Cass.S FF 467. ae A A Goprisht N° 14 2 | COPYRIGHT DEPOSIr om 4! : Vee vy veg 7 re mich: aA we, ; APs TNs i mG The National Standard Squab Book ELMER C. RICE FOUNDER OF THE SQUAB INDUSTRY IN AMERICA The National Standard Squab Book By ELMER C. RICE (Mail address, Howard Street, Melrose Highlands, Mass.) “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- {NG,. MARKETING, SHIPPING, CURING AILMENTS, AND OTHER INFORMATION Mlustrated with New Sketches and Half Tone Plates from Photographs Specially Made for this Work THE MURRAY PRINTING COMPANY CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Copyright, 1901, by Elmer C. Copyright, 1902, by Elmer C. Copyright, 1903, by Elmer C. Copyright, 1904, by Elmer C. Copyright, 1905, by Elmer C. Copyright, 1906, by Elmer C. Copyright, 1907, by Elmer C. R Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice 1ce Copyright, 1908, by Elmer C Copyright, 1909, by Elmer C Copyright, 1910, by Elmer C Copyright, 1911, by Elmer C Copyright, 1913, by Elmer C Copyright, 1914, by Elmer C . Rice . Rice . Rice . Rice . Rice . Rice Copyright, 1915, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1917, by Elmer C. Rice Copyright, 1921, by Elmer C. Rice All*righ’s 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.’ OC. A605599 — Ruskin. Preface Chapter I. Squabs Pay Chapter II. An Easy Start Chapter III. The Unit House Chapter IV. Nest Bowls and Nests Chapter V. Water and Feed. Chapter VI. Laying and Hatching Chapter VII. Chapter VIII. Chapter IX. Chapter X. Chapter XI. Chapter XII. Supplement Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F CONTENTS Increase of Flock Killing and Cooling The Markets Pigeons’ Ailments Getting Ahead Questions and Answers Plymouth Rock Heaish Grit Carneaux and Homers not in Same Pen Double-Number Color Bands 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 iMiceo 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 Byecedine Pen Twigs for Nesting Materials Clamoring for Squabs in Washington State Oklahoma and Indian Territory Avpendix G . LELUStRADLLONS Page Page Page AUthoniate.siereisicrasts 6] Pigeons Sunning ...209} Whole Corn....... 289 Well-Built Nest.... 8]Squab House In- Coarse Cracked... .289 P.R. Homers... 2. LA atberiOnsein alee ol Ol inel@racked!i ksi. 289 Back Yard House .. 18] Womanand Squabs.211| White Wheat...... 290 Cheap Nest Boxes.. 22|Backof Barn. .....212]Poor Red Wheat... .290 Attic Squabbery ... 24|Shipshape Pen..... 213| Wheat Screenings. . 290 Unit Squab House... 26| Feather Nest...... DIA Barleycs aos esol: 291 Solid Nest Boxes... 28] Different Sizes..... PAS KO ERIS harnitore cals a 291 Nest Boxes on Inexpensive Start ..216|Sunflower Seeds... .291 Cleatsin ir ctsvals\cae Row of Beauties... .217| American Millet... .292 interio of House.. 32|Tame Pigeons...... 218] Siberian Millet... ..292 T apfor Mates.... 36|ReadytoKill...... 219} Golden Millet...... 292 Multiple Unit Ho se 38 Squabs 25 Days. ...220]Rice Unhulled..... 293 Interior of Same.... 40|/IntheSnow....... DOU WRICEscveneis, ees iene 293 Multiple Unit House 42 Squabs 3 Weeks... . 222} Buckwheat........ 293 Squab House Fix- Squabs 12 Days. . .223}GraniteGrit....... 294 qtEKe So GoGo nS 46|Few DaysOld..... 224) Quartz Grit........ 294 Berrys@rates 5. >. 50| Nest of Stems...... 225|Same Crushed..... 294 Rich Man’s Farm .. 58] Raised from Extras. 226] Health Grit........ 295 Eggsin Nest....... 64) \Carneauxe nee 227| Coarse Shell....... 295 Squabs just Hatched 64| Carneau and Homer 236) Pigeon Shell....... 295 Squabs One Week.. 66/Double Squab Mixed Grain....... 296 Squabs Two Weeks. 66] House.......... 243|South Carolina Squabs Three Weeks 68| Extra Homer Male.250}_ Plant.......... Squabs Four Weeks. 68)Extra Homer Ordinary Quarters.301 Mating Coop...... (Ol emales eee: 52|Home Made....... 302 Venice Pigeons..... 74|Barn Fly Pen...... 256 | Association Button . 304 GMs INE ee 80| Three Squabs...... 257 | Hanigan’sSquabs. .305 Squabs Coo.ing.... 82}Any Old Place..... 259) Carneaux Squabs. ..306 Dressed Squabs.... 86] Protected by Hill. ..262]Squab Plant Moved 307 iPPyReeelomens)|+). NATIONAL STANDARD SOUAS BOOKS 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 and in three years built up the largest and best plant in the State of New Hampshire. His wife and son, with himself, have attained a high degree of skill and proficiency in the handling of their pigeons. The squabs they are breeding weigh at least nine pounds ‘to the dozen. They ship to New York City, where they get very high prices. Mr. Tyson started by using the self-feeder for grain, as we advise, but being influenced by something seen in print, abandoned it and gave the open-trough method of feed- ing, twice or three times a day, a thorough trial. Immediately the birds began to fall off in production, and the squabs