have had a few cases of canker among my young. I have tried kerosene oil, carbolic acid, aconite, and most everything else they have told me, but the only remedy worth while, according to my experience, 1s a mixture of mineral red and sulphur, in the proportions of three to one, in the order named. I pry open the mouth, pour in a quantity of the dry mixture of the size of a bean. This tends to dry up the cankerous growth, and enables the parent birds to fill the squab with grain. I have saved several that were badly afflicted. This preparation placed. occasionally in the bottom of feed troughs is a good preventative of the disease. Item number five. The best nesting mate- rial I have ever used I get from a nearby broom factory. I do not take the large canes or heads, but only the trimmings from the finished tbicom. These are of a proper size and length. They wl+ ™e nothing, and are as good or better than tobacco stems. In warm weather, I would mix this with tobacco stems to avoid gece: I have never seen a parasite in my oft. SQUAB AND CHICKEN BREEDING COM- PARED, by Ray C. Brown. Regarding the squab business vs. the poultry business, I will give you as clear a comparison as possible, based on facts, obtained from my own experi- ence, of which I have had much, in nearly all branches. This experience compels me to state that with a much smaller capital, much less room, less labor and experience the squab business can be put on to a profit-paying basis much sooner and with larger returns from the amount invested. My recommendation to a person who is to depend on the business for an honest living, one of course who is inexperienced in either the squab of poultry business, but willing to put forth an honest effort, one who will lay his foundation with quality rather than quantity, and take the advice from some of the pioneers in the business, is to invest in squabs, not dis- puting the fact that there is money in the poultry business. There surely is, but believe me, it is in the fancy lines, and those who derive the profit are the experts, ninety per cent of whom are judges, or capable of judging. Most of them are naturally born judges, the remaining ten per cent making good through long experience. Thousands who start are compelled to quit owing to the lack of that necessary experience. Many of them have started- later and made a success of squabs, which is sufficient proof that here are quicker returns, with less labor. 415 To back up some of the above statements, allow me to mention some important points necessary to make the poultry business a success, including the various branches com- bined, where the greatest possible profit can be derived. You must be capable of producing the high- scoring and prize-winning specimens. You must study the Standard of Perfection, learn the requirements, know how to mate for re- sults, how to breed, line-breed, hatch, rear and condition your specimens. Then to prove to the public you have the quality, you must show your birds and be able to win the blue ribbons, which you will find no cinch, as you are in the keenest competition and up against some of the old timers, who have been there before. That you should win out, you must advertise. You most likely will get inquiries from promising customers. Now comes the point. You must know how to write a pulling letter, one that pulls just a little harder than the other fellow, who un- doubtedly is offering something just as good, perhaps at a less price. People who keep from twelve to fifteen hens, which can almost be fed from the leavings from the kitchen, derive the benefit of a few fresh eggs and form a wrong opinion of the business, as this number of hens far from pays anything but a small profit. When the person puts in the large number of birds, the table leavings fall short and at the price of grain needed to produce results, your birds soon eat their heads off, if selling your eggs and broilers at market prices. At Etwinoma Farms we of course sell many eggs, broilers, roasters, fowls, etc., at market prices, but they are the culls picked from our large flocks, not worthy as fancy specimens. Were we unable to produce a certain per cent of high-scoring birds and obliged to depend on our entire output at market value, you would soon read something like this: the entire poul- try department at the Etwinoma Farms has been turned into another squab plant. The person who can write the check and employ an expert can in most cases make a success of the poultry business, depending on facts, but the willing person with little capital and no experience had better invest in squabs, for which there is a constant demand with much less competition. The person with a little land can derive a much larger return from the squab business than from poultry as the difference in the room required is much in favor of the squab busi- ness. The squab building, while much the same as that of the modern poultry house, can be built at a much less figure, as the poultry houses must be tight and warm, while pigeons will breed and rear their young through the coldest months in winter in buildings where most breeds of poultry would freeze stiff. A building required to accommodate one hundred and thirty to two hundred head of poultry, depending on varieties, will accom- modate four hundred and fifty mated pairs of squab breeders, while the amount of room 415 needed for outer runs or aviaries is about one- quarter to one-tenth the amount in favor of pigeons, depending on whether fowls have con- finement or free range. Pigeons do their own hatching, breeding and rearing, no