gh s Foe F (EP 3 a * ¥ Copyright N°. ZF fe COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: ¢ The National Standard Squab Book ELMER C. RICE FOUNDER OF THE SQUAB INDUSTRY IN AMERICA The National Standard Squab Book By Eimer C. 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 Illustrated with New Sketches and Half Tone Plates from Photographs Specially Made for this Work BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS | 1915-1916 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 C. 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 Flmer C. Rice Copyright, 1914, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1915, by Elmer C. Rice All rights reserved. A WELL-BUILT NEST. “A book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but to perpetuate it. The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else can say it. Heis bound to say it clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events.” — Ruskin. PRESS OF GEORGE H. DEAN BOSTON, MASS. sep 71915 247" ©rAa411556 GON TE NES Preface ‘ : . : : Chapter I. Squabs Pay . . 5 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. Increase of Flock Killing and Cooling Chapter IX. The Markets Chapter X. Pigeons’ Ailments Chapter XI. Getting Ahead Chapter XII. Supplement Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F Questions and Answers Plymouth Rock Carhomies Carneaux and Homers Not in Same pen 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 Breeding Ber Twigs for Nesting Materials Clamoring for Squabs in Washington Binie Oklahoma and Indian Territory Avpendix G ILLWStRA TIONS Page Page Page Page LNOLANO? Gono. 6 mato at 6] Pigeons Sunning ...209| Whole Corn....... 289 | Artificial Feeding. . .335 Well-Built Nest.... 8]/Squab House In- Coarse Cracked... .289 Wemee and Pig- P.R.Homers...... WAS Mterioneeeroaee ace 210) Fine Cracked...... ZS eOUS Hee re 338 Back Yard House .. 18] Womanand Squabs.211| White Wheat...... 290 Pifty- Dollar Homer.340 Cheap Nest Boxes.. 22|BackofBarn...... 212) Poor Red Wheat... .290| White Plumage Attic Squabbery ... 24|Shipshape Pen..... 213| Wheat Screenings. .290| Squabs......... 342 Unit Squab House... 26| Feather Nest...... QIAN Barley astsn reac 291 | White Carneaux.. ..344 Solid Nest Boxes. 28) Different Sizes. .... Pi NOatseye enero. 291| Dressed Squab... . .346 Nest Boxes on Inexpensive Start ..216|Sunflower Seeds... .291| Big Texas Homers. .347 Cleatsicn es ae 30] Row of Beauties... .217) American Millet... .292|Simple Feedbox.. . .348 Interior of House. .. 32| Tame Pigeons...... 218| Siberian Millet.....292)Florida Squab Pretty Aviary...... 36] Ready to Kill...... 219} Golden Millet. . 292)\\sablousen jasc ote 349 Multiple Unit House 38|Squabs 25 Days. ...220|Rice Unhulled..... 293 | Muslin Ventilation .350 Interior of Same.... 40|IntheSnow....... ASR Ce ny, nshonaladastoy stare 293|Squabs, Fruit, Multiple Unit House 42| Squabs 3 Weeks... .222|) Buckwheat........ 203i Chickenseecen 351 Squab House Fix- Squabs 12 Days. ..223|GraniteGrit....... 294|Plymouth Rock GUTES ele eistersieia- as 46|Few DaysOld..... 994) Quartz Grit... .2...- 2904) | SeHomerwe. aoe 352 Berry: Crates. 2.22: 50) Nest of Stems... ...225|Same Crushed..... 294| Montana Homers. .353 Rich Man’sFarm .. 58| Raised from Extras.226| Health Grit......_. 295| Allfrom One Pair... .354 Eggsin Nest...... . 64| Carneaux......... 227|CoarseShell....... 295| Trained Homer. . . 1355 Squabs just Hatched 64| Carneau and Homer 236] Pigeon Shell....... 295|Waterin Sight..... 356 SquabsOne Week.. 66|Double Squab Mixed Grain....... 296 |Seventeen Ounces. .357 Squabs Two Weeks. 66} Se Housemeaeeeeere 243!|South Carolina Ostriches and Squabs Three Weeks 68| Extra Homer Male.250| Plant.......... Homers 358 Squabs Four Weeks. 68)Extra Homer Ordinary Quarters.301]Funnelsto Bleed. . .359 Mating Coop...... 10\ebemalene seers 52| Home Made....... 302] Male and Female... .360 Venice Pigeons..... 74|Barn Fly Pen...... 256 | Association Button .304| Montana Plant ....361 Tweaking Squabs.. 80| Three Squabs...... 257 | Hanigan’sSquabs. .305] Killing Chute... . . .362 Squabs Cooling.... 82|/Any Old Place..... 259] Carneaux Squabs. ..306) Ohio Squab Farm . .363 Dressed Squabs.... 86] Protected by Hill. ..262|}Squab Plant Moved 307|Carneaux......... 364 Log Squab House... 88] New Jersey Plant...264)|FertileEgg........ 8 | Bunches of Squabs. .365 PaimBillangen cect ee 90| Another View...... 265| Rat-Proof Feeder.. "309 Oregon Plant...... 366 How WeShip...... 98} Minnesota Plant. . .266|Schweitzer Letter ..310] Homersin Texas. . .367 Feed Troughs...... 108] Banquet Squabs.. . .268}A.Silz’ Portrait... .311|Back Yard Plant. ..368 Killing Machine... .115} Mississippi Plant.. .269| Drayload of Squabs.311|Big Plymouth Nest Boxes........ 118) Massachusetts Poultry Show Pen. .312| Rocks.......... 369 Pigeonson Rock ...138] Plant.......... 270|Ten-Cent Crate... .313)Carneau Squab... . .370 Mating House..... 140] Another View...... 271|Heineman Letter. ..314| White Homer... ...371 IME Gb Gace nee 142} California Fly Pen..272|Bob Wires......... 315| Ten Pairsa Year. . .372 Pigeons Outdoors...146]SmallOpenings. ...273|Woman’s Plant... .316] Viewsof Homers. . .373 DowelSystem..... 50] Squabs on Platter. .274|Blue-Bar Racer. . ..317|Four Homers. ..... 76 ASoiziWwettenes a. 188] In British Columbia 276 | Silvers and Splashes 318] Novel Fly Pen..... 378 McLaughlin Letter . 190] City Squab House. .278|Ohio Plant........ 319| Carneaux in Ne- Heineman Letter. . .192) Pair of Big Squabs. .280|Fly-Pen Trapped. ..320)__braska.......... 380 Plymouth Rocks. ..194) Odd Aviary........ 282|Mrs. White’s Car- Homersin Kansas. .382 Illinois Plant...... 196} Tobacco Stems.....283] mneaux........... 321 |Smail Squabhouse. .384 Florida Plant...... TOS Rock: Salta veye leer 284|Fresh Air Plenty. ..322/Two Kinds of IB nSyinnoare Ging dn 199| Sorghum Seed..... 285 | Big Homer Squabs..323}_ Squabs.........386 New York Plant... .200) Health Grit........ 286| Nailsfor Cleats. . . .324] Perkins’ Energizer. .388 Pigeonson Pole. ...202| Red Wheat........ 287) Baby and Squabs. . .325} Mr. Steward’s Hom- Cheapest House... .204| Canada Peas....... 287)| Pour WeeksiOld.. ..328))) ers: se oa0- 6 soe = 390 Aine Shemh ss Sauaces 206} Hempseed.... . .287| Boy and Pigeon. . . .330|Tirst-Class Homers. 392 This Customer... . .206| Wood Screws. . .288| Maerzke’s Plant... .331| Hillside Slope Farm.394 Beautiful Splashes..207|KaffirCorn....... 288} Iowa Squab Farm. .333] Kansas Squab Farm 398 Barsand Checks. . .208]Sorghum Seed..... 288 PREFACE. This Manual or Handbook on Squabs is written to teach people, beginners mostly, not merely how to raise squabs, but how to conduct a squab and pigeon business successfully. We have found breeders of squabs who knew how to raise them fairly well and took pleasure in doing so, but were weak on the business end of the industry. The fancier, who raises animals because he likes their looks or their actions, or because he hopes to beat some other fancier at an exhibition, is not the man for whom we have written this book. We have developed Homer pigeons and the Homer pigeon industry solely because they are staples, and the squabs they produce are staples, salable in any market at a remunerative price. The success of squabs as we exploit them depends on their earning capacity. They are a matter of business. Our development of squabs is based on the fact that they are good eating, that people now are in the habit of asking for and eating them, that there is a large traffic in them which may be pushed to an enormous extent without weakening either the market or the price. If, as happens in this case, pigeons are a beautiful pet stock as well as money makers, so much the better, but we never would breed anything not useful, salable merely as pets. It is just as easy to pet a practical animal as an impractical animal, and much more satisfying. This Manual is the latest and most comprehensive work we have done, giving the results of our experience as fully and accurately as we can present the subject. It is intended as an answer to the hundreds of letters we receive, and we have tried to cover every point which a beginner or an expert needs to know. It is a fault of writers of most guide books like this to leave out points which they think are too trivial, or “ which everybody ought to know.’’ It has been our experi- ence in handling this subiect and bringing it home to people that the little points are the ones on which they most quickly go astray, and on which they wish the fullest information. After they have a fair start, thev are able to think out their operations for themselves. Accordingly we have covered 11 12> NARIONAL STANDARD SO UAB BOOKS every point in this book in simple language and if the details in some places appear too commonplace, remember that we have erred on the side of plainness. The customers to whom we have sold breeding stock have been of great help to us in arranging and presenting these facts. We asked them to tell us just the points they wished covered, or covered more fully, or just where our writings were weak. They replied in a most kindly way, nearly every letter thanking us heartily, and brimming over with enthus- iasm for the squab industry. It has surprised a great many peopie to learn that Homer pigeons are such a staple and workable article. They have been handled by the old methods for years without their great utility being made plain. When we first learned about squabs, we were struck by the impressive fact that here was something which grew to market size in the incredible time of four weeks and then was marketed readily at a good profit. The spread of that knowledge will make money for you. Show your neighbors the birds you buy of us, tell them the facts, and perhaps give them a squab to eat, then you will find a quick call for all the live breeders you can supply. The procedure which we advise in this National Standard Squab Book is safe and sound, demonstrated to be successful by thousands of customers, many of whom started with no knowledge except what we were able to give them by letter or word of mouth. We have abandoned all instruction which does not stand the test of time and locality, and give only facts of proven value, of real, practical experience. ELMER C. RICE. POSTSCRIPT. This work has met with so much favor during the past year, and has sold so largely in excess of expectations, that we wish to thank our friends everywhere for their cordial support. The Appendix A which appears at the back of this edition was added last February, and it is our intention to keep the work up to date by revisions and additions at least twice yearly. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the PREFACE 13 proof of these squab teachings is shown in the successes made by our thousands of customers with no other knowledge of squabs than this as a guide. Our correspondence, now having extended over a long period, shows conclusively that beginners find all questions answered in this book, and go forward confidently and surely to success. é Dy (Ga IS 1907 EDITION. The old plates of this book have been fairly worn out by much printing, so great has been the demand for it, especially during the past five years. The sales have been larger than for any other work on birds or animals ever written. For this 1907 edition, the whole book has been reset in new type, and new plates made. The outlook for the squab industry during 1907 and the years to come is of high promise. More people are eating squabs than ever before and more people are raising them. At no time within our memory has the market been over- stocked with squabs, and prices have kept up all along the line. Only yesterday we were visited by a gentleman and his niece from New York City who stated that they had priced squabs there December 31 and found them seven dollars and fifty cents a dozen. The dealers who offered them at this price had paid the breeders for them from four dollars to six dollars a dozen, according to their postal card quotations sent out in December. : We shall be pleased to hear from our friends after they have read this book, and welcome any suggestions for its improve- ment, or for the betterment of the squab industry. The author will gladly answer all such letters and advise fully as to location and construction of buildings, and management of breeding stock. E. C. R. 1915 EDITION. Just a line to assure readers of this work that it is com- plete, up to date. Note particularly the new matter on the back pages. EB. C. R. BLUE-BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMERS. CHAPTER I. SQUABS PAY. Experience of a Customer who Started in January, 1902, Erected a Plant Worth Three Thousand Dollars and Made Money Almost from the Start—Settlements of Squab Breeders in Iowa, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvantia— Large Incomes Made from +igeons—Squab Plants Known to be Making Money—The Hard-Working Farmer and the Easy-Working Squab Ratser—No Occupation for a Drone— No Exaggeration. “Will it pay me to raise squabs?”’ is the first question which the beginner asks. We take the case of a man who bought a Manual in January, 1902. His boys had kept a few pigeons but had never handled them in a commercial way, nor tried to make any money with them. The reading of the book gave him the first real light on the squab industry. Possibly he was more readv to believe because he knew from his own personal experience that a squab grows to market size in four weeks and is then readily marketable. He started at once to build a squab house according to the directions given. The ground was too hard for him to get a pickaxe into, so he laid the foundation timbers on bricks, rushed the work ahead with the help of good carpenters and sent on his order for breeding stock. In the course of a few weeks he ordered a second lot of breeders, followed by a third and a fourth, and he kept adding new buildings. When spring came and the ground softened, he jacked up his first squab house, took out the bricks at the four corners and put in cedar posts. By the middle of July he had five handsome squab houses and flying pens, all built by skilled labor in the best possible style at a cost of at least three hundred dollars apiece. With his buildings and their fittings and his birds, his plant repre- sented an expenditure of between two thousand and three thousand dollars. This gentleman lives in a locality where he had to put up nice- looking buildings, or the neighbors would have complained. He spent probably three times more money on his buildings 15 IGe NA RION AL SIAN ADS O1Win> BO Oks than the average beginner would spend. He is a superin- tendent of a large manufacturing plant, a man of push and energy, and he has four young boys in his family who have helped with the wife and grandfather to make the venture successful. It was a paying venture almost from the very start. Everything that we wrote about squabs as money makers came true in his case. One of the sons, a lad of nine- teen, came on to see us the first summer and told us the story of their success. He was after more breeding stock. He said he had many calls from peovle who wished to buy stock of him, and he was unable to supply all of them, but he did not intend to have money offered him very long without being able to pass out the birds. In other words, they were going into squabs for all they were worth. They had not done any advertising, and had not sold live breeders to any extent, but figured their profits solely on the sale of squabs to com- mission houses, and they were getting for them just what we said the commission men would pay. We have a great many visitors, some coming from remote points of the United States. One of our visitors in the summer of 1902 was Mr. A. L. Furlong, from a little town in Iowa. Mr. Furlong said to us: “ lowa is quite a squab breeding State. There are plants in Ruthven, Osage, Wallake and Estherville. The owner of a plant in Ruthven I know very well. He showed me his account books; he was shipping from seven hundred to eight hundred dollars worth of squabs last month. He is making a profit of three thousand to five thousand dollars a year. He ships to the Chicago market, as do nearly all the Iowa breeders. He never gets less than two dollars and fifty cents a dozen for his squabs. I am going to start raising squabs myself.” Mr. Furlong left an order for one of our Manuals, having given his first one to his friend. He said that his friend was breeding common pigeons and would like to know our 1nethods. We discarded common pigeons some time ago. If our lowa friends will use Homer pigeons instead of common ones, they will produce a much better squab and make more money. We had a curious confirmation of the above in August, 1902, when Mr. E. H. Grice, who lives in the northern part of Vermont, visited us. Mr. Grice had just returned from a visit to the West, and stopped for a while at Ruthven, lowa, where SQUABS PAY 17 he saw the plant above noted. The proprietor referred Mr. Grice to us and advised him to start with Homer pigeons, saying that, if he were to stock up again, it would be with Homer instead of the common pigeons. Before leaving, Mr. Grice gave us an order for one hundred pairs of our Homers. The number of orders for breeding stock which we have received from Iowa is out of proportion to any State near it, showing that these squab plants are known throughout Iowa to be making money. The same is true of Cal.fornia. We visited many squab breeders in eastern States in June, 1902, noting the buildings and methods and finding out from them if they were satisfied with the financial returns. All were enthusiastic and said it was easy work, that squabs beat hens easily and were much less care. The methods of some of these breeders were extremely crude, the birds nesting in old boxes of all sizes nailed to the walls of the squab houses, and apparently never being cleaned. The Homers were small, not being able to raise squabs weighing over seven pounds to the dozen. Somebody has said that a squab plant of one thousand pairs of birds will pay better than a farm. The contrast between the hard, grinding toil of the man who works a large farm and the “‘ standing around ”’ of the owner of a squab plant is indeed a Striking one. However, we do not speak of this to give you the idea that money is going to flow into your lap just because you buy some squab breeders of us. It 1s no work for a drone or a “ get-rich-quick ’’ person whose enthusiasm runs riot for two weeks and then cools off. Our class of trade is men and women of experience and reliable common sense who have a knowledge of the world and understand that things come by work and not for the asking. The people who are able and willing to pay us from fifty to five hundred dollars for a breeding outfit, as hundreds do, are not caught by glittering promises, but have money laid by through exercise of the qualities of ability and shrewdness. The naturally careless, improvident person, who is generally in debt, should not start squab raising. It is a sensible industry for sensible people. The profits to be made with squabs vary with the individual and with the management of the birds, exactly as with poul- try. It is important to have only mated or even pairs in the pens and all birds not producing should be kept in a separate ‘SNOHDId WOX GHXIH AA AVW GUVA MOVA V MOH Pare’, OR EDOK? SSI 9 Poreners TAKS O28. A: a Soe < ox? ty ORO Ds ee ene awe ~ isn SRT 18 SQUABS PAY 19 pen and removed to breeding quarters only after they have gone to work. The chief difficulty with a beginner is the matter of sex. The male and the female pigeon have no marks to distinguish them, and the beginner must determine their sex by observation. He must study his birds and come to know them. Some beginners will not equip themselves by study and observation to make a success and may breed in a hap-hazard fashion for a year or more without knowing the sex of the birds they raise. Birds which you raise will go to work more quickly, look better and breed better than any birds you can buy, because that is the temperament of the Homer, to be attached to his home, to love it, and to try to reach it if he can. Anybody who has doubts as to his ability to raise squabs should start with a small flock and breed up until he has acquired skill and experience. As part of this Manual, in the supplement and appendices, we print many letters from customers who started with small flocks and won striking successes. It is not necessary to get a fancy price for the squabs to make the business a success. In confirmation of this we have in mind the work of two of our customers, young men named Lunn, who have received only two dollars to three dollars a dozen for their squabs, selling to dealers who retail them for four dollars to six dollars a dozen. These brothers have told-their story in one of the poultry papers as follows: “In February, 1905, we got the idea of going into the squab business. We spent some time looking around and in March, 1905, we bought what we thought was the best stock, namely, the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. We bought twelve pairs. The birds arrived on March 22, 1905, and were as fine a looking lot of birds as we had seen anywhere. We now (December, 1906) have three hundred pairs. One hundred and fifty pairs are well mated and working. The other one hundred and fifty pairs are all young birds. We raised all our young birds up until September, 1906, and since then have been selling squabs weighing from nine and one-quarter to ten and one-half pounds and receive twenty-three and twenty-five cents each. We feed the best of grain, using cracked corn, kaffir corn, red wheat, buckwheat and peas and alittle hemp. We also give a little rice once or twice a week. During the moulting season we added barley to regular 20 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK rations, which was a great help to the birds all that time. We 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. OVA TEI OI I OR AN BASY 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—Duifference between the Nest Box, Nest Pan and Nest— How to Tell How Many Pigeons can Occupy a Certain Building—A Large Flock of Pigeons 1s Eastly 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 —— ¢ = = ¥ ——— Z Nee LOI Zi xy. efoe iy ——= = Saas TUTTE init ee ——— CENT ee =———— at aaseee Se 26 JAIN JENS) SASSI ol IE: 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, ip hdd ver Pip NEST BOXES BUILT OF LUMBER. =. as shown. ZAIN, SASS VSI aR IE 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. 2v——_ \ \ = y Si = ~~ ~ i ~ SS = = = -- -— => ———_—— ad Swlaie Removable centre piece — 1 SINGLE NEST-BOX CONSTRUCTION. (SEE UPPER PICTURE). Whenthe 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 asshown. The re- sultisasliding shelf. This shelf may be pulled out at cleaning time and a better and quicker job of cleaning done. Thenest 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. Lhe picture was drawn and this description was written in. February, 1913. Pages 45 to 50 of this book were put into. type and plates made be- fore that date. This double nest box is a gocd one. The box has two feet frontage. The re- movable centre piece is fourinches high, two feet frontage and one foot deep. he 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 It is a matter of individual preference. 30 nest-box construction, others the double. Each style is good and we endorse both of them. Jal IN TAS) VAS) IIE TE 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 perches as you please about eighteen inches or two feet apart on the inside of your squabhouse, on the walls. The arrangement should be about ‘SHHOUGd ONIMOHS ‘ASOOH AVNOS JO HOIUALNI Y) Wye ‘ N\ Y}) i = y SS = WW SsSTcC_— (Sree I > i SS OA ae [Fs eS 32 AUN EAS VST ARTE 33 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 fioor 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 szalue 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) sINATEO NAL Siege ie DeS Ove 5: © Orke 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, thr 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 thougntless about these details, it is a clear case of the chances being sixty to one against you. VAL IN JENS) VAS) RaW I 30 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 SiN Avie) SO Ans; 15.010 Ke 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. Gis Ae IDI. Tai ke 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 Correspond — Cost of the Unit Construction is from Three Dollars to Five Dotlars a Running Foot — Working Drawings — The Nest Bowls. If you have no building already standing 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 brilt 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 “quel SIG & UILO} 0} 400} ALOU 10 OOS “006 ‘OOT worjonsysu09 SI) pueixq ‘ASNOH LINO HIdI LINN 38 dpi aeON Tie EOS, 39 epart. 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. ‘lhe 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. I lalie, (OL INDIE Jel OlSya, 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 corre- 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 cent 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 ‘jeotjovid sv [eA Sv oWOSpuRY ‘a[durIs nq YSno1OY} SI UOTONIySUOD oY, ‘SNVId UNO OL PNIGUOONOV LIING SLIND NAL “ASNOH LINO ATdILTIAW EE NOON VEO OSs 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 ‘“ jag” 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 tiving 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 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK would strike the perching poles and become injured. Sucha 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 Jong 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 inside and outside the house. Note. 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. (GIEUAIZI NOIR he 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 jor 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 WOOCD- PULP 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 rectly 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 INVEST IOUNIES eV IND) INU S IES) 47 these bowls out of wood pulp. Their success was quickly demonstrated and now we sell nothing else. These wood- pulp nest bowls have all the advantages of the wood bowls and at the same.time are practically indestructible, cannot warp or split. The wood pulp of which they are made is thick and exceedingly tough, being solidified under many tons’ pressure. We sell these wood-pulp nest bowls in one size only, nine inches in diameter. Price, nine cents each, one dollar and eight cents per dozen, twelve dollars and ninety-six cents per gross. We make prompt shipment from Boston same day order is received, inany quantity. No order is filled for less than one dozen. We have the exclusive sale of these goods and they cannot be obtained elsewhere. They are not manufactured in the United States. We import them. Beware of imitations. 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 packiu1g 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 pulp 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 SQUAB 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 is 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-pulp 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 NESE BOWLS AND NESTS 49 amount of manure which then sticks to it is removed with a trowel. The use of this wood-pulp 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. 505 NAME OIN AE Sed NID ATR 5S1O "CAs 3) OOS 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 abun- dance, we recommend that they be tried. When a new lot of pigeons are placed in a squab house, 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 materia! and place it in center of squabhouse. For nesting material use twigs, dried grass, tobacco stems, pine needles, straw, hay, stems of leaves, small dried stalks or anything else of this nature. Give the birds a good variety of nesting material. Some birds will use one kind, some another. Renew the nesting material once a week. It should be cut into lengths of from four to sixinches. Keep it not only in the above crate inside the squabhouse but also make a small pile outdoors in the flypen, protected from rain. CHARGER Vi WATER AND FEED. Necessity of Pure Water and Plenty of it—The Kind of 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. Gaivanized tion 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 BOOK 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. Itisa simple principle in hydraulics which you may demonstrate to your own satisfaction by fill ng an ordinary tumbler with water and then inverting it in a 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 ovei 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 sca’ding 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. 34 NANO N AL SIAENIDATKeD SOAs 3 OO1E 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 arenearest 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 ail 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 SQUAB BOOK ‘dealer in nine cases out of ten knows nothing about pigeons and their feed and if you give him the name ot a strange grain, he wili be Hable 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. It is 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 diarrhcea. (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 a7 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 diarrhoea. 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 : ‘USIP[IYO PUL USWIOM Io; AT[eIoedse wary ey UO suITyAsIe : 8¢ Ayunoos dn 8uryy Jo Ayyetoods & oxeUl OAA ‘SHANWOLSNO UNO JO ANO AO WUVA 000'00c$ AHL NO SHNHOS WATER AND FEED 09 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 ai 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 SO UAB BOOT 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 mav 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 chopred 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 SO UAB BiOOre 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 iresh 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 Rock 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. Weare shipping it constantly all over the United States. 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. CHAPTER VI. LAYING AND HATCHING. Laying an Egg is under the Control of the Pigeon’s Mind— Fertile and Infertile Eggs—How the Cock Drives the Hev — 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 Effect on Color of Flesh— Pigeons Left to Themselves Will Not Inbreed—No Inbreeding Necessary even 17 you Start wih 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 LAME NGRAN LD. HAG EENG 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 and 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 LEA VOnINIG WAGN ED) Ft AUh CG EUENIG 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 pairin 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 ILA AONE AINE) Tele INC Ie ING 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 trials, 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 wisit 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 ttle. 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 2 RS 3 4 iE is k ; oe 5 THE MATING COOP. One way of mating squab breeders is to turn cocks and hens in equal numbers into the same pen. The muting coon 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. LAYING AND HATCHING 71 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 tothe 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 oft 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> NATIONALE STANDARD SOUAB BOOKS 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 peculiarity, 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 li tle 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 <72 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 CANIN GH AUN D ATC Alen G 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 (1) a brother is mated to sister or (2) a father to a daughter, or (8) 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- (4. “NAITONAL, STMMDARD SO UAB EE OO Te 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 igeons 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 grit, 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. Gye ia ke Vir: INCREASE OF FLOCK. It ts 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—Differences 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 io, NARIONAE Soe ehOyiReDs SOWA EiOOIG 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 ant 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 ENCREASEY OF HEOCTS 17 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- wool garments. It is the wear which the customer is after. 78 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAB 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. A pair of birds capable of earning only a ten-cent or twenty-cent pair of squabs once in two or three months is worth only fifty cents a pair. Jersey cows are worth more than common cows because they earn more. Good Homer pigeons, bred skilfully, are worth more than poor Homers because they earn more. (Clabae iia Waegl KILLING AND COOLING. Kill the Squabs in the Morning when their Crops are Empty — Not Necessary to Use a Knife, their Necks may be Tweaked — Drive the Animal Heat out of their Bodies by Hanging them from Natls —The Ideal Squab when Shipped has an Empty Crop, tts Feet have been Washed Clean, and No Blood Shows — Sorting Squabs so as to Get the Highest Price from the Dealer. The time to kill the squabs is in the morning, when the crops are empty. In killing them it is not necessary to use a knife. Hold each squab in the manner shown in the illustration and break the neck with a sudden pull and push. Do not pull too hard or you will sever the neck from the body. Some of our customers have hard work to get this knack of tweaking the necks and prefer to wring the necks, or to use a knife. To wring the neck, hold the squab by the head in the right hand and throw the body around in a complete circle, this act twisting and breaking the neck. After the squabs are killed they must be cooled. In other words the animal heat must be driven out of their bodies. Provide a piece of board or studding eight or ten feet long and every four inches along this studding drive a couple of nine penny wire finish nails close together, but not so close that you cannot squeeze in the legs of the squabs. A finish wire nail has no large head like an ordinary wire nail. Suspend the studding from the ceiling by means of wire adjusted at both ends of the studding. This method of hanging it up is to prevent rats and cats from climbing up onto the studding, walking along it and eating the squabs. Place the feet of the squabs between the wire nails and let them hang down- wards over night. In the morning the heat will be all out of their bodies and you can pack and ship them. If you are delivering plucked squabs to market, you do not need such an arrangement, but will throw the bodies into a tub of ice water (or cold spring water) after you have plucked them. When plucking the feathers from the killed squabs, the 79 INCORRECT POSITION OF HANDS. CORRECT POSITION OF HANDS. A squab is killed for market when it is plump and well feathered, usually when four weeks old, although many are ready for market when a day or two over three weeks old. Hold the hands close together on the neck, as shown in the bottcm' pies and break the spine of the bird by pulling firmly and then pushing back. 0 not put so much strength into the operation that you pull the head from the body. This method of killing is faster and neater than using a knife. 80 TREEENGSAND COOLING 81 operator should moisten his thumb and forefinger in a basin of water, to give him a grip on the feathers. They come off easily and an experienced picker will work very rapidly. A sharp pen-knife, or knife such as shoemakers use, is necessary to remove some of the pin feathers. They should be shaved off. Ignorance of how to cool the killed squabs properly has discouraged many a squab raiser. If you throw the squabs in a pile on the floor after you have tweaked their necks, you will have a fermenting mass and the following morning, when you are ready to ship, many of the bodies will be dark- colored at the place of contact with the floor, or with other squabs, and decay will start from such discolored places. Hang the bodies from the studding, as we have described, and you wll! cool them just right and. you will be surprised that this part of the business ever could have discouraged anybody. If you number the nails which you have driven into the studding you will know just how many squabs you hang up, and you will not have to handle the squabs a second time to count them. The ideal squab which brings the highest price in the fice is not only large and plump, but has a clean crop, so that no food will be left in it to sour. No blood shows anywhere on the body and its feet are clean. Ship in small quantities, especially in the summer. Do not pack in an enormous box, or the bottom layers will suffer. A squab should be killed, as we have stated, when from three to four weeks old, most generally at four weeks. Do not wait until it is five or six weeks old, when it may have left the nest. As soon as a squab is old enough to get out of the nest and walk around on the floor of the squab house, it quickly trains off its:'fat and grows lean and slender. Its flesh also loses its pure white coor and takes on a darker shade. Youdo not want either of these two conditions. If you tie up your killed squabs by the feet when shipping to market, do not tie a lean with a fat squab, for if you do the dealer probably will give you the price of the lean one. Put the fat squabs in one bunch and the lean squabs in another bunch. If you are shipping to two dealers, you can very often get the top price from both by giving one your best squabs and the other your second best. KILLED SQUABS HUNG TO COOL. After the squabs have been killed they should be hung as this picture shows ta cool. ‘lhe wooden scantling or studding is several feet long and is suspended from the ceiling at its ends by wire, so that cats and rats cannot climb to the squabs. A pair of nails are driven in four inches apart and the squabs’ legs set in between them 82 (CIEAIETNDIRE IDS THE MARKETS. Squabs with the Feathers on Taken by the Boston and Some Other City Markets—The New York Market Wants Them Plucked and Pays the Highest Price of Any Northern City —Inter pretation of Quotations of Squabs as Seen in the News- papers—WIute-Fleshed Squabs are Wanted, Not Dark- Fleshed. The Boston market, and the markets in some other cities, will take squabs with feathers on. It is only necessary for you to tweak the necks of the squabs and send them to the train, after they have cooled over night. Some shippers do not take the trouble to box the killed squabs, but tie their legs together with string and send them along to market. In the baggage cars of the trains running into Boston you will sometimes see strings of squabs going in to the dealers in this way. The New York market demands squabs plucked. The squab breeders who have large plants and who ship to the New York market employ pluckers and pay them by the piece. A skillful plucker will strip feathers from squabs at the rate of ten to twenty squabs an hour. The proper time to pluck the killed squab is immediately after killing. When picked clean, throw the squab into cold water and leave it there over night to plump out and harden the flesh. In the summer use ice water. The squab puts on more feathers than flesh during the last few days of its growth and if you see squabs which are only three weeks old, but which are of good size, you may save a week on feed by killing the squab at that age and plucking it. When the feathers are off of it, it looks like the four weeks squabs which have not matured so rapidly. If you are shipping to the New York market, you should pack your squabs in a neat white wood box, printed if you please. Do not use a pine box for if you do the odor of the pine will penetrate the squabs. The New York market for squabs is the best in the North. 83 84 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK Squabs delivered by our customers there invariably bring from one to one dollar and fifty per dozen more than the Boston market. This is because there are more rich people in New York than there are in Boston, and they are more free with their money in providing luxuries for their table than Boston folks. We do not mean to disparage the Boston market for squabs, which is always good, averaging four dollars a dozen, but we wish to emphasize the fact that the New York market is a phenomenal one. Anybody living near New York can make a fortune raising squabs. Our largest orders have come from customers who are shipping to New York. Not all the New York newspapers print market quotation of squabs. The New York Evening Sun is an exception. All through the winter squabs are quoted in the Evening Sun at five dollars a dozen. This means that a squab breeder shipping to New York should have got six dollars and seven dollars for a choice product, from private customers. A correspondent in New York State sends a clipping from the New York Tribune’s market columns and asks for an interpretation. We quote from it as follows: ‘Pigeons, 20c.; squabs, prime, large, white, per doz., $3.50 and $3.75; ditto, mixed, $2.75 and $3; ditto, dark “S175 and $2.” The quotation, *‘ Pigeons, 20 cents,’’ means twenty cents a pair for common old killed pigeons.. These tough old birds are occasionally found in the markets and are worth only ten or fifteen cents apiece. They are neither squabs nor the old Homer pigeons, but are common pigeons such as fly in the streets. A small boy might get a pair of these street pigeons and kill them and give them to a butcher who would pay him fifteen or twenty cents a pair. These cheap pigeons come into the eastern markets largely from the West in barrels and are sold to Boston commission men for five cents apiece, or fifty cents a dozen. They are retailed at from one dollar to one dollar and twenty cents a dozen. They are in the Chicago market masquerading as squabs. They have been killed with guns and have shot in their bodies. If you ask for pigeon pie at one of the cheap Boston restaurants, you will get a shot or two against your teeth with mouthfuls. After every trap-shooting contest some skulker goes over the 2? Ue Fp VILA LG ELIS 85 field and gathers up all the killed and mained birds he can find, and sells them for two and three cents apiece, or for anything he can get, and these find their way into the markets. The cruel practice of pigeon shooting by miscalled ‘‘sports- men ’”’ on Long Island is quite common, and the presence of these birds in the New York butcher shops accounts for the above quotation in the Tribune. It is unnecessary to add that such birds do not compete with squabs. They can be made palatable only by stewing for hours in a pie, which takes out a little of their toughness. There is now a law in New York forbidding pigeon shooting. As to squabs, the quotation, “ Prime, large, white, per dozen $3.50 and $3.75,” is for the kind of squabs that are raised from our Homers, namely, No. 1 grade. By the quotation, “‘ Mixed, $2.75 and $3.00,” is meant that these amounts are paid for lots of birds composed of No. 1 and No. 2 grades, mixed. If you sort up your birds care- fully you will be able to get the No. 1 prices for all. Some people do not know how to sort them, and they have to be satisfied with the price of a mixed lot. By the quotation, “‘ Dark, $1.75 and $2.00,’ is meant the dark-fleshed squabs, as you have learned by reading our Manual. Squabs whose flesh is dark do not sell for as much as the white-fleshed squabs. Pigeons are of all colors, 2. e., as you see their feathers, and the squabs likewise, but when you pluck the feathers off the flesh is either a pure white with a tinge of yellow, or dark like a negro’s skin. Quotations for squabs as found in the market reports in the newspapers are always lower than they really are. The writers of the market columns in the daily papers see only the commission men and cater only to them; they smoke the commission men’s cigars and believe what the commission men tell them: They do not see the producer at all. The object of the commission men is to get the squabs as cheaply as they can. When you are breeding squabs make up your mind to get from twenty-five cents to one dollar or more per dozen than you see quoted in the market reports. The only way to find out the truth about the squab markets is to go into them and offer to buy squabs, not to sellthem. Then you will learn the true prices. “yeour [[e AjIveu oie sqenbs eyy, ‘][euIs AJeA ore souog 24], ‘“snoldijeap pue Jopue} {SOUL o1e PUB 4SVO4 YIM “pofloiq paAres Ayjensn oie AVYT, “Yo siaujeoy oy} YIM ‘ase Jo SYIIM INOJ 72 sqeubs paiq Te“ Jo ssouduinyd pure ozis e[qeyivurel ey} Jo vapt poos & SoATS UOT}RIYSNHI[I oy} pus 1044e[d AByIN} os1e] & ST STULL ‘SdVNO0s GCaSsHud AAUHL PAE MAR KE TES 87 At the same time the report quoted above was printed in the New York Tribune a breeder in Mauricetown, N. J., was getting from four dollars and twenty-five cents to four dollars and fifty cents a dozen for his squabs. (This was the last week in January, 1902.) You see, it does not pay to trust wholly to the market reports in the newspapers. The motive of the city men is to get their goods as cheaply asthey can. It is your motive to get as much as you can, and don’t be fooled by second-hand information. Go direct to headquarters yourself in person and learn the truth. If the middleman tries to hold down the price to you, go to a consumer and make your bargain with him at top prices. A breeder in New Jersey writes that there are several squab breeders in his town, all of whom give their regular time to other businesses. He continues: “‘I am now (Feb- ruary, 1902), getting thirty-two cents each as they run, no sorting, for what few squabs I am now raising, and they are sold to a man who calls every Tuesday for them. When I have enough, I ship direct to New York by express. They sort them in New York.” This is doing extremely well for unsorted squabs. It is only another bit of evidence which proves the money-making condition of the New York market. (The above correspon- dent’s breeders are not first-class, he admits, saying he has been breeding for seven years and his flock has run down.) The Kansas City market does not yet know what a fat squab is. The only things obtainable there are the squabs of common pigeons, which are quoted low, as they are all over the country. A correspondent in Atchison writes: ‘ I wrote to the Kansas City dealer again, telling him I thought his prices were pretty low for Homer squabs. He replied that they had so few Homers offered that they did not quote them, and they would be worth from two dollars to two dollars and fifty cents per dozen. He quoted common pigeon squabs at one dollar and twenty-five cents to one dollar and seventy-five per dozen, as I wrote you before. That is better, and I want to try raising them as soon as I can get into a place where I can handle them.” Fact is, the squabs that bring from three to five dollars a dozen east of the Mississippi will bring that (and more) as soon as the wealthy trade of Kansas City gets a taste of them. 88 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAS BOOK Find out for yourself whether your market wants squabs with the feathers on or off. We do not know such details about the squab market in every city in the country and can- not advise you accurately on this point if you write to us from a distant town or city. The best way to find out the facts concerning the squab market is to go from place to place, or to write, offering not to sell squabs but to buy them. The squab sellers are much more interested in a possible buyer than a possible seller. They receive letters from many inquirers about markets but as a rule pay scant attention to them unless the writer is really producing squabs and has them for sale. SQUAB HOUSE BUILT OF LOGS GCHAPTER: X. PIGEONS’ AILMENTS. Canker a Filth Disease which Makes its Appearance in Nasty, Cramped and Crowded Quarters — It is a Captivity Disease and a Sure Cure for tt 1s to Turn the Bird Loose to Get a Change of Food and Plenty of Exercise — A Flock Supplied with Pure Food and Clean Water Never will be Sick — Canker 1s Not Epidemic —It does Not Pay to Dose a Sick Pigeon, Better Turn 1t Out to Get Well. The principal ailment met with by the squab breeder is canker, This ailment is a puzzle to some breeders and they are alarmed when it makes an appearance in their flock, as it does if the feed is poor or sour, the water dirty, or the squab house filthy. The advice which they give when they find a cankered bird is, “Kill it’ That is the advice we used to give at first, but now we know better. First, what is canker? ‘It is a disease of which you know the cause (filth, poor feed or dirty water) and whose symptoms you see in the form of a cheesy-like deposit in the mouth of the pigeon, and breaking out around the bill. Catch the pigeon, hold it in your lap and force open its bill and you will see a yellowish patch or patches in the mouth, and the mouth will usually be filled with a yellowish deposit which smells bad. The disease is not serious. The trouble lies with the feed and the filth and that is what spreads the same symptoms from one pigeon to another. A case of canker in your flock should be a warning to you that the feed or water is wrong, or that you have a filthy house. Do not get alarmed and kill the bird. Catch the affected pigeon, carry it out of your flying pen and squab house and throw it into the air. The bird may fly away and lose itself, and if it does you are out one pigeon just as if you had killed it. The chances are, however, as in the case of any sick animal, that it will linger around home. Now you will be surprised to see how quickly that pigeon’s health will improve. Not having a steady supply of food before it, it will have to hustle for a living, and this exercise and the change of living, and the scanty living, will effect the ge PAIR OF HOMERS BILLING. This illustration is made from a photograph of a pair of our pigeons caught in the act of billing, or kissing. The pigeon on the left is the male and on the right the female. Billing is one of the acts of love making. Mounting and treading generally follow immediately after billing. 