fell off in weight, some lots getting so skinny as to lose nearly two pounds to the dozen. That experience was enough. The Tysons went back to the self-feeder and now their squabs are plump, as they were in the first place, the old birds are in better condition, and breeding better. Do not put into the self-feeder a great lot of grain, but only enough to last about two days. A great quantity is liable to take up moisture in a spell of rainy weather and go stale, and is not relished by the birds as if it were supplied fresh every two or three days. Remember that grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell grit. You must have both. We sell tons of our Plymouth Rock health grit, and it is the best economy to feed it. We have sold it for twenty 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. CHAP LT ERAVA, LAYING AND HATCHING. Laying an Egg is under the Control of the Pigeon’s Mind— Fertile and Infertile Eggs— How the Cock Drives the Hen— One Day between Egges— 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 tf you Start with 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. Ina 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 donot sit close on the first egg, but stand over it, and do not incubate it. Sometimes one squab may get more than its share of food, and the younger one will weaken and die. This seldom happens but if you see one squab considerably larger than the other, the thing to do is to exchange with a squab from another nest that is nearer the size of the remaining squab. The old birds will not notice the change but will continue feeding the foster squab. The process of laying an egg is a mental operation. We mean by this that it is not a process which goes on regularly ‘in spite of all conditions. The hen forms the egg in her body and lays it when she is in condition to, and when she wants to, not when she is forced to. In other words, the hen lays when conditions are satisfactory to her. That she forms the egg at will is proven by many things, principally by the fact that she allows one day to come in between the first and 63 THE QUICK GROWTH OF SQUABS FROM EGGS TO KILLING AGE IN FOUR WEEKS IS ILLUSTRATED ON THIS PAGE, PAGE 66 AND PAGE 68. EGGS IN THE NEST. SQUABS JUST HATCHED. 64 LAYING AND HATCHING 65 the second eggs. No doubt, after she has laid the first egg, she hurries the other along and lays it as soon after the first as she can, and it takes forty-eight hours for the egg, complete in its wonderful construction, to form. Hen pigeons in a ship- ping crate or close coop do not lay eggs, because they know that there are no facilities there for raising young. Once in a while you will find an egg in a shipping crate when the birds are taken out, but it is a comparatively rare occurrence. Of course, in order to lay a fertile egg, the hen pigeon must have received the attention of the cock bird. It is common for a hen pigeon at five months, and sometimes four, to lay an egg, but as a rule those first eggs from a young hen are not fertile because she has not yet mated with the cock bird. You can tell by holding the egg up to the light ter 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. LAYING AND HATCHING 67 weeks old, it is taken out of the nest and killed and both the mature birds are concerned then only with the new hatch. This sequence of eggs and hatches goes on all the time. If there are not two nests, the two new eggs will be laid in the nest where are the growing squabs. The parents in their eagerness to sit on the new eggs will push the squabs out of the nest and they will die for lack of sustenance. The hen lays the eggs about four o’clock in the afternoon. The cock and hen take turns at covering the eggs, the hen sitting during the night until about ten o’clock in the morning, when the cock relieves her, remaining on until the latter part of the afternoon. When the squabs are taken out for market at the end of four weeks, the nest bowl and nest box should be cleaned. If this cleaning is done once a week, no trouble from parasites will result. In the summer it is well to add a little carbolic acid to the whitewash as an extra precaution. Sprinkle unslaked lime on the floor of the squab house and in the nest boxes, and spray squab-fe-nol freely. One way of mating or pairing pigeons is to turn males and females in equal number into the same pen. They will seek their own mates and settle down to steady reproduction. Another method is to place the male and female which you wish to pair in a mating coop or hutch. In the course of a few days they will mate or pair and then you may turn them loose in the big pen with the others. The latter method is necessary when improving your flock by the addition of new blood, or when keeping a positive record of the ancestry of each pair. By studying