incubators, brooders, or artificial heat needed, as in case of chickens, because the good-priced broiler or bird must be early hatched. A broiler ready to market weighing from one and one-half to two pounds is usually killed at from nine to fifteen weeks old, de- pending on care and attention while growing, at a price of from twenty-five cents to thirty- eights cents per pound, depending on the season. The squabs, at a price of from twenty-five cents to fifty cents each, are up in size at from twenty- one to twenty-eight days old, depending on feed and the quality of parent stock. Where broilers are required to be dry-picked, one can clean up about six squabs to one of the former. Another great advantage in favor of squabs is that the only handling required is picking them up and dressing ready for market, while the chicks require constant watching. They are usually too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry, too crowded or too something all the time. A flock of squab breeders properly housed is free from hawks, skunks, cats, dogs and thieves, which are constantly to be fought while rear- ing chicks. Squabs properly housed does not mean ex- pensive buildings and elaborate fixtures. Build your squab houses plain and. cheap. Put the extra money saved into the quality of stock you start. Buy the best and save money and time in the end. The trouble with ninety per cent of the people who have started and made a failure of the squab business, if traced back, will be found to be cheap foundation stock, which in my opinion is the most expensive start that can be made. Get the best or none at all. Don't.turn to the advertisements looking for something for nothing, then sit down and write to several of those who are selling out cheap. and then spend time looking over their answers several times to be sure you are buying from the cheapest offer. Buy the best. Good squab breeders are usually worth the price asked. Cheap birds turn out to be much like the man who brought home the hungry dog, and while showing his wife his beautiful present and telling her the beauty of it, and that it was given to him, Mr. Dog, seeing Miss Pussy under the stove, made a sudden leap through the bay window. Down went cur- tains, plants, cat and dog down two blocks, through the market window. Doggie not being satisfied after killing poor pussy, on his way out carried with him a quarter of veal. Next day Mr. Butcher presented the man who had the beautiful present a bill of only $56.31. After paying the bill with a hearty laugh Mr. Man said: ‘“ Well, I don’t care. The dog didn’t cost me anything. He was given to me.”’ Bear well in mind that cheap things are usually the most expensive in the end. APPENDIX G The only person who really zives good things away is Santa Claus and he comes only once each year. Also remember cheap birds eat just as much as the up-to-standard birds. If you are going to feed anything, feed the best, for which your returns are sure. If you have once considered the squab busi- ness and have been discouraged by some one who has made a failure, I would ask you to give it another thought, take your advice from those who have made a success, and if you will start right. and continue with proper care, you have nothing to lose and no limit to what you can make. It is worth your while. Try it. CHARD IS BEST GREEN FOOD FOR PIGEONS, by Ocie Speer. Ordinary garden chard is the best pigeon green food ever. Everybody knows that in their state of liberty pigeons are constantly picking at weeds and grasses, and that in their confinement this part of their diet must constantly be supplied if the birds are to continue in a state of good health. The avidity with which a flock will devour even the commonest weeds when thrown into their pen demonstrates the necessity for supplying such food in an intelligent manner. The change of diet thus afforded is a tonic to their systems and is as important a part of their ration as grit. Wehave all fed lettuce, mustard, pepper grass, cabbage and pig pursley, but I have never tried anything which my birds enjoyed or ate with such relish as the plant known as Swiss chard. Swiss chard, or the white beet, belongs to the family of garden beets, but the root is not edible, being grown only for the tops. The seed may be had of any seed store. The plant is hardy and very prolific. It stands drouth well and flourishes with an abundance of rain. It may be sown in the early spring and will supply an abundance of green food until severe cold and in this latitude survives the ordinary winters. The habit of the plant is erect, with large leaves having pulpy mid- ribs. These leaves may be constantly ‘‘ bladed” off without injury to the plant and remain succulent and tender throughout the season. Unlike lettuce and most other garden plants which furnish desirable feed for the birds, chard is in season about nine months in the year. In my opinion it solves the question of green food for pigeons. In this connection a suggestion for planting will not be amiss. The plant is an ornamental one and lends itself easily to landscape garden- ing. It makes a pretty bedding plant and by a proper laying out of the yards about the pens and flies, some very pleasing effects could be obtained. Beds and hedges could be set in such a way as to beautify the premises and at the same time furnish a constant supply of the much-needed salads for the feathered pets. Try it next spring. I can sell all the squabs I can raise to the hospitals for $3.60 per dozen, and at times $4.50.— E. L. Schirm, Georgia. Kwinte LIBRARY OF CONGRESS int