80 PIGEONS: AILMENTS 91 cure. It will get more fresh air, and a great deal more exercise, and more sun, than it would get if lett in company with the other birds. In about a week you will notice that it will hold its bill tighter, and if there is a sore on the outside of the bill you will see this sore dry up. In two weeks the chances are that the yellowish deposit on the interior of the mouth will be entirely gone. The pigeon will hover around the other pigeons. It will fly to the outside of the netting and look at its fellows. Place a dish on the ground now and then with a little feed and you will attract it. Catch it when you have a favorable opportunity either with a net on the end of a pole, or with a broom, pinning it into a corner. You may have to try several times, but you will get it after a while. Its eye will be brighter and signs of disease will be gone, and you can put it back into the squab house with the others. The exer- cise, sunlight, change of food, and scanty food, have made the cure. There are few pigeons so bad with canker that they cannot be cured in this way. For that reason we have not much hesitation in saying that canker is a captivity disease, caused by lack of exercise as well as unavoidable filth and too much of the wrong kind of feed. We have observed w:ld pigeons in the streets and we never saw a case of canker among then. You may say to yourself that it is quite a risk to throw out into the open air a pigeon which has cost you from seventy-five cents to a dollar, but it is better to do this than to take the advice of all other breeders and books and kill it. If you do not wish to throw a sick pigeon out into the air to get well, construct a box with wire netting over the front, and put the pigeon in there for special feeding and watering until it gets well. Powdered alum sprinkled in the drinking water now and then will tend to ward off canker from a flock. It does not pay to dose sick pigeons, because a cure seldom is obtained by dosing, and you are out your time. The squab breeder who follows the advice as to feed and water, and cleanliness of squab house, given in this Manual, will not have any sick pigeons. It is so very easy to keep a pigeon in perfect health that the fear of disease is a bugbear not worth taking into account. The element of disease is a constant source of worry to the chicken breeder, and a source of heavy loss to the best of then. We wish to assure all who 92 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAB BOOK contemplate starting in the squab breeding business that the pigeon naturally is a healthier and more rugged bird than the domestic hen and that positively you will not be fussing with remedies and cure-alls, in handling them. “Going light,” or wasting away, is an ailment of pigeons occasionally met with. The cause of it is an absence of grit and salt. If your staples of feed are provided as we tell, and you give a variety of feed, and you provide grit and oyster shells, you will have no cases of “‘ going light.’”’ The disease is known by a steady wasting away of the pigeon. Catch it and you feel a prominent breastbone, and scanty flesh, show- ing that some element in the feed is lacking. Another cause of “ going light ”’ is the failure to feed enough grain, or enough Canada peas. Do not stint the peas for they are full of protein, which makes flesh and blood. Pigeons with no protein in their ration cannot produce eggs and squabs. A third cause of “ going light ’”’ is the fast driving of the fe- males by the males. A bird found thin and poor in the breeding pen is almost always a female which is being worked hard at domestic duties. Take her out of the breeding pen away from her mate and keep her alone or with other females in a small pen. Give her the usual variety of nourishing grain and let her rest and build up for a fortnight, or a month if necessary, until she is plump again, then put her back into the breeding pen with her mate. “ Going light’ is not a germ trouble and is not contagious, but the same cause which produced one case will produce others. CHAPTER: XI. GETTING AHEAD. Make your Birds Pay for themselves as they Go Along, unless you Wish to Wait Patiently until a Small Flock Increases io a Large One — Better to Take the Money Made jrom Sale of Squabs and Buy More Adult Birds than to Raise the Squabs, Because it is a Long Jump from Four Weeks (the Killing Age) to Six Months, at which Age the Birds Begin Breeding — Shipping Points. It is the birds and not the buildings which count in squab raising and it you have fifty dollars to start, put thirty-five dollars or forty dollars into your birds and the balance into your building. We have had customers start with a hundred- dollar building and put a ten-dollar lot of birds into it, con- tinuing to buy ten-dollar lots of us about once a month until they had their flock to a good size, but we believe it is best to let the buildings follow the birds, and not the birds the buildings. In other words, let your birds earn buildings as they go along. It is quite a drag on a small flock to weigh it down with an expensive building much too large for it. Put this down in your mind solid, where you will not forget it: Make your pigeons pay for themselves as they go. We sell to a great many poultrymen, and we like to get their orders, for they have been through the mill of raising feathered animals and are practical, and they are quick to see the money in squabs, and when their order for breeding stock comes along, it is in nine cases out of ten a large order, even if they have had no previous experience. They know that in order to sell squabs they have got to have birds enough to breed squabs and it is just as easy for them to spend fifty dollars or one hundred dollars at the start as it is for them to spend ten dollars or fifteen dollars and use up one hundred dollars’ worth of time while waiting a year to begin selling squabs. Many beginners are so skeptical that they do not believe squabs grow to market size in one month, or they have no confidence in their ability to feed the mature birds so as to keep them alive. They wish to make a start with a few pairs 93 94 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK and actually convince themselves. We do not believe in untried hands plunging into something of which they know nothing, and we commend the caution of the beginner with squabs who wishes to feel his way and ‘“‘ make haste slowly ” as the saying 1s, nevertheless we know it to be a fact that our customers who started with large flocks are making splendid successes, and we are not so cautious as we were in former books in advising a small purchase, at the start. The rules for breeding we have given have stood the test of time; we have not had it said to us that they are misleading or erroneous; on the contrary, our customers write and tell us that their experience corresponds with ours, that the books are all right, and our business has increased right along. When a customer orders two hundred dollars’ worth of breeding stock of us and two months later two hundred dollars’ worth more (we sell to some customers month after month steadily, as their means or their inclination permit them to buy) we are given a large measure of confidence, first, that people (many of whom we never see and who are not experts) can start with our writings and our breeding stock and make a success; second, that all we have advised about the industry is of general and con- vincing application; and third, that it does not take extraor- dinary skill to make a success with squabs. There are failures with squabs, even by college professors, because some beginners are unsuited to the business. Many are lured into it by get-rich-quick stories. It would amaze you to read the letters that some beginners write. You never can tell a man’s pigeon and poultry ability by his orthography and grammar. Letters in crude spelling and crooked writing frequently come from the most successful squab raisers. The knack of caring for animals successfully cannot be acquired by some. Given two women, with cooking materials and the same cook books, one cooks splendidly, and the other mis- erably. Why? Well, it is the same with pigeons. Some can and some can’t. However, the failures at squab or poultry raising seldom blame themselves. There are many of the naturally careless, improvident persons who have turned to squabs to help them out of finan- cial holes, and they have made a failure of squab raising. Many of us remember the furore over raising chicken broilers: for market, which started a score of years ago. The fact that GETTING AHEAD 95 some were making money at it started a burning hen fever in hundreds of young and old people anxious to make a lot of money quick. Clerks and society women from New York moved into the suburbs on small farms and began to try to make realities of their dreams. Not accustomed to manual labor, they made a sorry mess of it. Writers of that period tell of chicken gentlemen and ladies who went about their daily round of duties with their delicate hands carefully pro- tected by kid gloves. It did not take long for the end for such experimenters to arrive. They returned to the great city sadder, but wiser. The squab industry has suffered also the past five years from such treatment. Many have played with it as a child would with a new toy, giving up their pigeons in a few months at the slightest discouragement. The past ten years are strewn with the wrecks of imitation squab advertisers and their guarantees. Every spring, when demand for breeder: is greatest, some of these come to life again, or new ones crop up, and they get what harvest they can, many of them selling what they can pick up in the way of culls, such as we ourselves sell to Faneuil Hall marketmen to be killed. These advertisers start advertising in January and by June they have quit. The following, from the pen of an old poultry writer, appeared in a farm periodical of large circulation in January, 1907: ‘“‘So far, every attempt made in this country to estab- lish a large poultry (chicken) farm has been met by failure. The extensive and successful plants of today are the outcome of a small beginning and a gradual growth. True, the main cause for failure has been the lack of experience; men have undertaken work for which they were not qualified.” So it is the rule with squab and poultry failures, especially women, to blame everybody but themselves. Such persons learn bitterly that experience is indeed a factor. The place and flock of the one who fails with squabs tell their own story. The drinking fountains are seldom washed, the pen is seldom cleaned and the place has a run-down look generally, sometimes being positively filthy. The grain is bought and fed on the catch-as-catch-can principle with no provision for variety. The cheapest grain is bought, or it is ignorantly bought, and may be full of weevils, or sour. The owner of such a place generally matches the place. 96 ~NATIONALYSTANDARD SOUABEOOTS Some advertisers selling breeding stock try to give the impression in their advertising that they control the matings and love affairs of the pigeons they sell, to the uttermost degree. ‘‘ Wes are the ones who can start you right,” they say, ‘with our guaranteed mated pairs.”’ Their pigeons, how- ever, behave just the same as all pigeons. You have just as much control over the minds of your pigeons as anybody. We have the finest equipment for mating in America, as it is the largest, a thousand mating coops being in constant use. One of the buildings is heated by a hot-water plant so as to get quick results in mating in the winter. It is natural for pigeons to breed, same as all animals. Do not believe that the man who offers to sell you pigeons has it in his power to control them after they have left his hands. ‘The control of your pigeons is in your hands absolutely. If you raise an excess of cocks, or if you have an excess of either sex, for any reason, you should procure enough of the opposite sex to match up evenly. You should have some mating coops (ordinary boxes with wire fronts will do) and in them you should pair up birds to suit yourself as to color of plumage, or size, or special characteristics, as you raise them. We fill all orders, large or small, with equal care and thoroughness, for it is just as much to our interest to please the customer and get more orders in the one case as in the other. There is not much choice as to what time of year a start in squab breeding should be made. Our custcmers who start in the winter have been exceptionally successful because then prices for squabs are at the top notch, and it takes only ‘a few sales to make a new breeder thoroughly convinced to go ahead to success. We ship breeders all the year round. A pigeon will not break down under either stifling heat or bitter cold, being different from other animals. We fill orders in rotation and treat customers alike, and ship promptly. Frequently we get orders to ship by first returning express, and it is very difficult to do this. One customer in Chicago planned to start for Alaska with twelve pairs of our birds, but he held back his letter so that we got it with only two hours to fill crates and get birds to him before his departure. We filled his order as a matter of accommoda- tion. GETTING AHEAD 97 In ordering supplies to be sent by freight, remember that it takes a freight shipment some time to get to destination, especially when traffic is congested in the spring or in the harvest season. Give us your order for nest bowls and supplies before your house is ready. The live breeders are shipped by us either in specially made pine crates or wicker coops. “The wicker»coops remain our property and are returned to us at our expense by the express companies after the customer has released the pigeons. These baskets are expensive and are fitted with large tin feed and water dishes. It is impossible to break them open with the roughest handling. The birds have plenty of room in them and arrive at their destination in fine condition. The usual fault of inexperienced shippers is that the box or crate is too high, and too large, giving an opportunity for one bird to pass another by flying over its head. If there is too much room between the top and bottom of the crate feathers will be rumpled and pulled out, and the birds by crowding will suffocate one or two. A large, heavy crate also adds enormously to the express charges. It is not pleasant to buy pigeons and receive them in a cumbrous box weighing from twenty-five to seventy-five pounds, on which the express charges are more than double what they would be were the birds crated properly. If the birds are going to a point only a day or a day anda night distant, they need no feed nor water. For a long journey, a bag of grain should be tied to the crate. It is the duty of the express messengers to feed and water the birds en route, and they are so instructed by their companies. Do you know that pigeons are transported by the express companies at the rate charged for ordinary merchandise under the classification in force for 1907 on? The rate is found in every express book (ask your agent to show it to you if there is any dispute over charges) now as follows: “ Pigeons, homing, merchandise rate.’ Tell the agent to look in the P’s for Pigeons and he will find it there. For carrying most live-stock short distances, the animal rate (which is double the merchandise rate) is charged. This © is a peculiar rule when it was formerly applied to pigeons, and it worked so that the buyer at a r-mote point got his ship- ment cheaper than the buyer nearer us. For instance, we HOW WE SHIP PIGEONS. Care and skill exercised in shipping live pigeons are large factors in Satishyins customers. It is not a pleasant experience to send money away for pigeons an have them reach you in a home-made box, generally of enormous weight, and bearing enormous express charges. We originated the above style of shipping and have two thousand shipping baskets in use. They are expensive but by their use we are able to guarantee safe arrival. The customer receives his shipment in faultless condition. The small bag of grain on top of the basket, tied to it, is for the use of the express- man in feeding the birds en route. The tin water dish is at the end of the basket, outside, where it ought to be, not inside. These shipping baskets remain our property and are returned to us empty at our expense after the customer has released his birds. GETTING: AHEAD 99 could ship a crate of pigeons to Chicago from Boston cheaper than we could to Buffalo. All the express companies doing business in the United States and Canada have the same rule, which is, that between points where the single or merchandise rate is two dollars or more per hundred pounds, live animals, boxed, crated or caged, are charged for transportation at the single or merchandise rate. Between points where the single or merchandise rate is less than two dollars per hundred pounds, live animals are charged the animal rate (which is double the merchandise rate). Poultry (not pigeons) are charged the one and one-half rate when the rate per one hun- dred pounds is less than two dollars. In order to obtain the lowest rate of transportation, the value of each pigeon must be stated by the shipper at five dollars or less. We have seen breeders who have been shipping live-stock for years and they never heard of the above rule of the express companies, and also we have seen scores of express agents who did not know of their own rule, but always charged the animal rate on animal shipments. But the rule is found in every graduated charge book of every express company and the experienced expressmen and experienced shippers know all about it. If the agent in your town is ignorant of the rule, ask him for his graduated charge book. Many express agents at local points seldom handle a pigeon ship- ment and do not know how to charge for it. A live animal contract release, to be signed both by shipper and express agent, is needed in all cases where the value of each pigeon is more than five dollars. If pigeons which we ship are killed in a smash-up, we can recover from the com- pany. We have no hesitation, therefore, in guaranteeing the safe delivery of our pigeons to customers. Our respon- sibility does not end when we have given them to the express- man. Our guarantee follows them as long as they are in the hands of the express company. We will put them into your hands safe and sound. Once in a while you will read of live-stock and breeding associations getting together and complaining about the “exorbitant rates’ charged by the express companies. The trouble is not with the rates of the express companies, but lies wholly in the ignorance of the breeders who meet to complain. 1005) NATIO NAT ST AUN ATCO: SOWA: pe OOKG They simply do not know how to ship and how to talk to the express agents. We never read the above advice as to shipping live-stock in any book or paper. It is the product of our own experience and the information cost us at least one hundred dollars in excess charges before we learned how to get the low rate. It is worth dollars to our customers. No express agent anywhere has a right to make any extra charges whatever on our pigeon shipments. There is no duty on our pigeons to Canada, Cuba or Porto Rico, when we send with the pigeons and also to the customer, as we do, a certificate of purity of breed, declaring that the pigeons are for breeding, and not to be killed for market. Squab breeders having special customers who wish the squabs plucked should pack them in a clean white wood box (with ice in the summer) and nail the box up tight. Such shipments go through in splendid condition and if the breeder has a choice article, with the Plymouth Rock trade mark stamped on the box, he gets the fancy price. Squabs which reach the Boston market from jobbers in Philadelphia and New York are plucked and packed with ice in barrels. Breeders around Boston who reach the Boston market with undressed squabs send them in boxes or wicker hampers or baskets on the morning of the day after they are killed. Since January 1, 1913, killed squabs have been mailable by parcel post in the zone where the shipment originates. One squab may be sent to a customer inside the zone for only a nickel. Squabs which are mailed by parcel post should be wrapped first in white waxed paper and then in stout brown paper or corrugated pasteboard. The parcel post is helping those squab breeders who wish to sell one or two or three pairs or more direct to consumers with a quick delivery. Live pig- eons cannot be mailed. Killed squabs go to market by express not at the express rate charged for ordinary merchandise, but at a specially low rate known as the ‘“‘ general special’’ rate. For full particulars how to get this great saving in express charges when shipping killed squabs, see page 401 of this book, where the whole matter is explained in thorough detail. Do not assume that your ex- press agent knows about this low rate. Some of them do but most do not and it is money in your pocket to tell them. (CG lel Al le WII DU. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Women and Squab Breeding — Attentions of the Male to the Female Pigeon — Equal Number of Males and Females — Birds Flying Wild—Sale of Birds for Flyers — Variation im Size of Nest Boxes— How Squabs are Artificially Fattened — Shipping to England — Training Flyers — A Remarkable Service jor Messages between Islands. Question. JI am a woman who knows absolutely nothing of squab raising. Do you think I can make a success of it? Answer. Our books are written and printed for the purpose of telling an absolutely ignorant person just how to proceed. If you will study this Manual, until you get the general plan and method of procedure in your mind, there is no reason why you cannot make a success of it. A woman is quick enough to puzzle out a new pattern of embroidery or a blind cooking recipe the terms of which are expressed in language utterly incomprehensible toa man. We find that our women customers are just as quick to comprehend pigeons-as soon as they get started. It is necessary to have confidence, first, that the birds can make money, and second, that you are able to handle them right. Women succeed with hens quite as well as men. They “ take’ to animals fully as well as men. The fact that you, our customer, are a woman, ought to encourage rather than depress you, in the squab business. Question. 1 have an old poultry house fifteen by twenty feet in size, ten feet high. How many pairs of pigeons can I accommodate? Answer. We have this question asked us many times, and our reply to all is the same.. Sometimes the customer varies it by asking, How large a house do I need to accommodate one hundred pairs of breeders? Sometimes they say they propose remodeling a barn loft which is thirty by twenty feet in size. The dimensions of the building vary with the customer. You can always accommodate in theory as many pairs of breeders as you can make room for pairs of nest boxes. Fix up your building to suit yourself and put in 101 102 NATIONAL SAN DARED! SiOvCAB) 5 OOK as many nest boxes as you wish. Then count your nest boxes and you will know how many birds you can accommo- date. You must have two nest boxes for every pair of birds. Always allow more nest boxes than there are pigeons, and do not crowd the birds, as we have explained on page 29. Question. How does the male bird impregnate the female bird? They do not seem to me to act as roosters and hens do. Answer. The human eye is not sharp and quick enough to follow the actions of the male bird. He mounts the female in a manner which is called “ treading.’’ A female occasion- ally will “ tread ’’’ the male bird, exactly as a female animal when in excessive heat sometimes will mount the male, or another fema's. Custcmers who had what they thought was a doubtful p ur sometimes have written us saying that each would tread the other, and that of ‘course both were males. After a while the same customer would write and say that the pair fooled him and that he had two eggs from them. The actions are in nine cases out of ten, of course, a positive guide, but there are exceptions to every rule. Question. (1) The legs of the pigeon you sent me are red; are they inflamed? (2) The droppings are soft and mushy; I am afraid they have diarrhcea. What shall I do? (8) Most of my pigeons have a warty-like substance on their bills, varying in size with the pigeon; how shall I get rid of it? Answer. (1) The red color which you see is perfectly natural. The legs of all Homer pigeons are red. (2) The natural droppings of the pigeon are soft and somewhat loose. When they have diarrhoea the droppings are extremely watery and the tail feathers are soiled. Your pigeons are all right and have no diarrhcea. (3) The growth of which you speak is perfectly natural. It varies in size with the pigeon, sometimes covering the base of the bill, in other cases clinging closely to it. Question. Can I figure with certainty that of each pair of squabs which my birds hatch, one is a male and the other a female? Answer. Not with absolute certainty, but as a rule. It is Nature’s way to provide for an equal number of males and females, for that is the way the species mates and is reproduced. Question. Enclosed find ten dollars, for which please send me settings of pigeon eggs to that value, and send me the valance due, if any. Answer. We do not sell pigeon eggs. OOES TNO N Si AND AUN SS WEB IS: 103 It is impossible to use an incubator and raise pigeons success- fully, because there is no way of feeding the young squabs when they are hatched. The life of squabs is nourished and prolonged from day to day by the parent birds, which feed them. To raise squabs, you must start by buying the adult breeders. You cannot start with the eggs. Question. It seems to me that if each pair of squabs hatched consists of male and female, that this couple is likely to pair when grown, being well acquainted with each other, This would be inbreeding and would weaken my flock. What shall I do? Answer. It is not the plan of the species to mate and inbreed like this. If brother and sister mated as you describe, the species would be extinct after a while. They will look for new mates as soon as they get out of the nest and are of breeding age. Question. When are the young pigeons old enough to mate? Answer. At from four to six months. Question. My birds do not know enough to go in from the roof of the squab house when it rains. How shall I get them in? Answer. Let them stay on the roof in the rain if they wish. The rain will do them no harm. Question. Must I heat the squab house in the winter time? Answer. No. The heat from a flock of pigeons in a well- built house is considerable. You will get more squabs from your pigeons in the winter time if you do heat your house slightly, not enough to cause much expense, but just enough to take the chill off. Do not let your birds out of the squab house on bitter cold days. Question. I live in Texas and I think in this climate your squab house would be too warm and stuffy. Answer. You are right. Adapt the construction to your locality. The poultry houses in Texas as compared to those in the North are much less expensive and more open to the air, and your squab house should be built on the same principle. Question. Suppose I cool the squabs as you direct and pack them into a box for shipment, shall I useice? Is there any danger that the meat will be discolored when they arrive at market? Answer. Ice is not necessary in the fall, winter and spring. In the summer time you should use ice, although if the shipment is for a short distance, ice may not be necessary. In hot weather the squabs should not be killed until the night 104 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK before shipping. In the cool months you may keep them at home longer. If the squabs are cooled by hanging them from studding as we describe, there is no danger that the meat will be discolored. The object of hanging them from studding is to cool the carcasses properly so that the meat will not be discolored by contact. Question. How shall I pack the killed squabs when I send them to market? Answer. Lay them in the box layer on layer, in an orderly fashion. Do not throw them in helter skelter. Question. Can I hang the squabs to cool from studding suspended in the barn, in the summer time? Amswer. Itis better to use the cellar of the house, or the coolest room in the house. Question. I do not like your idea of keeping the birds wiredin. They are free by nature and it strikes me that they should have a chance to get exercise by long flights. Answer. You must keep them wired in, or they may leave you. Re- member that the Homer is attached to the place where it is bred, that is the Homer instinct. If you buy birds of us and on opening the crate let them fly anywhere they choose, trusting to luck to have them come back to you, you may be disappointed and lose some of the birds. You must keep them wired in all the time. Question. You say your Homers are fine flyers. What is the use of my buying them of you to fly in races or to sell again as flyers, if they may desert me when I let them out into the open air? Answer. The squabs which you breed from our birds will know no home but yours, and they will not fly away from you. You can send them away, when they are old enough, and time their flight back to your house, their home. When you sell these trained flyers to others, you do not expect that they will try to fly them, but that they will use them for, breeders. Question. How large are the mating coops? Answer. A convenient size is two feet long, two feet wide and two feet high. Question. My birds seem timid and I am afraid to catch them. How shall I go about it? Answer. Do not be afraid ~ of hurting them. Take a broom and drive one where you will, finally pinning it against the side of the squab house, or QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 105 in acorner. Grasp it and hold its wings firmly and it will not struggle. Or you may make a net on the end of a pole, like an ordinary fish landing net, and scoop the bird into it as it flies through the air. Question. Suppose I have several squab houses, as you describe, but let all the birds together in one large flying pen, where they can bathe from one large fountain. Answer. This is all right if you do not wish to keep close track of your birds. If the birds can roam from one house to another, there is nothing to prevent a pair from building one nest on one house and then going to another house to build the second nest. Question. How many squabs shall I pack in one box when sending to market? Answer. Having picked out the size of the box you wish, fill it up close with squabs, so they will not 7 shuck.*) As) to the size of the box, make it as big or little as you please, but do not make it any bigger than one expressman can handle easily. A good size is two feet square and one foot deep. Question. Send me two males and ten females. Answer. You must buy your birds in pairs. They pair off in this way, namely, one male to one female. One male does not have two or three females. We have heard pigeon breeders talk of having one cock which would attend two hens, but never had a case in our experience. ; Question. After plucking the squab, and before sending it to market, do you remove the entrails? Answer. No. Question. In order to avoid the trouble of using the mat- ing coop, may I put an equal number of cocks and hens in the same pen? Answer. Yes. . Question. Can I discover the male and female organs by examination of the birds with a magnifying glass? Answer. No. You can discover them by dissecting the dead bird. Question. Suppose I wish to put a strip of wood across the front of the nest box? Answer. See page 30 and follow the directions there given. There are differences of opinion with regard to nest boxes and each has its advocates. If you use either design shown on page 30, you will be safe, for both are in successful use. If in doubt, fit up some boxes in one style and some in the other and see how they work. The pigeon will fly directly into the nest, or onto the nest box in front of the nest. 196 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK Question. Seems to me that if I start with forty-eight pairs of birds, 1 ought to have ninety-six perches. Answer. The birds do not all perch at the same time. While some are perching, others are on the nests, or walking on the floor, or are outside in the flying pen, or on the roof. Put up a few perches where you have room and let it go at that. Question. I live in England; can you ship me twenty-four pairs of your breeders? Answer. Yes; the transportation charges will be four dollars. In addition you will have to pay the butcher or steward of the boat ten shillings for feeding and watering the birds. Send us six dollars and fifty cents in addition to the regular price of the birds and we will ship to you all charges prepaid. In shipping to Cuba and remote points in the United States and Canada, we do not have to pay anything extra for the feeding and watering of the birds; the express charges include the feeding and watering. Question. What is a Runt pigeon? Please quote prices on a dozen pairs of Runts. Answer. A Runt pigeon is a special breed of pigeon, remarkable for its large size. They come all colors, as a Homer does. The white Runts are an exceptionally beautiful bird and command large prices, as high as six dollars to fifteen dollars a pair. The squabs which Runts breed weigh from eighteen ounces to one and one-half pounds at four weeks. If Runts bred as fast as Homers, they would be just the bird for squab breeders, but they are fatally slow in breeding, as a rule. The Homers raise two pairs of squabs to the Runts’ one. Therefore it is of course more profitable to raise Homers. We do not sell Runts and do not advocate their use either as a separate breed, or crossed up with Homers. The large, plump, thoroughbred Homer is the best. Question. What is the difference between the Homer and Antwerp breeds of pigeons? Answer. No difference. The name is used interchangeably to apply to the same breed of pigeon. In New England we speak of them mostly as Homers. In some places they are called more often Antwerps. Question. Can I feed some of my squabs by haiid if nec- essary? Answer. Yes. Mix up a mushy, soft handful of grain, hold the squab in the left hand, close to your body, and with the thumb and first finger of your right hand force the QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 107 mixture into the bill. The squab will swallow and fill its crop. square stock. The box also is of one-inch stack, so as to be heavy The box and strong. is deco cnough us pre- j vent birds from throw- OPEN TROUGH WITH REVOLVING BAR inecout the erainiaHen enough for twenty birds for one meal is in it. There is space between the edge of box and the bar ample for the birds to feed, but not enough space for them to get into the feeder. The fact that the bar is pivoted does not prevent the birds from alighting on it but, being pivoted, the bar turns as soon as they alight on it and off they go. They soon learn to keep off it. The illustrations and descriptions of both these troughs are taken by permission from the Naizonal Squab Magazine. Praneet Yas tS Ss 108 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 109 tie with thread, or fasten with glue or a stamp; or, you may tie the tissue around one of the tail feathers. A thin alu- minum tube containing the message may be fastened to a leg, or to a tail feather. A trap window should be constructed to time the arrival home of birds. This is an aperture about six inches square closed by wires hanging from a piece of wood at the top of the aperture and swinging inward, but held close to the aperture by its own weight. The pigeon cannot fly out but on its return home (if you have sprinkled grain on the inside of the house, next the wires) the bird will push the wire door and goin. It takes only a day or two for the pigeon to become accustomed to the trap. If you connect the trap with a simple make-and-break electric circuit, the pigeon on its arrival home from its flight will ring a bell in any part of your house or barn. When you have a record of the flyers, you will have a guide for mating. The majority of fanciers recommend a medium-sized Homer. A large hen should be mated to a small cock, or a large cock to a small hen. What is perhaps the best pigeon service in the world has been in use for several years between Newton Roads, Auckland, New Zealand, and the Great Barrier and Maro Tiro Islands, some seventy-five miles distant. A boy of sixteen years worked up the service and makes a large income from it. About twenty messages an hour are carried back and forth by the Homers. A year ago the government declared its intention of laying a cable from Atickland to Great PBrrier. The project was abandoned, however, as the residents of the little island decided that they were well pleased with the pigeons, and that a cable would not be patronized. The government offered to buy the whole pigeon outfit from the boy owner, but he refused. There are from four hundred to five hundred pairs of pigeons in the service. Question. In the case of young birds mated up for the first time at five or six months of age, is it best to destroy the first eggs, or let them go ahead and hatch in the regular way? Answer. Let them go ahead and hatch and learn to feed their young. It will improve them for the next hatch. Question. Please describe the self-feeder more fully and explain its operation. Answer. The hopper of the feeder is V-shaped so that the grain will fall by its own weight to the centre at the bottom, which is cut away as shown in the tO NO UNGATE, STANDARD SQOUAB BOOK illustration so that as the birds peck up the grain, more falls from the hopper. The slit where the birds eat should be about an inch and a half in width, just enough to prevent the grain from running out faster than itis eaten. If the grain is pulled out on the floor, tack a strip of wood, like a lath, so as partly to block the holes. Question. Should I cover the yard of the flying pen with your grit? Answer. No. Providea box and keep our grit in the box. When the pigeons want grit, they will go to the box and get it. Question. Are the carrier (flying) pigeons the same breed as your Homers? Answer. Yes. A flying or carrier Homer is a Homer that has been trained to fly a long distance. Question. What are artificially fattened squabs? An- swer. An artificially fattened squab is a squab which has been stuffed by hand. Take a syringe and fill it with fattening mixture of gruel-like consistency, open the mouth of the squab . and force the contents of the syringe into the crop of the squab. Very few breeders take this trouble to bring their squabs to an extraordinary size. Question. I wish you had shipped my breeders in one large crate, then the express charges would not have been so much as for the two crates which you used. Answer. You are mistaken. An express shipment goes by weight and not by number of packages. The express clerks put all the crates going to one customer on the scales together and weigh them all at once and on the total weight the charge is based. They prefer to-handle a large shipment in small packages, rather than in one large package. Question. Can I use the upper part of my henhouse for pigeons, and if so will the pigeons interfere in the flying pen with the hens? Answer. You may use the upper part of your henhouse and the pigeons will not be harmed by the hens, nor the hens by the pigeons. It is best to build the flying pen in two stories so that the pigeons cannot fly into the henhouse to try to nest. Question. To save room, I would like to build my pigeon house in two stories. Answer. That is all right. Build the top flying pen out over and extending beyond the bottom flying pen if you wish to separate the flocks on the ground floor from the flocks upstairs. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 11] Question. What are the bands for pigeons’ legs and how are they applied? Answer. The seamless band is a ring of aluminum three-eighths of an inch in diameter and from three-sixteenths to one-quarter of an inch in width. You cannot apply it to an old pigeon. It is put on either leg of a squab when the squab is four or five days old, by squeezing the toes of the squab through the band. As the leg of the squab grows, it becomes impossible to remove the band except by cutting it off On the band, before putting it on the leg of the squab, you may stamp year of birth and your initials, or anything you choose. We sell an outfit consisting of aluminum tubing, dies, etc., by which the squab breeder may make his own bands at a cost of two or three for a cent. Question. Since I bought twelve pairs of you, I have kept a careful account of the feed, and find as you state that five cents a month for a pair of breeders is right. Grain has been much higher than usual this summer and it strikes me that under normal conditions of the grain market the cost of a pair of squab breeders would be less than five cents a month, or sixty cents a year. Answer. Our figures of cost were ascertained not by “ skimping”’ the birds, but feeding them liberally, and an estimate of five cents a month for a pair is based on a low cost of grain, and on selling the manure. Question. What pattern of trowel do you recommend for cleaning the nest bowls and nest boxes? Answer. The common trowel such as bricklayers use is too pointed. The best pattern has a square point and a stout blade with strong handle. With such a trowel you can clean out the nest bowls and nest boxes very effectively. Question. Can pigeons be raised on the sea-coast as well as inland? Amswer. Yes; the Homer pigeon is descended from a variety of pigeon which first bred among the cliffs bordering the sea-shore. Question. Do the squabs fly out of the nest before they are four weeks old? Answer. No; they look old enough to fly at four weeks, and their wings seem all ready for use, but they stay in the nest and are fed by the parent birds, and when you wish to kill them you find-both in the nest ready for you. Question. Your book states that pigeons sometimes lay their eggs on the floor. But it does not say anything about taking the eggs and putting them in a nest bowl. Would the 112 (NATIONAL SEAN DARD SOUAB EBOOK birds follow their eggs and accept change of nest from floor te nest bowl? Answer. No; you must leave the eggs where they lay them. You can handle a nest and change eggs from one nest bowl to another, if you wish, but you cannot move eggs from one place in the squab house to another and expect the birds to find them and go on with their laying. Question. Do all squab breeders heat their houses in the winter time; I mean those who do a large business like your- self. Answer. No; some breeders of many years’ experience believe that a warm house is detrimental to the health of the birds, on account of the sudden change of temperature from a warm house to a cold flying pen. The object should be merely to take the damp winter chill off the air. If you have a warm, tight squab house which you will close when night comes, you will need no heat. ~ Question. In the case of a long house, say four units long, should there be wire netting partitions between the units, so as to separate the birds into four flocks? Answer. Such an arrangement is more practical than one long house. It is better to keep track of four small flocks than one large flock. You can keep account of the birds both on paper, and with your eyes, with more preg¢ision. Question. How is salt cat made? Answer. Take sixteen quarts of sand, eight quarts of slaked lime, four quarts of ground oyster shells, one pint of salt, one pint of caraway seeds and mix with water into a stiff mud. Form into bricks and set away to dry. The water with which you mix should have a tablespoonful of sulphate of iron and a tablespoonful of sulphuric acid for tonic and disinfectant. The birds peck at this mixture and it is believed to have a tonic and strength- ening effect on them. Question. Shall I crowd one of the units with nest boxes, or would it be better to have a smaller number of nest boxes and build another unit to accommodate the new birds which I am going to buy? Amswer. Better enlarge your squab house. In case of doubt, you will be on the safer side if you do not crowd the birds. (See following pages for points which may occur to you and which are not covered in these questions and answers.) SUPPLEMENT NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK By ELMER C. RICE Don’t wait until your squabhouse is built before you order your supplies and pigeons. Supplies going by freight should be ordered from two weeks to a month ahead of the time you want to use them. Pigeons go by express much faster, as fast as passenger trains, but we want your order from a week to three weeks ahead of the time you want the pigeons shipped. Give us all the time you can on pigeon shipments. Get your orders in early. Order ahead. Supply orders going both by freight and express are shipped the same day we get them unless the customer specifies something different. Remember that freight trains which carry supplies such as grit, grain and large lots of nest bowls are slower than the express trains on which the pigeons are shipped. We are always glad to give advice on pigeon topics without charge but cor- respondents always should enclose a stamped and addressed envelope for our reply. Letters should be as brief as possible. If you ask questions which we are to answer, number them and keep a copy of your letter so that we may reply by number without repeating your question. Our Manual, the National Standard Squab Book, is the best-selling work on breeding or farm-life ever published in any country, and has been carried in the mails to every part of the civilized world. Our business is too much a matter of pride with us, too large, and too suc- cessful, to permit of a single patron being dissatisfied. We have spent over $200,000 to put our trade on a firm and successful footing and we cannot afford to run the risk of displeasing a customer. If resources, skill and experience count for anything, and we think they do, we intend to keep on furnishing the best pigeons possible, and patrons can rest assured that they are getting for their money the greatest possible value. Moreover, we have one price to all; the customer in California can buy of us as cheaply as our next-door neighbors. Our farm is always open to inspection and customers may make their ‘own selec- tion of breeding stock, if they desire. Our general advertising in the high-class magazines and other periodicals not only induces the breeding of squabs but also leads people to eat squabs. For every one who sees our advertising and writes for particulars and starts breeding, there are a score of men and women who inquire of their butchers _ or marketmen for squabs in order to eat them. Squab dealers in every section of the United States and Canada are reporting an increased demand with which the supply cannot begin to keep pace. We take some pride in the squab industry. We were the pioneers in it and we put it on a commercial basis. We have fostered it on correct lines and according to sound business principles, and the growth has not been a 113 114 NATIONAL, STANDARD: SQUAB BOOK ““boom,’’ as some other things in the past have been boomed, but has been steady and sure and successful. We paint no extravagant picture as to the profits of squab raising, and we show proofs every step of the way—stories of success of our customers who started green and are making money. That there are occasional failures is to be expected. We give no recipe and sell no machinery for transforming an incompetent person who fails at many tasks into a success. But the history of this industry and of our business demonstrates with a power that cannot be denied that squab raising is right. No business climbs up the hill of profit steadily for any length of time unless it is absolutely fair, advertised by true statements, and giving a true money’s worth. When we began to tell the country about squabs, people would come to our office and say, ‘‘Well, it reads pretty good, but is it true?” We did not have much evidence ready then, but we have now. Our answer is the present condition of the squab industry, forging ahead with giant strides to its place alongside of eggs and poultry, millions of dollars in value, and the unsolicited letters from our customers which we print, showing the most remarkable and convincing progress of this breeding. We have already printed a great many of these letters in years past, and we print more in this Supplement. We have room here to show only a small part of such testimony. For every letter printed here we have scores just as convincing. These communications have come to us unsolicited, day by day, as the business brought them, and more are coming every day, and they are our answer to doubters. They are the proof that what we say avout the business and what we teach in the Manual, is true, and is being worked out successfully. We do not print the names and addresses of the writers of these letters because many of them are regular buyers of our birds, and moreover, we cannot advertise other breeders free of charge. These letters and the testimony they give are valueless if they are not genuine. Each and every one is genuine, and moreover, we guarantee their genuineness, and will produce the originals at any time to satisfy anybody. In these days when many ‘“‘testimonials’’ are unblushingly “worked up” without a shadow of foundation, there are skeptics, and to such who cannot come to Boston and see us, we recommend that they send one of the commercial agency men to make the inquiry and handle the evidence. We have never yet had the genuineness of our letters from customers questioned, for they “‘ring true’’ and are in the simple language of facts Which cannot be counterfeited, but we are ready at any time for any doubter. What others have done and are doing with our birds, you can do. KILLING MACHINE. To kill squabs with clearly. The neck of the squab is placed extreme rapidity we have made a machine with which the operator can work with much ease and satisfaction. The method of tweak- ing the necks which we describe and illustrate in the Manual is slow when compared with the work of this machine, and is repugnant to many, especially women. The illustration shows the construction between the movable arm (or lever) and the lower arm, and the lever is brought down upon the neck, breaking the bones, crushing the spinal cord and killing the squab instantly. The operation produces no blood, nor does it break the flesh. The two edges of the upper and lower arms, where they come to- gether against the neck of the squab, should SNE enV EA NT not be sharp so as to cut the flesh, but should be rounding, and slightly flat at the points of contact. The base-board is made of three-quarters or one-inch lumber, twenty inches xs and seven inches wide. The upper arm (or lever) is of half-inch stock, one and three-quarters inches wide and fifteen inches long. lower arm is of half-inch stock one and three- quarters inches wide and eight and one-half The inches jong. The two upright pieces in front, nearest the hand of the operator, are each of seven-eighths or inch stock, one and three-quarters inches wide and three and three-quarters inches high. The two upright pieces in back, furthest from the hand of the operator, are each of seven-eighths or inch stock, two and one-half inches wide and three and three-quarters