your matings, you may improve the efficiency of your flock. In the case of a new flock of pigeons shipped to a new home, all do not go to work at the same time. Those pairs which get to work first are bothered by the slower pairs. To judge from the advertisements of some breeders, anxious to claim everything for their birds and their wonderful matings, the beginner would think that all the birds he buys from them will go to work immediately when released in their new home. This is far from the truth. The pairs will go to work to suit themselves as to time. Some will be quick, others slow. As fast as each pair goes to work, it should be caught and placed in the breeding pen. The first pen, into which the birds SQUABS THREE WEEKS OLD. SQUABS FOUR WEEKS OLD. Ready to be killed for Market. 68 LAYING AND HATCHING 69 were put on arrival, then can be used for the rearing pen for * youngsters raised in the breeding pen. In case a pigeon loses its mate by death or accident, the sex of the dead one must be ascertained. The live one should be removed from the pen and placed in the mating coop with a pigeon of the opposite sex. The mating coop should have a partition of lattice work or wire. Place the cock in one side, the hen in the other, and leave them thus for two or three days to flirt and tease each other, then remove the central lattice work or wire and they usually will pair, or mate. If they show no disposition to pair but on the contrary fight, replace the partition and try them for two or three days longer. If they refuse to pair after two or three thorough 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 wish specially to emphasize the fact that the color of the feathers has no influence on the color of the skin of the squab. A white feathered bird does not mean a white- skinned squab. The feed affects the color of the meat a little. A corn-fed pigeon will be yellower than one fed on a mixture. Squabs with dark skins (almost black in some cases) are the product of blood matings. The trouble with a dark-colored squab is in the blood and the only remedy is to get rid of them THE MATING COOP. One way of mating squab breeders is to turn cocks and hens in equal numbers into the same pen. The mating coop is used when the breeder wishes to pair a certain male with a certain female. The above mating coop is divided by a partition. The cock is placed on one side of the partition, the hen on the other, as pictured. They are left thus for a day or two to tease each other Then raise the partition, or take it out, and allow them to approach each othe. 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 to the plump dark-skinned ones. As a rule, squabs from Homer pigeons are white- skinned—the dark-colored squab is an exception. Many beginners wish to know if it will be all right for them to buy a flock and keep it in one house for six months or a year, paying no attention to the mating or pairing of the young birds, but leaving that to themselves, so as to get without much trouble a large flock before the killing of the squabs for market begins. Certainly, you may do this, providing extra nest boxes from time to time until your squab house has been filled with nests; then you will have to provide overflow quarters. We are asked if the flock will not become weakened by inbreeding, that is, a brother bird mating up to a sister, by chance. According to the law of chances, such matings would take place not very often. Pigeons in a wild state, on the face of a cliff, or in an abandoned building, would pair by natural selection. The stronger bird gets the object of its affection, the weaker one is killed off or gets a weaker mate, whose young are shorter-lived, so the 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 12 INATIONAL* STANDARD: SO CAB ME Ore 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 litle faults and peculiarities to an amazing degree. Every intelligent, careful pigeon breeder is striving by his forced matings to push along the path of progress the peculiar- ity in pigeons which is his specialty. The breeder who selects most carefully and keeps at it the longest wins over the others. By selecting from your best and most prolific breeders the biggest and fattest squabs, keeping them for breeders and mating so as to get something larger and plumper, you are all the time getting bigger squabs. Every breeder of squabs has it in his power to increase the efficiency of his. flock by studying his matings. There is commerical satis- faction in breeding for size and plumpness because it pays at once, and at the same time the breeder has the satisfaction of increasing the stamina and variety of pigeons. To be master of the matings, the breeder should band his squabs. As soon as they are weaned (that is, as soon as the breeder sees