inches high. The pin at the back of the machine on which the lever turns is of one-quarter inch brass or iron rod two and one-quarter inches iong. The upper arm (or lever) is bevelled or cut off at an angle on lower corner (behind the uprights, and consequently invisible In the picture) so that the lever can be raised to an angle of forty-five degrees, thus per- mitting the neck of the squab to be inserted between the arms at a point just back of the farther uprights. When the upper lever is at rest upon the lower arm, there should be no space between the two; they should butt flush together. The whole machine is built of wood with the exception of the metal pivot and the screws which hold the parts together. It is not necessary to mortise the uprights into the base-board. The screws which fasten the uprights are started underneath from the back side of the base-board and go through the base-board. Nails may be used instead of screws to hold the parts together, but the job will not be so strong. The base-board should be nailed or screwed to a bench or table so as to give firmness and solidity in operation. Carry the squabs in a basket to the machine and kill them there; do not take the machine into the pens and kill the squabs in sight of the other birds. We do not sell this squab killer. It should be built by you or your carpenter. Customers with large plants have told us that this tool is a handy article, and we 115 have found it indispensable. The squabs can be killed as fast as you can work the lever. The pressure is considerable and the cords are crushed at once. The squab is not strangled but is paralyzed, and made lifeless at once. ; For those who do not care to build a wood squab-killing machine as described above, we sell pincers, to accomplish the same urpose in the same way; see our catalogue. hese pincers should be oiled at the joint, and the joint worked so that they will open and close freely. When first purchased the joint is tight, and works hard. For dealers who wish squabs bled, use the knife which we describe in our catalogue. WEANING THE YOUNG BIRDS. If you are starting with a small flock with the expectation of raising your own breeders, do not take the young birds away from their parents out of the breeding pen until they are weaned. They are not thoroughly weaned until they are six or seven weeks old. It is true that many of them hop or fly or are pushed out of the nests when they are from four to five weeks old, but they con- tinue to cry for food when they are hungry, and the old cock bird of the pair which hatched them will be seen feeding them on the floor. The youngsters at this time are feeding themselves, but to keep them strong and rugged they need the crumbs of parental food which they get as described, and for which they cry, or squeak. These crumbs have been moistened by the parent bird and consequently digest quicker and better. When the youngsters are weaned, take them out of the breeding pen and put them in the rearing pen. (The rearing pen is fitted with nest-boxes, etc., exactly the same as a breeding pen.) You can tell by their looks when they are old enough to remove, even if you have not kept track of their age. The substance (called the cere) at the base - of the bill of an old pigeon which is white will be a dark brown on a squab or young bird. A squab in the nest is so fat as often to be bigger than either of his parents, but after he has got out of the nest and hustled around on the floor he trains off that fat and becomes thin and rangy and can generally be told from an old bird, if in no other way, because he is smaller. A poor beginner will sometimes be heard to say: “Many of my young birds are dying.’”” When he says that, you may-be sure that the trouble, every time, is with him, and not with his birds, provided, of course, his parent stock is rugged and hand- some. Itmay be deduced, without asking any further questions, that he is taking his young birds away from the breeding pen before they have the strength to support themselves. The precarious period of all animal life is the weaning age. Some beginners who have had no difficulty in raising squabs te market 116 age have had losses because they supposed that a full-fledged youngster was able to take care of itself, but we never knew a case of this which we could not straighten out simply by recommending the breeder to keep his young birds longer in the breeding ~ pen. NEED OF HEALTH GRIT. It has been our experience in dealing not only with many thousands of beginners in the squab business, but also with a great many breeders of considerable experience, that comparatively few have a proper appreciation of the value of grit. Pigeons have no teeth and must have grit te take the place of teeth, otherwise they cannot prepare their food for their stomachs properly, and will not do well. We have had customers take the most extraordinary care with regard to the grain, but supply absolutely no grit, and then they complained because their birds were not breeding properly, and that the squabs were not plump. Grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell grit. You must have both. The grit is needed, as stated, to grind the grain, while fae oyster shell is needed to supply the coustituents out of which the female pigeon forms the egg. The yard of the flying pen must be gravelled ilot grassed, and out of this gravel the birds get considerable grit. If you watch them, you will see them pecking at this gravel in the flying pen constantly. Beach sand, or sand of any kind, may be used in the flying pen instead of gravel. The flying-pen yard should be renewed with fresh sand or gravel every six weeks, for although it may look the same to you, you must remember that it does not look the same to the birds, for they have been going over it constantly picking out the particles which they liked. In the winter time when the flying pen may be covered with snow, it is well to keep a pro- tected box filled with gravel or sand in the squab-house. By a protected box, we mean a box which the birds cannot foul, but which allows the grit to fall down as fast as eaten. In a protected box in the squab-house there should also be fed the Health Grit which we sell. We have used all kinds of grits, and the grit we are now using and selling to the exclusion of everything else, is the only grit which pigeons will eat greedily (thus showing that it is good for them). It contains salt, and no salt need be. provided in’ lump form if this grit is supplied. The grits commonly manufactured and sold for poultry, made out of granite, etc., are useless for pigeons, and it is a waste of money to buy them, for common gravel or sand would be fully as good, and cost nothing. hes A flock of pigeons under any conditions and in any part of the country will do better when our Health Grit is fed. The squabs will be ready for market a few days earlier, they will be plumper, and both they and the old NATIONAL SIRAGNDARD SS OUAB EOO ke birds will be in rugged health, and will keep so. We keep this grit before our own pigeons constantly, and consume and sell more tons of it every year than of any grit in the market. It is used by practically every large squab breeder of our acquaintance. We recommend it in the highest terms, knowing in our own experience that it pays for itself many times over. We charge two dollars per 200 pounds for this grit. We do not sell less than 200 pounds. We ship it in bags and it goes at a low freight rate. A hundred-pound bag will last a small flock for months. It is as good for hens as for pigeons. This grit should be kept in and fed from a wood box. Do not put it in a tin or galvanized iron box. OYSTER SHELL. A great deal of oyster shell on the market is unfit for pigeons, not being ground fine enough. It is quite difficuit in some sections of the West and South to get oyster shell, which has to be transported from the seaboard. The oyster shell which we supply our trade is put up in one-hundred-pound bags. Price 75 cents per 100 pounds. No order filled for less than fifty pounds; price of fifty pounds, forty cents. It is ground fine and is just right for pigeons. It should be fed to the pads from a protected box in the squab- ouse. INSECT SPRAYER. Pigeons have a long feather louse which is not harmful. The mite which causes the only trouble is small, about the size of a pin-head, called the red mite, because after it has sucked the blood of the pigeon it is colored red. We have gone a whole season without seeing any of these mites in our breeding houses. Tf lice of this kind, or any kind, are discovered, the insect sprayer which we illustrate here will be found useful. The barrel is filled with kerosene (or water in which squab-fe-nol has been poured) and a fine spray driven against the nest-boxes and nest-bowls, or even against the birds. These insect sprayers are well made of heavy tin. We sell them for fifty cents each. They cannot be mailed, but should be sent by express, or with other goods by freight. Birds which are lousy may be dusted under the feathers, next the skin, with any good lice powder, or with tobacco dust. The best time for such treatment is at night, when the birds may be readily caught and S OME VME NT handled. It is also a good idea to throw a pinch of tobacco dust in the nest, on and around the squabs, about once a month during the summer. Lice are the terror of chicken raisers, but we never knew a squab raiser, if intelligent, to be troubled very much or very long with lice. Once free of lice, the birds almost in- variably keep themselves clean. It is only the loft where cleaning is badly neglected which is troubled with lice. There is a light-colored grub which some- jtimes forms in the manure on the bottom ‘of the nest-box, but no trouble comes from it and it does not get on the bird. RED AND WHITE WHEAT. possible for us to tell what is the difference between red and white wheat. We do not know the chemical constituents which color one kernel red and another variety white. This question is asked us by inquirers who have never heard of red wheat, yet it is 2 common and staple variety of wheat quoted daily in the Chicago and other grain markets. If you cannot get red wheat where you live, feed white wheat, which is fed regularly by nine-tenihs of our customers. As we say in the Manual, we feed red wheat instead of white wheat because it is not so much of a laxative. When we cannot get red wheat, which happens at some periods of some years, we feed white wheat. The effect of wheat is to keep the bowels of the birds open and regular. There is not much fattening substance in wheat. That function is performed by corn. Birds fed on wheat and nothing else get so weak that they do no breeding. We have found this out by the experience of customers. Now and then a customer buys birds without thinking that they must eat to live. After he has got them he suddenly recalls that they must be fed and starts out to find something. We recall vividly one Kansas customer of this kind who was induced by some grain man to buy a lot of wheat and nothing else. After feeding his birds nothing but wheat for two weeks, he wrote us that they were dumpy and showing no inclination to build nests. ‘‘They are all the time on the fluor,’’ he wrote, ‘“‘and cannot fly.”” He had made them so weak by feeding the wheat that they could not fly to their nest-boxes, to say nothing of building nests. USE OF LEG BAND OUTFIT. The aluminum which we sell with our leg band outfit is seamless tubing and by the use of the outfit you produce a band which is seamless and which can be applied only to a squab, because, of course, the feet of an old pigeon are too large to be squeezed through the band as a squab’s can be squeezed. To make an open band (which can be applied to the leg of a full-grewn pigeon) out of the closed band, you simply make a saw-cut lengthwise the band, then open the band It is im- 117 with your fingers, put it around the leg of the pigeon, then close the band again. If any one has old pigeons which he wishes to band, he will find this band outfit quite as serviceable as if used only for banding squabs. We have sold thousands of these band out- fits, and customers like them _ first-rate. We can furnish open bands (to be applied to the legs of full-grown pigeons) made of aluminum, V-shaped joint; each band numbered, a first-class band in every way, for one cent each, or one dollar for one hundred, postage paid. MANAGEMENT OF BATH PANS. The sixteen-inch bath pan which we recommend and sell is better than a larger size, no matter what the capacity of your plant. It is easier emptied of water, there is less strain on the arms, and it is kept clean easier. There should be one bath pan for every twelve pairs of birds. If you have about 48 pairs of birds in each unit, you should have four bath pans in that unit, outside in the flying pen. You can get along very well with one drinking fountain to a unit with that number of birds, or a less number of birds, but if you do not have bath pans enough the bathing water will get dirtier than it should and the birds should not be given an opportunity to drink this dirty water. In the winter, when the birds are shut up in the squab- house frequently for days at a time, it is not necessary to bathe them every day. Bathe them once each week, taking the bath pans into the squab-house and letting the pans stand before them for about an hour. If you let the water s.and in the bath pans in the squab-house in te -e winter time all day, they will pe ed much out onto the floor, and the house ~ get damp. If your plant is a small one, the best we for you *®o manage is this: At evenir, (sunset, sometimes before) your birds will all leave the flying pen for their nests and perches inside. Then fill the bath pans with water. When the following day dawns, and before you are up, the pigeons will fly out and take a bath. When you get up, go to your pigeons and empty the bath pans, turning them bottom side up and leaving them that way all day. The price of these sixteen-inch bath pans is forty cents, crated ready for shipment. KILLING WITH A KNIFE. Some dealers in squabs wish them to be killed with a knife as this gets out the blood and makes the flesh somewhat whiter. Find out whether or not the man to whom you are going to sell the squabs wants them bled. The way to kill them with a knife is to insert the knife inside the bill and cut the jugular vein. Then hang up the squab bill downward and let the blood drain out. By using the knife on the inside of the throat you do not make ELS a wound which is visible to the eye of the consumer. Use a knife with a long, narrow, sharp blade. We sell them for forty-five cents each, postage paid. CONCERNING NEST BOXES. 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 have used the construction which we illustrate herewith and which is good, because cleaning can be better done. The bottoms of the nest-boxes are re- movable 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 is employed, it is not necessary that you have a block or base screwed to our nappy or nest-bowl. The nappy or nest-bowl may be screwed directly onto this removable nest-box bottom. Tt is not necessary to nail a strip of wood across the fronts of the nest-boxes, to prevent the squabs from falling out. A The squabs stay in the nest until they are ready to leave it, and it is very rare to find one on the floor. It will be noticed that in the cities, the street pigeons nests in many cases will be found on the open cornices of high ildings, and if squabs stay in such nests until they are able to fly, the beginner with squabs ought not to be worried about his birds’ nests which are only a few feet from the floor. SQUABS IN CHICAGO. The following article is taken from the Chicago American: Squab Farming is a new Chicago Industry. Little Capital is Required and Persons of good Judgment and Care can Realize Good Profits from Pigeon Culture. Tf all the birds in all the pies were suddenly to lift their voices in song like those in the nursery rhyme, the chorus would be loud and long, for raising of squabs for food is a constantly growing and lucrative industry, and withal very fascinating. NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK A number of farms, each sheltering several hundred birds, are being conducted within easy reach of the Chicago market. Such clubs as the Union League and Athletic are always ready buyers. Plump birds are readily sold for a dollar apiece fur breeding purposes, and their squabs at $4 a dozen for food. As in any field of labor, the best results come from studied and carefully planned effort. Utmost cleanliness in food and in the little compartments to which each bird comes with unerring instinct to nest enters largely into success. Eggs of clear black or white birds are difficult to hatch because the birds of those colors are very restless and nervous, not caring for their eggs; sometimes only one in a dozen being matured. In four weeks the young bird is ready for the market. Many of the squab farms are side issues of those employed at other voca- tions during the day, and bid fair to attract the attention of those seeking quick returns from a smali outlay. Attention to recognized habits of the birds, sanitary conditions and good breeds for parent birds are all that is necessary to success. : ACTUAL TESTS CONVINCED THEM. In Appendix A in our Manual, we tell of a sale of our Homers which we made in February, 1903, to a_ship captain, who intended to sail from Boston around Cape Horn to the Pacific coast, with stops, the whole voyage to be made in about a year, the pigeons to furnish fresh squab meat for the long journey. The ship went to Florida, from Boston, thence to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, safely, and sailed from there October 1, 1903. Under date of June 22, 1904, the Captain wrote us as follows from New York City: “The birds proved all you claim for them, and even more. I put them in a small house I built, four by eight, and four by four flying pen, on March 7,1903. (This was on the deck of the ship.) They all hatched before April 6, and up to June 5, 1904, every bird had hatched twelve times, and one pair thirteen times. I saved one pair of the first hatches, that were born about April 6, and in October they hatched their first pair, and up to June 5 had six hatchings, which I think was pretty good. I am satisfied. that if the birds are taken care of there is Lig money in them, and just as soon as I can get a location in New Jersey, near New York City, I will send to you for two or three hundred pairs. Ihave an option on a place now and will know tomorrow. I am pretty sure I shall get it and by next Monday I am in hopes to begin my houses. As soon as I get them ready, I will send you a draft for what birds I want, As my houses are built I will order and fili them and I hope you will try and give me a good lot of birds. I shall build for one thousand pairs this summer and increase next year if the birds are as good as those SUE PEEVE NT you gave me. In two weeks you may expect to get an order for two hundred pairs, so you can begin to get them paired off. Any sug- gestion you can give me about the houses will be very acceptable, as I am going to begin to build at once.” Since the above was written, he has built his first house and we have shipped him the first large lot of birds. His experience is certainly convincing. Any one who has doubts can start with a small purchase of birds and find out the facts for himself, just as this customer did. We are continually filling large orders for customers who started with a small purchase and did well. Why don’t you start with two dozen or so pairs and have the experience of this Michigan customer whose order we received this summer: ‘‘A short time ago I received twenty-five pairs of your Homers. They are all doing finely, every bird being lively and full of vim. They are almost all at work now,nest-building, and I am more than satisfied with rcsults thus far obtained. I am about to build two houses, each house to accommodate two hundred and fifty pairs, divided into five flocks of fifty pairs. Enclosed find New York draft to pay for four hundred and fifty pairs Extra Homers.” Under date of July 1, 1904, a customer writes us from an Ohio town: ‘The Homers I purchased of you two years ago this month have been doing very well, in short, their increase has been marvelous, averaging nine and one-half (9'4) pairs per year for the two years I have had them. I now have quite a flock, bred exclusively from the three pairs of mated birds purchased from you, but think it is about time to get some new blood in the flock; therefore will you kindly quote me your prices for birds from one to three or four months old, equal parts cocks and hens, so that I may turn them in with my young birds to prevent as much inbreedinz as possible in that way. I want to say that I at first had some doubts as to the profits of the business, but must confess that they are even more than you have ever claimed.”’ Some of our most successful customers are women. One writes us this summer as follows: ‘‘Enclosed find post-office money order for $7.03, payment for the following order: three dozen wood nappies, three bath pans, four galvanized iron drinkers. Ship by freizht or express as is cheaper. Some- thing over a year ago I bought twelve pairs of pizeons of you. Imperative duties have prevented my giving them as much attention as I would wish. but they have increased and prospered with but trifling loss. There are now more than forty pairs nesting, and altozvether a flock of something over one hundred and fifty. I have sold none, not having had time even to sort them out and send them to market. JI hope soon to get into the lofts and put things in first-class shape and weed out all the culls. I 119 am very well satisfied with my experiment.” A customer in New York writes: ‘There have been two pigeon fanciers here this week who say they have no such fine stock as ours, nor have they seen anything like them.”’ BOSTON PRICES. The squab market is improving every year, and breeders every- where are getting better prices, even right here in Boston, the centre of the section where our business is done, and where the interest in squabs is very great. The follow- ing quotations from the Boston Daily Globe cover a period of over five years, and, as will be seen, prices are firmly maintained. New York prices are better than these: March 28, 1903......$4.00 and $5.00 a dozen Apr. 25, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen May 23, 1903....... 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen Aen D/, WOE 5 ob noo 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen ule OOS Mean eee eo SO laid ozern Aug. 22, 1903....... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Sept. 19, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Oct. 24, 1903........ 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen Novy. 14, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Dec. 5, 1908......... 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen Jan. 30, 1904....... 5.00 and 6.00 a dozen Feb. 20, 1904............... 4.50 a dozen Mar. 12, 1904........ 5.00 and 5.50 a dozen Apr. 30, 1904........ 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen May 28, 1904........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen June 11, 1904....... 3.600 and 4.00 a dozen July 23, 1904........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Aug. 13, 1904....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Aug 20,1904........ 3.50 and 4:00 a dozen Sept. 10,1904....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Oct.8,1904......... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Nov. 5, 1904... .3.00, 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Dec. 31, 1904....... 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen Jan. 7,1905......... 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen Mar. 25,1905........ 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen Apr. 1,1905......... 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen May 27, 1905........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen June 3, 1905........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen July 8, 1905......... 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen Aig 2 90S pea eres ee oe 42504 dozen Sept. 23,1905....... 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen Oct. 21, 1905........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Dec. 16, 1905........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Jan. 20; 1906.................4.00 a dozen Mar. 31, 1906....... 4.25 and 4.75 a dozen Apr. 7,1906......... 4.00 and 5.00 a dozen Mari Z OO 0GM ey setae beet o5>O ardozen June 16, 1906....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen July 28, 1906................. 3/50 a dozen Nao OF a O0GE ee 4 eee enc ODO adozem Octe2090G eee cee OOF aidozen! ano OO Meenas eee Oso Olandozen Jan. 19, 1907........ 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen Mar. 9, 1907........ 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen Mare 35a O0 smears 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen Apr. 6, 1907......... 4.00 and 5.09 a dozen June 29, 1907....... 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen Sept. 28, 1907............. .. 4.00 a dozen INGA SOO 3.00 and 4.50 a dozen Dec. 14, 1907........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Jans, L9I0S ee eeeeeees O00 A dozen 120 ve 25 GOS aia. eciers $4.00 and $5.00 a dozen eb. 8,1908......... 4.00 and 5.00 a dozen Wileres Ay WSUS AW eecad 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen Mar. 21,1908........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Apr. 11, 1908........ 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen May 9, 1908......... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen une 6, 1908........ 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen ailve Serl WO ae ate 5 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen uly 18, 1908........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen (This edition of this Manual went to press in August, 1908. If you write-us in 1909 or later for Boston quotations we will give them to you by letter.) Sometimes different newspapers published in the same city will give varying quotations for squabs, as it depends largely on the reporter who writes them. For example, in the Boston Globe for Feb. 8, 1908, squabs were quoted at $4 and $5 a dozen. In the Boston Herald of that same day is the follow- ing quotation: ‘“‘Squabs are high at $5 and $6 a dozen.”? On March 14, 1908, the Boston Globe quoted squubs at $3.50 and $4 a dozen, while the Boston Herald quoted them at $5 and $6 a dozen. In every large city are published trade bulletins known as ‘“‘Price Current,’ ‘‘Boston Prices,’”’ ‘‘“Market Bulletin,’ “Smith & Jones Price Current,’’ etc. In some large cities one printer will furnish a great many middle- men with the same printed sheet, putting at the head of each the name of a dealer or firm. The prices given in these trade sheets are never the true prices, but are what these middlemen would like to pay to get the farm products quoted. This is quite an important subject to farm people but we do not remem- ber ever having seen the attention of poultry and produce raisers called to this matter before. For example, these price current sheets in New York will quote squabs at $2.50 a dozen when the leading squab buyers in that city, such as Messrs. Silz, McLaughlin, and Knapp & Van Nostrand are paying from $4 to $6 a dozen to squab breeders and reselling to their New York retail trade at $5 to $8 a dozen. These trade sheets and the trade columns in the daily newspapers (which are supplied with quotations by the dealers) not only quote squabs at prices which they would like to pay, but poultry and everything in the nature of farm produce. Their object, of course, is to get farm produce as cheap as they can. If a producer objects to the small price they offer him, they will send -him their printed price quotation sheet and write, ‘You will find the market prices" enclosed.” The producer not only of squabs but of all kinds of farm produce should inform himself of the true market and the only way to do so is to go into that market by letter, telephone or in person and offer to BUY, not to sell. When you have found out, for example, that the dealer wants $6 a dozen for squabs which he has for sale, you can go to that man with your squabs and get $4 a dozen. Don’t let him take more than his fair share of the profits, Some of the poultry NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK and produce buyers are not reliable. The Rural New Yorker is a farm paper which keeps its readers posted on unreliable and irresponsible middlemen in New York State. Assure yourself that the man or firm which is going to buy your squabs is not only prepared to pay you good prices but is able to give you cash returns promptly. The best way to sell squabs is direct to the private trade at about double what the middlemen pay. A customer of ours in Illinois who is a printer gets at the private trade by the use-of a handsome circular giving photographs of squabs and telling what they are, prices, etc. He circularizes the rich residents and also sends out the circular in reply to newspaper advertise- ments. His plan works well and gets him the top prices. We have told many of our customers of the plan and we tell it again here so that you may get up such a circular if you wish and go after the private trade. It will be noticed, in the above table of prices, that although the supply of squabs has greatly increased during the past five years, the demand for squabs created by our advertising has more than kept pace with it. Prices at this writing (1908) are as igh or higher than we have ever known them. BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. Not a few breeders raise squabs by the hundred and are successful in every detail of the manage- ment of their plant except selling the product. Some beginners seem to think they will be perfectly helpless without the co-operation of some dealer. It is a shame to raise fine squabs and then sell them to some commission man or other dealer who immediately resells them, in most cases for double what he pays you for them. It is the steady practice of the dealers in Chicago, for instance, to pay from $2 to $3 per dozen and resell them for $3 to $6 per dozen. If you don’t believe this is true, drop your role of a squab seller and go into these markets to buy and you will see how much profit is being made off your goods. The squab dealers and commission men do not advertise for customers. The squabs are just as salable in your hands as in theirs. Many people would prefer to buy of the producer, being surer of a fresher and more satisfactory product. If you are producing squabs, by all means sell them to the consumer and get the price which the middleman is getting. It is essential, however. if you are going to do this, that you make it known in some way that you have goodsquabsto sell, Think of the tich people, the well-to-do people, the good diners around you or nearest you, and figure out for yourself a way of getting to them the information that you are selling something which they want and will buy steadily. Perhaps a neatly printed circular sent by mail will do it, Or an advertisement in the SUPPLEMENT mewspaper in your territory which will produce results. Or you might pick out two or three likely families and make them a present of a squab or two to get them started. The products of the plants of hundreds of our small customers are spoken for ahead of capacity all the time by a neighborhood trade, and this is what you should aim at. This is the way the finest butter and eggs and poultry are sold, and also squabs, and the plants of our customers who are selling squabs direct to the consumer are paying better than the plants of other customers whose product is marketed with poor judg- ment. Don’t be too fast to seli to a hotel. Some farmers and breeders get the idea that if only they can find a hotel to take all their goods, their fortune is made. In every city there are one or more first-class hotels which want the best of everything and pay accordingly. On the other hand, there are many hotels which do not care for the best. For example, few hotels care for the best ducks, because a single dinner order is half a duck, and half of the biz, first-class, expensive ducks is more than a diner wants, so the hotel keeper of course prevents waste by buying a small duck. Same with squabs. The hotel buyers are sharp bargainers, and if they think that their trade will be satisfied with a seven or eight-pound squab, they will take such a bird rather than pay more for a ten or twelve- pound squab. The average squab breeder, like the average farmer and gardener, is content to sell to the middleman, and if you make the acquaintance of a good one, of course you avoid some bother, yet it has been our experience that it is just as easy to sell squabs to the consumer as to anybody else, in fact, aiter you have started with him he will come after you and pay you a great deal more than anybody else, still he is paying just what he always has paid, and he is better satisfied. Squabs are phenomenal sellers and it is well to take advantage of this condition, which is not always true of poultry. MR. McGREW CALLS. The following is from the pen of Mr. T. F. McGrew, associate editor of the Feather, poultry editor of the Ceuntry Gentleman, also a widely quoted writer for the government’s bureau of animal industry, and a lecturer for the New York State Board of Agriculture. He is one of the best known judges of poultry and pigeons in the United States. The visit to our farm of which he speaks was made in November, 1903; since then our stock of Homers has been increased. “Tt was our pleasure within the last two weeks to visit the home plant of the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., at Melrose, Mass. We were beautifuiiy entertained by Mr. Elmer C. Rice and his family. The buildings at the home plant are by far the best that we have ever seen for squab growing. Each building is 121 constructed for the best possible light, air, and sanitary conditions. Those who may be interested in squab growing will find it to their profit to communicate with Mr. Rice at Boston for the printed matter which gives a full description of his plant and methods of doing business. “We saw at this plant 12,000 full-grown, well-matured Homing Pigeons ready for dis- tribution for growing squabs. In all our experience we have never seen a better lot than these. They are large, vigorous, full- breasted, broad-shouldered specimens such as one would select for producing squabs of the best chara.ter. There are Blues, Blue Checks, Silvers, Reds, and mixed colors such as would naturally be produced through the cross mating of any of these varieties. While We were there Mr. Rice shipped from the plant between five and six hundred birds, all of which are sent out in large roomy baskets, the baskets returnable at the shipper’s expense. Sofaras wecan calculate, we are un- der the impression that Mr. Rice is doing a very large business. In addition to this we carefully perused a number of letters received by Mr. Rice from localities as far west as San Francisco, as far south as Florida, all of these communications speaking in the highest ed: the shipments made to them by Mr. ce. RUNTS NOT DESIRABLE. From the Farm Journal—‘‘Our remarks in the October issue respecting the relative merits of large and small birds were put in a way to be easily misunderstood. “By large birds we meant Runts and that class, usually found only in the hands of fanciers and experts in pigeon breeding. They are not at all desirable for squab breeding. “Common pigeons are not hardy and prolific in proportion to their smallness. The largest of these should be selected for breeding always. “There is a great difference in the size and quality of what are called common birds. Where they are chosen as the basis of a squab breeder’s business a careful selection should be made. “Of all the pure-bred types, we know of nothing superior or equal to the Homers for breeding squabs. They are hardy and prolific and rear large, meaty squabs. ‘There is also room for selection in Homers, some being much larger than others. “When a breeder already has a flock of common pigeons he can greatly improve it by the infusion of Homer blood.’ USEFUL MESSENGERS. We have quite a call for our birds irom physicians having a country practice. They leave two or three birds at a patient’s house to be let loose when the doctor’s services are needed. In cases of expected confinement at a distance of several miles from the doctor’s home, our 122 birds are extremely useful. We earnestly advise country physicians with a wide ter- ritory to cover to look into this matter and ¢dommunicate with us. It will be money in their pockets. DEMAND IN COLORADO. We have had the same experience with the Western trade as the following writer in the Western Poultry World, of course excepting Calitornia, which is one of the best squab markets in the country. What he says is conservative and sensible and bears out what we have always maintainec, that wherever there are men and women who are good eaters, there squabs will be eaten. If you live in a town where a squab never was seen, but where there are people who set a good table, to them you certainly can sell squabs: “Having been asked by your editor to write an article on pigeons or squab raising and also having said I would, I commence by stating a few facts which I have gained from both practical experience and inquiries from Eastern breeders. In the first place, I want to say that little is known of this industry in the West, and in fact it has not been known in the East until about ten years ago, when they began to take it up about the same as the Western people are doing now. Many got discouraged at finding it was not a get-rich-quick scheme. “IT am constantly having letters from different parts of the country asking me if squab raising pays, and saying that from inquiries they have made at meat markets and of commission merchants, they are told that there is no demand for them. Of course there is not at the present time, for if there was they could not get them. No man can sell what he has not got. I once went to a gentleman and told him my plan of starting a squab farm, and he in turn went to his market man and asked him what he thought of it, and he said I was either lazy or crazy. Now this man knew absolutely nothing o squabs, and never had any in his store, and, consequently, never had any calls for them. I dare say that if one were to go to every market in the city they would tell you the same thing, and nine out of every ten people would tell you they had never eaten a squab in their lives; still I have people—come right to my door—who come a good distance out of their way and want to buy squabs of me. The reason hotels and restaurants do not continually have them on their bill of fare is because they cannot be supplied at all times. Today they can set perhaps a dozen and tomorrow, if they wish any, they cannot get them, and even then they are obliged to take common squabs and not Homers. As to the demand, I want to say right here, that I know one concern that will contract to take 400 dozen a week at good, fair prices. Two parties that I know of risht here in this city are constantly in receipt of letters from hotels and clubs in Denver wanting to buy squabs. NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK In the East, where there are ten squab farms to one in the West, the prices are higher than here. It is because of the demand.’’ . ELEGANT PROFIT. The following is from Vick’s Magazine, an article on squab raising by a practical breeder: “Of recent years the demand for the toothsome squab has been so great that the supply does not come up to the demand. Where years ago they were used only for invalids, now they are on the bill of fare in almost all restaurants and hotels. They command good prices at all seasons and an elegant profit is derived from them by the raisers. It used to be that pigeons could not thrive when housed up, but now the former obstacles have been overcome and better success is made where they are confined than where they have their freedom. “The squab business if conducted properly will bring in a large percentage of profit considering the first capital invested. Only a few hundred dollars are required to start where such a sum would be nothing to com- mence in such a business as stock keeping, etc., and yet with a few hundred pairs of pigeons any one with a little judgment can make a living for himself and family. Many farmers’ sons could make nice yearly incomes by stocking a part of their barn (not used for anything else) with pizeons. The risks are not so great as with chickens, but the birds must be attended to and not neglected. “With chickens one must not only feed the old, but must also give the little ones their meals, but not sowith pigeon breeding. You feed the old birds, and they feed their young. One person can feed a thousand pairs of birds in about a quarter hour, the rest is left for the old ones to do. The little birds are fed from pre-digested food from the crops of their parents, who by a sort of pumping force the food into the squab’s mouths. It talces no longer time for a person to feed a lot of birds with young than it does without young. “After the squabs are four to five weeks old they are ready for market. It costs but one and one-half cents per pair for feeding birds a week and their young also, so with the prices received for the squabs, which is forty cents per pair in summer to eighty cents per pair in the winter, one can imagine the percentage of profit. “Squabs of the largest size demand the highest ma~ket prices. so it pays to commence right by buying only good large stock. The amount of labor required is almost nothing, in fact unless very large numbers are kept, one will have only a few hours’ work daily. The writer has nearly 2,000, and it takes only fifteen minutes to feed and half an hour to give fresh water. Of course it takes a dav or two a week for killing young ones, and a day or two each month for cleaning buildings, then the work is about done. One person can attend 1,000 pairs nicely and have ample SU BREE VME NE: time to do other work around a place. The writer finds it a snap to other occupations and one is nis own boss and can go or come when he pleases. It is the business for a young man; he can advance as he saves money. There are some who commenced on a few dollars and by careful saving now operate plants of thousands of pairs of birds. “The larger the pigeon, the larger the squab, the higher the price. The breeding houses need not be heated artificially in winter as the birds can withstand any tem- perature and in cold weather sit upon their young until they are feathered sufficiently to stand the cold.” ENLARGED HIS PLANT WITH PROFITS. Experience of a Breeder who Made it Pay from the Begiuning. In Country Life, a muuthly magazine, one of the handsomest and hizhest-toned publications, the experience of a gentleman in squab raising gives the followinz facts: ‘Six years azo I did not have a bird, but I invested fifty dollars in purchasing twenty-five pairs of extra-choice Homer pigeons, remodelling a poultry house for their accommodation. Ihad kept pigeons for pleasure for five years, previously, and felt that I knew a little about them. In these six years I have not invested another dollar exceptinz the dollars the birds have earned, and my present establishment of five houses and fifteen hundred piseons, which has cost me two thousand dollars, is all paid for. In addition, for the last three years, I have aid out from five to seven dollars each week or the wages of a helper, to dress the squabs and clean the houses, for my regular business would not permit .ne to attend to these duties myself. “The consensus of opinion of all experienced Squab breeders stamps the Homer as the best pizeon for this purpose. This variety is stronz and vigorous; a hearty feeder and good worker; brizht-eyed, alert, and active; stocky, symmetrical and full-breasted, which counts so much in squabs. They are also prolific, and their squabs are full-feathered and fit for market in four weeks. “T was very fortunate in getting my first twenty-five pairs of birds. These were Homers, full-blooded, and had established records for flying, having taken first honors in several contests. “They not. only averaged me seven and one-half pairs of squabs a year, but stamped their vitality on the birds I have selected from their young. “As my _ profits accrued I purchased straight Homer stock, picking from the best near-by breeders, as well as. those of estab- lished reputation at a distance. “T alwavs put a lot of new birds in a clean coop by themselves, give generous supply of feed and water, and have plenty of nesting materials in the coop, and if they have come from a distance put a good poultry powder in their feed for the first meal, and let them 123 alone for a few days. If they are strong, healthy birds they ought soon to begin to carry materials and build nests. When nest building is fully under way I transter each mated pair to permanent breeding quarters. When I find a pair of birds mated, I call my assistant and tell him which bird to keep his eyes on, and not to lose sight of it a single instant. At the same time | note the other bird and catch it. I pass the caught bird to the assistant. He points out the other bird and it is soon caught. I band all purchases as well as those I raise. “My weekly expense for feeding my flock of fifteen hundred pigeons during the month of December, 1903, was eighteen dollars and thirty cents for the following: Three hundred pounds of cracked corn, three bushels each of wheat, peas and kaffir corn, one and one-half bushels of millet, one bushel of hemp and half a bushel of cracked rice. The rice I do not feed regularly, but give when the bird’s bowels are loose, for which condition it is an excellent corrective. Feed is now much higher than last year. “Pigeon-keeping for squabs may fitly be termed a twentieth-century industry, for only during the last five years has it by its rapid development attained to the dignity of a special business. The business will surely still more increase during the first decade of this century. The price of squabs has been strongly maintained during the five years just passed, notwithstanding the marvelous increasein the business. The business furnishes a way by which either men or women (for many of the latter have successfully taken up squab raising) can embark in an enterprise which does not call for severe bodily exertion and which if intelligently managed will yield good dividends.” SQUAB RAISING ON THE FARM. Pigeons Kept in the Upper Part of Duck and Poultry Houses.—The following is from an article in the Country Gentleman, entitled “A Combination Plant, Fruit, Bees, Fowls and Squabs”’: “For growing squabs some have separate houses, some use the lofts of old barns, and many are so constructing their poultry buildings as to have quarters for growing squabs in the second story of the poultry houses. This is gained by laying a flat roof on top of the poultry house, on top of this a double thickness of tar paper well coated with hot tar, with a board floor laid over it. This provides the floor for the pigeon house, the roof for the pouitry house, and makes it absolutely vermin proof both ways. A large duck grower of our acquaintance has squab houses of this character built over his duck brooder houses and his poultry houses. Several thousand pairs of breeding pigeons are kept in this way, with a hanging outdoor flying aviary for the pigeons. When it has been successful on so large a scale, smaller growers need not hesitate in adopting such a plan. 124 “Of course cleanliness, care and sanitary conditions about the plant are imperative. The most successful squab growers do not scatter sand or dirt of any kind on the floor or in nest boxes. Neither do they use any- thing but straw for the birds to build their nests. The droppings are all thoroughly scraped up from the board floor, from the nest boxes and under the perches once or twice a week with a hoe, and stored awa: in bags and sold at 50 to 60 cents per bushel. They are used by tanners in making the very best grades of leather. These droppings are of no value when mixed with tobacco stems, shavings, sawdust or sand. Grain or feed of any kind if mixed in with them will not injure their value, nor will some little straw or feathers count much against their value. Buy a good sharp hoe; floors constructed in this way can be thoroughly cleaned by scrap- ing up Once or twice a week, and in this way nue sanitary conditions will be of the very est. “Those who do not care to dispose of the droppings in this way in some instances spread from six to eight inches of soil from their land overthe floor of the squab house. This is allowed to remain from three to six months. Usually at the ertd of the moulting season all the nest boxes and the whole house is thoroughly cleaned out and the entire con- tents of same dumped on the floor, scraped and hauled away and scattered over the land. This makes an excellent fertilizer. We know of one instance where a large number of squabs are kept in this way, and the house is cleaned but twice a year. In the spring all the cleanings from the house are hauled out and spread over the land for the growing of summer crops. After the fall moult, the place is thoroughly cleaned up for winter, the cleanings of the house are stored away in a dry place and retained until spring. Many persons would call this a filthy, un- healthful way to keep a squab house, but some of the most successful breeders follow this plan. The presence of the five or six inches of dry soil on the floor keeps it in good condition throughout the season. The cloud of dust that is raised at times by the pigeons flapping their wings and flying about is almost a certain guarantee against insect attack. However, we do not advise this method. We simply give the facts as we have seen them. “The only limit to the extent of such a plant is the ability of those who possess it properly to care for and manage all its branches at a profit. Where there is a family of boys and girls it might be well to engage the attention of all in growing these several kinds of products, and to lend encourage- ment to each by giving him a share of the profits. Scattered all over the country are thousands of families in country places con- tinually worrying and wondering why they cannot keep their children at home. The teal reason so many of the young people NATIONALE SRA NDAD SO UA 150.016 leave the farm is that they are compelled to work continually and never receive any portion of the income for their labor. If the parents would allow their growing families to make an equal sum of money or in propor- tion to what they can make by leaving home, there would be far less complaint on this score. All children wish to have the privilege of earning a few dollars that they may call their own.”’ The following paragraph is from the same paper in its report of the New York pigeon show, January, 1904: “There seems to be a depression in the sale of high-class pigeons. Well-favored speci- mens of the highest character still sell at top prices, but the absence of any commercial value for a large number of pigeons that are grown detracts from the numerous sales that their producers might have. If producers of the hundreds of varieties of beautiful pigeons would turn into the market as squabs the greater part of all their product that was not valuable for the exhibition room, greater returns would come for those which were saved for exhibition purposes. There is a grand stride forward in growing squabs. The combination of poultry-growing with squab-growing works well. and is being adopted by so many small farmers as to create an unusual demand for all grades of pigeons that are good for this purpose. “Tt is well for those who go into the squab business to remember that the price is graded by size and quality. During winter squabs that would average eight or nine pounds to the dozen have sold at retail in the New York market at from 35 to 40 cents each, while those which averaged two or three pounds less to the dozen sold at from 12% to 20 cents. It takes quite as much time and as much care and food to produce the small specimens that bring the lower prices as it does to pro- duce the higher grades which bring the better prices. People are beginning to find this out, and taking advantage of the knowledge, are looking about for the best quality of pigeons to produce the best market squabs.”’ SQUAB PIN-MONEY. The following para- graph appeared in the January, 1904, issue of the Designer, a monthly magazine for women published by the Butterick Publishing Company of New York City: “A young woman of my acquaintance has kept herself supplied with hats, boots and gloves during the past year by selling the squabs of six pairs of Homer pigeons. They Tequire very little care, and the young are ready for market when four weeks old. My friend is so well pleased with her success that she has added seven pairs to her stock, and confidently expects to dress herself completely on the sum derived from the sale of her squabs.—M, P.” THEY FLEW HOME. A dispatch from Paris, printed by the Baltimore Sun, says: SUPPLEMENT “A man named Maraud complained to M. Brunet, Police Commissary for one of the districts on the south side of the Seine, that he had been robbed of six valuable carrier pigeons and said that one of his friends had seen them at the house of another man. “The magistrate went to the place indicated and there saw some birds. ‘How did you come by them?’ he asked of the man. ‘Oh, I bought them months ago.’ was the reply. “““Well, bring them to my office,’ said Mr. Brunet. There he had a wax seal attached to each bird’s leg and the birds liberated. “They flew back to Maraud’s house and an hour later the thief was on his way to the police depot in the black maria.’’ SQUAB INDUSTRY’S GREAT GROWTH. Address Delivered Before the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture. Years ago when poultry and egg production was being first advocated extensively, there were many fears expressed that the business would be overdone, that chickens and eggs would come to be common and low priced, and the fear that there would be no money in the business no doubt kept many out of it. Nevertheless, more and more have gone into poultry and eggs year after year, and millions of dollars’ worth of both are marketed yearly. Whole communities, like Petaluma, California, are given up to poultry and eggs. Eggs got as high as sixty cents a dozen in the large cities the past winter (1904). Some people not informed as to squabs think that if many go into squab raising the prices are going to drop until there is no profit in the business. On the contrary, prices for squabs have been increasing every year here in the East, and they are going to increase in the West in the years to come. Consumers who have read our advertising all over the country are eating squabs who never ate them before, and the effect of our advertising on the general squab market everywhere has been to boost prices. Well- to-do people who are led to get into the habit of having squabs on their tables keep on ordering them, and tell others, and thus the market grows. If all the Homer breeders we have sold during the years we have been in business were concentrated in one plant, we could sell the entire squab output of that one plant to any one of a hundred commission men in one of the large cities. ; i New Jersey is doing well with squabs. Other States, notably California, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Massachusetts are producing a great many. Just what is being accomplished in New Jersey comes as a surprise to people who look upon this business as something new and untried. At the annual meeting of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture in January, 1904, an address was given by Mr.G.L. Gillingham on Squab raising, in the course of which he said: “The production of squabs for the markets 125 of our large cities is an industry that is reach- ing considerable proportions in this State. And, although it is growing yearly, yet the prices seem to be advancing; showing that there is an unlimited demand. “The great scarcity of game all over our country compels the keepers of first-class hotels and restaurants to look for something to take its place, and at the same time be sure of a supply at all seasons of the vear. There- fore they have hit upon the squab to fill this void, and now when one calls for quail on toast, or order of a similar nature, it will very often be found that the quail was raised in a pigeon loft, and is much younger, more tender and juicy than the quail would have been, could it have been secured. “This is a business that can be carried on in connection with pouitry raising, and is one that may be conducted upon village lots by women and young persons, if need be, and by those whose other business takes their attention during the middle portions of the day, as the labor connected with it is not heavy. It is particularly adapted to women who wish to add something to their income. In fact, women are more apt to succeed in it than most men, as it requires close atten- tion to the little things, as it is the many little things that go to make up the final profits at the end; as women are generally more patient and thorough with small details they will be more successful. “The extent to which this business is conducted in some parts of our State may be shown by stating that in one town in Burlington County of about 3000 inhabitants, the purchase of one dealer the past year was 56,982 squabs, for which he paid $16,400; while another dealer bought perhaps a little over half as many more, bringing the aggre- gate to 86,000 squabs, for which the people of that town received nearly $25,000; while another single grower in the same county shipped from his own lofts between 13,000 and 14,000 birds. “The cost of feed and care for a working loft of pigeons is about per pair per year (manure not sold). Some put it much lower, but at the present prices of feed, if proper care is given, we should not figure much lower than $1. time of writing this, six hundred and thirty- six squabs (636), without those consumed at my own table, but I contemplate marketing the squabs this fall as the overcrowding stage is rapidly approaching. If you can find time I shall be glad to hear whether or no, in your expert opinion and in the above circumstances, you think that I have been fairly successful. Although I feel reasonably satisfied with my progress, were I to start again, ab initio, I think that I should do so with a complete flock of fully matured birds rather than waste the time consumed raising stock, by breeding, to a business basis. Wishing you continued success.—W. C., Massachusetts. DOING GREAT WORK. The Homers which you sold me two years ago are doing great work. I am perfectly satisfied with them.—F. S., New York. TOOK FRIEND’S ADVICE. Enclosed find an order for birds and supplies with remit- tance. A friend here was much pleased with our birds from your lofts amd decided to go into the business. We prevailed on him to order from you because we felt your birds were the best. He could have bought here in Illinois at a much cheaper rate but he took our advice. So we trust you will do well by him and trust you will send us another order blank like the one enclosed.—Mrs. K.., Illinois. MULTIPLIED SIX-FOLD. About two years ago next June, I bought of you 60 pairs of your Extra selected Homers and they were a very fine lot of birds, and I have raised a very fine lotofbirdsfromthem. I haveabout 400 birds now, and they are straight bai wing and mottle with the exception of about eight chocolate.—A. C., New Jersey. GETTING THREE DOLLARS A DOZEN. Please send me your new literature on squabs. I bought 18 pairs of you in 1903 and now have a flock of 190 birds and am getting $3.00 for my squabs in St. Louis. If any one in this section writes to you for squabs you may refer them to me.—F. L., Missouri. These are strong letters. Read them over. NEIGHBOR PLEASED. Your favor of the 21st to hand, also price list of $1.70 for Extra Homers in 300-pair lots. Mr. J. A. Westen- dorf, of this city, purchased of you on a trial order five pairs of Extra. Why cannot yeu make me the $1.70 rate for 50, 100 or 200-pair lots? In going over my buildings I find that I cannot accommodate 300 pairs so would not like to order that number for fear of being too crowded. Mr. Westendorf is pleased with his birds and if the birds you should send would be the equal of those I would be more than satisfied. —A. S., Missouri. ENTIRELY SATISFACTORY. Please send me the feeding slip that you have published as your daily feeding ration. The birds we got from you are entirely satisfactory.—J. D., Pennsylvania. RECOMMENDED BY ANOTHER. Will you kindly let me know how I can expect to receive birds ordered from you to be sent to the above address? I have been recom- mended to try your birds by Mr. R. Warner, of 9 DuBois Avenue, and if you can guarantee safe shipment I will place an order with you as soon as I hear to this effect. And if they are as you represent them, I shall be a regular customer of yours. If you will give me the desired information, you will greatly oblige — G.S., New York. THIS SHOWS WHAT A CUSTOMER DID WITH TWELVE PAIRS OF OUR BIRDS. My Extra Plymouth Rock Homers have done finely. I sent to Boston $30 for 12 pairs. The birds arrived before I expected them and they all looked fine. I got my first egg March 21,1905. Iraised all of my young to increase the flock for one year and found at the end of the year that I had 271 young birds, all seam- less banded, and as fine a lot as I ever have seen. This year I am selling squabs and mated pairs, raising my best young, and have already sold squabs and mated pairs which have to date netted me $60. 1 have sold my squabs for $3 a dozen, and mated pairs for $2.50 a pair. I now (September 10, 1906), have 400 birds that I have raised. A good lot of them are worthy to be put in the show pen, and if they were they would be among the winners. Whea I went into the pigeon business I bought what I thought was the best stock to be obtained, namely, Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, and my flock shows that I did not go wrong, for every one that has seen my birds pronounces them the best lot they have ever seen together. - My birds now are in the midst of moult, but most of them are breeding right along. You want some assurance, when you buy pigeons, that you will be treated right, as these customers were. liu 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 1900. Inow have 95 mated pairs at work and as soon as the moult is over I snall begin mating again. By November | expect to have 50 pairs more mated and at work. { feed tae best of grain, using cracked corn, kaifir corn, red wheat, buckwheat, a little hemp, and during the moult sunflower in the head, letting the birds pick cff the seed as they ke. I use the self feeder Mr. Rice describes in his Manualand I find with it the feed is always clean. Inever feed on floor. I use automatic water fountains and scald them out every two or three days. I give the birds a good clean bath every day. I have trays to feed any dainty which I have, removing trays when seeds are eaten. One thing that is essential with pigeons is cleanliness. I clean loft every Saturday, cleaning out nests that have young, putting in new straw, and spraying over lofts with liquid disinfectant. I have followed the instructions of Mr. Rice’s Manual and found it to be good solid advice. In the past 18 months I have been in a good many pigeon lofts and have seen exhibits at New York State Fair and Rochester, N. Y., Pigeon Shows, and never have seen any better birds than I have raised from the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. Iam perfectly satisfied with what my birds nave done and when I buy more they will surely be Extra Plymouth Rocks. The feed bill will not exceed eighty-five cents a year per breeding pair. I use tobacco stems for nesting material and like them. I shall always try and speak a good word for the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, for I have found them always ready to assist at any time.—W. R. R., New York. THEY HAVE NOT LOST A BIRD. I wrote to you some time ago in regard to the squabs we got from you in the month of May, or tather pigeons, 50 pairs, and have yet to lose sur first bird, which not only speaks well for your birds but it looks as if we are giving them the right attention. There is one thing we wrote to you about, those not working—but they are doing fine and, counting your birds, we have 100 pairs, besides we have sold some which were greatly admired. The hotel we take them to in Washington gives seventy-five cents a pair all the year round dressed, the commission merchants never higher than 60 cents a pair.—M. B., Maryland. MANUAL INDISPENSABLE TO SUCCESS. In regard to the National Squab Book which you publish, would ask if you ever revise it. The one I purchased of you in May 1904, is all rigat and I could never have raised the number and quality of squabs I do wituout its guidaace. Of course you are learnmg new points about your business and if you have a later edition than mine please let me know. The Homers have started in on their annual spring campaign and from all appearances they are going to outdo their former produc- tions. With best wishes for your continued success.—A. T., Ohio. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO HIM BY OTHER CUSTOMERS. Some time ago I wrote your company for their free book on squab raising. Later I sent for your National Standard Squab Book. Ihave read each one from start to finish and am well pleased with them. I have made up my mind to give the squab business a trial as Iam quite sure that there is money in it, if properly conducted. I realize that to make a success of any business one must thoroughly understand it. As I have had no experience in this line 1 wish to start in with a small number and increase them as I grow to understand the business. My plan is to buy 12 pairs of the very best breeders that I can obtain and keep only the best of their increase for breeders till I get my flock to the desired size. Now, from reading your books and having you highly recom- mended to me by other parties, I have made up my mind that you can give me what I want in this line.—H. B., Illinois. FROM FOUR PAIRS TO THIRTY PAIRS IN NINE MONTHS. Nine months ago I bought of you four pairs of Extra Homers. I had to move them twice to make room. I have now 60 first-class Homers. I have had several chances to sell some of the squabs but I think too much of them. By studying your manual carefully I have not lost a bird. aon a friend of your Homers.—W. M., New ork. NO DISEASE. You no doubt have my name on your books as a purchaser of 10 pairs Extra, which I purchased of you last winter. I am still enthusiastic over the industry. I have all the original 11 pairs you sent me and 33 young, all the offspring of your birds, 55 birds in all. They are every one in finest condition, disease has never touched my flock. —J. P., Virginia. FIVE MONTHS IN CALIFORNIA. When I received those birds from you in March [ turned them into a pen and have been so taken up with other work that they have been left to themselves until now. At present I am taking all the working birds out and banding, and when they have young squabs I have 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. 171 1906 LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. THEY WERE RECEIVED BY VHE PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY OF BOSTON IN NINE MONTHS OF 1906 moved them also, putting them in a corres- ponding section in the other pen, the arrange- ment of the pens being the same. I find that the old birds find their young and go right on keeping house just the same as before they were moved. At present I have 100 young birds, the oldest being less than five months and already at work. The squabs are fully developed and out of the nest at three weeks. I expect to have about 80 or 90 pair of birds at worl: about the first of November. Then I shall begin to ship.—E. R. C., California. GETTING ALONG IN VIRGINIA. Please ship by freight to us six drinking fountains and six bath pans. We got some birds of you last year. They have done very well. Thank you for the advice—P. N., Virginia. GENEROUS TREATMENT OF CUSTOM- ERS. Your letter of May 21 was most satis- factory and certainly very generous. I hope I made it very plain to you that you were not at all to blame for the loss of one of my pigeons. Your offer to replace it free of charge was quite in keeping with my impression as to your very generous treatment of your cus- tomers. I have at last found that the lost pigeon was a female and if you think a white pigeon would be well received by my colony of three checkered, I would like to have a white female Extra Homer pigeon. My pigeons are in fine order and doing well. Mrs. H. C., Georgia. LOST ONLY ONE SQUAB IN FIVE MONTHS. Five months since, come the 12th, I received of you, by express, 13 pairs of your Plymouth Rock Homers. Up to date I have lost but one squab (and I think he was killed by a dislocation of the neck), possibly 10 eggs, several by frost. I have 54 squabs, most of them able to take care of themselves, and seven pairs of eggs. Three pairs of young ones have hatched and begun to build their nests. Now I wish to ask you if you think they are doing well. I do, and Iam proud of my intelligent birds. I am now preparing to remove all young ones from the pen except those that are mated and then as fast as the others mate, to do as you say, put them into the breeding pen. I shall also build on another unit to my breeding pen in a short time, as I figure on 110 birds in my present house. I wish I was financially able to put in a good plant as these birds have demonstrated their fecundity. I notice you say that there is little liability of nest-makers mating. ~ have not discovered any with the few I have. I have just gone through the nest boxes with whitewash containing a good per cent of Is there anybody in your town who has failed at squab raising? as they would with a new toy, then they give them up. 172 with them and not with the pigeons. carbolic acid and vitriol solution. I clean out houses often and so far have not had a sick bird. Occasionally I put ginger in the drinking fount and I firmly believe it is by following your plain and definite instruction that they keep as well. I hope I am not trespassing on your valu- able time but cannot resist telling you how I am getting on with your stock—W. G. P.. Wisconsin. CONVINCED AFTER TRIAL. I have de- layed in writing you as I wanted to see how the birds were going to turn out. Can say now, I am more than pleased with the birds. I have now 18 squabs and five pairs of eggs. Three squabs died and six eggs went to waste. That is all over with now. Don’t expect that to happen again. As far as I can see squab raising looks to be very simple and profitable. I have a nice clean house and running water so the time spent is nothing. Enclosed you will find my check fer 12 pair Extra more.— J. S., Washington. GETTING FOUR DOLLARS A DOZEN FOR SQUABS. Please send me as speedily as possible 25 pairs of Extra Blue Homer Pigeons. Ihave now about 125 pairs of birds bred from the original 20 pairs I bought from you about 18 months ago. and am selling squabs at $4.00 a dozen. I am building a coop 48 feet by 14 feet which will accom- modate about 600 birds and if successful will enlarge my plant shortly. Will you kindly supply me with the name of the large Commission house in New York mentioned in your circular? The original birds were bought from you in November 1904 and shipped to my partner in the busi- ness.—H. B., New Jersey. QUICK TIME. I have read a large num- ber of your testimonials, none like this how- ever. Now I will make an affidavit that I received the 38 pairs Saturday morning, put them in the pen by tena.m. I gave them a few tobacco stems from a crock on the floor in the corner. At five p.m. a hen laid an egg. She laid her second egg to-day, Monday, and is now setting. Can any of your cus- tomers beat this?—S. H., Illinois. THINKS WE ARE TRUE BLUE. I am giving my pigeons occasionally lettuce or some raw cabbage, which they most heartily enjoy. Is this conduct prudent? The last batch of birds you sent me ‘‘Extra selected” were magnificent. You people (The Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company) seem to be “true blue.” I like to deal with your kind; don’t find them all the time. Please answer Some play at pigeons If they bought of us, the trouble is 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. the above and return to me._ Yours well satisfied with your treatment.—O. J., Illinois. SUCCESS IN TEXAS. In October 1905 I purchased from you 25 pairs of birds and since that time I have had fair success in taising squabs. I have about 175 young birds on hand at present. They are all strong and healthy, having had the best of care, and a great many of them are mating now.—W. B., Texas. THANK YOU FOR YOUR LETTER. I received the birds all O.K. The last ones were every one all right, as were the first. A thousand thanks for your kind, courteous, and prompt treatment in all our business dealings and you will be sure to hear from us again. If our letter will help you any, you are perfectly welcome to use it. Thank you again.—J. C. H., Michigan, SELLING MANURE. Some time ago I bought 24 pairs Homer Pigeons from you. I have had fairly good luck with them, having increased my flock to about 200 pairs. I want to write you in regard the manure. You state in your National Standard Squab Book, that the Leather Trust used it for tanning purposes. Now I have considerable on hand and I wrote them. They said in reply, that they did not use it at all, which was a surprise to me as I have been careful in saving it.—W. H. H., Pennsylvania. Answer. - The trust does use pigeon manure or did, the last we knew. We shipped to one of the Lowell plants of the American Hide and Leather Co. for three years. Perhaps your letter was directed to one of the plants of the trust which does not use pigeon manure. We have printed so long the fact that pigeon manure is salable to tanneries of the trust that the New York office of the trust has been bombarded with pigeon manure letters for the last five years to such an extent that they are sick of the topic there and give an in- quirer poor satisfaction. For some time we have been selling our pigeon manure to leather men whose factories are within ten miles of our Melrose plant. Their teams call for it and take it away with very little trouble to us. We get sixty cents a bushel for it, same as usual. If any customer of ours wishes to ship manure to New Jersey or New York, we will help him to find a buyer there, as we have letters from tanneries in both States on file asking us to sell them ‘“‘pigeon pure.” HIS FLOCK GROWING. About a year ago I bought some birds from you, some $2.00 per pair and some $2.50. My flock is growing and seems to be getting along pretty good, having now 180 birds—will soon have 200 birds. I thought I would try and sell some now. They are all good birds. I want to try and sell what I raise now and if possible make a business of the squabs if there is enough in it to warrant putting up more buildings and getting more stock. It costs me about $1.90 per week for feed for this amount. Am I feeding enough?— M.eN., Massachusetts. BUILT NEW HOUSE. I have built a new house for my pigeons. Have increased my flock from the original six pairs to 50, besides selling 30 pairs of squabs. Could I have done any better than that? Have been having some trouble bya few going light and have followed your advice and think have got the better of the difficulty. I lay the trouble to the poor quality of wheat they have been furnishing me. It seems to be all shrunk up and they don’t eat half of it, —A, D. V., Pennsylvania. Answer. More pigeon troubles are caused by wheat, or too much of it, than almost any- thing else. Squabs which are thin and dark are caused by too much wheat in the ration. Pigeons fed on too much wheat get thin, with sharp breastbones, and will not lay as they ought to. A good ration of Canada peas and hempseed is necessary to bring eggs and keep the flock in condition. pigeon will not thrive if not kept in condition by nourishing food. The results of too much wheat are loose droppings, stupid and non-productive birds. Pigeons should be active and eager. IN FINE CONDITION. My birds I bought a little over a year ago (12 pairs) are still doing fine; have sold several small lots of squabs. Ihave been following your manual’s instructions as close as possible. Ihave about sixty pairs. They are in fine condition and have lots of eggs and youngsters.—C. W. H., North Carolina. SQUABS WEIGHING NEARLY A POUND APIECE WHEN ONLY THREE WEEKS OLD. Please send me your price list on birds and supplies as I intend to get about ten more pairs of Extra Homers and want to get them of you. The birds I have now, which I got from you, are doing fine and I have doubled my flock. I could sell all the squabs IT have but want them for breeders. Would you kindly advise me if oats are good for breeding pigeons if fed moderately. Also do you think it wise to sell my squabs when they are from two and one half to three weeks old, as some of them will weigh about fourteen ounces at that age.—A. P., Ohio. Look up the standing and character of the concern with which you contemplate dealing. Your bank will find out the facts for you. tion are worthless. } Avoid advertisers whom you find out by investiza< Have their ratings looked up for you. 173 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. —————— Answer. Pigeons do not care much for oats. Pigeons in the street eat them, as they eat peanuts or bread. Of course if you have oats handy and cheap, you can feed some, but pigeons will eat almost every other grain in preference. When squabs weigh 14 ounces they can be killed, no matter what their age. MOVE THEM AS YOU PROPOSE. Ihave pigeon breeders in unit numbers one and three. Squabs in unit number two, | from one to three months old. I wish to put num- ber three with number one. Number three is breeding right along. Will it hurt to move nest, pigeons and squabs out of number three into unit number one? Will it damage eggs and squabs to do so? If rot I can move them through unit number two, as I can let number two in flying pen while I am moving number three. I shall want more pigeons by fall. I got ‘3 pairs from you last year, and I have 100 P-irs in all now, so you see I have done well with them. I wish you would answer as soon as possible as I do not wish to molest them before I hear from you.—J. P. M., Michigan. Answer. Move them as you propose, putting the nests in the same relative posi- tions in the new nest-boxes. You will lose few, if any. INCREASED STOCK. In May, 1903, you sent C. I. Bruce forty (40) pairs of your igeons at $2.50 a pair, and in 1904, twelve 12) females. We have sold and increased stock since then by breeding, until, at present, we have about three hundred (300) birds.— Miss H. J., Connecticut. BEST HOMERS HE EVER SAW. You- favor of the 12th June, answering my inquir ” ot the 9th June, was dulyreceived. Thank for the information. I had fully intended t5 visit your plant, but, just as 1 am ready to start, my wife, who was to accompany me on a two weeks visit tc 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. Tf 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 bowis, 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. We were the first. widely imitated. But imitators who copy or you our birds. We have no agents. but I have no way of marking them. You will please send me an outfit for marking them by mail. Send about what yo1 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 of you a year ago last April—Mrs. H. C., Illinois. STRICTLY ALL RIGHT. A friend of mine of this city recommended 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.—wW. 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 Our birds and methods revolutionized the squab industry and are find fault with our printed matter cannot give 174 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON THIS PAGE ARE NEW. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS oy 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 nesting. 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 to 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 more 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 to *.1e 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 aE. I wi 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 trun 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 The squab industry is growing every year. Prices were better and they are going to be as good or better in 1907. 175 before. squab eating is growing in every section. More squabs were bred in 1906 than ever The habit of 1906 LETTERE 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. 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, | 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, ‘‘Squab 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 weil 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. Sauabs 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 order 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 RIGAT. 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 50 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 Extre 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. 2 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 1 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 recommended 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 I 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.—S. H. W., Penn- sylvania. LOST HIS TEXT BOOK. Please find en- closed $1.00, 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., Illinois. 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. 6., 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. Qucte me prices on your No. 1 Homers. Those 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 comsignment 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. iI am 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 Ist. 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 killed it. 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 Meee eee ee ee ee ee ee Somebody 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 178 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 reforms 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. 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 you, 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. GNE 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 GOUD. Your book doesn’t say anything about feeding pigeons sunflower seeds. Will they eat them or isn’t it good for them to have them? 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 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 I 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 agu 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. H. 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 scraw and feathers get in but they do not want gravel and tobacca stems. 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. The reason for this is that our birds demonstrate their value and make friends wherever they go. 9 We intend to maintain. 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 :N 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. Ai 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 lst, 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. Ishall advertise the Plymouth Rock birds wherever I have a 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 athome. 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 1st). 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 Hoiner 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 Muusey’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 -o on with the birds I have got. Thank vou v../ 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 25 cents duty on nest bowls. Tf. 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 i: 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, with every detail attended to. 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 ., 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 those 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 Letters are lays 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. en a 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 taise 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. 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. Tf 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 12x32 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 remittance for one leg band outfit. My pigeons have been doing fine, and are keeping busy allthe 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. These are strong letters. Read them over. 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 diarrhoea. 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. The prices for squabs on the ~~— York market have been very high all winter—have reached as high as $6.50 a dozen for squabs of over 10 pound a dozez, 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 tor 50 cents apiece easily. I have a set of 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 BUT 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 seme 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. IT 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 You want some assurance, when you buy pigeons, that you will be treated right, as these customers were. 182 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, 60 young ones by the first of November.— 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 some 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. 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 cr July, Caunot tell yet just when I will be ready fer 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 cof 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 U 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 than cone } 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. Iam 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. 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. 188 1906 STORIES OF SUCCESS ON LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS THIS PAGE ARE NEW. 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. I am 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 builda 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 onesIhaveraised. I have watched and studied their ways and know something about them. I know how fast they breed, etc. Now am I tight 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. I am 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 IT 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 ‘ound out that I have some of the biggest birds Is there anybody in your town who has failed at squab raising? as they would with a new toy, then give them up. 184 them and not with the pigeons. in town. I would like to get some pictures taken and show you some of the birds I 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. Tf I do, it will be next week. Hoping you are doing 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 anest. 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 I 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 s.ape 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. Some play at 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 afresh 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 joyalty is our pride and satisfaction. Let the good work goon. More people are going to eat squabs. Squabs for dinner are now a 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 — for them. 185 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 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 squap business. with the intention of 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 percasses 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 eae Plymouth Rock squabs going in regularly to the dealers there and dominating the market. We quote as follows the prices prevailing 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 supplying 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 AL Rich No a CEE en ea $4.00 $3.20 July DPA aorta RET OGTORTCROAP EERE 4.40 BIS (fb) 3.15 August AR ue ete er shacatereie vais sels 4.20 3.50 3.00 NEptemiberme Menor een ee ne 3.50 PAD Septemipenvs Overy serie ce 4.50 B35 765) 3.00 October Ae Menaeuaueyadstekanetets Mies he CD 3.85 SE20 INovermibersrdmuaniinne mers tice OO 4.00 3.50 Nome bern Siro eisai eroicie eccuess 4.75 4.00 3.50 December's PO aces tn cues ober cicinie ones 4.40 3.60 3) 5) December Ome ee ee Eien ne 4.20 3.40 Bia 15) 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 weichine over eight pounds to the dozen. No such Squabs were traded in because no such squabs existed, in commercial quantity. Now they are 2 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 sreat many facts bearing upon all sides of the industry and we recommend their readine 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. 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.zht 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 ina 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 atid sunflower seeds, but my birds avoid wheat, eating very Bile. They know me personally, come in from outside when I go in and get down under my eet. 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. Asmall 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. ‘ ‘ i is practice of changing the smaller squab in a nest for a squab of size equal to the one remain- ing iscommon. 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. SS LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 187 CABLE ADDRESS SiILz NEW YORK : TELEPHONE @900 CHELS " West: ROM AseENmHISTREET anes Nendo Dec. 2nd,*o7. Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Plymouth Rock Squab Co. 5 Boston, Masse Dear Sir:= In reply to your letter of Nove 27th, the present prices on Squabs you will find on the enclosed card. There will not be any iet-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, A. SILZ, Inc., M/P... : ase seers 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. I received the new Manual O.K. Accept my thanks. I thiak that it is up-to-date in every respect and in no way far-fetched, nothing but sensible, hard, experienced facts. 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 resume it was me youreferto. Well, I deserved it, for “‘a guilty conscience needs no accuser.” did not feed them enough to keep them alive. : i Now, Mr. Rice’ money will not buy the birds. They are beauties, so plump, bright and active; working all the time. Even now (September 11, 1907) they are in full force nest build- ing. Ican point out lot of pairs which are now on their eighth lots of eggs.. I would like to have any one show me that they have as good birds as have. 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 move 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. R oniy 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 thanlc you for the extra pair; also for the supplies included. After the birds get to work I shall furnish you 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. 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 will do fine in his 200-mile race—J. M., Texas. ; ice, 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 There are about 20. Three If you me a customer I should thank 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 | 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 unre 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. J have sc many that’ I will have to order some wood- fibre nestbowls. Find enclosed $3.84 for which send me four dozen wood-fibre nest- bowls.—W. P. C., Texas. 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 oncg more. If beginners’ will stick to your 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. fe fact, since the new season started, there has been very little change n price. The small and mixed lots we must sell to out of town trade where everything looking like @ squab zoes 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 @ 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. Serid me the names of* your customers yourself and I will post them as to the market, and send shipping cards. Yours truly, 190 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 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 furnisned. 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 1 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 mto 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, limagine. 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 wil! 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 squab business than in any other line. I started in the business for the reason that I think there is good money init. 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. Will try and send you a picture of my place in the near 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 IJ 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 uttle money on the side, and enjoy taking care of them. Pigeon keeping was always my hobby ever since I was ten years old. 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 su 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. BETTER THAN ANY OTHER ST. LOUIS FLOCKS. I take this means to show you that I appreciate a fair, square deal such as yougaveme. 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 subiect. 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 i thank you for you ~romptness in shipping.— J. R.S., Maryland. > ———————————E————————————————— LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 191 Telephone Call, 8261 Cortlandt. CKiuneman J Co. COMMISSION MERCHANTS. Bruits, Produce and Poultry, Southern Wegetables a. Specialty. 273 & 275 WASHINGTON STREET, GEG December 4, 792 % Mr. Himer C. Rice, Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. Dear Sir, We wish to advise you on prices arid general run of 6quabs 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 is a good demand for this kind of birds and we are receiving quite a deal of them. We can handle anywhere from one thousand to two thousand dozen a@ week ag dur trade constantly inquires for them. We can assure 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 fame. 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 Yast favors. We are Very truly vours, creer 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 HOW TO PRESERVE, COLLECT, BAG AND SELL THE MANURE. HOW TO USE TOBACCO DUSf£ FOR BOTH PIGEONS AND POULTRY. I have several hundred Homer pigeons raised entirely from stock purcnased of you a little more than three years ago. 1 wish to write you to obtain information in regard to selling the manure. I have your National Standard Squab Book in which you say you ship to tne tannery and obtain 60 cents a bushel. { 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 mua, and as I cannot do the farming that he has done, feel obliged to sell the manure. It ic 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. They are worth at 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 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. Tne 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 fora 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 couid 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. The use of this powder will not injure the manure for tanneries. It is equally good for poultry and is better We will supply 25 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 ag well care for a nice flock of Homers. The thirteen pairs received from you a few weeks ago are splendid specimens and ten pairg 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 about that? As I am in need of nestbowls, please send me three dozen of your wood fibre nest bowls.—R. E. F., Michigan. ee LETTERS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMERS BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 193 faded osay} WO $1944] 84} Ut poyutid omseotd pus USTAIOPUOA Jo SuOIsserdxe Aqavay OY} JNO Butsq yey} spstq oy} ere eseqy, ‘soyseids ‘syouyq ‘SJoATIS ‘sIoxoay pad ‘sTaqooyo anjq ‘seq anfq:esey a1v Spal JUSOLUSeU asey} JO SdOTOD oy} [TV ‘a1NyOId SITY} UI UMOYS TOM ore UIIyS Ino Jo Ayneaq puL oZIS AreUIpPIOVI}Xe aq, ‘SUHWOH MOON HLNOWATd VULXa 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 HIS FRIEND PURCHASED 12 PAIRS OF US THREE YEARS AGO, IS NOW SHIPPING SQOABS FROM 300 PAIRS AND CLEARED $1000 LAST YEAR, A HIRED MAN DOING THE ORK. You save 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. Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. market. can put $200 or $300 more in squab raising. outlined it?—G. C., Iowa. Answer. He simply instructed a common laborer. I am very much interested in squab raising. 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 Do you consider this plan practical as I have f Remarkable successes are being made by customers of ours who started with 12 pairs to 50 pairs and raised up their own birds. 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, 1 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, he-> sy 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. J 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- tine 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. Do it richt by elevating your building or burying wire netting and that willendthe bother. — What this customer calls the shivers is diarrhoea caused by feeding too much wheat. SS 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.— Rey. 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 oan dollars forthem. How is that?—F.H.S., io. 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-QUAKIEeRS CF 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. J] 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 pigecns 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. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 195 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 i 88 ABBE GI iy A GOOD-LOOKING ILLINOIS PLANT. panes are two of the buildings of the breeder whose letter is printed on this page. Notice his handsome white omers. -_ LOST MONEY BY NOT KNCWING PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. NOW HE IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK. HE IS A TRAVELING SALESMAN AND HIS DAUGHTER DOES MOST OF THE WORK ON Tiiis BIG PLANT. SQUABS WEIGH ii PCUNDS 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. q 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, I 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 ordet 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 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 1HE NEST. I wnite 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 tne bad luck to lose about 20 or 25 of the old birds, which broke the mated pairs up. I would like to increase my tlock to tae full capacity of tae 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 tne 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 satisfactorv. I keep a counle of bricks of salt cat in the house, also a codfish occasionally, and trey 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 needs 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 —1. H. O.. Jowa. EVERY PAIR BREEDING SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVAL IN FAR WEST. I received seven pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers the first part of April and now (May 20) have five pairs of squabs a week old and the other two pairs are setting. I am well pleased. Strong, healthy birds. It is a wonder the way the young sauabs grow.—R. R., State of Washington. LITTLE LOT GAVE HIM CONFIDENCE TO BUILD AND ORDER MORE BIRDS. The three pairs of pigeons I received from you in January are doing finely (April, 1907), and I would like to have you send me one of your plans for building, and as soon as I have the plans I will send to you for some more Digeons.—R. S., Chicago. EXACTLY AS REPRESENTED. The breeders I got from you are first-class and exactly as you said they would be, and are well. Please send me prices on grit and other supplies, also on 12 pairs breeders.—W. J. W., Pennsylvania. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 217 1907 TWO CUSTOMERS WHICH HAVE BRED LARGE FLOCKS FROM SMALL BEGIN- NINGS. Mr. Bartholemew of this place has about 250 birds which he has bred from six pairs of No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers which he says he got of you. I notice tne difference between the Extra and No. 1 Homers. Mrs. Virkler has about 150 birds of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers bred from six pairs.—C. W. B., New York. EATING FROM HIS HAND. The California man who owns these pigeons writes: “They are beauties and breed fine squabs. I have bred squabs from your Homers weighing a pound apiece. Your Manual is straight and true.” RECOMMENDED VERY HIGHLY BY A LOUISIANA FRIEND. Enclosed you will find a money order for which you will please send me by express six pairs Plymouth Rock Homers No. 1 mated. I trust you wil! make me a good selection, as I am expecting to raise pigeons and wish the best. You have been recommended very highly to me by Mr. oseph Malbrough, as he has ordered the lymouth Rocks from you.—H. H., Louisiana. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 SQUABS WEIGHING FROM SIXTEEN OUNCES TO NINETEEN OUNCES EACH. OUR STOCK AND OUR SELF-FEEDER GET THIS RESULT IN TEXAS. I bought six pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers from you last November, and I now (May, 1907) have 31 in all, and 17 youngsters. Four pairs have eggs. Out of the 17 squabs, I lost only one, the death of that being caused by one of the parent birds stepping on one the day he was hatched. My squabs have weighed one pound to a pound and three ounces. I have built a pen for my young squabs as you advise to do, and 2 find that they do very much better. The things that I find most necessary are, to have a clean house, water and feed, so I clean my squab house every two weeks, and have clean water and feed always. Juse your self-feeder so the pigeons can feed their young whenever they choose. The ground of my flypens is covered with sand, and I renew it every month. I also use oyster grit and rock. It is placed in the squab-house, where they can get it any time they want it. I feed wheat and kaffir corn and a little cracked corn now and then, but they do not need much corn as the weather here in Texas is warm nearly all the year around. I think your Homers are the best I ever saw, and every one that sees them says the same thing about them. Any one starting into squab raising should buy your Manual. I have been trying to follow it as nearly as possible and by doing so I think I will succeed in raising squabs. I intend to order more pigeons of you at once.—F, S., Texas. SUCCESSFUL BREEDING BY THE SISTERS OF A CHICAGO CATHOLIC HOSPITAL. Please send us 36 pairs (Janu- uary, 1907) the same as you did the four pairs a short vrhile ago. Kindly send the very best breed only.—Sister M. M., Illinois. Note. In September, 1907, we shipped 36 pairs more Extra Plymouth Rock Homers to the above customer, who is the sister superior of a well-known hospital in Chicago. NEW JERSEY FRIENDS SATISFIED. Enclosed please find check to cover order for 24 pairs Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and supply of feed. We know your dealings have been square with friends of ours in New Jersey. We have plenty of ground here and everything going right. Will soon have the other houses finished up.—G, chusetts. INCREASED FIVE-FOLD IN SIX MONTHS. Regarding the ten pairs of birds I bought from you last spring, I now (Novem- ber, 1907), have 52 pairs.—C. V., Ontario. M., Massa- ene ee eee ————EEEEEEEEE————____—_——___ LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 218 1907 WISCONSIN HOTEL PAYING $3.50. SQUABS WEIGHING TEN AND THREE- FOURTHS POUNDS TO THE DOZEN. I thought I would write you a few lines. I want to buy some more birds from you, seeing I am getting along so nicely with the others you sent me. I am getting $3.50 a dozen at the Plankaton House. They weigh ten and three-fourths pounds to the dozen. He said they were some of the best squabs he had ever seen. He wants me to come down some night to have a little talk with me. I want to get a basket of birds from you in about a week and about three dozen of nest bowls and a couple of weeks later, some more birds, if everything goes ail right. I have some fine young birds, some of them weighing a pound apiece. I find out that you are a nice man to deal with and that everything you say is all right and that the birds cannot be praised too much. Guess I will close, hoping everything is going good. —S. H., Wisconsin. STEADY GROWTH IN THREE YEARS. ORDERS FOR SQUABS OUTRUN BIRDS, SO MORE ARE BOUGHT. I am going to send soon, before February (1907), probably in a week, for 50 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homer squab breeders, and want to engage them at once, before the February trade begins. I bought of you six pairs three years ago, since then 12 pairs, 18 pairs and 12 pairs again. (Four orders.) I do not yet have enough for the orders. The birds are doing better constantly. Their houses are better, and I know more how to care for them, and what things are important. Have almost finished a house—all but nests and a little finishing of yard. It seems as if it would be a good plan to get birds now before the really cold weather comes. want the Extras, best you have.—M. lI., Illinois. LIVELY WORK IN MISSOURI AND THE LARGEST SQUABS EVER SEEN. I am in receipt of my six pairs Extra pigeons and am very thankful to you for the care you have taken in sending these to me. I had them just one week when two pairs had eggs, and was so surprised, but yesterday I was still more surprised when I went into the pigeon house and found four pairs setting, and two of these had young squabs. Every one of my neighbors is surprised to see the nice Pigeons you sent me. E. C. Rice, I will in every respect recommend your goods very highly and I am sure that you will appreciate it. These squabs are the largest that I have ever seen. I will have one of my f-iends take a snap shot of my pigeon house and send you a picture-——E. B., Missouri. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 ES MORE ORDERS FOR SQUABS THAN HE CAN FILL. HOW TO FEED SUN- FLOWER SEEDS. I am thinking about planting a batch of sunflower seeds. Will you please let me know if this is a good feed for taem, and how to feed it—either fresh from the stalk or pick it and let it dry. I¢ would be a great saving to feed this during the winter for me. The pigeons bought from you are O.K., doing their duty. I have more orders for my squabs than I can fill and getting 35 to 40 cents apiece. I do not do any plucking. My pigeons are doing fine considering being locked in all the time.— W.S., New York. Note. Sunflower seeds are good for pigeons, being used largely as a substitute for hemp- seed. Cut off the heads when grown and dry them. When you wish to feed a head. throw it into the pen whole and the pigeons will pick out the seeds. READY TO KILL These squabs are four weeks old. See how plump and broad-breasted they are. FLORIDA FRIENDS -ENTHUSIASTIC OVER PLYMOUTH ROCKS. I have a friend who is very enthusiastic over my pigeons. He will send you an order the first of the coming week for 48 pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rocks such as mine Do your best for him. Of course he expects to get two extra pairs thrown in asa premium. My birds are getting along very nicely—W. J. D., Florida. HAS HEARD FROM HIS FRIENDS. 1 have heard from several of my friends about your birds, stating they were very fine. I[ want to get some of your stock—S. W. H., Kentucky. al LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 219 1907 WOULD NOT TRADE HIS PLYMOUTH ROCKS FOR ANY IN HIS MONTANA TOWN. I have had fair luck and in all the Homers in town from different companies, I would not trade the ones I got from you for any of them. Friday noon, April 12, by carelessness, some boy friends in going from the coop let one of my fine red checkers out, which I would not have parted with for $2. He rose into the air and after circling once flew away faster than I ever saw a pigeon fly before. In discussing the matter with some people, they think he will come back, but he has not. Others think he has gone back to you.—M. S., Montana. Note. Letters like the above come to us constantly. Guard your doors carefully. Have springs on them so they will close with- out attention. Homers which you raise you can safely let fly, because they. know no home but yours, but Homers which you buy will fly off. SQUABS 25 DAYS OLD. Note that although they have been in the bowl since hatchine, it is comparativcly free from manure. They back up to the edge of the bowl and void into the nest box. It is the nature of pigeons to try to have clean nests, and they should be given a chance by the use of nestbowls. NO CONCEPTION OF THE BEAUTY AND SIZE OF OUR EXTRAS. I received the birds last evening, just 24 hours after my order was sent in—prompt work, that. After having read your Manual and a great many testimonials, I was expecting som2 fine birds, but find I had no conception of the beauty and size of your Extras. Tie compact bodies, rich, healthy color and uniformity of size were a thorough surprise. I am going to follow your directions given in the Manual, and you may count on me as a customer to the extent of my means.—Mrs. M. F. C., Massachusetts. . MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN DEMAND IN THIS GEORGIA TOWN. tnclosed find my cueck. Send me by express six pairs Extra blue-barred Plymouth Rock Homers, mated. I have about got this town started on raising pigeons. Mr. Barnes, my brother- in-law, has just handed me your new circular. He tells me he has ordered 12 pairs from you. I hope you will ship him some nice birds. His son has just bouzht some birds from the ——— and I want the birds you ship me and his father to make him regret that he did not order them from you. I ordered blue-barred birds from another party some time back and they sent me checkers. If I did not think you would send the order as I am sending it in, I would not send it to you. You remember I bought a few pairs of birds from you a little over a year ago. I have sold a great many birds and I have about 100 to 125 pairs of working birds on hand now. I am building me another pen that will hold about 200 pairs.—R. H. N., Georgia. RAISING PLYMOUTH ROCK STOCK ONLY. BEST BIRDS EVER SEEN ANY- WHERE. The birds came yesterday all O. K. and were fine birds, and the hen with a little age will also be on top. Please accept my thanks. What I especially wanted was solid reds and when you do get hold of such a pair that is A No. 1. send them to me and send me the bill. I om raising strictly Plymouth Rock stock and have developed some A No. 1 birds, the best I have ever seen anywhere, and so I swear by E. C. Rice stock. You state that not one in 100 birds are solid reds. I know this to be a fact. When I do go into the show I want to have the hest of all colors and they shall he Extra Plymouth Rock stock—R. B. W., New York. OUR WHITE HOMERS COMPARED WITH OUR COLORED HOMERS. I do not know cf a man I would trust any quicker than you. I would like to know if you have pure white Homers that are as large, plump birds as your colored ones are.—G. M. L., Vermont. Answer. We charge $2.75 a pair for our white Homers. They are fine birds, as large as any white Homers in existence, but are not so large as our Extra colored Homers and do not breed so large a squab. They cost more because they are scarcer; we sell a lot of them for pets, for their handsome plumage, and for undertakers. PROLIFIC PLYMOUTH ROCKS HAVE BRED MORE SQUABS THAN ANY PIGEONS HE HAS. I came down to see you quite awnile azo and bought a pair of your Plymouth Rock Homers. Those Homers have bred more squabs than any other pigeors I have, and I have a good many. Will you please send me your catalogue of prices.—T. C., Massachusetts. a LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 220 1907 FIVE MONTHS’ WORK. SMALL FLOCK QUADRUPLED. ONE OLD BIRD AND TWO SQUABS ONLY LOST BY DEATH. BREED- ERS OF COMMON PIGEONS MYSTIFIED. I write you a sort of detailed statement of how my four pairs of pigeons have done, that I bought from you about the middle of May, 1907. One of my birds laid in ahout two weeks after her arrival, but the eggs did not hatch, and she laid again in about ten days after I found her eggs were not good, and that time she hatched all right. Two other pairs commenced work soon after the first, and both of them hatched all right and the first taree pairs of squabs did well. JI have lost one of the hens that I bought from you. She died after raising a fine pair of squabs. I have lost two squabs. I now have 18 birds in all, after deducting the three that Ilost. All of my birds are now (October) at work, some making nests and some sitting. : Mine are the only Homers in this part of the country that I know of, and every one who sees them is charmed with them. There are one or two parties here who are trying to raise the common pigeons on the same plan, that is by confining them, but are not doing much, and cannot understand why my birds do so much better than theirs. They say that if I make a success of the business they will then try Homers. I am very fond of the business and find it a great recreation, and very little trouble. I attend to my birds before breakfast in the morning and give them plenty of water, and then at dinner time I feed them again, and that does them until next morning They are less trouble than anything of the kind that I ever had anything to do with, and I believe will be more profitable according to the amount of capital invested.—C. A. F., Mississippi. SECOND ORDER, BIRDS DOING WELL, ANOTHER ORDER IN PROSPECT. I here- with enclose you $1 in currency, for which please send me 50 open legbands for grown pigeons, numbered one to fifty. The last shipment of pigeons came to hand on the second in good shape, and are a nice lot of birds. I am well pleased with them. My birds are all doing well. I think that 1] shall give you another order soon.—F. R., Missis- sippi. (The first shipment to this customer was made in April, 1907, the second in October of the same year). GREAT DEMAND FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS IN NEW JERSEY. I received on May 27, 1904, one dozen pairs of your birds and I have 200 birds at the present time. There is a freat demand for Plymouth Rock squabs in New Jersey. Please send me your price on 50 pairs of your best Extra mated birds.—N. L., New Jersey. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 FAST START IN TWO WEEKS IN NEW JERSEY. On April 22 I wrote you informing you of the arrival of the birds. Now (April 29) there are two nests complete and six others being built, which I should think was pretty good work for birds not vet two weeks in a strange place. The birds have been highly praised for their fine appearance by a number of friends and acquaintances of mine, and of course the natural question was, where did I get them? And as I am a pretty good advertiser for any one that I consider to be worthy of such advertising, I have recommended your company as the right one to go to if they have any idea of investing.— J. H., New Jersey. IN THE SNOW. Let them out on sunny winter days. stormy weather they are better off inside. In cold, FINEST BIRDS THAT HE EVER SAW IN LOUISIANA, RESULT, MANY MORE ORDERS. I received my birds Saturday evening, November 2, at p.m. Found them all in A 1 shape and are the finest birds I ever saw. Please accept my most sincere thanks for the extra pair and for your nice selection. I will return your basket one day this week, will take bill of lading for same from express agent and forward to you date I return same. I will send you an order for 12 pairs more about the 25th of this month. I want to order a small shipment each month until I get about 100 pairs of breeders.— G. W. T., Louisiana. PERFECTLY MATED IN WEST VIRGINIA. I write to tell you how well my pigeons are doing. I am very well pleased with them as I believe they were perfectly mated and went right to work after they were in the loft not more than a week.—J. N. M., West Virginia. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 22] 1907 EVERY PAIR AT WORK IN DOUBLE- QUICK TIME. BUILDING UP A PLANT. 1 think a few lines to you is my duty. I expected to be at your office and plant before now. My young son got struck by a trolley car about the time I was going to go to Boston, and just escaped very serious results, so I have stayed pretty close at home, but have a vacation in july and will call on you then. About the birds, they are doing fine. They went to work at once and some of them are now on their third lot of eggs. They held their matings, every pair. I feel very much encouraged and appreciate your fair and honest business principles. You will receive orders from us in the future as we are going to build up quite a plant.—H. I]. L., Massa- chusetts. SQUABS THREE WEEKS OLD. BRANCHING OUT FROM A SMALL BEGINNING AFTER SUCCESSFUL EXPERI- ENCE WITH PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN UTAH. I have decided to go into the squab business on a large scale and when my business interests are cared for will move to Salt Lake City where I hope to work up a good business The birds purchased from you have been very satisfactory in every particular and my business in the future will be done direct with your good company. My health is poor through confinement and I am determined to try squab raising for the urpose of making a success and money.— W. B., Utah. SQUABS AS A SIDE LINE. Please send me two dozen wood-fibre nestbowls by express. The birds I received from yeu April 1 are all working satisfactorily (May 13, 1907). I do this as a side issue. I work in the factory all day and take care of my pigeons nights and mornings, and find it very pleasant work.—E. D. D., Massachusetts. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 TEN PAIRS OF SQUABS A YEAR FROM ONE PAIR. MARKET BROADENING AND DEMAND INCREASING. The pigeons that I bought from you are doing nicely. Most of them seem to be in good condition and keep steadily at work. One pair raised ten pairs of squabs a year and there are others that almost equal them. I began last fall to save those from the best breeders. I had to kezp them in the house with the older birds pecause I had nowhere else for them to stay. They disturbed the pigeons through the winter, but they are mating and getting to work now. I sell all the squabs I can raise to one of the local marketmen. At first there was no sale for them except in summer when wealthy people from the larger cities are sojourning here, but he bought all I had last winter. (See note below.) When ready for market they weigh from two pounds to two and one-half pounds a pair. They are white and fat and the dealer has complimented me a number of times about them. 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. —Miss M. D., Connecticut. Note. The squab market has broadened tremendously since we first began advertising in the high class periodicals advising people to eat squabs as well as raise them. This habit of eating squabs has a steady hold all the year round on thousands of families who ten years ago did not know what a squab was. This demand is increasing every year. In spite of the steady growth in production of squabs, the prices are as high, and in many cases, higher than ten years ago. DELAWARE MAN FINDS IN OCTOBER, 1907, THAT NEW YORK MARKETS ARE HOLDING GOOD. PRICES ARE LIKELY TO GO HIGHER. I received your Manual yesterday and am very much pleased with it and stayed up until 1.30 last night reading it. I believe that if I follow your instructions and make up my mind to make a success of it, I will be able to do it. I knew a little about pigeons before, as my brother and I kept a flock of common pigeons when we lived in Long Island City, but had to move te New York City and had to do away with them. I have a few mongrels on hand now and am experimenting a little, but as soon as able will send you an order. It will not be very large, but if your stock is as good as repre- sented (ike your Manual) it will be all right. I have written to New York markets for prices and find they are still holding up good and I believe next year they will go higher. Hoping you the best of success.—N. H. C Delaware. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 222 1907 OTHER HOMERS HAVE NOT THE UALITY OF PLYMOUTH ROCK. SQUABS EIGH FIFTEEN OUNCES, FEATHERS OFF. On December 22, 1906, I bought three pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers from you, and since then have had considerable luck with them. They are the best pigeons for breeding as well as for fancy I have yet seen. I’ve seen other Homers similar 1 those I have but they have not the qua.2/ of the Plymouth Rock. They weigh a* “he age of four weeks on an average 15 ount for which send me three dozen of your wood- fibre nestbowls by Dominion Express Co. Also if you would send me your price list I should be greatly obliged. I am quite well satisfied that your pigeons are all that you claim for them as to breeding qualities. I have one pair of the eight you sent me last May which have had nine hatches in ten months, and the others were never far behind them, and now I have quite a number of the young ones mated up and raising young. For a fine appearance I do not think there is anything in pigeons could beat them. Have followed the directions in your book and I have not lost one bird or had one sick. I quite expected to have sent you an order for more breeders before now, but I have had my. husband sick a great deal this winter and funds would not permit of it, but I hope to send you one before long.—Mrs. A. O., British Columbia. EVERY PAIR HAS EITHER EGGS OR SQUABS IN CALIFORNIA. I am more than pleased with the way my birds are turning out the squabs and intend placing an order for more breeding stock soon. Every pair: has either eggs or squabs and some have both. —I. L. T., California. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 EARNING POWER OF SMALL FLOCK INCREASING AT NO EXPENSE. We re- ceived our birds March 24, 1907. We had 25 pairs. They started to work in about three weeks and we had the first squabs about the 10th of May. We have now (November 7, 1907) 120 young birds, and of these young birds we have five pairs that are working. Two pairs have already had young ones. Our entire expense for feed to date has been $36.52. Our expense for fitting up has been $140, not including price of birds. We figure that we have not made any money this year, and still we have not lost any, and think with more birds and a better knowledge of the business there would be good money in it.— F, E. B., Connecticut. SQUABS TWELVE DAYS OLD. POSTMASTER’S GOOD PROGRESS IN TWELVE MONTHS. I felt like it was my duty to write you'a few lines. Just one year ago to day since I received my birds from you, seven pairs Plymouth Rock Homers. I now have 18 squabs, and 40 birds that can fly around in the pen. That makes 58 in all. I think that is doing remarkably weil for 12 months’ time. I am also trying to raise poultry. i have a fine place here for that purpose and thought that I could attend to that between times. I am postmaster here. After I get started and there is good money in it, I will sell out-my store and do nothing else but raise squabs and poultry.—F. L. H., Illinois. USED GRAPE-VINE STICKS FOR NEST- ING MATERIAL. The pigeons bought are doing well. The flying pen is covered with grape vines. I neglected to put in any nesting material. All the pigeons have squabs, so they used great grapevine sticks, some as large as my finger.—W. E., Massa- chusetts. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 223 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 STRONG MATINGS LAST TO THE STATE OF WASHINGTON AND SEVEN PAIRS OUT OF FOURTEEN HAVE EGGS WITHIN TWO WEEKS, REST DRIVING. Received your shipment of 14 pairs of Homers about two weeks ago. There are seven pairs of them on eggs today and the rest are all driving. They were all in first-class condition except one cock, which seemed to have had his neck hurt, as he could not hold his head up nor eat anything, and he died. Thank you for your promptness and the two pairs free.— H. G. M., State of Washington. VERY SUCCESSFUL WISHES TO BUY MORE. Could you tell us of a place where we could sell our pigeon manure? We have some four or five bushels. We have been very successful with our Homers. Starting with 12, we now have about 60 or 70. We want to buy some more breeders.—G. P., Missouri. SQUABS A FEW DAYS OLD. KENTUCKY WOMAN’S SUCCESS WITH FAST-BREEDING PLYMOUTH ROCKS. About 18 months ago we purchased from you six pairs of your Extra mated Homers, each pair a different color. These birds have done extra ‘90d work for us and have been more than satisfactory in every way. We have on hand now about 50 mated birds and about 100 youngsters; some of which ought soon to mate. The birds are all in good condition, moulting, but in spite of that some are still at work.—Mrs. C. P. M., Kentucky. ALL MATED, QUICK IN GETTING TO WORK IN DISTANT TEXAS. The pigeons that I got from you last Thursday are getting along just fine. Two pairs have nests and as far as I can see they are all mated. The Extra hens, it took them just about a week, which is fine. The Wells Fargo would not ship the crate collect on delivery, so I paid them ten cents for shipping. I am well pleased with the birds —G. J. W., Texas. SQUARS TWICE AS LARGE AS THOSE FROM HOMERS FROM ORDINARY SOURCES. My birds purchased of you have been doing splendidly, under rather adverse circumstances because of the lack of care occasioned by my constant absence from home. Since entering into the business, I have taken special note of different pens in various parts of the State, of pigeons pur- chased elsewhere, and find to my entire satisfaction that none are as fine or finer than my birds. I have been unable to keep an exact tab on the rate at which they breed but I notice that certain pairs exceed others in this capacity and have been exceedingly satisfactory. As to size of squabs, I can best tell you in the words of one of my customers upon her first purchase: * Why, Mr. Cantey, I never saw such large, fat things in my life. I had to stuff and bake them, instead of broiling. They are twice as large as any I have been getting elsewhere. I wouldn’t mind if they were smaller.” This is her unvarnished statement. I will send you a photograph of my pen in a few days.—H. C., South Carolina. OUR MATED PAIRS GO RIGHT TO WORK IN KANSAS. I have delayed writing in order to see how the birds were going to turn out. Can say that I am very much pleased with them. They were delayed in Junction City from Saturday until Monday, but arrived in good shape. One male had its eyes pecked until it couldn’t see, but I took it out and bathed the swelling and it was all O.K. in a few days. I have four eggs and three more nests are being built, so you see they are going right to work. have them so tame that I can hardly keep from stepping on them when I gs into the house. I will probably want more the first of the year and if I do I will certainly order from you.— C. E. T., Kansas. VIRGINIA CUSTOMER A STEADY BUYER. I enclose check for ten pairs blue and blue checker Bree gine pigeons. Ship per Adams Express to me. intend to order in lots until I have 300 pairs. My old birds are doing well. I now have 18 pairs including squabs.—H. T.I1., Virginia. (This customer’s first purchase was eight pairs, shipped in June, 1907. At this writing, November, 1907, he has sent in four more orders. His wife gave him a birthday surprise by ordering 20 pairs which we shipped so that they reached him on his anniversary.) NO SUBSTITUTES WANTED, BUT SOME- THING JUST AS GOOD. I want to make another order by the 25th of this month (October, 1907). The last pigeons you shipped me were beauties and I would like to have some more just as good.—C. O., Alabama. Haeneeee eee eee en ——————— ee LETTERS FROM CUSTOMORS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK souas COMPANY 224 1907 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 BIRDS WELL-MATED, WENT TO WORK AT ONCE. ONE OF HER SQUABS WEIGHED ONE AND ONE-HALF POUNDS. HER HOUSE WAS ON THE GROUND AND RATS GOT AT THE SQUABS. I bought my first pigeons of you and put them in my house on March 21, 1907. They were in fine shape and eyery one thought them the haadsomest birds they had ever seen. I had 25 pairs. I think my first squab hatched April 21, and about all the birds were at work then, I think. I had my first two squabs on my own table and one of them whe. all dressed ready for baking weighed one pound and a half. Can any one beat that? I have not kept account of the number I have sold, but could have made a good thing of it if the rats had not got in. I sell them here in Scituate to the butcher for 20 cents apiece. While I was away this summer the one that took care of my birds for me sold a number of pairs of squabs to breed from for 50 cents a pair. I shall sell no more at that price. I have followed your Manual as nearly as I could in regard to feeding the birds and find my birds are big and fat and I have not had one sick one among them all. Neither have been troubled with lice. When I came home this September I took account of stock and found that I had just 16 pairs of birds left. You see the rats did us great harm, but we had the house raised and now I am sending for ten pairs more of the Extra Homers and hope to make a good thing of the squab business after this. I shall keep an exact account of all my birds. There are a number of people around here that keep pigeons, but I think mine are the best birds of them all. Those that see mine want to have birds of the same kind. I think you will have some orders soon if you have not done so already from some that have seen mine and want birds like them. I got my birds to make money with and I am going to do it if it is to be done. And I am sure it is. I think your Manual is a fine thing to have if one is going to do any- thing in the squab business. When I want to know anything about the business I always look in the Manual and I can most always find my answer. I should not want to get along without the book. Enclosed please find post-office money order for the ten pairs of Extra Homers and other goods I sent for. I wish to thank you for the extra pair of birds you so kindly offer to send. I hope to send for more birds before many months if these do well. I took a Picture of my pen with some of the birds in it to-day, and if good will send you one.— Mrs, J. H. H., Massachusetts. Note. Rats burrow in the dirt and raise their families in these holes. When the floor of the squab-house is on the ground, the rats breed out of sight and out of reach, then they get into the squab-house quickly. As we say in the Manual, the floor of the squab- house must be elevated two feet, then there will be no rats, for they will not start breeding in the open air under such a house. LOST ONLY ONE OLD BIRD AND ONE SQUAB IN FIVE MONTHS’ BREEDING IN MISSISSIPPI. Please let me know what you will let me have about four pairs of first- class pigeons for. My pigeons are doing finely. I have 16 now (September, 1907), just twice the number I bought of you in April. Ihave lost one of the old ones and one of the squabs. J have enlarged my quarters and want to enlarge my flock somewhat. I have one pair setting and two pairs have just raised a pair each and are ready for business —C. A. Mississippi. NEST OF TOBACCO STEMS. Some birds build a neat, compact nest like the above, and like tobacco stems to work with. GENEROUS AND HONORABLE DEAL- INGS. I received to-day by mail a leg-band outfit complete, with which I am very much pleased, and wish to thank you very much for same. If at any time I can do anything for you, don't hesitate to acquaint me of it, as J would like to show my appreciation for your generous and honorable dealings with me. My pigeons are al! doing finely and I have quite a bunch of fine young birds. Thanking you again for your kindness and extraordinary promptness.—W. G., New Jersey. SICK BIRD REPLACED. I received your postal today and was agreeably surprised to hear that you are willing to replace our sick bird. I hardly expected to receive such honest treatment. It is a relief to find an honest man these days. That bird we wish to replace is a hen. All the other birds are getting along finely. —F.A., Massachusetts. ——— eee LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 225 1907 RAPID BREEDING. CONTENTED MIND AND A CLEAR RECOMMENDATION FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. This is the first time I have had occasion to write you a for a year, so here it is briefly. Being a business man myself, I know the value of time. I put 21 pairs Plymouth Rock Homers in loft August 6, 1906. Have sold and eaten ten and one-half dozen squabs. Have on hand to-day, October 8, 1907, 80 pairs mated breeders and near the end of the moulting season. I have about a dozen not ready for market and about a dozen pairs of eggs, divided between two lofts, 40 pairs in each and outside of fear of rats. I have a contented mind and a clear recommend for Plymouth Rock Homers.—W. T. P., Ohio. RAISED FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRAS. ‘In sending the above picture he writes: “The parents I got from you. I refused ten dollars a pair for one pair this winter. I have seen several large squab ranches in Delaware but on all of them I never saw any birds that could throw such birds as those sold by you.” MONTANA MAN LIKES OUR STYLE OF DOING BUSINESS. Received vour notice of shipment of birds yesterday (Sunday 29) and received the four pairs of fine Extra Homers to-day (30th) all in good shape. They are all fine birds and we are much pleased with them. It was very kind and generous of you people to send an extra pair free of charge, and also drinker and bowls as we did not expect either. If this our first ‘venture proves successful, you can_ rest assured you shall hear from us again. I like your style of doing business.—H. S. C., Montana. A TREAT TO BE TREATED WELL. The eleven pairs of birds (second order) arrived here yesterday and all in first-class condition. I shall place another ordet shortly, as I have to complete the buildings, and I am highly pleased at the manner your firm does business. It is a treat to know that one’s order is filled satisfactorily —J. N., Virginia. ED MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1908 SQUABS SOLD TO HOTEL FOR FIFTY CENTS A PAIR IN KENTUCKY. I received your shipment of six pairs of Extra Homers, all in good condition; tnank you for the Extra hen. ‘This was the finest lot of Homers I ever saw in size and plumage, which is so uniform that it is hard to tell one from the other. I will send for another order some time next month. I sold three pairs of squabs this morning at 50 cents per pair to the hotel, and they say that my squabsare fine. (Later.) Find enclosed money order for which send me six pairs of your Extra nest-mated Homers, checkered and uniform in plumage. Every pair I have are working and some have two nests; one has three young squabs, which I think is unusual.—A. H., Kentucky. FIVE YEARS OF SUCCESS BY A NEW YORK STATE WOMAN. In October of 1902 1 sent you a check for $102.75 for pigeons. My pigeons have done very well. I ship to New York each week. I have just been reading: your new squab book of 1907 and would very much like the address of the firm you quote in appendix on page 141 and top first. column page 143. Kindly send it to me thereby helping an old customer. Also kindly send me price of the new drinking fountain spoken of in your Manual. I need three new ones and if satisfactory as to price will buy of you.—Miss O. W., New York. STOCK DOUBLED IN MOULTING SEA- SON. We have sent you to-day an order for grain for which we hope you will send as soon as possible. We bought stock from you several times, the first order sent in about June 1. Since that time (three months) the stock has doubled. We expect to place a large order in the spring along about March. We have about 75 birds in stock at present and started with a stock of 32. We shall have to have a few white birds in our next order. What is the price of the white stock at present? Hoping you will send us the grain soon.—C. & F., Massachusetts. FAST NESTING BY MATED PAIRS IN TEXAS. My birds received August 10 and turned into pen; the 17th they were building their nests, making sever days from arrival— all the birds in good shape. One did not fly on perch for about two minutes, but after this time have nothing wrong with them. They have certainly proven all that you have recom- mended of them and as to nesting have beaten your figures quite a bit. Thanking you for your extra favor, will do more business as soon as I locate where I will make my squab farm.—G. R., Texas. MANUAL WORTH TEN DOLLARS. I am very much pleased with your Manual and think it worth $10. I shall send you an order for breeding stock some time this month, and grain and supplies, just as quick as I can get my house built —T. H., Massachusetts. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 226 APPENDIX E (Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice.) (Above pictures copyright, 1907, by Elmer C. Rice.) CARNEAUX. BIG, RED PIGEONS. The Carneau (pronounced car-no; plural Carneaux, pronounced the same) breed is new to this country. These pigeons are larger than the Homers and breed squabs weighing over a pound apiece. Plumage almost invariably copper red (rare specimens yellow) splashed a little with white; long body; broad breast: shape of head and body, and poise of body, different from other varieties; quiet disposition, not so timid as other breeds; meat of squabs uncommonly white; have no homing qualities; they may be allowed to fly, if desired, after a fortnight’s con- finement, will stay around the place where they are fed, will not try to fly back to place where bred; feed their young steadily and well; breed nine to ten pairs of squabs per year; are housed, fed and handled same as Homers; strong, rugged build. The above pictures give a very good idea of this variety. A customer in Greensburg, Penn., writes: ‘‘ This is the first time in my life to receive a circular picturing anything which gave a true picture; your picture is true to life in every detail. Everybody who sees my Carneaux is greatly taken with them. In every way they are doing splendidly.” I spent several months in Europe in 1906, partly to study in their home the Carneaux pigeons, which then were just becoming known in America and were recommended in sensational terms. It was my purpose to see the evidence at first hand and find out if the claims were founded on fact. My investigations were favorable to this breed but I have waited two years to see how the birds would breed in our own lofts and in the lofts of customers. At this writing we have sold about a thousand pairs of Carneaux and orders for more are cominginfast. Previous to our importing this breed, there were about 600 pairs of Carneaux in America. : In our long experience with pigeons, we have never known such a demand 227 228 NATIONAL SHAINDARD SOOAS SOG ie as there isfor Carneaux. Six dollars a pair may be obtained by anybody who has the breeders for sale. Youngsters weaned and able to stand shipment sell for three dollars a pair. ‘Lhe squabs sell alive for ten dollars to twelve dollars a dozen. It costs no more to feed and raise these birds than other pigeons. ‘lhe selling price both for squabs and breeders being so much larger, that is why the profit is larger. On account of the tremendous demand for these birds for breeders, nobody is selling the squabs from them killed, but if they ever get so numerous that squabs are marketed from them, the price will be the very top notch. This breed has been developed by the pigeon breeders of Belgium. There are some Carneaux in France and Germany, but they are inferior in size and beauty to the Belgian birds, and few in number. They are not very plentiful in Belgium. We have made arrangements for the output of all the adult, perfect pairs of Carneaux the breeders of Belgium can furnish, fit for breeding, but so far they have not been able to furnish us more than 200 pairs a month, so scarce are the birds. We hope to get more from them. We have saved out 500 pairs Carneaux and are breeding them at our farm. We can supply Carneaux imported by us, or (in limited number) bred by us from birds of our importation. Why is the demand for Carneaux so much greater than the supply? Just this: They eat no more than Homers, but breed faster, and breed bigger squabs. In other words, they not only produce more squabs than the Homers, but the squabs bring at least one-third more money. The breeder making a profit from Homers will make more than double his profits with Carneaux. For years, the study has been to produce a pigeon larger than the Homer which would breed faster than the Homer. ‘This has been accomplished in the Carneaux. We know it by our own investigation and actual breeding of this variety, and we know it by the experiences of our customers. The big breeds, all of which we have tried, such as Runts, Maltese, Italians (personally selected in Italy), breed big squabs, but they breed with exasperat- ing slowness. Crossed with Homers, the rate of breeding is improved, but the squabs are no larger than from our Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, so it is far better to breed the straight Extra Homers. The Carneaux breed squabs weighing a pound or more apiece and they breed nine pairs to ten pairs of squabs a year. For these two reasons, we believe that the Carneaux will displace the Homers in time. It will take many years because the Homers have a strong hold now and the Carneaux are scarce. Nevertheless, the cash returns from squabs weighing 12 pounds and 14 pounds to the dozen give a great profit to the breeder, and profits are what all squab breeders are after. Any one who has both Homers and Carneaux can get in a year from each pair of Carneaux 15 or more pairs of squabs. Theoretically this is impossible for any pigeons. However, the Carneaux have help from the Homers. Just how this done is fully explained by us at the end of this article in the para- graph headed, “ How to Breed Fifteen Pairs of Squabs from One Pair of Car- neaux in One Year.” Gjentees : One of our customers, a Southern gentleman, visited our farm in the fall of 1906. He liked the looks of the Carneaux and on returning home later sent for three pairs, which we shipped him December 26, 1906. On February 13, 1907, he wrote us asking how many pairs we could give him. He took all we could then supply at $6.00 a pair, giving the following endorsement of his first i aN DIE 229 purchase: ‘‘ The three pairs I got December 2& have raised six squabs and are setting again (February 20), and I have not had them 60 days yet. Sa far they beat the Homers.’’ Under date of April 29, he wrote us. “‘ I have now, in my lofts, between 800 and 900 birds. Have Maltese, Mondaines, Carneaux and Homers, but the Carneau is the favorite bird with every- body that sees them. Have nearly 100 of these now and they are very rapid breeders, raising squabs that weigh from one to one and one-half pounds each. Have not sold any yet, but have enough orders on hand for them, at $6.00 a pair, to take all that I can raise for some time tocome. Think at the present rate I can get eight to ten pairs a year from them.”’ Under date of December 13, 1907, he wrote us as follows: ‘‘ I have now something over 100 pairs of Carneaux. Have sold a few pairs and could have sold many more, but wanted my stock to accumulate and get as many breeders on hand as pos- sible. They are the best birds for squab raising that I have ever seen, and I believe I have seen them all. They breed faster, eat less, are hardier, better setters and feeders, and gentler than any of the other breeds, and tor beauty they are unsurpassed. I have all told now about 3000 birds in my lofts. Have been very successful with my plant so far. May want some more Carneaux from you later on.”’ A customer in Missouri bought four pairs of Carneaux and liked them well enough to buy six more pairs three months later, saying: “‘ lam keeping an accurate record, which promises to be something startling for the year. Two pairs went to work (laid eggs) within 10 days. The third pair went to work in 26 days. The fourth hen was not so well along in the moult and did not lay. until November 8. The average weight of squabs at four weeks old has been 17.6 ounces, weighed without crops filled with feed. The four pairs have made nine nests in less than 90 days, or a total average production of better than nine pairsa year. The actual average production is better than this, of course, as it wouldn’t be fair to count an average until all birds are at work. I have found them to be all that is desirable in a pigeon. They are yood feeders and do not use more feed than the Homers.”’ In November, 1907, we shipped 21 pairs of our Carneaux to a Philadelphia breeder, who replied: ‘‘ To say I am pleased, these words do not express it. They are the finest lot of birds I have seen anywhere. My friend, who imported 25 pairs of Carneaux some time ago from Belgium, is very much disappointed with his Carneaux since he has seen the shipment you sent me. I shall endeavor to do all I can for the interest of your house in the way of orders. I received the 21 pairs of Carneaux Saturday, 8.30 p.m. On Mon- day, at 10 o’clock in the morning, nine pairs of the birds sent had almost completed nine nests in their new home (in a little over one day). Tnis seems remarkable to me and I write you these few lines to get your opinion of the work they have done.”’ Other breeders, not our customers, who have bred the Carneaux, praise them as follows: i “They will easily average three squabs a year in excess of select Homers. A conservative estimate of squab weight under favorable conditions is 18 ounces.” ‘““ They average nearly a pair of squabs per month. For fancy and squab producing qualities, the Carneaux easily lead all.” ‘* No questicn about Carneaux. They are it.” “‘T have only two pairs. Results are so satisfactory that I am clearing lofts to devote exclusively to Carneaux.” 230 INCA IMMOUN AGES) il AUN IDIAUIRID) S(O) (Ul AUIEs JE OOS, ‘‘ The Carneaux boom has struck this country for fair.”’ ‘‘ The Carneaux exceed all others in point of squab producing, not only in numbers and weight, but also in the clarity of the skin, the palatableness of the flesh, and prolific nature.” ‘The consensus of opinion seems to be that the Carneaux will produce 10 pairs, or 20 pounds of squabs per pair to the year, while some place the average higher. Few place it lower.” ‘* All I have read has been substantiated by my own personal experience. Their yearly yield is from 10 to 11 pairs of squabs.”’ ‘* My experience with Carneaux is limited to two years. They are great. The Carneaux will occupy the place of honor in loft and showroom. Ten pairs of squabs is the yield per year.” ‘“T have bred them two years. Carneaux are as superior to the Homer as the Homer is to the common pigeon. It is the rule rather than the exception for the Carneaux to produce nine pairs of white-meated squabs a year which will average one pound each. My experience proves conclusively that they will produce twice as many pounds of squabs in a year as the ordinary birds now generally used as squab breeders, and one of the most conspicuous points in their favor is the fact that the cost of keeping them is no more,”’ A few advertisers of pigeons who live inland, not in a seaport city, may ‘‘run down’”’ imported pigeons, saying they are no good, culls, not acclimated, poor breeders, and so forth, ad nauseam. The reason why these soreheads fret so is, that it is impossible for them to import pigeons success- fully. To do this successfully, steadily, profitably, one must live on the sea- board, close to where the Antwerp steamers come, and must have a personal acquaintance with the officers of the steamships, and see them at every sail- ing, and pay them for their work in caring for the birds. The reason why those who decry imported pigeons do not sell them is simply that they cannot get them, or, if they think they can get them, they wish to sell something in which there is a greater profit. We have seen not much talk of this kind, in opposition to imported pigeons, but it will be indulged in more or less as the traffic in Carneaux increases. The trade calling for Carneaux in America must be supplied with imported birds or go without them, for nobody can ship day by day, steadily, Carneaux of his own raising. You should be sure and get Carneaux which have been in this country at least one or two months, and have got their sea-legs off, for it is our experience that the long voyage results in a goodly percentage of dead and injured birds, depending on the weather and the caretakers. That imported Carneaux go to work quickly is indicated by the letter of the Philadelphia gentleman above quoted, nine pairs out of 21 pairs having built nests within two days after delivery to him. Our trade in Carneaux is increasing every month and we expect to sell many thousand pairs in 1908 and 1909. We recommend them to our cus- tomers. We do not wish anybody to take our word for their excellence. Try them alongside of your Homers and form your own opinion. Anybody who buys Carneaux of us and is not perfectly satisfied with them, and that all we say here is true, after six months’ trial, may exchange them for our Extra Piven Rock Homers at the rate of three pairs of Homers for one pair of varneaux. LANE LID INEM. Gi) 231 HOW TO BREED FIFTEEN PAIRS OF SQUABS FROM ONE PAIR OF CARNEAUX IN ONE YEAR. (Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C. Rice). During the first eight months of the year, January to August, the Carneaux may be robbed of their eggs twice a month and they wil' lay again about 10 days later. A pair of Carneaux build a nest, and the two eggs are laid. On the day they are laid \or the second or third day, if the first day is not convenient for you) you take away the two eggs from the Carneaux nest and carry them in your hands to the pen where you have Homers breeding. You look around in the pen until you find a nest with Homer eggs. You throw these Homer eggs away, putting in their place the two Carneaux eggs. The Homers keep right on sit- ting and hatch out, not their own eggs, but the two Carneaux eggs, and raise the two Carneaux squabs. Meantime, the pair of Carneaux from which you took the eggs wish more eggs, and within 10 days to 14 days the hen lays again. Now, as you did at first, you take away these two eggs from the Carneaux and put them under Homers. Do not take away the third setting of eggs from the Carneaux. Let the eggs stay in the Carneaux nest and the Carneaux will hatch and raise them. For example, a Camiean hen lays two eggs June 1. Take them away and substitute them for the eggs in a Homer nest. The Carneau hen will lay again June 10 to June 15. Take the two eggs away and substitute them for the eggs ina Homer nest. The Car- neau hen will lay again June 25to July 1. This will give you three settings of eggs from one pair in 30 days. Let the Carneaux raise the third setting and then repeat the process. During the last four months of the year, take away the eggs only once and let the female Carneau set on the second pair of eggs. From 15 pairs to 18 pairs of squabs from one pair of Carneaux may be produced in one year by the above method. With Carneaux selling for six dollars a pair, of course it pays to use Homers to increase the supply of Carneaux. With ordinary success, in follow- ing this method, the capacity of a pair of Carneaux may be doubled. COMMENT ON ABOVE. We do not think this forcing method would have the slightest effect on the health of the Carneaux. Hens and ducks lay a great many more egzs than 232 NATIONAL SAIN DARD SOWAB. BOOTS pigeons. It is not much strain on the female pigeon to lay four or six eggs a month instead of two. The strain of production comes from setting on the eggs day after day, not in laying the eggs, we should guess. Why not take away all the Carneaux eggs and hatch them under Homers, some may ask. We do not believe in this, as far too unnatural. The Car- neaux should be given an opportunity to raise the third setting, for that is what they are striving for. This method has been tested thoroughly with birds purchased from us and it works all right. There is nothing far-fetched about it. You simply take the eggs away and let Homers hatch them out. At the same time, simple as this plan is, it has never been published before, to our knowledge, nor has it ever been tried except by a few breeders of our acquaintance. It is not uncommon for breeders of fancy pigeons of poor feeding and raising qualities to put their eggs under Homers, but no motive for doubling the squab pro- duction from certain pigeons has ever existed until today, when it is money in the breeder’s pocket to turn out all the six-dollar pairs of Carneaux he can in the shortest space of time. In following the above directions the breeder should realize that the Carneaux eggs must replace Homer eggs laid within two days of the same time, otherwise the bird milk of the Homers will be too old and thick, and the young Carneaux cannot assimilate it and may die. (Later. January 1, 1909.) Another year of breeding and shipping the Carneaux has substantiated our opinion of them, and the orders from customers have been added pxoof. On page 229 we mention a V/estern customer who started with four pairs of our Carneaux, then added six pairs. He was so pleased with results that in 1908 he ordered 30 pairs more, then again 35 pairs, and finally in November, 1908, an order for 150 pairs amounting to $900. No more comment con- cerning his opinion of our Carneaux is needed—his money tells an eloquent story. This customer is an experienced pigeon breeder. From the letters of other customers to whom we sold Carneaux in 1908, we make the following extracts. The full letters are on file at our Boston office, where they will be produced at any time to satisfy anybody as to their genuineness: Enclosed find check for $30 for which please send me five pairs of your Carneaux birds. I bought one pair of you some time ago and am much pleased with them. Please ship me two more pairs of Carneaux as soon as possible. The other two pairs you shipped are doing nicely. The eight pairs of Carneaux received from you April 25 have behaved beautifully with the exception of one pair. Nine days from date of arrival one pair had a nest and twoeggs. Today (May 26) I have four pairs of squabs and expect three more pairs the last of this week. “hey surely have followed President Roosevelt's prolific policy. Iam greatly pleased and am be- coming interested in the possibilities of squab raising with the Carneaux. Regarding the pair that have not turned out right, I will ask your advice. The female (the smallest bird of all) laid two eggs in a bow! without any nesting material and left them to spend her time with her male partner in the flying pen. I will thank you in advance for any advice you can give regarding this negligent pair. I thought it might interest you to know how the Carneaux have done that I bought of you in 1907. In June, 1907, I bought of you two pairs, in September one pair, in December, 1907, one pair, and I now (December 17, 1908) have 21 pairs mated and working. I have 114 birds not yet mated, and have sold $44 worth of mated pairs and young not mated. Do you not think I have done well? I find the Carneauxa most charming bird, very tame, and they never leave the av ledeid INE DCTs; 233 nest when setting when you approach them. They feed their young fine, and raise squabs that weigh from 12 to 18 and 20 ounces at one month old. I have one pair of young mated last Jan- uary that I have been offered $10 for. I find much pleasure in mating up these birds, and I think I have got as good foundation stock as I could get anywhere. The Carneaux judge at the show told me that one of the hens purchased from you was as good a Carneau hen as he had ever seen. I have one young pair that have been breeding several months and they are averaging a pair of squabs a month, and have never lost a single squab. Their hatches are usually one or two days inside of a month. My Carneaux are very fast breeders, and I find by mating rightly I can increase their speed in breeding. They are everlastingly at it. I have got so much at- tached to the Carneaux that if there was no money in raising them I still would want a good flock of them. What could you sell me 100 pairs for, and how soon could you deliver them to me ? The birds which you sent me on Monday arrived here Wednesday at 10 o’clock in good condition. The Carneaux are great and I wish to thank you for the extra Homer hen. It is a dandy. My other two pairs of mated Homers have eggs now and my first pair of Carneaux have young ones. I am delighted as your birds and dealings are first class. You can be. that I'll be writing for more as soon as possible. I have now over 150 pairs of Carneaux. Your birds (Carneaux) have done well. I am now shipping 20 dozen per week and getting $4 per dozen. If it would keep up that way all the year here (Florida) I would ask for no better business. I shall be in Boston later on in the year and will call on you. I much want to see your Carneaux. The Carneaux birds arrived in noble condition. We are very much pleased with them, and every one here that has seen them cannot get through talking about them. We certainly appreciate your promptness and methods in doing busihess and must say that you do more than you promise to. Will in a few days write you for more supplies that we will be in need of. Again thanking you for the way you have treated our order, we can give you our hearty support in any way that the buying public may demand of you, and you are at liberty to use this letter wherever it is of any value to you. We received the three pairs of Carneaux April 27. They were in good condition, only one seems a little dull, but I think it will be all right. They are the largest pigecns I ever saw and are all that you claim them to be. When we have room we want to get more from you. One of our neighbors is going to start raising pigeons and wants me to sell him my squabs. I had to refuse and told him I thought Mr. Rice would furnish him with all the birds he wants, so I give you his name. My Carneaux birds are doing fine, in fact, I am more than pleased with them. I have had ten settings and have just weighed a squab at one week old and it weighed a pound. We could hardly believe our eyes, but itis true. J am delighted with them. Any time I can help you in any way in regard to using my name you are welcome in regard to your Carneaux, as we think they are the only kind of pigeons to raise and we will get rid of all our Homers and raise only Carneaux. I have been so very busy with Carneaux, chickens, hens, etc., that I have found no time to write before. I think the birds are very handsome and on May 8, every pair (16) had nests and eggs. I expect they will begin to hatch the first young ones about May 14, tomorrow. I would like to ask you whether you have three pairs of Carneaux mated, as I am very much pleased with my first pair. They are all you claim them to be in size and have just finished building their nest. ; The Carneaux arrived all O.K. on the 12th. Yesterday four of them built nests and laid oneeggeach. I call this fast work. Accept my thanks for quality of birds. Some months ago I wrote you in regard to the pair of solid red Carneaux which I purchased of you last December to show at the Rochester Pigeon Show last January. Ihe cock took first prize and the hen second prize. My Carneaux are doing fine and I find much in them that is very interesting. I have raised a fine lot of young Carneaux this year and they are all from your stock. My squab Homers are doing fine and I still have every one of the original 12 pairs I purchased of you November 9, 1904, and they are all working right along. I have received your Carneaux in fine shape, and they are as fine birds as I have. J am very much pleased with them. I wish to say that the four pairs of Carneaux my brother got of you last November have raised 16 fine birds. 234 NATIONAL. STANDARD SQUAB BOOK I am more than pleased with the pair of Carneaux which I got from you and send another order for two more pairs. I have the finest Homers I have ever seen but they look very small beside the Carneaux and if the Carneaux breed well I will send for more orders. I am very much pleased with my Carneaux and will be glad to send you photoer, as 1 get some. I had the address of a man in this Sinn who elie. to Tee soe ea breeder of Carneaux and Homer pigeons. 1 wrote him for a price on red, and red and white birds, just in those words, and he said, yes, he had just what I wanted at $2.50 each. three for $6, and he would make a personal selection of the birds, which were second prize winners. But you ought to have seen the birds he sent me, not near as good as my own. I returned them to him, but he said they were just what I ordered and that 1 expected to get show birds under the pretence of ordering breeding birds, also he did not ship birds on approval at this time of year. He had the advantace as he held my money. He said show birds demanded a big price. He refused a price of $150 for one bird in his exhibit at State Fair. Now, I saw those Carneaux and they were no better than some of mine. One of the pairs I bought from you last Spring throw some elegant birds. As I am an amateur I suppose I must learn that all pigeon dealers are not white. I had no idea of showing my birds, but as this dealer seemed to be afraid I would, I think it would be a good idea to go in and show him that '* there are others.”’ If I have as good luck next season as I have this year, I think Ican doit. Three of the females are from this best pair I mentioned. All three pairs hatched seven pairs young, working right through the moult, The shipment of Carneaux arrived just a month ago and is very satisfactory. Nine of the ten pairs are mated, and seven have squabs. The birds arrived several days before the nappies, but they adapted themselves to circumstances. One pair nested in a grit box, another pair in the oyster-shell box and three pairs on the floor. The nest bowls arrived just in time to save the drinking fountain. The pair of Carneaux received in good shape, and am well pleased with them. Think they will soon be at work, have commenced to drive. Will want another pairin a few weeks. Every one that has seen them says they beat everything they have ever seen. The three pairs of Carneaux and seven pairs of Homers arrived here March 25. The Carneaux are very large, fiae birds. There are several squab raisers here (California). One man has 8000 birds and another has 5000, mostly Homers, but when they saw my Carneaux they nearl went wild. I am going to order more Carneaux in a few days but not until I see what they will do. I will clear my lofts of Homers as fast as I can and stock up with Carneaux if they prove to be even as good a breeder as the Homer. The Carneaux are doing fine. One pair went to setting within 24 hours after arrival. The other pair laid two eggs without building a nest so of course are not setting, but I believe they are building now as they ‘tay indoors a great deal of the time. Am writing you this as I thought it might be of terest to you to know how your birds are doing that you sold. I brought the doctor with whom you have been corresponc ng in regard to the Carneaux, around to see my birds and told him of the very good work the, have done and he seemed very much pleased with them. What are 100 of these birds worth? I believe in time they will take the place of the Homers. The three pairs of Extra Homers and three pairs Carneaux arrived this morning in fine condi- tion, and are a fine lot of birds. I am well pleased with them They seem to be in a hurry to get to work, as one of the Carneaux laid this afternoon. I think all of them will be on eggs in afew days. Will want more breeders later, when you will hear from me. Thank you forsend- ing me such good birds. As I have promised you, this lady has ordered me to get more Carneaux for her. She is very proud of the five pairs yousold her. She has got the Carneaux fever for fair. So here you are, kindly have ready for next Saturday afternoon, we will call for them, five pairs of your best Carneaux. Kindly note, she will want more in about two weeks. She has given me the money already, so it is up to you to do your best. In hernameI thank you. I will call next Saturday about 1 p.m. for them if you can get them ready. Please advise me if the Carneaux pigeons purchased from you November 23 are imported birds, or are they bred by you from the imported stock. The birds are doing excellent work. I purchased 20 pairs and at this writing have 20 nests. Every bird in the loft has eggs or squabs, of the lot purchased, 20 pairs. I am well pleased with the pair of Carneaux which arrived Saturday in good condition. Please send me three more pairs of same on the same conditions, for which I enclose herewith $18. AIP EAS IS ID IAG, Se 235 I thank you for your compliments regarding my success at recent leading shows with my Carneaux. Three years ago in one of my consignments of pigeons from abroad, I received a few pairs of Carneaux. I kept them and bred several fine specimens. I am not a regular pigeon dealer. Jama fancier more. I work every day at my trade. Pigeons with me are a side issue. I have bought of you since December last over $148 of Carneaux, all for a few customers. . Now these exhibitions in different cities I made have created a furore and everybody is after me for Carneaux. One party says, ‘“‘ A man like you that exhibits such fine Carneaux must have some fine ones at your lofts. I want your Carneaux,” etc. I will send you an order for five pairs and 1 can guarantee you more orders next week. I received my last order of pigeons two or three days ago; which was my third order from ou. The Homers were very fine and the Carneaux were the finest pigeons I have ever seen. hey are simply grand and if I could not get any more like them I would not take one hundred dollars for them. They were driving the hens and feeding in one minute after I turned them out. They all have nests now. You have treated me very nicely and I like to do business with you. You have always treated me right. I had a letter from a pigeon man yesterday, about 150 miles from here. but I did not know how they would use me and so I give my order to you. Enclosed find check for $50 for which please send me three pairs of your very best eae and the rest, a nice assortment of best Homers. (This is the fourth order from this customer. The eight pairs of Carneaux which you sent me last Friday arrived Saturday morning at 9.30, making seven and one-half hours better time than the shipment of Homers you made me on November 1. last. They are certainly beautiful birds. I tried putting each pair in mating coops immediately on their arrival, having previously removed the partitions, and by four o clock that afternoon six pairs had mated. The other two pairs mated the following morning. I was going to go to see you last Saturday but it was so cold I postponed it. Kindly fill my order for five pairs of Carneaux. All Carneaux bought of you are entirely satisfactory. It is a pleasure to deal with you. _ I will have the money ready when I call for them. Kindly advise when you can fill my order. y The Carneaux were in fine shape and I am well pleased with them. I am enclosing money order for $12 for which ple se ship, at once as per my other order, two pairs more of mated Carneaux. Please give the filling of this order careful attention, as it means a great deal to me. If these birds do as well as I hope they will, I shall place an order for about 50 or 75 pairs in the near future. I am in receipt of the four pairs of Carneaux which were shipped on June 1. The birds are doing nicely, all four pairs having nested and laid. The Carneaux came to hand last Tuesday and to say I am pleased with them is putting it entirely too mild. They are the prettiest, biggest things in the pigeon line leversaw. Every one that sees them says that they are stunners, they are the talk of the town. Will do as you suggest about the plan and photo of the house I built for less than $20, and it is a dandy for this climate, too. If you wish to refer any one to me or have me show any one the Carneaux, just say so and I will be only too glad to doit. Thank you for the prompt and careful attention given my order. Our two crates of birds arrived two weeks ago. We thank you for the fine lot you sent. They are certainly as fine as any one can hope co possess. We have the room now for 700 or 800 pairs and we intend to fill this up with Plymoutr Rock Extra Homers and Carneaux. We are ‘stuck ’’ on the Carneaux but they are nearly out of our reach. Please give us all the information you can about selling squabs. Can we reach New York? We understand that we can. We raise more squabs in the winter than we can easily handle in this city. We note the markets in the Packer but they are always just as you say, below the actual market prices. Our birds will win all the prizes at the County Fair again this year. The Carneaux arrived Monday morning and were O.K. and to say I am pleased with them does not express it, as I think the pair of yellows are the best I ever saw. I was surprised to find the extra hen, as I did not expect you to make good the loss of the other one. I thank you very much for the nice way you have treated me in our dealings, and hope to do more business with you later. In regard to our conversation of last week about the Carneaux, will state that I like the birds much better than the Homers, as both squab raisers and show birds. Every one who has seen my birds says they are the largest and finest birds they ever saw. From the one pair of Carneaux I purchased of you in March, 1908, I have raised five and lost three. They laid in 236 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAS BOOK CARNEAU SQUAB COMPARED WITH HOMER SQUAB. The Plymouth Rock Carneau squab at the left of the above photograph weighs 17/2 ounces. The Homer squab alongside at the right weighs twelve ounces. about three weeks after arriving here, so you see they have been at work nearly all the time and are now setting. I have entered five of them at our County Fair, New York, and expect to capture all the prizes as I have no competition and had to enter them in a special class. I have a pair of yellow birds which I prize highly. The Carneaux should make a great showing in the squab industry. I received your special offer on your Plymouth Rock Homers, but I don’t see any reference to your Carneaux. I have made up my mind to discard all birds except the Carneaux. I have had one pair from you and I am well satisfied. Now what are your lowest terms, say for five or ten pairs, express paid to my address? Mr. Rice, 1 want them in time so I ean show them at our fairin September. So far I am the only one in Colorado who has a pair of Carneaux, and I believe I could get quite a few orders for you if I put good birds on exhipition. The three pairs of Carneaux are doing well. The squabs are very large. One pairof squabs especially, I feel sure, will weigh a pound and a quarter each at about a month old. We purchased from you Homers about six months ago and Carneaux about three months ago. Both are satisfactory and we like the work very much. We are going to build a house for them this fall so as to make room for more stock. The pigeons you shipped me last week arrived this morning in fairly good condition, con- sidering the long distance they travelled. The Carneaux were extra lively. They mated in less than an hour after being taken from the crate. Jam more than pleased with the Carneaux and uals they are the finest birds I ever saw and shall take great pride in showing them to my friends. I have 50 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers which we bought of you. They are doing all right but [ like the Carneaux better. The worst thing about the business is the killing part. If l Ar ENIX 237 could get around that part I would enjoy it better. That is the reason I would like to get started with the Carneaux. The Carneaux are beyond my expectations. I have bred all kinds of pigeons, but have never seen such breeders in my life. JI have bred youngsters from them weighing 1934 ounces at 20 days old. Can you beat that? Enclosed please find order for six dozen nest bowls. I suppose you may be interested to hear about the breeders you sent me last spring. The two pairs of Carmeaux are doing fine. They have hatched five pairs of squabs since. The Carneaux I bought from you are coming along finely now. I have had luck with two or three sittings and now have ten young pigeons from two pairs. I bought four pairs of Carneaux of you last November and now (October) have 37 birds. I am going to order some more Carneaux sure. As far as I have seen they are the bird. My neighbors here say that mine look more like turkeys than pigeons. Some time ago I ordered of you five pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux at $6 per pair and am very much pleased with same. Iam particularly interested in the building up in point of weight in this particular bird. Hence I beg to be advised whether you would select shipment of extra- ordinary size at increased price and if so, extent of increased size or weight as compared with the general run of this bird, and at what cost? (Later we received an order from this customer for five pairs more.) The Carneaux were purchased of you some time in December last, I think, first three pairs. Then later my partner went over and purchased of you three pairs more, making six pairs of im- ported birds purchased of you. The balance are the offspring of the original six pairs. I shall have no hesitancy in recommending the Carneaux to any who may inquire. They have proved more prolific than the Homers and much heavier birds. The Carneaux proved well. Enclosed find $6 for another pair. We are slowly selling off our Homers. (This customer has bred Homers for many years.) We started with six pairs of your Carneaux shipped March 26, 1908. We have divided our loft into two pens, one for the breeders and one for the young. At this time, October 23, we have. forty birds altogether, which we consider a good increase. The young birds are beginning to mate. Our flock worked right through the moulting season. We enjoy the birds and the work among them very much. (Later—November 23.) We now have forty-five Carneaux all told and eight pairs at work. CARNEAUX AND HOMERS NOT IN THE SAME PEN As a rule, each breed of pigeons should be kept in a pen separate from other breeds. If different breeds are kept in the same pen, the breeds may mix, no matter how carefully the pairs are mated, and of course the young are liable to mix. There is nothing about a Homer pigeon which keeps it true to its own species. If Fantails or any other fancy breeds of pigeons are kept in the same pen with Homers, there is nothing about the Homer which would lead it to be true to its own species. He or she is just as liable to seek a different breed for a mate. As to the two kinds we sell, the Homers and the Carneaux, if they were kept in the same pen, it is quite possible that an attachment for a Carneau cock or hen might form with a Homer of the opposite sex. So if you are breeding both the Carneaux and the Homers for the pure stock you should keep them separate. IMPORTANCE OF PLYMOUTH ROCK HEALTH GRIT Since reducing the price of Plymouth Rock health grit to two dollars for two hundred pounds the sales have greatly increased. Breeders have found it economy to feed it on account of the saving in grain and the increased output of better squabs. Remember, we do not sell less than two hundred pounds of this grit. Price for two hundred pounds, two dollars. The old price was four dol- lars. Read this letter from Mr. Cameron, one of the best known breeders in the District of Columbia, showing the test he made with our grit, one pen of his Pigeons getting it and the other pen getting none: 238 NATION AE TS RAIN IDATION SO Unb. OO 1S HOW MY SQUABS INCREASED IN SIZE WHEN I FED PLYMOUTH ROCK HEALTH GRIT By S. T. Cameron, District or CoLuMBIA Eleven months ago I purchased from you eleven pairs of No. 1 Plymouth Rock Carneaux. I now have over one hundred birds and over thirty pairs working. Apropos of the Plymouth Rock health grit, I have to say that I have my birds separated into two pens, to one of which I have supplied the health grit. In the other, by reason of my supply having run short, I have not given the health grit for some months. I observe a very remarkable difference in the size of the squabs in the two pens, those in the pen having the health grit being much the larger, and as the birds have been handled exactly the same in every respect, except the health grit, I am forced to the conclusion that this has something to do with the improved size of the squabs. Enclosed find check for five dollars for five hundred pounds of Plymouth Rock health grit. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN GRITS. ARE YOU FEEDING THE RIGHT KIND? By Frep Armstronc, ILLINOIS Enclosed find check for one thousand pounds of Plymouth Rock health grit. I have been using other grits but have not found any that gave the satisfaction yours does. PLYMOUTH ROCK GRIT IS CHEAPER THAN GRAIN. FEED IT FOR ECONOMY When our grit is fed, the squabs not only are larger, and there are more of them, but the grain bill is smaller. It is more economical to feed Plymouth Rock health grit at one cent a pound than grain at two and three cents a pound. Grain which you do feed goes farther and better along with our health grit. Our grit is the product of many years of experience and it is right. In view of the two letters from Mr. Cameron and Mr. Armstrong, it is the best economy to feed it. If you are not feeding it, you are missing a profit. Think this over. If you are not feeding it, tell us why. Let us talk it over. I WAS SCARED, MY PIGEONS ATE SO MUCH OF IT — PLYMOUTH ROCK HEALTH GRIT IS FOR USE, NOT FOR ORNAMENT By Wiuuram Laus, Oxt10 Up to about three weeks ago I was using a grit that is advertised quite a bit, and it certainly went a long way. Then I bought two hundred pounds of Ply- mouth Rock health grit and became very much worried the first week for fear my pigeons would all get sick. They would be in the grit box from morning until night. I can also notice a saving in the feed they now consume. Pigeons which are fed on wholesome grain and plenty of Plymouth Rock health grit are never sick. A breeder finds by examination that very few sick birds have anything like a proper amount of grit in their gizzards, many of them indeed being entirely without it. The effect on a bird of going without grit is the same that swallowing food whole has on humans. The body demands nourishment and there is a continuous craving for food, because what is eaten ferments instead of digesting. The bird is unable to rid himself of the fermented food rapidly enough to prevent self-poisoning. APPENDIX F It is important in squab raising to know your birds. A great help in distin- guishing them is the double-number colored leg-band. The idea of two numbers on a leg-band in duplicate, so that no matter how the pigeon stands, the eye of the observer will see one of the numbers, was the invention of Elmer C. Rice. It was not patented and its free use by everybody has done much to advance pigeons. Some men and women have the faculty of telling pigeons apart by body signs just as horsemen tell horses. But to others pigeons look very much alike, just as horses look alike. The double-number color band remedies this because it is visible without catching the pigeon. We sell the double-number band in twelve colors as follows: Black figures on white, red, cherry, pink, brick, blue, light blue, green, light green, yellow, light yellow and gray backgrounds. Big, bold figures. The numbers run from one to sixty. PRICES (Postage Paid) 6 pairs, any numbers or colors.... ........0.eeeeeee: $0.25 12 pairs, any numbers or colors..... ..............--- 50 25 pairs, any numbers or colors..................---++ 1.00 50 pairs, any numbers or colors..................-+::- 1.50 100 pairs, any numbers or colors...............-.-..---- 3.00 500 pairs, any numbers or colors.....................-- 13.50 1000 pairs, any numbers or colors...................+--- 25.00 Sample for two-cent stamp. Be sure when ordering to specify that you wish the double-number band, and tell us what numbers and colors you wish. Note that the numbers run to sixty only, because more than sixty pairs of breeders are seldom kept in one pen. From twenty-five to thirty pairs of breeders in one pen, and no more, is the best practice. MORE ABOUT HOW TO TELL SEX A good proportion of our letters, month after month and year after year, inquire how to tell the sex of pigeons. People ask us this question before they have read this Manual and after they have read the Manual. We should like to write this down to the remotest detail so that even a child could tell the sex of a pigeon by looking at it, but this is impossible. There is no language which can convey the secret of telling absolutely the sex of pigeons. You can tell only by watching them and by experience gained by this watching. You become more expert in determining the sex as you go along. There are no marks on either male or female by which you can distinguish them at any age. Some large male pigeons act the same as roosters do and can be told almost at a glance. On the other hand, some female pigeons are large and coarse, like a male bird, and the secret of their sex is disclosed only by their actions in conjunction with birds of the opposite sex. The birds we ship are banded cocks on right leg and hens on left leg. You must watch these birds and see how they act. By the location of the band you will know the sex and by their actions you will learn to connect what you see with the specified sex. Sometimes customers will write to us and state that they have raised birds and are puzzled about the sex of them. In that case you must watch their actions or you can turn such birds in with 239 240 NATIONALE. STANDARD SO WAB 25 OCS some of our birds and watch their behavior in connection with our birds. You will know the sex of our birds by the bands on their legs, and when you have determined by the actions of your birds what the sex of them is, catch them and band them, putting a band on the right leg of the cock and a band on the left leg of the hen. It is impossible to band a squab four or five days old with a seamless band so as to designate the sex. You cannot tell the sex of a squab or young pigeon until it discloses by its actions at mating age, four or five months, what it is. If you put a seamless band on a young squab, the object is to show the age, not the sex. The best way for the business squab breeder is to put an open band on the leg of the squab, showing its age, by its date, and bearing a distinguishing number which you refer to in your records. You can put this band on either the right leg or the left leg of the squab. When the young bird grows up to mating age and you find out its sex, then change the band to either the right or left leg to suit the case. It is not a difficult matter to determine the sex of a pigeon by watching, for sooner or later you will see actions that will tell you. You must not be guided much by a little quarrelling which you sometimes see going on. Two hens will quarrel the same as two cocks. If two or three pigeons are ex- tremely puzzling to you, handle them in this manner: Take them out of the breeding pen and put each pigeon in a small coop or box in the dark and keep them there for two or three days, each pigeon in a separate box or coop. Feed and water them regularly, then take them out of their little coops and put them into mating coops with other birds. They will generally disclose their sex as they are anxious for companionship after being shut in so long. Another way to do this is to take two birds and put them into a mating coop, one on each side of the partition, and put a bag or other covering over the coop so that the place will be darkened for two or three days. Feed and water daily. Then take off the covering and take out the partition in the middle of the mating coop and watch the two birds as they come together. The beginner should familiarize himself with the billing, treading and driving as he sees the birds. We have had customers write us and declare that we had shipped them squabs because they had seen what they thought young birds taking nourishment from the older birds. What they really had seen was a male bird kissing or billing with a female bird, a matter entirely different. The male and female mates not only bill, tread and drive, but they nestle close at times, each running his or her bill through the feathers on the neck and head of the other. Pigeon breeding is an ancient hobby and pastime in England. An English writer, Dixon, years ago described their love affairs in choice words. It is a pretty sight, said Dixon, to see pigeons at liberty when “ courting.” They begin to go together in pairs, except while associated with the flock at feeding- times; and when they are resting on the roofs, or basking in the sun, they retire apart to a short distance for the purpose of courtship, and pay each other little kind attentions, such as nestling close, and mutually tickling the heads one of another. At last comes what is called “ billing,” which is in fact a kiss, a hearty and intense kiss. As soon as this takes place, the marriage is complete, and is forthwith consummated. The pair are now united, not necessarily for life, though usually so, but rather durante bene placito, so long as they continue to be satisfied with each other. If they are Jl Jee fe Jeb INI DIS DG L 2 241 Tumblers, they mount aloft and try which can tumble best; if they are Pouters, they emulate one the other’s puffings, tail-sweepings, circlets in the air, and wing-clappings; while the Fantails and Runts, and all those kinds which the French call pzgeons mondains, walk the ground with conscious importance and grace. But this is their honeymoon—the time for the frolics of giddy young people. The male is the first to become serious. He foresees that ‘ the Campbells are coming”’ better than his bride, and therefore takes possession of some locker or box that seems an eligible tenement. If it is quite empty and bare, he carries to it a few straws or light sticks; but if the apartment has been already furnished for him, he does not at-present take much further trouble in that line. Here he settles himself, and begins complaining. His appeal is sometimes answered by the lady affording him her presence, sometimes not; in which case he does not pine in solitude very long, but goes and searches out his careless helpmate, and with close pursuit and a few sharp pecks if necessary, insists upon her attending to her business at home. Like the good husband described in Fuller's Holy State, “ his love to his wife weakeneth not his ruling her, and his ruling lesseneth not his loving her.’”’ And so the hen obeys, occasionally, however, giving some trouble; but at last she feels that she must discontinue general visiting and long excursions, and enters the modest establishment that has been prepared for her performance of her maternal duties. A day or two after she has signified her acceptance of the new home, an egg may be expected to be found there. Over this she (mostly) stands sentinel till, after an intervening day, a second egg is laid, and incubation really commences, not hotly and energetically at first, as with hens, turkeys, and many other. birds, but gently and with increasing assiduity. And now the merits of her mate grow apparent. He does not leave his lady to beara solitary burden of matrimonial care. He takes a share, though a minor one, of the task of incubating; and he more than performs his half-share of the labor of rearing the young. At about noon, sometimes earlier, the hens leave their nests for air and exercise as well as food, and the cocks take their place upon the eggs. If you enter a pigeon-loft at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, you will find all the cock-birds sitting—a family arrangement that affords an easy method of discovering which birds are paired with which. The ladies are to be seen taking their respective turns in the same locations early in the morning, in the evening, and all the night. The older a cock-pigeon grows, the more fatherly does he become. So great is. his fondness for having a rising family, that an experienced unmated cock-bird, if he can but induce some flighty young hen to lay him a couple of eggs as a great favor, will almost entirely take the charge of hatching and rearing them himself. We are possessed of an old Blue Antwerp Carrier which by following this line was, with but little assistance from any female, an excellent provider of pie materials, till he succeeded in educating a hen Barb to be a steady wife and mother. There was a good deal of observation put into pigeons by Mr. Dixon before he expressed the above sentiments and what he saw you will see when you watch your flock. HOW TO KEEP DOWN AN EXCESS OF COCKS. One of our customers in Connecticut of considerable experience and original thought has tried out our Homers with birds from other sources, and 242 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK has found them superior to all he has tried. He had no culls among the squabs. He has bought largely of our Homers and Carneaux. He had been trying on some white Homers our plan for getting 15 pairs from one pair of breeders in a year and thought the plan was original with him. This is an indication of the careful attention he has given to the details of the business. Here is another plan he has been working. An excess of cocks seems to be one of the troubles of some in raising young birds and for that reason we have requests for single hens. This customer proceeds on the theory that the second egg is said to hatch a hen, so he goes among the nests every day and marks all single eggs 1 with a pencil. Then in a couple of days when the second egg has come he marks it 2. Then he puts both the 2 eggs in one nest and both the 1 eggs in the other nest, making a memorandum of the nests and what he has done. When killing day arrives for these nests he saves the 2 squab and kills the 1 squab, thereby hoping to raise two hens. How this will work out in actual practice he does not know, because he has not been doing it long enough. We speak of it here so that our customers may try it if they wish and see how they come out. While in some lofts there may be an excess of male birds caused by con- tinuous breeding, it is truc chat the law of the species is to hatch out equally. Otherwise in time, and a comparatively short time too, the entire species would be extinct. It is absolutely not true that more cocks than hens hatch out. The law is that equal numbers hatch out, for this law is necessary to the propagation of the species. We have had thousands of customers start with three pairs or six pairs or twelve pairs and increase from that small beginning to 200 or 300 pairs or more, as our letters from customers show. This is proof that the law oe equal sex holds fairly good even in the restricted confines of a small squab ouse. Squab raising for profit is a new business for the Connecticut customer above mentioned. He is well up on pigeons as a fancy or rather amusement, having kept in Europe at one time or another a few pairs of all breeds. He has been getting $4.50 for his squabs all summer in Connecticut, with some at $3.59 to his local butcher who retails them at $4.50, unassorted, running over eight pounds to the dozen. He says the more he sees of this business the more he is convinced that conducted right there is, big money in it; but conducted wrong it is a poor business. This is certainly correct, and is why we insist upon our birds being used and managed in the way we tell both in this book, and the special instructions which we send out with every shipment. SQUAB HOUSES OF TWO AND THREE STORIES. We have been asked by customers whose ground is limited or who happen to have a certain plot, if a two-story house would not be ali right in which to raise squabs. Some of these customers have figured out carefully and thoroughly that the construction of the two-story house is cheaper than two one-story houses. A two-story house certainly may be built. We print on the opposite page a photograph of a two and one-half story pigeon house. This breeder is a good customer who has bought about $2000 worth of Plymouth Rock birds of us during the past four years, and he understands what he is about. We asked him to describe his plant. He says this house, which is part of his large plant, was not transformed from an old place, but ele NDT Xe, 243 TWO AND ONE-HALF STORY SQUAB HOUSE. This was built to utilize to best advantage a small plot of ground. For description see this page and the opposite page, . was built especially for pigeons. It was almost a case of necessity with him, as all the plots of ground near him were owned by one man who stood out for a stiff price. The customer accordingly built this house and says he has never regretted it. After it was built he was able to purchase all the land he ever should need, and he bought it right. This three-story house is 54 feet long and 20 feet wide, 14 feet to top flat, 14 feet rafter with one foot pro- jection. The third floor is laid on a level with top flat. The third floor does not extend across the entire width of the building, but drops back five feet from each side, giving room for three nests from floor to roof. The four sides of these pens are lined with nests, and the pens are 10x10 feet. Single dormer window on north and two dormer windows on south (this is shown in photograph). No hallway on third floor, but steps from second floor go up near the center of the building, making it unnecessary to pass through all pens to reach the end pens. First and second floors alike have a four-foot hallway on the north side, and each floor has six pens 9x16 feet. The partitions between these pens are formed by the nest boxes. Feed and water from the hallway. The floors are of matched lumber and the first floor is double with paper between. The frame of building was first covered with heavy roofing of a popular brand and sided with ship-top lumber. Under the west end of this building is a basement 20x20 feet, cement floor, used for 244 NATIONALE SLAN DARD SOUAB BOOK picking and packing squabs. The building has 17 pens, and each pen has its flying pen which reaches the ground. For the first floor, the flying pens are nine feet wide and seven feet high, and extend out 20 feet from the building. Beyond the south end of flying pen for first floor, the flying pen extends another 20 feet. This extended pen is divided into two pens 10x9 feet on the ground. The birds from the second and third floors reach these pens through a fly-way above the flying pen of the first floor, one-half as wide. You will notice a tank (shown in photograph) on the roof. Water is forced from a cistern into this tank. All pens outside are connected with water main, making it easy to give the birds a bath. SQUABS FED ARTIFICIALLY. Sometimes it is desirable or necessary to feed a squab artificially, introduc- ing the right kind of a mixture with the fingers or with a syringe. These efforts are more or less crude. The best way is as it is done in Italy, but it is doubtful whether our squab raisers would employ it. We first saw this done in Bologna, Italy. The squabs are shipped into Bologna from the outlying country when they are about the same age as our squabs, four weeks. They are always shipped in alive in common slatted coops. It is quite necessary that the squabs be fed before they are re-shipped alive as they always are to Paris or Monte Carlo or Aix-les-Bains. They are fed in the following manner: The workman mixes up a sort of thick gruel with grain and water. All the grain which he uses is quite fine, such as the finest size of cracked corn. Then he fills his mouth with a quantity of this mixture and begins feeding the squabs. He takes up a squab in his two hands and holds the bill of the squab to his mouth. The squab is hungry and naturally open its bill, or if not the operator opens the bill of the squab for him. The operator then with his tongue forces into the mouth of the squab a quantity of the mixture, and the squab fills its crop. Immediately another squab is taken and handled in the same manner. This process is done with great skill and rapidity. We watched one operator feed a coop of 24 squabs in five minutes. This artificial feeding of squabs is very common in Bologna and in other European cities, where it has been going on for years. The operators show no repugnance, but keep at the work as part of their daily round of duties month after month. NESTS ON THE FLOOR. It is impossible to prevent some pairs from building on the floor of the squab house. Squab breeders who have a large bump of system and order are cast down because all of their pairs do not stick to the nest boxes all the time. You cannot force certain pairs to breed in the nest boxes. They will pick out a corner on the floor or alongside of the crate containing the nesting material or under a tier of nest boxes. There they will build their nest and rear their squabs and they are generally left alone. Do not take their nests and eggs and put them in one of the nest boxes, for if you do it is not likely the birds will follow. Squabs from such nests should be carefully watched and should be taken away to be killed before they are strong enough to walk around on the floor. You will have to take away such squabs when they are full and plump at three weeks of age. If you leave them in the nest too long it is quite usual for them to get up and walk around on the floor and as soon as they do this ee ret IND) OIG) Ee, 245 they are no longer squabs, but have trained off their fat and become young pigeons. Squabs in the nest boxes do not walk around like these because ey realize that they are somewhat weak and will not take the flight to the oor. It is troublesome when cleaning to avoid some nests on the floor. When the young birds leave the nest boxes above they are quite helpless and will rest on the floor. The old birds which have built their nests on the floor et peck the young birds and give them no rest. The cocks especially will o this. A customer has found out a way which he has had in use for some time to keep pairs off the floor and induce them to build in the nest boxes. When he finds a new nest on the floor, he lets the hen lay both eggs there and sit on them for one or two days. Then he makes a nest box about twelve inches square and six inches high and places the nest, eggs and all, into this box and allows the nest box to stand on the floor of the squab house in the same spot where he found the original nest. He reports that nine times out of ten the hen will sit on the nest as before. He lets her sit on the eggs for three or four days more, then he takes the nest box, eggs and all, and screws or nails it to the side wall as near as possible to the spot where the nest was on the floor. Sometimes he raises the nest box from the floor a small distance at a time, one inch one day, another inch the following day. He says that although this is quite a trouble it seems to break the hen of the habit of building on the floor and the next time she is more than likely to build the nest off the floor. A PLAN TO GET RID OF RATS AND MICE. One of our customers gives us the following idea: Make a rough table of matched board with joists for legs, about three and one-half or four feet high and the same shape as the feed box, only have it three feet longer and three feet wider. This will allow for a platform 18 inches wide around the feed box for the birds to stand on and eat the grain; next make a rim, high enough so that when the pigeons are getting grain they will not scatter any on the floor. Do not be afraid of having the rim too high, eight inches will be all right. Have this eight-inch rim all around. The last thing is to buy some smooth, glassy tin plate and wrap a piece around each leg. It is not necessary to cover the whole leg, 12 to 18 inches will be enough. This will make it impossible for rats or mice to climb up over the tin and eat the grain. The legs should be 18 inches or two feet high. Another way to manage instead of using the tin is to put the feed box up on a platform and support this platform with four legs made of iron pipe. Generally there is a joint in the tin, and some mice may run up a joint or seam of this kind, putting their feet into the crack in the seam. If you use iron pipe to support the platform it will be impossible for the rats or mice to climb up this iron pipe to 2 feed box. You should use four pieces of piping, one at each corner. ere is another way-to clean out the mice: Take a small tight box, say six inches by six inches in size. Bore an inch or two-inch hole at one side near the bottom, put in a handful of feathers or cotton and lay the box on the floor in a secluded part of the squab house. In about two weeks go to the box quietly in the daytime, put your hand over the hole, and carry the box to a barrel or tub half full of water. The mice will jump ovt faster 246 NATIONALE STANDARD SOUAB “BOOK than you can count. One customer got 48 at the first trial, and about ten the next time. This took them all and he was no longer troubled by mice. HOW TO MAKE PERCHES. In making perches, one of our friends has a plan that may be of use to some beginner. Take a square tobacco caddy with dove-tailed corners, such as can be had at any tobacco counter. Remove the bottom and saw the sides in two half way. A small block of wood nailed in the angle furnishes an easy way to fasten the perch to the wall. PITTSBURG MARKET. Our customers repeatedly call our attention to the fine market for squabs in Pittsburg. They are quoted at $4 a dozen in the newspapers there, and we have customers in that city who are getting as high as a dollar apiece, or $12 a dozen, for first-class squabs bred from our birds, weighing a pound apiece. It 1s quite true that Pittsburg is an excellent squab market, in fact, one of the best in the country, as there are so many rich people there. We have also some good, live, wide-awake customers who are shipping squabs to Pittsburg, and they have shown Pittsburg squab buyers the superiority of well-bred squabs. The result is that they have worked up an insistent demand which must be satisfied. What our customers have done for Pittsburg anybody can do living near a city, or a town. This work of letting your nearest market know what you have, and then showing what you have to the market must be done by you. Nobody can do it for you. The prices you can get for your squabs, and the demand for your squabs, which you can create, rest entirely with you. Nobody can do this from a distance—you are on the ground and such work must be done by you. LOW QUOTATIONS. Beginners may find in the newspapers or in