them flying to the feed and eating it) they should be taken and put into one of the rearing pens. When about six months old, the breeder should begin mating them by selection, using the mating coop, then when they are mated turn the pair into a working pen with other adult birds. By looking at the number on the band of each bird, then on your record card, you know how to avoid mating up brother and sister. When the young birds are just over four weeks old, or between four and six weeks, they are able to fly a little, and if they do not hop out of the nest (or are not pushed out by the parents) you may push them out yourself. They are now able to feed themselves. If these young birds are left in the squab house, they will bother the old birds by begging for food, and this infantile nagging will hinder the regular breeders in their next hatch, so the very best thing to do is LAVING AND HATCHING 73 to put the young birds by themselves into a rearing pen, where they cannot bother anybody. Of course there is likely to be a little inbreeding when you eave the birds to choose for themselves, but not much. If the breeder has not the time to make forced matings, then he may not care to make them. Remember in mating that "xe begets like. The parent bird that feeds its young the most, and most often, will raise the biggest squab. Some- times a parent bird will have fine nursing abilities and will stuff its offspring with food. These good-feeding qualities are transmitted from one generation to another and are as much under the control of the breeder as size and flesh-color. Your biggest squabs will be found to have an extra-attentive father or mother, or both. A pigeon with a dark skin, if mated to a white-skinned bird will produce a mulatto-like squab. It is the large, fat, white-fleshed squab which you are after. Disregard the color of the feathers when mating. If when plucking your squabs you come across a “ nigger,”’ that is, a squab with a dark skin, find out what pair of breeders it came from and whether_the cock or the hen is at fault, and get rid of the faulty one. It is important to start with adult birds that are not related, then you will not begin inbreeding. That is why we make a special effort with our adult birds to have them unrelated. Some letters from customers make plain to us that a clear knowledge of what inbreeding means is not possessed by everybody. Several have written to this effect: “‘If I buy two or three dozen pairs from you to start, how can I increase the size of my flock without inbreeding?’ When (l)a brother is mated to sister or (2) a father to a daughter, or (3) a mother to a son, or (4) a grandson to his grandmother, etc. that is inbreeding. We know it is forbidden by law for human beings to mate in that manner, because (a) God in the Scriptures has forbidden it, and (b) because the State does not wish to have to care for the puny, weak-minded offspring that would result from such unions. We all know that the marriages of cousins often result in demented, diseased chil- dren. Now suppose you buy two dozen pairs of pigeons of us, and number them pairs one to twenty-four. If you mate the offspring of pair two (or any other pair)to the offspring of pair one (or any other pair) that is cutbreeding or cross (4 NATIONAL STANDARD SQOUAB WOOK breeding. What you do not do, and what you try to prevent, is the mating of the offspring of pair number one (or any other pair) to each other. So, you see, if you have a dozen or two pairs, you need never inbreed, for there is an infinite variety of matings possible. Breeders of animals sometimes inbreed purposely in order to get better color of fur or plumage, or finer bones, etc. There are no brothers and sisters in the flocks we sell. If you buy one dozen or twenty dozen pairs of breeders of us, the pairs will be unrelated, and you need never inbreed. We never heard a real pigeon breeder worry much about inbreeding, because the likelihood of it in a flock of even a dozen pairs is extremely remote, as we have demon- strated above. PIGEONS IN ST. MARK’S SQUARE, VENICE. Get acquainted with the pigeons which you buy of us, and let them get ac- quainted with you. They will work all the better for being tame and docile. These pigeons in Venice are fed by tourists on corn only. A peddler selling whole corn for two cents a package sits all day long on the steps at the base of the monument. Several photographers in the square make a specialty of taking pictures of tourists feeding the pigeons; snap shots by amateurs are constantly being made. In this city of canals, these pigeons get no 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 stuntea growth. They are so tame that they will perch on your hand and eat grains of corn held in your lips. CHAPTER VIT. INCREASE OF FLOCK. It is Possible