letters from commission men a low quotation for squabs. Some will write to commission men and dealers asking them what they will pay for squabs, etc. In nearly every case the commission man or dealer will write back an absurdly low price. It is to his advantage of course to buy squabs as cheap as he can and sell as dear as he can. The most peculiar feature of such matters to us is that the breeder or prospective breeder of squabs apparently takes the matter for settled and writes us that he can get only $1.50 or $2 a dozen for squabs. Such people seem to be lacking entirely in any business ability. An eight-year- old boy who is accustomed to selling newspapers has enough business judg- ment to prevent him from writing such a letter. Of course the commission men or squab dealers start with a very low price. If the breeder vill sell to him at this very low price, that is so much more to the advantage of the commission man or dealer. He is writing to feel out the breeder. If the breeder writes back to him and says, ““You. rrice is too low, you will never get my squabs for this figure,” then the con..isussion man or dealer will raise his prices. ‘The dealer who is selling squabs for from $3 to $6 or more a dozen (as they all are) will pay from $2.50 to $4 a dozen, no matter who he is or where he lives, in any part of the United States or Canada. The only way for you to determine the true market price of squabs wher- ever you live is to go into the market or apply by letter and offer to buy squabs and not to sell them. In all the letters you write and all the talk APPEND Xr 247 you make, offer to buy all the time and then the dealer will disclose to you the true prices. Then you will know what to sell your squabs for. If you ‘ find that he is selling squabs at $3 a dozen, he should pay you $2.50 a dozen. If he is selling squabs for $4 a dozen, he should pay you $3 a dozen for them and so on. Once more, be on your guard against market quotations. If you see squabs quoted in a newspaper or anywhere else at low prices it does not follow by any means that that price is the true one. Such figures are put in because they are the prices of the commission men or dealers, which they want to pay. No successful squab business can be built up if you allow a middleman to tun your plant for you. You are simply buying grain and working for him. He has no trouble or expense to amount to anything but he takes the profits and you do all the work. When grain is high you must get more for your squabs tnan you do at other times. The trouble with many squab raisers we have found is that they have no actual knowledge of what it costs them to raise a dozen squabs. You must arrive at your cost of product absolutely and when you do it is folly to sell squabs for that figure or less. You must put them out at a profit or else go out of the business. Our best customers are those who have sense enough to sell to a private trade or to first-class wholesalers, and this must be your goal in every case, If you wish to make the most money, get right after your private trade until you secure it, as this is unlimited. People who are accustomed to eating chicken, as they. are in every part of the country, will eat squabs. If they do not, it is your fault. You must tell them what a squab is and show them, and induce them to buy and eat them. If they do not know what a squab is, you must - demonstrate. HOW TO KILL CATS. A kitten brought up in a squab house will make no trouble. We raise two or three kittens every year at Melrose and give them the run of the pigeon houses, and such cats are intelligent enough not to try to reach the squabs. Of all the cats we have raised we have had only one which we were obliged to shoot because of squab stealing. Cats belonging to the neighbors may cause some trouble in your squab house if you give them a chance to get in. A customer in Ohio has found a way to kill visiting cats. He does not like to have them around the squab house trying to get in so he puts exposed wires on the top of the flying pen and when the cats walk around on the top of the pen, looking for a chance to get at the pigeons inside, he throws a switch in the basement. A strong current of electricity shoots through the wires. The body of the cat makes a short circuit from one wire to the other so the charge of electricity passes through the cat. The result is that the cat tumbles off in double quick time and starts for the tall timber, if alive. He says he has electrocuted two and still has his hand near the switch. BREEDING TRUE TO COLOR. No colored Homers breed true to color. We mean by this that if you start with the blue-barred Homers, for example, and breed them, you will in time get from these blue-barred birds all the other colors, such as blue- checkers, red-checkers, silvers, etc. All these colors are in the blood and 248 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK they will come out in time if you give them time enough. Some pairs are eccentric in their breeding. A certain pair of blue-barred birds may breed blue bars, whereas another pair of blue bars may breed one blue-barred squab and one blue-checkered squab, or any other color, and this variation may be characteristic of this breeding for quite a period. It is impossible to pre- dict absolutely. Our white Homers breed true to color. If you buy white Homers of us and breed them, the squabs will be white-feathered constantly and will not be blue barred or blue checkered, or any other color, except very rarely. SULPHUR OR IRON WATER. Parties write us from different sections of the country stating that the water where they live contains sulphur and others write that the water contains iron. For example, on the East coast of Florida about half-way down, all the water is strongly impregnated with sulphur. Breeders write us to know if this sulphur water is all right for pigeons. To this we reply yes, when they get accustomed to it. If when you get your pigeons you find that this sulphur or iron water is affecting them, stop it and give the birds rain water. Rain water is absolutely pure water containing no mineral substances whatever, except the trifling amount of dust which may get in as the rain water runs down a roof before it gets into a rain-barrel or cistern. It is always safe to give this rain water to pigeons and you can introduce them to your sulphur or iron water as slowly as you please, by adding the sulphur or iron water to the rain water from day to day until the mixture is finally all sulphur or iron water. This will accustom the birds to the new water and before long you will have no need of using the rain water. PIGEONS THAT FLY AWAY. In every day’s mail, two or three letters and often more recount the story that the writers have accidentally left open the doors of their squab houses or the doors of their flying pens; or that some other accident has happened so that some of the pigeons have flown away from the premises. Customers writing from as far as California tell us this and sometimes telegraph us and wish us to catch these birds as soon as they reappear at Melrose and send them back by express. The capacity for flight of a Homer does not. seem to be a matter of well-defined knowledge, so we will say here that flights of over 500 miles for a homing pigeon are very rare. We have no cases on record of flights of homing pigeons even from Ohio or Illinois to New York or Massachusetts. It is incredible that a homing pigeon would get back to its native place after a flight of two or three thousand miles. Birds which have been imported would make no attempt to fly back across the ocean or to the shipping point, so if you lose any of your pigeons out of your coop, the best you can do is to hope that they will return, as quite often they do. Recently we recall a case where a customer lost nine birds which flew away but five of them returned and went inside the house. Once again we repeat, hoping it will catch the eyes of so many who write us, that any Homers which you buy you must keep wired in all the time, otherwise they will fly away and leave you. By all the time we mean day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, continually and perpetually, as long as the pigeons live. You cannot feed them for a month or so and then let them out and think that they will stay with you. AeA INTO OX Se 249 They have a yearning and a longing, the homing instinct, to try to get back to the place where they were bred. Any Homers which you breed yourself you can safely let fly because they know no home but yours and will stay with you. If you have a mixed flock of Homers including not only those which you have raised but some you have bought, you cannot let them out with any certainty that those you have raised will hold on your premises those which you have bought. It is quite possible that those which were raised elsewhere will leave you. NO COAL ASHES. About every household here in the North burns coal and the problem of getting rid of the ashes is considerable to many people who do not live in the city where the city wagons call to take them away. The result is that we have hundreds of letters asking if coal ashes can be put in the flying pen of the squab house. Coal ashes should not be put in the flying pens where the birds can peck at them, because they are irritating to the mouths and other insides of the birds. It is all right to put down a layer of coal ashes in a pen for the founda- tion if you want to get rid of a lot of coal ashes, but on top of these ashes a layer of gravel should be put down from four to six inches thick and the top of this gravel should be renewed every three or four months. TEMPORARY PEN AND BREEDING PEN. It is very necessary to avoid having odd or unmatched birds at liberty in the loft during the time the other birds are either mating or breeding. If - there be but one such bird in the loft, be it male or female, it will be sure to cause disturbance among the mated birds, either by getting mated to some bird you have had great trouble to get mated to your wishes, or by causing continual fighting, resulting in many broken eggs or dead young ones. All odd birds should therefore be either kept up in pens or in a loft by themselves during the breeding season. For the same reasons, three or four pairs of newly-mated birds should not be turned into the loft together. If they are, there will certainly be quarreling, as two or more pairs will want to take the same nest box, which will often be the cause of pairs getting unmatched, and remated in a manner which is not desirable. To avoid this, each pair as they are mated should be turned into the loft singly, when they will select one of the unoccupied boxes, and go on quietly. It is very rarely necessary, if this plan be pursued, to adopt any measures for inducing a pair to take a proper nest, supposing there be one at disposal; but if any trouble be anticipated, any kind of a cage of lath or wire may be fixed to the front of the breeding box, and the birds then confined for a few days in sight of the rest of the loft, till they have got thoroughly used to their new abode. We can hardly remember an instance, however, where such a plan was necessary, unless the breeding places were so numerous and so much alike as to puzzle the birds. In this case the plan we prefer is to make some distinction at the entrances: thus, a half-brick may be placed at one hole; and passing the next, something else at the next alternate one, by which the birds wil readily learn their proper breeding-places. One more caution must be added in regard tomating the birds. It frequently happens that, on account of proved sterling qualities, it is desired to breed from an old pigeon as long as any fertile eggs can be obtained from him; and this can only be done by matching him with PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER MALE 250 AA IE TENE ANID DG aD 251 a very young hen. Such a pair will frequently breed well; and we have had fine strong young ones from an old Barb over ten years of age, which won many prizes. But it is in such cases particularly needful to avoid having in the same loft any lively young cock with a strong voice, for if this be the case, the young hen will frequently leave her eggs to reach and pair with the young bird, even though he be already mated, and thus all the owner’s plans are liable to be frustrated. For although pigeons as a rule pair with great fidelity, exceptions are by no means rare; and cases have been known in which a cock has mated with two hens, and even assisted both in hatching and rearing their young; while we once possessed a cock which, though he never aided them in family duties, regularly paired with no less than five hens. This case being so very remarkable, we took particular notice. of it, and can vouch for the truth of what we state. To the naturalist such instances are particularly interesting; as showing that, under some circumstances, pigeons might possibly become gregarious like poultry. The above paragraph we have taken word for word from the writings of Mr. Fulton, the best English authority, to which our attention was first called in December, 1908. Readers of this Manual will note that his ideas correspond with ours—indeed, such things are not a matter of opinion, they are a matter of fact. What one observer sees, another will see. In the light of the above, how absurd it is for a pigeon tradesman to represent in his advertisements or printed matter that he controls the matings or love affairs of his birds to the extent of assuring the probable purchaser that they are absolutely and irrevocably ‘‘ married for life,” “‘ mated absolutely-never- to-be-changed.’”’ The object of such representation is to convince the probable purchaser that the pairs will go to work in a new home exactly according to schedule or pre-arrangement, and that all he has to do is to take feed and water to them, and exchange the squabs at intervals for half- dollars. Such claims are made with the intense anxiety of consummating a sale by assertions just a little more plausible, regardless of the habits of the pigeons. TWIGS FOR NESTING MATERIALS. Some pairs will build their nests entirely or partly of twigs, if given the opportunity. A customer in New York read of pine ‘needles in this book, so thought of twigs. He put in half a bushel or so of dry old hemlock twigs. All used them and one pair made their nest wholly of them. Another of our friends states that he has solved the nesting material proposition, as far as his own squab raising is concerned (pleasure and hobby). Instead of providing the birds any tobacco stems, or other nesting material, he does not give them anything, except to fill their nappies (or the little two-inch deep by 15-inch square boxes that he has for them to build in) with sawdust, or fine shavings from the local saw mill. The birds do well in them, and when he takes out a pair of squabs for the nippers, he empties out the sawdust, which nearly cleans the nappies and what does remain is very easily removed with trowel and brush. He then refills them with fresh sawdust or fine shavings, and they are ready for use again. He has found this very successful. New birds have to get used to the change but it does not take them long to take to it. Young birds of course, raised in them, do not know anything else. PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER FEMALE 252 AIP PEN DT Xi 253 CLAMORING FOR SQUABS IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. The squab market in the Northwest corner of the United States at this writing (1909) continues to be wonderfully strong. Our attention is called to this from time to time by correspondents in the State of Washington. Apparently there is no limit to the demand there, as in the other great States. We were surprised in September, 1908, to receive the following letter from the president of a hotel company in Seattle, proprietors of one of the best hotels west of the Mississippi river: Kindly send me a half dozen of your pamphlets, covering the growing of squabs. JI wish to send these to the small towns contiguous to Seattle—that is to the Chamber of Commerce of each town, to be directed to the rizht parties who would want to enzaze in this business. Quite a number have expressed their desire to do so. We are anxious to receive nice squabs and will pay a good price. Thanking you in advance for the pamphlets. We thought it surprising that a hotel man should be inquiring for squabs in such an insistent manner and asked him for details. e replied under date of September 26, 1908, as follows: I am in receipt of your treatise on squabs, likewise the booklets. I have advertised in a number of country papers where the farmers are liable to take up this matter, informing them that they can increase their income and to write me and that I will send them a booklet. I will send you later on a copy of the advertisement. There is no reason that a number of farmers should not take up this work, as I should think the extra grain they would have around for food would practically cost them very little. Under date of October 9, he wrote us again the following letter: Inasmuch as your circulars have all been used, we would ask you to send us about a couple of dozen more. We are advertising in the papers as per enclosed clipping, and have received many responses, which we think should bring you results. The newspaper clipping showing how this hotel man was trying to stimulate the squab production was as follows: WHY DON’T YOU RAISE SQUABS? You have enough waste feed to do so without extra cost, We will tell you how and buy a'l you have—it will add largely to your income. In a letter dated October 24, he explained his intentions more fully as follows: In response to your recent favor, I beg to state the only object that we have insecuring persons to raise squabs is that we may get sufficient to meet our demands. At the present time we find it difficult, just when we want squabs, to receive as many as we have a demand for. My idea in advertising this in the paper was to not alone derive a personal benefit, but to help the country along in general. Weshould all be up-builders, particularly in the West. We give this correspondence here the publicity it deserves and hope that our friends, old and new, in the State of Washington, will take hold ener- getically and give this hotel man, and the other squab consumers in Seattle, the Plymouth Rock squabs for which they are so eager. Evidently the State of Seattle is so prosperous with big enterprises that squab raising has to wait its turn and now is a sort of spare time money-maker. We feel confident, however, that there must be a large number of people in the State of Wash- ington who are not too busy to overlook a good thing of such promise, and they will be encouraged to go ahead after reading the above correspondence. 254 NATLONALESS AGN DARD 7S OWA BO One Our shipments of breeding stock in 1908 to this State were quite large, fully as much volume as to California. A correspondent in Acosta, Washington, wrote us in November, 1908: I am going into the squab business in Washington (Lewis County). Squabs sell in Seattle and Tacoma markets at $2.50 and $3.50 per dozen, and the market is not supplied ten per cent of the demand. I have 15 acres to devote to this business. OXLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY. If a stranger to the poultry and squab industry were asked to name a section of the United States where chickens and squabs probably would sell the slowest, he might name Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. In this judgment he would fall into considerable error, for the people there are just as enterprising and just as fond of good things to eat as they are in the East, although there may not be so many of them. Witness the following letter to us dated June 27, 1908, from a prospective customer in a small city in the Indian Territory: Some few weeks ago I wrote you for catalogue, now I want your squab book and you will find enclosed $1.00 in stamps to pay for same. How many pairs would you advise me to start with? The Almeda Hotel says they can handle from four to ten dozen a day. This hotelis the leading hotel of my city. Four to ten dozen squabs daily is going some for one hotel in the Indian Territory. : Concerning Oklahoma, one of the leading poultry, butter, eggs, etc., houses in Oklahoma City wrote the following letter to one of our friends under date of March 14, 1908: In regard to squabs, will say, that there are not any handled around here to speak of. There is no reason why it should not be a paying business, if some one would start here who understands it fully, and turned out a good article, just at proper age and of good quality, etc. No reason why a good demand could not be worked up for them here. If at any time you should raise more than you could put out locally. we could undoubtedly find a good market for them, as we are shipping out of here in carload lots weekly to New York City and California. Will be glad to give you any further information and have you write us. In other words, the demand waits on the supply. Get busy, Oklahoma folks. Grain is cheaper for you than for us here in the East and if you may not succeed in getting New York prices for your squabs, you will make as much money as squab farmers here. TWO YEARS’ WORK IN MAINE. From 18 pairs of your Extra stock that I bought a little over two years ago, I now have 300 mated pairs and at least 50 pairs that will be mated very soon.—F. R., Maine. GREAT SATISFACTION. I am pleased to be able to advise you that the pigeons which I purchased from you are giving me great satisfaction, as they have really doubled in number and the squabs have been very heavy, healthy, delicious. I am sure that you will be pleased to hear the above report— F. J., New York. MINNESOTA GROWTH. I have a nice little plant of about 250 pairs from the stock I bought from you some two years ago.— M. H., Minnesota. MOST PRACTICAL BOOK SHE EVER READ. The Mlational Standard Squab Book is a most satisfactory treatment of the subject of squab raising. It seems to me to be the most practical book I have ever read on any subject.—Mrs. E. G. W., Washington. HOW A RETAIL TRADE GROWS. My Plymouth Rock Homers are doing well. am selling some of the squabs. One customer gets another, so I have orders for all I can spare at present.—G. R., Michigan. TWO YEARS’ BREEDING IN IDAHO. We take advantage of the present (February, 1908) to thank you again for the excellent quality of birds sent us in June, ’06.—J. W., aho. MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS THIS CUSTOMER IS A TIN ROOFER AND MAKES GOOD WAGES BUT HAS FOUND OUT THAT HIS TIME IS WORTH MORE RAISING GOOD SQUABS. I will try and give you an account of how my birds are doing in the State of West Virginia. About 18 months ago I saw the advertisement of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company in a magazine and I decided to try a small lot of birds. I first wrote for literature, then sent tifty cents for a Manual, which J got by return mail, and would not take $5 for it now. As soon as I got my book I sent for six pairs of Extra Homers, and to say they were fine would not begin to express my opinion of them. They were the finest birds I ever saw and every one says the same. I built a small house 6 by 6 feet for them at first, but soon had te build a larger one. I havea house 10 x 12 witha 12 x 20 foot fly, but this is too small now. Iam trying to get a place in the country near town and will go into. the squab business right. I have had my birds about 15 months, have had 180 birds hatched and have about 30 mated pairs now. I have sold all my squabs since March 1 at $3 per dozen. .One hotel takes all I have and could handle three or four times as many. I sell about adozena week. Feed is very high here, but there certainly is money inthem anyhow. Ihave one pair that I bought of you that I have kept careful account of since they started to work. They went to work the week afte1 I got them, and have laid and set every month since. They have hatched and raised 26 squabs, having lost two eggs, and today are building for the 15th time. If all were like them, I certainly would make the best record ever known. I have lost a few eggs and three or four young birds that were two or three davs old, but 1 think that is a very small loss. I hope to get a location soon for I am convinced that there is good pay in raising squabs. I advise any one who is thinking of going into the business to buy their stock of Mr. Rice, for I consider him a perfect gentleman and as for the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, I cannot say too much for them. They beat anvthing 1 ever saw. My birds are producing about nine pairs of squabs per pair, per year. The average weight of the squabs is ten pounds per dozen, which I consider very good. I hope to be able to send an order for more breeders before the fall and they certainly will be Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I am a tin roofer by trade and make very good wages, but a squab plant of a thousand pairs I know will pay me much better. I use the self-feeder and your drinking fountain and find them perfectly satisfactory. I use tobacco stems and straw for nesting material—W. M. C., West Virginia. FOUND INSTRUCTIONS CLEAR AND CONVINCING. I thank you for your courtesy of September 22, and it is just what I wanted to know. I am so situated in regard to my present occupation that I cannot do anything before this time next year and then I hope to place my order with you for 300 pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock breeders and 10 pair of the red Carneaux. I know you must be a busy man, but I. wish to tell you I have been looking over every field that I know of for aman with $1000 to $1500. I spent $10 for poultry information which was so contradictory that I threw them all into the Atlantic and vowed never to have one near me. I then got your information, and everything has been so clear and concise that I have no hesitancy in knowing what I will do. The plans enclosed from you were about what I had figured out for myself, only I had given more room and consequently would have made the cost more if I had not spent 50 cents for your Manual and 10 cents for your plans. By so doing I consider J saved, or rather, will save, from $75 to $100 on my pens and buildings. Pardon this long-winded letter, but I feel that apart from your trying to sell your stock to a probable customer I think all the more of you and your business methods, and know you will give me all you represent your stock to be when the time comes. Wish you and the Plymouth Rock Squab Company all the success you deserve, and that squabs will be eaten by a larger number of people.— R. H. W., New York. MARKET FOR SQUABS IS LOW IN HIS PART OF TEXAS BECAUSE BREEDERS DO NOT PUL UP PRICES. “I got my pizeons from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co.,’’ is the proud answer I give to any one askinz me where I got my pigeons. When I tell them that I started with only 12 and have raised about 15), they say I have done wonderfully. Some other squab _ raisers around me have not raised half that many in twice that time. (They have common pizeons, that is the secret of it.) My pigeons have fully repaid me. I think they are 25 per cent better than any Homers around me. My birds raise from seven to nine pairs per year and I can sell all I can raise. I have about 100 breeders and they keep me stocked very well. The market prices down here are very low. They have been used to common squabs and do not know what is good. but I am going to raise the price all I can. It is only $1.25 to $1.50 and I hope to raise it to $2.50. My squabs weigh from 10 to 12 pounds to the dozen. I have a self-feeder like the one in your Manual. I feed them a mixture of wheat and corn. I have followed your Manual strictly and have not departed from it in any way, and let me say right here that any one (even of those who do not know a thine about squabs) can take your Manual and read it through, follow it care- fully and make a success. They are bound to make a success. I think the squab busi- ness is a great one and is increasing every day. I have not had sickness of any kind. I can sell at home all I raise. —W. P. C., Texas. pe LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 255 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS FLYING PEN OF A BARN. = This New Jersey breeder’s story is on this page. At the top of the next page one of the ladies of his household is shown holding a nest bowl in which are three squabs from one hatch€'two days old. LOST ONLY ONE OLD BiRD AND THREE SQUABS IN FIVE MONTHS’ BREEDING. I have had, I think, remarkable success wih the b:rcs so far, and thought possibly you would be pleased to hear it. fortune, wi-h the exception of three squabs, which I think the parent birds neglected. in the neighborhood now (August, 1908) of about 200 birds. The loss of one bird in the first lot shipped has been my entire mis- Ihave Kind regards to your Mr. Rice. For breeding my flock, 1 have used about half my stable and have not been troubled with either mice or rats, as I built another floor over the old one, raising the sane. about 18 inches, and do not think that there is any way for the rats to get at the birds; besides I have three cats that spend part of each day under the floors. : They measure 10 by 12, with a three-foot passage in the centre. five units. not feeding, is done from this passage. You will see from the pictures that I have Watering, but You are very welcome indeed to use my name, and you cannot write a letter too strong for me to endorse, referring to the treatment, etc., received at your hands, also the quality of the birds delivered me and the results obtained from them.—J. W. H., New Jersey. HIGH-PRICED MARKET IN SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK. I like the National Standard Squab Book very well, as it plainly but fully tells everything necessary to know in the squab business and it becomes very useful to the pigeon fancier. There are boarding houses here in Saratoga Springs that pay $6 a dozen for squabs from common pigeons, for 1 have sold them.—C. N. G., New York. SQUAB BUSINESS IN MONTANA IS ALL RIGHT. Please find enclosed ten cents in stamps, for which mail me one copy of your plans and specifications for squab house. I am building new and larger quarters in the country and wish to build right. Seven of the Homers I obtained from you escaped from my pen in town, five returned. I have raised some beauties from my original stock. The squab business is all right.—R. C., Montana. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 256 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS THREE SQUABS HATCHED IN ONE NEST. BUILT HIS OWN HOUSE IN WASHING- TON (D. C.), FOR TWENLY DOLLARS LESS THAN OUR ESTIMATE. I have a house constructed of all new material 12x16 and nine feet to peak, seven feet to eaves, divided into two rooms 8x9, a fly 8x16x18 divided down the center (doing all the work myself). Everythinz, including birds from you, cost me just $47.58 or about $20 less than your estimate, not so bad for a starter? I hada party call at my house, he hearing that I was goine to raise squabs, offering me $3 per dozen the year round. He will have to.come again, as $3 will not get mine—C. C. B., District of Columbia. CATHOLIC SISTERS RAISING SQUABS FOR THE PATIENTS IN THEIR HOSPITAL IN CHICAGO. We do not sell any of the squabs we raise, we use them all for our patients. We intend to have a photograph of our coop taken in order to let you see it and get your opinion about it—Sister M., Illinois. SELLING OUT IN TEXAS TO MAKE ROOM FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. Some time ago I purchased a Manual from you and received a Special Offer on your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. As it was the best thing I heard of, and as I know yceur birds by their reputation, I got busy and began selling my stock off so as to make room for a sample shipment of your birds. I sold one customer in an inland village $10 worth of my birds and when he remitted it was the whole amount in two-cent stamps. What I wish to ask, Mr. Rice, is will you take, say $5 worth of them off my hands?—L. S., Texas. ENLARGING TO A TEN-UNIT HOUSE. Last September I bought some breeders from you and same are doing nicely. As I want to enlarge my house, having bought a new place, I would kindly request you to send me as soon as possible a set of plans as per your offer in your Manual for a ten-unit house. Also send me some of your grit as per en- closed memorandum.—C. R., Conn. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 257 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS COMMON PIGEONS A FAILURE. REMARKABLE DEMONSTRATION OF WHAT FOUR PAIRS PLYMOUTH ROCKS WILL DO IN TEXAS. In February, 1907, I purchased 12 pairs of common pigeons from a friend, expecting to clear as large a profit from them as I could trom the Homers. However, we soon found the difference for when we sold out about six months later, 1 am positive we did not sell more than 15 pairs altogether, that is to say, most of our squabs died or did not hatch. About the end of October, 1907, I received four pairs of Number One Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. About November 15 I got two pairs started and later on the other two started. I now (May, 1908) have 50 squabs and breeders and all our pairs are setting again. I have 15 pairs mated. I mever saw anything like it. [| have never seen any birds to equal ours in any respect. Our squabs are large and healthy, weighing not less than eight pounds to the dozen. I keep a careful record of the breeders and they average eight or nine pairs to the year. We do not know the price of them, as we have never sold any, but a friend of ours sold them at $4.80 a dozen. These were common and Homers mixed and I am sure that if he makes money off of those poor breeders, we ought to make more off your prolific birds. We have fed corn, Kaffir corn, wheat and a little millet. As we have followed your Manual as closely as possible, we have had no trouble with lice. We had two cases of canker, but we did what you advised and had no further trouble. I have not kept account of expenditures, but I know that the birds have well paid for themselves. My ideas of the birds and the business are O. K., and in the future I expect to raise more pigeons. You may be sure they will be Plymouth Rock Homers, as they are the best. no idea of the pigeon business had it not been for your Manual. I will always praise the Plymouth Rock Squab (I forgot to mention above that on account of our house being tight and any one would be lost without it. Company in the highest terms. improperly built some small animal got through a hole and took eggs and squabs. pened three times but not any more) —E. G. R SMALL FLOCK PAYING A GOOD PROFIT. In April, 1906, I bought six pairs of your Plymouth Rock Homers and in just one year I had raised 85 birds. In May, 1907, 17 mronths after my first purchase, I had 110 or 55 pairs. I then began selling squabs, and in the eight and one-half months I have sold 228 squabs at 25 cents each, which is $57. I kill them with your killing machine, hang them up as your Manual teaches and bleed them. I do not have time to dress them, or I could get better prices. I have had none that weighed less than eight pounds, and many that weighed 10 pounds to the dozen. The expense of feeding them the eight and one-half months has been $33.15, a profit of $21.35. I think there is big money to be made raising squabs. I keep this small flock in connection with 35 chickens, and only have time outside of business hours to look after them, which is ample. I have seen lots of Homers, nice-looking ones too, but they do not breed as fast as mine. I follow your Manual, in fact, all 1 know about them is what the book says. I have had no sickness nor lice, simply kept them clean and fed red wheat, cracked corn, Kaffir corn, buckwheat, hemp-seed, millet, oyster shells and plenty of good sand. My idea of successful squab raising is cleanliness, pure feed and water, and attention to busi- ness.—C. H., New York. RAISING TOBACCO AND PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS. We grow 30,000 pounds of tobacco per year and make fresh stems constantly, bales run about 125 pounds. We have bought our first Homers from you and have done well. Iam glad to hear from you on stems.—C. H. W., Connecticut. I would have had I can tell you that it is all This hap- .. Texas. ; PERSONAL INQUIRY AND ITS RESULTS. I ama member of All Souls Unitarian Church of Washington, made up of New England people largely, and many of them Bostonians. Also I go to Greenacre (Eliot, Maine), occa- sionally in the summer to speak on Emerson and his philosophy, therefore I have a large acquaintance up your way. I mentioned my intention in a social group of going into squab raising and asked incidentally about your place. They offered to get me the re- port and did so, but I do not know the channel. I did not care to knoweof your financial con- dition, but I was anxious to learn of your character and reputation. The report was very gratifying. In it was stated that you were “‘gilt-edged as to character and reputa- tion.”” It made me feel good to get such a report, for I knew I could safely go on and enlarge under your counsel and advice. Thank you for your offer to assist me when- ever I may callon you. If you happen down this way, try to see me either at the Bureau of Immigration or at my country home in Maryland, half-way between Washington and Baltimore, where we shall establish our plant. We are looking for a suitable piece of ground, say 10 or 20 acres, where we shall plant a good German and his wife and make it pay in other respects.—J. A. C., District of Columbia. SQUABS WEIGHING OVER ONE POUND WHEN THREE WEEKS OLD. I have re- ceived the female Homer in good shape. It was a pretty bird. I just weighed some of my squabs which are not quite three weeks old and they weigh over one pound. .I expect to order some more birds some time in spring.—H S., Pennsylvania. a LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 258 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS ANY OLD PLACE FIXED OVER. Results which are really surprising may be accomplished in quarters such as these, with good birds. (See the letter from the North Carolina man printed below.) NO BIRDS ON EXHIBITION AT THIS NORTH CAROLINA FAIR COULD TOUCH HIS PLYMOUTH ROCKS. Ireceived from you April 2, 1908, 13 pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. Ihave raised 60 birds, have sold 12 squabs and have lost 23, and I think that is doing well for six months’ work. They have bred at the rate of four pairs per month. Some are slow, others are very fast indeed, and I have lost about 18 eggs on account of not having enough nest bowls, but have since put in more and will soon have to build. My house is of my own con- struction, very rough indeed, but I think answers the purpose very well, but in the future will build according to your plans except without the passageway. The birds I received from you and those I have raised and mated are indeed hard to beat. I have not seen any here that can touch them, in fact, none on exhibition at the fair here held October 13 to 16, could touch mine. The squabs at killing age weigh about three-quarters of a pound each. Have sold only one dozen squabs to people who are sick at $2.50 per dozen. [I have fed whole corn, cracked corn, Kaffir corn, Canada peas, a little red wheat and a little green clover, cabbage cut very fine, and some rice and hemp seed about three times a week. Cannot say that I have followed your Manual in every detail. Please ship at once the enclosed order for feed. My birds are doing exceedingly fine and I am in hopes of being able to keep them so. Iam well pleased with the squab business and intend to go into it for a living.—J. A. P., North Carolina, A WOMAN WHO GETS HER PRICE FOR SQUABS ALL THE YEAR. The people who have eaten my squabs say they are delicious, plump, and so much better than the market ones. I am getting $4.80 a dozen for them. That is my price no matter what they are in the market. They weigh over three-quarters of a pound each.—Mrs. E.G. A., New Jersey. LOST ONLY ONE BREEDING PIGEON IN THREE YEARS. I have had my Plymouth Rock pigeons three years in July and have had splendid luck, having lost only one banded pigeon by death, and one flew away. I have studied the Manual and got lots of help from it. I only wish I had more room to keep more birds.—M. H., New Jersey. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 259 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS NINETEEN PRIZES WON ON 21 ENTRIES AT THIS LARGE WORCESTER COUNTY EXHIBITION. I have been breeding your Plymouth Rock Homer stock for several years. I have been a breeder of pigeons for a long time and enjoy the work very much and I want to tell you that I have never seen better Homers anywhere, nor do I believe that better stock exists than the strain you sell. At the Worcester poultry show held in December, 1907, in Mechanics Hall, I entered 21 birds nearly all your Homers, or bred from Homers sold by you. I had a few pigeons of another fancy variety in the show along with your Homer stock, but the Homers did nearly all of the prize winning. On the 21 birds I won 19 prizes, made up of 10 first prizes, five second prizes, three third prizes and one fourth prize. u The birds were very much admired by the people in attendance at the exhibition. On one white Homer which came from you and on which | won first prize I was offered $5, but declined the offer. For another beautiful red checker Plymouth Rock female Homer which won me a first prize I was offered $5 by another exhibitor, but I declined the offer. The judge of the pizeons told me I ought to send these two birds to the Boston show in January. as they were “‘ world beaters.’? Sometime I am going to enter my birds at the Boston show when I get around to it and can spare the time from my regular business. Iam confident that I will make them “‘ sit up and take notice.” Your Homer stock is distincuished not only by the large size (which I have never seen equalled anywhere) but by their prolific breeding qualities. A good proportion of my birds are the red checkers, and I value them highly. None of the Worcester pizeon men has birds approaching mine. In fact, there are two Englishmen in this city who have been breeders of birds all their lives and they told me that they never saw any that could equal my stock. A professional man of this city is a breeder of fancy pizeons well known over the United States. He entered some white Homers in competition at the Worcester poultry show mentioned above but my white Homers went way over anything which he had. These larce Plymouth Rock Homers of which you have sold so many during the past ten years have completely driven the small native American Homer out of the market. The old breeders of these small native Homers have hated to admit that your Belgium stock was better than theirs, but anybody with half an eye can see that a Homer which is almost half as large again as were the best American Homers is to be preferred, not only for squab raising but for fancy breeding, for anvbodv who wants the best. The enormous popularity of your business in hand- ling this magnificent strain is well accounted for.—H. M. W., Massachusetts. FIRST AND SECOND PRIZES AT THIS WISCONSIN COUNTY FAIR. It was February 1, 1907, when I got my first lot of Homers. They were the Extras. The pigeons are the largest and the best of their kind Ieversaw. I would advise every new beginner to study the Manual before starting. I feed my birds two-thirds cracked corn to one-third red wheat in winter, two-thirds red wheat to one-third cracked corn in summer; dainties such as hemp seed, rice, peas, Kaffir corn and vetches. I have invented a little mill to crack corn. I bought some cracked corn but it was not half cracked. I can adjust my mill to crack any size corn J want it to. Ihave chickens in the same yard with the pizeons and they get along good. Your Manual is the best it could be. I don’t think it could be improved much. I haven’t had any trouble with lice or sickness. I think we will send another order as soon as we can get a place ready for them. The squab business is O. K., as well as a paying business. My pigeons took first and second prizes at Ocotno County Fair, September 3, 4, 5.—E. G., Wisconsin. WON FOUR FIRST AND SECOND PRIZES AT TOPEKA, KANSAS, EXHIBITION. My birds that I got from you are doing very nicely | At the Topeka show I was awarded four first and second prizes out of 16 birds shown. I would have gotten another first, but I classed the bird wrong. The judge gave her first, but they looked on the judge’s card and she was not unde1 that class. At the show, two of my Homers got out of the cage and also out of the hall. Thev were fine-lookine birds and built for flying. They started east and that is the last I have heard of them.— F. L. K., Kansas. FIRST AND SECOND PRIZES WON BY PLYMOUTH ROCKS IN FLYING COMPETITION. I bought several pairs of your Homer stock about a year ago and am raising, and also flying those which I raised. I have also Belgiums which I fly, but the younx of your stock are equal. I can recommend your birds to anybody, and the flying club which I am in also know what they are. ‘The last fly I made was 300 miles, at which I took first and second prizes on your stock. Ithank you for sending me such quality of birds. W.J.K., Michigan. ~ AGAIN A SWEEP OF PRIZES AT ANOTHER NEW YORK COUNTY FAIR BY PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. We had a county fair here and there was quite a large exhibition of fancy pizeons and a few Homers, but nov any as nice as the ones that I had on exhibition. I took six nairs of old ones and five pairs of voung about eight weeks old to match the old ones. I got first and second premiums on all.—F.S.S., New York. nn nner meena neaEaenanenEnee LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 260 re MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS NINETEEN PRIZES WON BY PLYMOUTH ROCK. HOMERS AND CARNEAUX BY ONE CUSTOMER AT THE GREAT ROCHESTER (N. Y.) EXHIBITION IN 1908. I am Hat in bed with pleurisy buc I want to let you know about the Rochester Show. I got fifteen out of sixteen prizes, and also four specials; losing only one third prize to a cock from the New York Show. All of my prizes were won from adult stock bought of you, and young raised from them last year. As soon as I am able to be up and out I will write you more fully. Excuse looks of letteras I am writing in bed. (Later). ‘There were three old cocks and three old hens which were re- cently bought by a Rochester man in New York. The birds were said to have been in the New York Show and this man made his brag, that he got the birds to turn down the Lyons man, but my birds were cooped first and when he brought in his Carneaux and cooped them near mine, he told the president of the show that be guessed he did not have much chance. He got one third prize. All the rest were thrown out. I got four first, four seconds, three thirds, four fourths and four specials. (One special on best cock in show, a pair of record Homers, one special on best hen and two minor specials.) The last pair you sent me got, cock first, hen second. My Carneaux are doing fine and I have quite a number of young mated and at work,— R.1.C., New York. PLYMOUTH ROCKS THE BEST HOMERS IN THREE STATES AT THIS BIG EXHIBITION. A NOVEL USE FOR PIGEON FEATHERS. I wish to thank you for suggestions offered, which enabled me to win first prize on Homer pigeons at the Tri-State Exposition and Livestock Show held at Chester, West Virginia, just across the Ohio river from our city. This was considered the best poultry and livestock show in this section of the country thisseason. Our local fanciers came o1° fairly good considering the opposition we had. Three of the largest breeding farmers in this section sent 1n a carload of poultry apiece. The second prize in Homers went to an Ohio man, one of the above mentioned breeders. Jalso got second on White Leghorn cockerel. My birds were shedding considerable, but I made good use of the long feathers as you will see by some enclosed advertising for the firm by which I am employed as well as for myself. They went like hot cakes after we got them started. Every one worea feather. I don’t know whether the value of this ever appealed to vou or not, but I think that you could find ready sale for the light-colored feathers for this purpose.—S. E. A., Ohio. Note. What he did was to gather un all the good-sized feathers lost in moulting and print - them in red ink with a rubber stamp, “‘ Welcome at Smith’s,”’ giving the name of the store where he worked. These stamped feathers were treasured as souvenirs. This idea could be used in other ways by squab breeders and the feathers handed out as advertisements. VICTORIOUS AT TWO NEW YORK STATE EXHIBITIONS. When I was in Boston a few months ago, I promised you I would let you know how I made out at our County Fair, but for some unknown reason I did not get at it. I entered at the fair six birds. Four Carneaux took four first prizes, two Homers two second prizes. I entered at Hudson Valley Pizeon and Poultry Association at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., seven birds, and won three firsts on Homers, two seconds on Carneaux. Did not enter my old Car- neaux or would have taken first on them. I have a fine Carneau cock that I think would be hard to beat, but the hen is not up to the mark. I think I will show the Carneaux at the New York Show.—J. R. V., New York. TOOK EVERYTHING IN SIGHT. WON EVERY PRIZE OFFERED FOR HOMERS WITH HIS PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS AT NEW YORK COUNTY FAIR. The Homers that I bought of you last September are doing fine. I would like to visit your plant a little later if it would be convenient for you. I am going for the purpose of looking over your plans and to purchase some more breeders. I have now about 60 pairs and want to get enough to make 125 pairs. I entered those that I got of you at the Clinton County Fair at which I got every prize that was taken on Homers.—E. R. G., New York. ONE PAIR OF PLYMOUTH ROCKS GOOD ENOUGH IN VIRGINIA TO BEAT PROFES- SIONAL SHOW FOLLOWERS. The Plymouth Rock Homers you sent me have all been working. I carried one pair to the Roanoke Fair and received first premium over some Homer dealers from Pennsylvania.—F. E. H., Virginia. TOOK FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD PRIZES IN WEST VIRGINIA. My birds are beauties, and took first, second and third premiums at the Poultry Show here, and I,have been selling squabs right along that are fat and nice.—Miss G. E. K., West Virginia. WON THE SILVER CUP AT THIS MICHIGAN SHOW WITH HIS PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. I have had six pairs in the show and won the silver cup. People said thev were the best they ever saw. Isold two pairs for $5.