to Breed One Pair of Squabs Each Month, but in Actual Practice this 1s Seldom Attained—The Squab Raiser with Pure Thoroughbred Homers should Count on Six to Nine Pairs of Squabs a Year—The Common Pigeon Breeds Only Four or Five Pairs of Squabs a Year, but Eats as Much or More than the Homer—Dufferences 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 one of our visits to squab breeders, we asked every one with whom 75 1 NATIONAL STANDARD SOQUAB BOOK we talked how many pairs a year he was getting from his birds, and about all of them said seven to nine. This expe- rience corresponds with ours. We remember particularly an old gentleman, Preacher Hubbell, in Vineland, who had been in the squab business for years but was just going out of it, having sold his place, pigeons and all, to a Swede farmer. He told us he had always made squabs pay him and that his birds, of which he kept a careful record, raised him nine pairs to the year right along. It is a well-known fact that the common pigeon will breed only four or five pairs of squabs a year, and if handlers of big flocks of common pigeons, like Johnson of California, can make a net profit of one dollar per pair a year from such low breeders, we think anybody of no experience is justified in believing our statement that our Homers are capable of earning a net profit of from two to three dollars per pair a year, taking into account not only their fast breeding qualities, but the superior size of the squabs. Here in New England we consider the common pigeons inconstant and lappy-go-lucky breeders. They are not in the same class at all with the Homer pigeon. The common pigeon, the pigeon which flies the streets of our cities and towns, is a mixture of all kinds of pigeons, and it partakes of the faults of each, and not of the virtues. Its outward appearance is large, but it is an effect of feathers and not of flesh. Its feathers are loose and fluffy an? its muscles soft and flabby. Its head is smaller than that of a Homer, the deficiency being marked in the curve of the skull which covers the brain. The Homer has a white flesh ring around the eye, but the common pigeon has none. The Homer has the largest brain of any variety of pigeon, and discloses this fact by its behavior. It has more sense and behaves with more intelligence. Its wonderful homing instinct marks it above and beyond all classes of pigeons and it is this quality which gives it a commercial value all over the world. The feathers of the Homer are laid close like a woman’s glove and the muscles under it feel as hard and firm as a piece of wood. Its breast is firm and well protected, with just the right amount of fullness. Its chest is large, indicating good lung power and staying qualities. Its wings are trim and shapely, in flight the poetry of motion. The poise of its body and head reminds one of a race-horse listening for the signal to speed over the ENCKREASE OF FLOCK (its 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 SQUAB 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. CHAPT Ek VIE. KILLING AND COOLING. Kill the Squabs in the Morning when their Crops are Empty — Drive the Animal Heat out of their Bodies by Hanging them from Nails — 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 Htghest Price from the Dealer. The time to kill the squabs is in the morning, when the crops areempty. Gather themina hand basket and take to the kill- ing room. Hold the squab under left arm, open mouth with fingers of left hand and with the killing knife which we sell make one cut inside at back of throat, top side. The squab immediately begins bleeding copiously. Hang it head down- wards at once from nails as noted below and let the blood drip out thoroughly onto sanded floor, meantime taking the next squab. If the cutting is properly done, the squab bleeds out wholly while dying. A white squab is the result. Without bleeding the blood shows through the skin and the squab looks dark, a poor condition. 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 KILLING AGE OF SQUABS A pair of Plymouth Rock Extra Homer squabs four weeks old in the nest, ready to be taken out and killed for market. They are in full feather at this age and frequently weigh as much or more than the parent birds but as soon as they get out of the nest and run around they train off thisfat and becomelean. The cere on the bill of squabsis brown and tender and not hard and white as in|the case of the old birds. Thisis the quickest way to tell them from old pigeons, alive or killed. The squabs pictured here weighed one pound each, which is exceptional for Homer squabs. 80 KILLING AND.COOLING $1 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 market 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 velour and takes on a darker shade. You do not want either of these two conditions. If you tie up your killed squabs by the feet when shipp > ~ - 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. Pus 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 to vool. ‘The 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 $2 CAA PER A. 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—White-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. oe : A 84 NATIONAL STANDARD SOUASB: BOOK Squabs delivered by our customers there invariably bring from one to one dollar and fifty per dozen more than the Boston market. Thisis because there are more rich peoplein 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. In fact, now and for the past twenty-five years, most of the squabs sold in Boston are brought in from Philadelphia and New York, as there are not enough squabs raised in the whole of New England to supply Boston. Our advertising has stabilized the squab markets in every state. Where formerly squab breeders in the West thought they ought to ship to New York to get the highest prices, now they get them at home. Customers in sections remote from the East, such as New Mexico, or Idaho, will stock up largely with our breeders, and we find on investigating that they are shipping squabs to markets near them at prices as good as New York and Philadelphia prices. Newspaper market columns sometimes will be found quoting, ‘“‘ Pigeons, 20 cents,” or again, ‘‘ Pigeons, $4 per dozen.” Also, ‘‘ Squabs, prime, large, white; ditto mixed; ditto dark.” The style of quotation varies with the periodical and the mean- ing of these terms requires explanation. 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 field and gathers up all the killed and maimed birds he can THE MARKETS 85 find, and sells them for two and three cents apiece, or for any- thing he can get, and these find their way into the markets. There are now laws in most states forbidding pigeon trap shooting. When you see in the market quotations the expression, ‘“‘ Squabs, prime, large, white,” this does not mean squabs with white plumage. Squabs in the city markets are sold and dis- played with the feathers off. The “‘ prime, large, white ’’ squabs are those raised by our Extra Homers and Extra Carneaux. These are always the best squabs in the markets and bring the highest prices. ‘““Squabs mixed’’ means that the squabs have not been graded so as to be uniform in size, but are various sizes, such as would be bred by a person who has several breeds of pigeons, or pigeons bought from several sources, with no uniformity of output. By the quotation, “‘Squabs, dark,” is meant the squabs from common pigeons and cheap Homers which have dark flesh. Squabs whose flesh is dark do not sell for as much as the white-fleshed squabs. Be sure you start with Plymouth Rock Homers or Plymouth Rock Carneaux, or both, and breed ‘“‘ prime, large, white ”’ squabs of class and uniformity. Don’t try to raise squabs from crosses or pigeons from different sources. Pigeons are of all colors, 7. 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 one dollar to three dollars 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 sell them. Then you will learn the true prices. ‘jeour [[@ AjIvau ere sqenbs sayy, “Tyeus AraA are Seuoy FY, ‘snordtfap pue J90U9} JSOUI AIB PUB JSVOJ YIM palo Ppaddras ATJensn ov AOUL_ “YO SIoy} aj 9YI YIM ‘aSe Jo syaam INO} 4v sqenbs paiq Tes je ssouduinjd pure ozis ajqeyieues ayy Jo eopt ‘SdVQNO0s Gassaud ATUL dane er ‘S, ~ THE MARKETS 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: ‘‘ 1 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 was doing well then 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 SOCUAS 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. PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMERS The two birds in the foreground are blue bars. The bird next the post, with head turned, isa blue checker. The splendid size of our strain is well shown in this photograph. CHAPTER A: 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 it is 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—TIt does Not Pay to Dose a Sick Pigeon, Better Turn it 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 8e 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. 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 wild pigeons in the streets and we never saw a case of canker among them. 