—J. F. F., Michigan. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 261 ‘omgord SII? “ UAOTS S IVY 0} TOMIPpe Ul esnoy JoyJoue sey oT ‘asoUr sured OY ‘ROT “FT ay pay} Arensqay uQ ‘So6] ‘Gz Avenuve wry peddiys om Yor steMIOF] YoOY YINOUATY BARXA] INO Jo sated QOT WTA pojieys JOUO4sNo sIyy, ‘Se[surys JO peoysul posn ueeq suLAey Suyoot mo ‘ealsuedxoeur pu gjduns ayinb st uorjonaysuoo ayy, ‘Spurl oy} Yo sdeay esnoy sly} Jo yovq oy} 4e TY My, "ACISTUH AT CULOMLOUd VINVATASNNGd NI LNVId dVQ0S MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS FIVE PRIZES TAKEN BY PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS AT TENNESSEE POULTRY AND PIGEON SHOW. pairs that you sent me. It would probably be of interest to you_to know of my success with your Plymouth Rock Homers in our recent Poultry and Pigeon Show. I won two firsts, two seconds, and one third prize. I entered six of the eleven The fine Homers I purchased from you won one, two, three, while two pairs of colored Homers that I raised from some birds bought of you won one,-two. Those grand white Homers you shipped me attracted more attention and were admired by more people than all of the other birds in the show put together. They are superb. I placed the birds in my breeding pen at noon on Monday and on Friday afternoon four pairs had built nests and one pair had laid two eggs. The youngsters raised from some of your birds that I referred to before are only eight months old and have been at work three months. E. D. R., Tennessee. I am enthusiastic over Plymouth Rock Homers.— WON TEN PRIZES, TAKING ALL BUT ONE (A THIRD) WITH TEN PAIRS. At the North Adams Poultry Show I entered ten pairs of “‘ exhibition Homers ”? made up largely from Ply- mouth Rock stock and was awarded five firsts, three seconds, one third, one fourth. “headed ”’ but once and that was for a third place. 1 I was The entries were made up of one pair reds, one pair red checkers, two pairs silvers, three pairs blue checkers and three pairs blue bars.— J. T., Massachusetts. PAIR OF PLYMOUTH ROCKS THE BEST PAIR OF HOMERS INTHE 1908 TORONTO EX- HIBITION. Only one pair of those Plymouth Rock Homers which I purchased from you were exhibited at the fair but they took first prize. the perfect wings, only one little feather being wrong. The judges in examining them commented on I know nothing of the standard but you will doubtless know what they meant.—T. S. C., Ontario, Canada. PLYMOUTH ROCKS FIRST AS WELL AS SECOND AT THIS IOWA EXHIBITION. Our blue Plymouth Rock Homers took first and our silvers second at the show here.—C. D., Iowa. HAS BRED THOUSANDS OF SQUABS IN INDIA FROM PIGEONS POORER THAN OURS. About a month ago when staying in Chicago I made an inquiry for your cata- logue and about a week later I sent you 50 cents for your National Standard Squab Book. I read your book with great interest and must say it is the best written instruction to the beginner that I ever saw. I have bred thousands of squabs in India, where I was born and came to America to start a squab farm here. Of course, the kind of pigeons We use over there is not as good as what we use here. I have succeeded in getting a fine farm in Missouri, a very dry, healthy climate. Tomorrow I am going to the place and when settled there about a month (this time I want to make the squab houses) I will send you an order.—V. K., Missouri. LONG SHIPMENT OF PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS ACROSS THE CONTINENT TO BRITISH COLUMBIA AND FROM THERE TO AUSTRALIA. J duly received your letter of May 12, and the birds came safely and in good order by the Dominion Express Company to Vancouver. You will be glad to know that they arrived safely at Mel- bourne on June 27. The Carneaux pecked three or four Plymouth Rock Homers, but today they are in splendid condition, having gone through the long, hot voyage very well. We, of course, looked after them on the steamer to see that the cage was kept clean and followed your instructions as to food, grit, etc.—Mrs. A. B., Australia. SQUAB MARKET WAITING TO BE DEVELOPED IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO. The National Standard Squab Book has given me much satisfaction, pleas- ure and also a longing to get into the business. I am a poultry plucker, bench-hand, feeder, etc, employed by the largest wholesale live and dead poultry handlers here. I originally sent for your Manual not with the idea of starting to breed squabs, but to add to my knowledge of feathered life. I found the book so interesting I have read it through several times and could answer correctly any question asked me from it. It is the most exhaustive treatise on the subject imaginable and I now consider myself an authority on pigeons. To show you how undeveloped the squab trade is here: I may say we do not receive proportionately one squab to every 100 chickens.—J. E., Ontario, Canada. IMITATION NEST BOWLS. I must say my Plymouth Rocks are the best Homers I ever saw. Are the bowls as seen on page 48 of the Manual what are known as the Rice Wood Fibre Nest Bowls? I must say that I like them very much better than what are sold here as “‘ Rice Wood Fibre bowls,’ as the ones here are almost flat.—M. R. K.. Tennessee. Note. The genuine wood fibre nest bowls can be obtained only direct of us from Boston. We do not supply stores with them, If bowls are offered you in stores as ours, they are not. Nee ee ec eee eee a sss LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 263 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS A NEW JERSEY PLANT. This picture and the picture on the opposite page are both photographs of the same plant. HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW IS HAVING A PROFITABLE EXPERIENCE WITH PLY- MOUTH ROCK HOMERS. Yours dated November 20 was received this p.m. I shall be very much pleased to have the pair of birds as you suggest and will gladly pay transportation on the same. I do not con- sider you are under any obligation to “make good”’ under the circumstances, as I ap- preciate accidents will happen in transporta- tion, but since you make this offer I will greatly appreciate the favor. My brother-in-law, Mr. Merritt, has been telling me fabulous things of the squab industry, and I propose starting with the 12 pairs, allcwing them to accumulate for two years, and determine positively the per- centage of increase, profit, etc. The birds Mr. Merritt purchased of you have certainly done wonderful work, and this, too, after being shipped to California and then to St. Louis. The birds you shipped me are truly very handsome, and feel sure they will do well. I have been breeding and shipping fancy poultry for the past 15 years —R. W.B.., Missouri. KNOWN BY REPUTATION. I know you by reputation to be the largest and most successful and reliable breeders in America, therefore, I am to buy stock from you and would be glad to have your prices.—H. C. M., Tennessee. MANUAL IS PREPARED EXPERIENCE. The birds I got from you are in every way larger and finer looking than any other Homers I have ever seen around here. Their squabs are larger at the hatch and incom- parably larger at maturity, or four weeks. They seem to be attentive birds and extra good feeders. I love the business and I love my birds. I have followed your Manual as regards feeding and watering and find that I get the best results. It seems to be just what it is, prepared experience for the begin- ner. Mv policy was, if you don’t know, refer to the Manual, and I always found that I did the right thing and very seldom if ever went wrong.—W. T., Virginia. PLEASANT BUSINESS RELATIONS. Our business relations have been so pleasant and satisfactory I will leave it entirely to your discretion in making me a present of a pair of Extra Homers. (Copy of your letter attached herewith explains all.) My birds are doing finely and I know your book by heart and will follow it carefully all through. I will give you an order soon for more Extra breeders.—A. D. W., Kansas. ONE YEAR’S INCREASE. Your book is the best I have seen and is very satisfactory. Just one year ago I purchased 24 pairs of your Plymouth Rock Homers. Now I have 200 young birds. J am well pleased with them. — A. L., Ohio. en LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 264 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS ANOTHER VIEW OF NEW JERSEY PLANT. This breeder tells his story in a letter printed on this page over the initials B. F. B., New Jersey. REPEATED ORDERS FROM A NEW JERSEY CUSTOMER PLANNING TO HAVE 5000 PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. On April 6, 1908, I received from you six pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. On April 16, I received. 13 pairs, and on May 9, 13 pairs more, the majority of each shipment being at work inside of a week after receiving them. , Six pairs were laying on the second day after receipt. At the date of this writing (October 26) I have 100 young birds, as fine as you can find anywhere. The birds received from you and'the young hatched by them are not beatable around these parts. I have not as yet weighed any of the squabs, but from handling them know that they will weigh all that you claim. I have fed as your Manual directs and have not had any trouble from sickness or any sign of lice, as Iam looking after my lofts at alltimes and keep perfectly clean By doing this no lice will linger around. Iam more than satisfied with your business dealings, fair and square in all respects. I have just received from you 104 pairs of Extras, and they are beauties, the talk of the town. In the spring I expect to enlarge my plant so I can put in 5000 or 6000 birds, and you will have the order for stock, as I will know what I am getting. Thanking you for square dealing with me. I will send you next week the $150 for the two special offers and also give you shipping date. All the birds received from you in the past have been O. K. in all respects, but if you have some that you think will go ahead of them I wish you would send them, as I think it will be the means of a large order for you.—B. F. B., New Jersey. PLEASED TO RECOMMEND PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS TO OTHERS. Replying to yours of July 31, in regard to our showing this gentleman around our plant, would say, that we will be pleased to do so. sure he will not hesitate buying from you after he sees our birds for they are proof enough, to our minds, of your fair dealing. Permit us to say that it will be more convenient for us to show him around our place on some Sunday for then we are able to give him better attention.—L. O. N., New Jersey. We feel EIGHT TO NINE PAIRS OF SQUABS A YEAR FROM EACH PAIR OF BREEDERS. The 10 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers purchased from you some time aco are ail working very satisfactorily, averaging eight to nine pairs of squabs a year from each pair of breeders.—D. V. G., New Jersey. THIS IS THE RIGHT TALK. If at any time I can get you any business, you can count on my doing’so.—D. D. C., North Carolina. a LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 265 “UOrqvAASN]]E Sty a41soddo esvd oy} uo pagurad 10}76UZ a8 UOI4dIIosap Jog “IeAME] B ‘ULUT [BUOISSeyoId WMOUy-[[aM BJO way 9} WO St quvyd stqy, “INV1Td GVNOS VLOSUNNIW AALLOVULLY NV MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS SS THIS MINNESOTA CUSTOMER IS A PROMINENT LAWYER WITH A FINE FARM ON WHICH HE RAISES HIS OWN PIGEON FEED. The publication of my place in the St. Paul Press came about not upon my solicitation. All said is true enough and I doubt if I could improve it myself. Then I had the ranch and residence halftoned and stamped on envelopes and letter heads as per enclosed. Of course, I have so much to look after that Iam not able to give the pigeons much attention, but find them “ good to eat’ and nice in appearance. We have no difficulty now in disposing of all the squabs we can produce in St. Pauland at home. We get only $3 per dozen which does very well here as the farms produce wheat, buckwheat, and corn enough for all the birds, horses, cows, hogs and chickens I have. This year I tried Canada peas with satisfactory results. Our main house is 58 feet long, 16 feet wide, with seven-foot posts. It rests upon a stone foundation with stone piers in the center supporting the sills, and is about two feet above the surface. Drop siding is used for weather boarding and matched fencing for inside lining. The space between the lining and drop siding is filled with cinders. The floor is of two thickness of inch flooring and brake-jointed. Ten feet of this house is used as a storing room and for filling the drinking fountains. The building is supplied with heat and city water. There are six flying pens each eight feet wide, 10 feet high and 24 feet long, with roosts as shown in the picture and are covered with one-inch mesh wire number 18. The entire framework support- ing the wire rests upon concrete foundations four inches wide and let into the ground about one foot. Each loft contains 140 nests, 70 nests on each side, leaving a space in the center of six feet. An entry way three feet wide extends along the entire north side of the building with a door opening into each pen. The small building is eight feet by ten feet with shed roof eight feet and five and one-half feet respectively in height. This is used as a mating pen, where an equal number of males and females are placed and when mated are banded and placed in larger lofts. H. W. M., Minnesota. ENLARGING AFTER AN EXPERIMENT WITH THREE PAIRS. I am now making preparations to occupy a new building in the spring, and as soon as I can scare up the money, I want to order more breeders and about 20 dozen nest bowls, as I expect to have a two-unit house besides the one now oc- cupied. I can’t say enough about the breeders I bought of you. My first pair of squabs weighed two pounds, two ounces, the second pair two pounds, and by the looks of the third pair, I believe they will weigh more than any of the first ones. J am going to keep my young ones for breeders, also expect to add more of your stock in the breeding line. If I get my other house up, I can easily accommodate 150 pairs of breeders, and I want them just as fast as I can get them. I feed a little red wheat, Kaffir corn, millet and hemp-seed, buckwheat and barley and Canada peas. I have all told 10 kinds of feed, use the self-feeder for staples and my relishes I feed on a board with raised edges, which I remove from the pen after the birds have finished eating. —R. E. B., Pennsylvania. PLEASED WITH WHAT HE SAW AT MELROSE FARM. I write to let you know I was very much pleased with what I saw at your farm in Melrose and the treatment which I received from your superintendent, and shall send you another order for some more of your birds by spring, as they are all tight. If you haveanynew literature, would you kindly send me the same, as I want to keep in touch with youin regard to anything that I can learn for my benefit.—C. H. H., Massachusetts. The floor of each flying pen is covered with sand from four to eight inches deep.— BETTER HOMERS THAN THIS FANCIER HAD IN HIS COOPS VALUED BY HIM AT TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS A PAIR. Since I wrote you Saturday I had a great pigeon taiser call upon me to ask the privilege of looking at my birds you sent. I asked him to express himself in a candid way as to his opinion of the quality and also if he had any finer birds. He replied, ‘ Well, have several kinds. Some I consider are worth $25 a pair, but I confess I have none that can hold a candle to those birds. They are extremely fine.”” He made strict inquiry about you and seemed wonderfully enthusi- astic and, on his leaving me, remarked he certainly would have to send for some of those birds. I just simply mention this to you for your credit. This is one of the parties I mentioned to you in my first letter wrote you, asking you to send me some good birds, as I did not want to be laughed at. I think you will receive some orders from this part of the country, at least I am hoping so.—T. S., Illinois. RICH PEOPLE SURPRISED BY QUALITY OF PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS. Two years ago I bought 12 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homer pigeons of you with the intention of raising squabs for market. I have never lost but one of the old birds and now have a flock of 225 or 250. About 100 are just beginning to mate. I sold some of the squabs to alady from New York who comes here for the summer, and her colored servant, who came to buy them, said they were the nicest ones he ever saw. The lady lives in an expensive part of the city —W. R., Vermont. eee ees LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 267 sT. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH a Greatest Banquet Ever Given in the West Will Be That at the Coliseum Saturday Night. When hungry ‘Republicans, who have been, crowded Away from the poiitical pie counter; in Missouri for 38 years, gather for their banquet at the Colli- seum, Saturday night, they will face tho greatest quantity of food ever sérved at a single eating fest in the West. There’ will be seated in the great din- dng room: 2266 Republicans. They ~will occupy 7 tables, ‘And 225 waiters have been ‘engaged to serve them. ‘Lyman T,. Hay of ihe Jefferson and Planters hotels, who has undértaken io Satisfy the appetites of the hungry Re- publicans, has ordered food in. the fol- lowing quantities: 225 gallons of soup: 1200 pounds of fish. 1000 pounds ‘filet 2266 squabs, 2500 large rolls of bread 200 loaves of bread. 700 bunches of radishes, 200 bunches of celery, 55 gallons-of olives. 10 boxes of léttuce, ‘10 boxes of chicory. 10 boxes of tomatoes, 30 dozen MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 10. WHITE WHEAT. i No. 10 is good white wheat. 11 shows a poor quality of red wheat. POOR RED WHEAT. (It is all right to feed white wheat to pigeons if you cannot set red wheat.) The berries vary in size, showing that the wheat is a mixture, and sprinkled 12. WHEAT SCREENINGS No. through them can be seen oats and elevator sweepings. No. 12 isan even poorer kind of wheat known as wheat screenings. This is the refuse of a wheat elevator, including sweepings, broken grain, hulls, rat manure, ete. Such swWeepings or screenings are not a profitable feed for pigeons. They are fed quite largely by many people who buy the cheapest they can get of anything, but a flock fed on this will be out of condition and will raise poor squabs. WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS WORTH FIVE DOLLARS A PAIR. My partner sent to the Plymouth Rock Squab Company for a pair of your white Homers and when he got them they were dandy ones. They were worth the money. When he sent for them, we just wanted to see if they were good, and we sent for five more pairs at $2.75 a pair. We got them safely and now Taal sell them for a V—F. L., New ork. RAISED THREE YEARS FOR FAMILY USE. Isaw your advertisement in the Ladies Home Fournal and will be glad if you will send me one of your free 1908 books on squab raising. We bought pigeons of you about three years ago. They have been very satisfactory. We raise them for family use only.—Mrs. J. G. P., Virginia. WOULD PAY TEN DOLLARS FOR THIS BOOK. I would not be without your Manual ‘no, not if it cost me $10 to get one, for it gives me more instruction, pleasure and satisfaction than I can express.—L. A. W., Georgia. WANTS ONLY THE SQUABS WHICH PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRAS BREED. I am mailing you $20 for which I want Extra fancy Plymouth Rock Homer breeders. I am breeding about 100 pairs of Homers that produce squabs that weigh about nine and one-half pounds, but the demand is for the largest. So send me something good. Mr. Chase, my neighbor, bought a few pairs of you about one year ago and has been hav- ing very good success.—HE. E. T., Missouri. RECOMMENDED BY A FRIEND. Will you please send me price list and literature about the raising of squabs? 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 large 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. 1 now (October 5, 1908) have about 360 head of the finest young birds you ever 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 werk = uct? I can get orders for all squabs ! can raise at $3 per dozen f.0.b. cars here, but I have sold oaly, one dozen and I got $4.50 for them. 1 do not care to sell any until I get a big flock of reeders. Iam 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 I have about 155 birds altogether now. I am clearing out the chicken pens and filling them with 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 rest of the orders. I have the largest birds 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. anne nnn rr 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 are doing so poorly that I do mot expect to keep tiem ae expect better results from the ones which I Orde ue: The letters from customers printed in this book are evidence of the wide- sptead 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: I am greatly pleased with the birds sent me, and they seem to be all that you have said in regard tor 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 semtme: They wene Very fide ye aad I was well pleased with them. One disaster after another has followed these birds until now I have none Went. Mist ssa owll cot. dn veamonen io mcmama pulled heads off, which was followed by some other mMistortune. 2 shalt meyer experiment, here vaca am With them. but when © retire trom) the pacid omens labors and so back nome, I certainly intend ewe keep pigeons. I thank you very much for calling 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 prizes and 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 mv 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., Montana, 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 7), 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 way 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 who 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. I 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 I have followed your Manual from a bottle. HOME MADE. For this little plant the breeder has utilized what he had; expending hardly 2 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 There are about seventy different breeds and crosses of pigeons. For squab breeding the Homers and Carneaux have demonstrated their value over a long term of years in all kinds of hands and under all conditions, in all sections and climates and to-day are preferred above all other pigeons. Our experience of fifteen years selling millions of dollars’ worth of pigeons and supplies to hundreds of thousands of customers is worth something to new customers. Customers play with other breeds of pigeons just as we do but the bills are paid by the squabs going to market from Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux. They are workers. That is the main point. They produce more squabs. We have experimented with many other breeds and have searched Europe for something better, but have not found it. The great successes in squab raising have been made with Homers and Carneaux. They are the universal favorites. Remember when buying pigeons for squab breeding that plumage is a secondary consideration. Work is what you want. Squabs are sold with the feathers off. “T handle the squabs of a good many other people here and notice that those that have Plymouth Rock Squab Co. stock are always sending me the best.” The above was written by Stefan Schwarz of California when he was manager of the Pacific Utility Pigeon Association. What is true of California is true of every State and every City on the North American Continent. See the letters from squab marketmen everywhere telling the same impressive fact. Do you wonder why our sales steadily increase? ; “After experimenting with pigeons five years I have settled finally on the Homer as being the best all-round utility bird. At this writing I have seven pens of pigeons. I have three pens of Homers, all foundation stock Plymouth Rock stock. I find the market in this section is strong for squabs that weigh about eight to ten pounds to the dozen with a limited sale for squabs that run larger. The large consumers will consider only such squabs. They never buy anything larger.” The foregoing was written March 2, 1914, by George Klarmann, the secretary of the Pacific Utility Pigeon Association. Both the above, Messrs. Schwarz and Klarmann, write not only out of their own experience, but also after mar- keting thousands of squabs of all kinds bred by others. ONLY CULLS ARE CHEAP, by H. A. Parkhurst. Many prospective customers have involved, also depreciation on _ buildings, stock, etc., to take into consideration. If it a vague idea of the value of good breeding stock. They expect to purchase Al breeding birds, banded and working, for the price of old, worn- out birds, or squabs. Now to get down toa few facts. In the first place, it costs about $1.65 per year to feed a breeding pair of birds, when formerly it cost about $1.25. Squabs do not begin to mate until they are from four to six months old, according to the variety. It costs $1.25 to raise same until.they can be mated and sold as breeders. Then in addition there are your overhead charges, such as in- terest on money invested, labor and time 303 costs $1.65 to feed a pair of breeders per year and $1.25 to raise a pair of squabs before you can sell them for breeders, we will say the percentage cost of feed for the old pair is one- sixth of $1.65, or twenty-eight cents plus $1.25, or $1.53. In addition there are cost of ad- vertising, interest on money invested, etc. In other words, the majority do not figure pro- duction cost. I trust this will shed a little radiance to the purchasing public who think they are being done when they pay over $1.50 per pair for Homers or $3.00 per pair for Car- neaux. 304 MULBERRY STEMS FOR NESTING, by Gordon Lallemand. I started with two pairs of Homers and had a small, wooden pen and did not have very good success, but I gradually learned the ways and habits of pigeons. After that I built a new house unit with the pen nine by ten by fourteen feet. I now use sand all over the floor. I raise all the squabs I want to eat and sell lots of dressed squabs. I have found out that strangers are a great setback to mated pairs, especially those which have squabs. I have had pigeons leave their eggs and let the squabs starve because I let strangers go in or near the pens. In dressing I gather the squabs, cut their large jugular vein in the throat, tie the feet and hang up to bleed, then I pick and put in cold water. I do not cut open the squabs, but leave them as they are. For nesting, I use the small stems of the mulberry. I prefer the white. The pigeons seem to like these better than straw or tobacco stems. WEEDS FOR NESTING MATERIAL, by J. C. Snyder. Bitter weed tops are good for nesting material. It is a small weed that grows wild in Mississippi and is of no value that I can see except for the purpose I have named. It grows about two feet high and has a little yellow flower that is bitter, and if cows eat it the milk will be bitter. We have trouble dur- ing the summer on this account. The way I happened to try them was this. Two weeks before Christmas my nesting material gave out. IJhad been using pine needles and couldn’t spare the time to get more, so just went out in the pasture a few hundred yards from my pigeon lofts and broke off the tops of the weeds. They broke easily because they were dead from the cold weather. I took an armful back and put them in the loft and when I went in to feed that evening it was all gone. Looking around, I saw lots of new nests and in a few days lots of eggs, and now I must say I have more squabs than at any other previous time, and I can attribute it to these bitter weed tops, as they like them better than anything I have yet found. ATTRACTIVE PACKAGE, by Mrs. Walter J. Wilcox. For five years my husband has been reading about squabs. At last he is fairly launched into the business and is so busy that Iam writing for him. Last summer in his spare time he built a house eight by twelve feet and covered it with flexible asphalt roofing paper; red roof and gray walls. The house is divided into two pens, one for Car- neaux and the other for Homers. It was ready for birds September 1, 1914, and in spite of skeptical neighbors and laughing friends, I bought twelve pairs of Homers, colored and white, also four pairs of Carneaux, one pair solid yellow, one pair of solid red and two pairs of splashed, from Mr. Rice. Our neighbors are beginning to sit up and take notice now, for all our trade has come to us. aie 1B INTO XS (G We have disposed of all our squabs and have orders ahead. The squabs go to family trade, for as yet we haven’t enough at a time to send to market. My husband dresses them ready for cooking, then each squab is wrapped in parchment paper, fastened with gummed tape, then packed in boxes containing four. This is wrapped in lavender paper with string to match. On top of this neat package he has a printed label with our trade name, and it is just the thing to go through the parcel post. Perhaps you will think a lot of time is wasted in doing up such a package, but have you noticed how anything in an attractive package or box appeals to the ladies? And it’s the house- keepers who buy our squabs, so why not try to please? I feed and water the pigeons every morning. It gives me a chance to watch the interesting little things and leaves my husband more time for killing and cleaning the latter once a week. He has found a scratch feed such as is given to chickens to be very satisfactory mixed with a liberal amount of peanuts. He is fortunate in being supplied with tobacco stems from the local cigar stores and uses them for nest ma- terial. Just now he is having a new pigeon house built thirty-six feet long. This is only a side line or hobby with us, as my husband has a Government position, also is tenor soloist in one of the large churches. HOW I RAISED THE PRICE FROM $3 TO $5 A DOZ.,by R. M. Ayres. As I enjoy reading the experiences of others, I thought some one would enjoy reading some of mine. My start was on a very small scale, but after I had alittle experience Iinvested in asmall flock of Homers and Carneaux, buying them from the people who I think have made the squab business what it is today. From these I have raised quite a flock. One of the lessons I have learned is that it doesn’t pay to put too many pigeons in one pen. I think twenty-five pairs are plenty. I believe I can get as many squabs out of twenty- five pairs as I can out of thirty-five or forty pairs in the same pen. A word about feed. I read of a number who get large, fat squabs without using any Canada peas. I cannot see how they doit. Just as soon as I quit using peas my squabs commence to lose in weight. I feed a mixture of peas, cracked corn, kaffir corn, buckwheat, millet and wild-grass seed. As to the market end of the business, that has been easy. I have been able to sell all I can raise, at prices ranging from $4 to $5 per dozen. When I started I was selling them at $3 per dozen, but I soon found that did not pay, so I kept pushing the price up until I got it up to $5 a dozen, and my customers pay that just the same as they did the lower price. I use the post-card method of advertising, which I think is the best, as it reaches just the ones you want to reach, while the advertise- ment in the ordinary daily paper is not read by the class of people that you are after. 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 ratin 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- ing 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 isa 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 squabs in a basket and carry them with me. There I 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 tave 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 anewidea. 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. ((948[d duo WO ate SMAIA BA eSeyg [VY “UMOIg “MM “O Aq Ydeidoqoyq) ‘C10 SHGGM UNO CNY SMGHM BHAHL ‘SUAAM OME ‘WHAM ANO S€VNOS XNVANUVO & ss iS) 5 na iy A, = Wii oO IN IDTEX (G: I GIVE UP CHICKENS IN FAVOR OF SQUABS, by Thomas F. Cook. Two years ago hac 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 F laying, and the few squabs I did succeed in Taising were so thin I could not market them. It took me months to get them back in good trim again, but ! 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 fitteen 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. I 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 up a 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 egg 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 choicest*birds 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 capidly, the large birds will multiply. n changing the eggs from one nest to APPENDIX © 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 onl; 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 amceba. ; If eggs are not fertile, they will appear trans- parent with only a small patch of red coloring matter within. Shake the evgs 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 vaised 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. JI 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 ona hill. 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. e are going to enlarge out 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 oaIPee, REFERENCES: FIDELITY TRusT Co. COMMERCIAL AGENCIES =siic— = Paps 5)" (co TELEPHONE CALLS 5302-5303 WortTH afc NEAR CHAMBERS STREET 9729/09 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 tne 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 _yery 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. t is due, we believe, to the ucational efforts of yourself, and the testimony is present in the superior q ty o uabs now be received, as compar Ww & Tew 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, tss/LLO EL bhFow ZW INDEX 1G 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 after 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 mich 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 any length of time, as it tends to make the birds flabby, and by the time they get to the dealer, wno 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 eliminated they will very naturally 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 4 SJLZ DRAYLOAD OF SQUABS FOR ONE OF THE TRANS- ATLANTIC STEAMSHIPS. dll 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. If there is a nest with but one squab do not hesitate to put another with it if it be of the same size. 312 iA , SOUAB 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 mere 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 pairs. I bought them at the right placeand my experience with them was so encouraging, they did so well, that on July 25, 1908, I in= 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 have a house of four units more under construction. I have five units full of breed- ers and cannot get enough squabs for my trade. I have no competition in my Pennsyl- vania city, and the enclosed card will show Ou my prices. ‘ x 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 i, 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, Itell 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 ) EAT ( Trade Mark Squabs appears here We are pleased te quote you prices on fresh Satebs for the month of February, rg90e, as ollows: 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 carc (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 A No. 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 will 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. Eannection. 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 ug 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 doOes, 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 will make more money in shorter time, DOING BUSINESS DIRECTLY WITH YOU, than with anyone else. Yours very truly, Sa 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, fora weekorso. 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 ougnt 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 betfer 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 315 =e ZZ i BOB WIRES WITH ELECTRICAL ATTACHMENT. and enjoyment. The bent wire and cord shown in the picture are for the purpose o 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 tried 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 canlker. : uA 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 eqral them. In the fall of 1907, I began tosave the squabs from the best breeders. JI 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. J] 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 several 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 beaten. Ane EIN I XG NG. 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 and as this is a warm and pleasant loca- tion I do not have frozen squabs in the winter. I give them tobaccostems to build their nests and by frequent cleaning give no chance for the lice to live in my squabhouse. I find that to give a 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 !eft 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. 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 in theevening. 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 you 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. 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 ene pare in a moderate oven for an hour and a half. BRAISED SQUAB. Clean, wash carefully. Put a large olive in the body of each. Bin 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. APPENDIX G 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- ereased 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 I am 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. 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 inacrate, 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 baiance 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. om Fel Pa 2s 9 ee See se he re ool res 2 EXTERIOR sa aa 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, teplace 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 pes Des both a9 anda6. One die serves for oth. j 320 FLYING PEN WITH BOB WIRES. The small holes guarded by the bobs can be seen at the top of the flying pen. e 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 will 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. I 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 @ squab raiser can have all the sunflower seeds he needs for his 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’ PRORF- ITABLE XPERIENCE, by P. A. Heiermann. i have been raising squabs for nearly seven years and have found it a good pay- ing business. Istarted 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 arecordofthem. 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 afew 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. K 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? Answers 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 biack cow, and is generally called a throw-back, or re- version to one of several constituent types. ae white Homers breed true to color as a rule. AP PEN DLS 1G 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 inbreeding. 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. Of course 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 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 as I 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. SPAll 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 i they can find any squabs.—J. W. Mann, ‘exas. 322 =———// nS SSSI IM a al a pA fh T on aT yl ‘ au ee ah nt MT NAA ee AAA AAA y POA AAA [av Ne So el Ni ei eee Sune eS : 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? Awmswer: 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. ANS a i sy Naik ie os ah 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. J 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 an elementary manner as this, I decided to build a unit squabhouse and it is now. built. I-am buying some Carneaux to try also. HORSE RADISH AND SPLIT PEAS, by Edward Gerhard. A good tonic for pigeons is horse radish. Plant it close up to the fly- 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. [I 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. \ Uh 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. I 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. Ihave 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 tight 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. J 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—tor they have proved the fact to their own satisfaction. When you have the tight squabs, your biggest trouble is ioo 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. uestion: One young Homer that hatched had a great deal of white init, although the old ones were blue. Is this liable to hap- en any time? Answer: Yes. The colored omers do not breed true to color. 324 os SS wy SoS Sse A ag ALLELE, ee 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 dc 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. Question: Do pigeons breed as well on the seashore as inland? Answer: 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, whe:e they fly out over the salt marshes and get a good deal of their living from small snails, eaten shell and all. Can peat moss be used for nesting material? Amswer: 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: APPENDIX G 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 | 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 J 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 tor 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. Youshouldsit 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 out 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 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. 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 iknow thorough y, 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 ail 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 1 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 Saturdavs 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 squabs 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. | 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. full. APPENDIX G 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 b:eaks 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 laver 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 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. I 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 license, 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. APPENDIX G ta =) = & Ga s =< oO fs) (=) ss) sa) =) g = val i Pa = fo} (== Ba Qa 13 [an] (2a) (=) = (e) i) iS 3) & Ee (=) (=) iS) me faa) » ok oy AV ONE YEAR’S GROWTH. I would like to write to let you know how I have succeeded with my Carneaux and Homers which I per-_ 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. Haye 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, { still remain a friend of the Puoute 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 bein 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, Minnesoia. 348 MY FEEDBOX IS SIMPLE BUT GOOD. This illustrates the idea. wide. The 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 Sadab 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 oer a pound apiece.—J. W. Bolgiano, Mary- and. The board on the sides should be about three inches wide and the opening above it two and one-half inches 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 raising 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 for a 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 has an 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. APPENDIX G 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. Inone 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 Taisers 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. Only one thickness of boarding, fly-pen in lower picture.) 349 HOW THEY BUILD SQUABHOUSES IN FLORIDA. (Mr. Brown is seen standing by 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- oma. 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. 350 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 ice. Maile Je 1D IND IOG Ce 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 aJl 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 4p.m., in an open feed trough with a re- volving stick running along the top (see page 108 of this boolk). 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 tunning 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 shali 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. LUPE N DI XG 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 callthem 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. PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER OF BELGIAN ORIGIN. Other breeds come ard go, but our larse, 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. have got a good price for allI havesold thissummer. I have 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. ] I 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 alarger 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 by on the latter statement. fam sorry that I did not then know of the breeding qualities of the straight Carneaux. 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.—1T. 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. Eee NED (G 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 Ict 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, ie BU | | ‘ oe: ton in 1904. Fresh dressed, per pair............... $0 Heathers! on. peripain. cies ce eion -65 GIVE MDET DATs eanceauckelen Cites Cero -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. 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. es My pigeons are straight Homers raised from some I bought in Bos-. I have a pair which raise squabs from eighteen to twenty-one ounces at four weeks. They are both 1909 birds. a rooster six months old from this pair that weighs 244 ounces, crop empty.—James T, Fisher, Montana. I have In January, 1910, I bought a few breeders of you, six pairs of Carneaux. 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 squabs. 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. 304 APPENDIX G ALL RAISED FROM ONE PAIR. it is just a year ago since I purchased six pairs oh the Plymouth results. present (December 7) fifty mated pairs and have 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 Rock Extra Homers and I had very successful 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 tought 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 ain 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 IT 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. HOMERS ARE MOST RE- LIABLE FOR SQUABS, by Fred Fisher. I have close onto two hundred mated pairs of Homers. I am selling between i $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. a 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 keeps 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. I[ 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. t} IE IEID INO ED GN 300 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 alittle 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. I 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, 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 191]: 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. MR. 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. 356 i \\ \\ Ay \ ANA 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. 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 G 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—William MM. 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. 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 squabsto 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 tne chickens skinned a country block. They are a great deal less care and more rofit. The pigeons for me every time. I ave 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 lice 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 hens if 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 oo0 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 asit 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. 308 = : ee OSTRICHES AND WHITE HOMERS. NO ADVANTAGE IN BREEDING CROSSES, by J. Wallace Williams. Ido 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. \ IMENE 18) INDIE (Ge 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 raising 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. JIalso 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 twelve 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. I 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. I 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. Whenkilling squabs, this device will be found useful. It is arack 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 thefunnels, head hanging down through the lower hole. The object is to drain out theblood. 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 | traffic 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 is fast creating an appetite for squabs and all we need to make things boom is a union of all squab breeders in and around Cleveland, eeecec ee oe ere e30,6 wee eceenre How to cut the tin, make seam and bend. each funnel to board. SS SHI 10 2, > 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 flown 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 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: ‘‘T 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 $3.50 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 taisers 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. APPENDIX G HOW I LEARNED TO GET GOOD PRICES, by A. J. McCauley. I sold all of the Plymouth Rock Extra Homer squabs I raised in 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 succeeded 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, for they said that they had been putting squabs in cold storage all summer and that they had quite a lotof 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-pound 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 jf 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 havequarters for one thousand birds and ex- pect soon to fill the houses. I amin the business tostay. 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 1 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 Bellevae-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 “eve 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 bette. relied upon by the hotels because of the larg= army of squab breeding shippers pouring squabs into one fum. 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 witrout 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 melted before noon. EFFECT OF MONTANA APRIL SNOW. after a snow on April 13, 1909. 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 wili 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 owick incision should be made. This asa