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 them. We wish to assure all who 92 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB 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 1s 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 XT. GETTING AHEAD. Make your Birds Pay for themselves as they Go Along, unless you Wish to Wait Patiently until a Small Flock Increases to a Large One — Better to Take the Money Made from 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 if 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 is, 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 thirty years ago. The fact that. GETTING AHEAD 95 some were inaking 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 twenty 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 breeders 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 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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. ‘‘ We 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 m 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 customers 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. The development in the pigeon and squab industry during the past twenty years caused by our advertising in the national periodicals has been helped greatly by favorable shipping rates made by the express companies. To learn them, walk into any interstate express office and ask to see the rate-book, looking . for the classification Pigeons, or have the clerk find it for you. Rate-books are open to public inspection. 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 remote 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 satisfyin - 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 had 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, were charged for transportation at the single or merchandise rate. Between points where the single or merchandise rate was less than two dollars per hundred pounds, live animals were charged the animal rate (which was double the merchandise rate). Poultry (not pigeons) were charged the one and one-half rate when the rate per one hundred pounds is less than two dollars. We now ship live pigeons at the second-class rate, which is lower than the rate charged for ordinary merchandise. Squabs go at an even lower rate. 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. 100 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 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. CHAPTER. XLT, 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 in Size of Nest Boxes— How Squabs are Artificially Fattened — Shipping to England — Training Flyers — A Remarkable Service for Messages between Islands. Question. I 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. I 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 allis 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 STANDARD SOCGUAB EBOOK 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. 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 diarrhoea. What shall I do? (83) 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 diarrhoea. (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. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 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 use ice? 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? Answer. It is 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 wired in. 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, o: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 105 in a corner. 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 “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 1906 NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK Question. Seems to me that if I start with forty-eight pairs of birds, I 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? Amswer. 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 hand 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. A backward squab may be forced in this manner. Question. Can you sell me twelve pairs of young Homers, about eight weeks old? Amswer. No. It is impossible to tell the sex of pigeons of that age. Any breeder who under- takes to furnish squabs several weeks old in equal males and females cannot do so and is imposing on you. _ Question. Please give recipes for cooking squabs. An- swer. See the cook books. Squabs are generally served broiled. They should be drawn, singed and washed. Cut off the heads, split into two parts, season, put on a lump of butter and broil over a hot fire. Place close to the fire at first so as to brown the outside and retain the juices, then hold further away from the fire to complete the cooking. If roasted, leave them in a hot oven for thirty minutes. For roasting, squabs may be stuffed with cranberries or currants. Baste every ten minutes with spoonfuls of hot water and butter. Question. How shall I train the young birds raised from your Homers to fly? Answer. There is a large business in flying Homers and if you have a pen or two of trained birds you can sell them at fancy prices. There are homing clubs all over the country which have contests and it is worth while for a breeder to work for a reputation of breeding and selling fast flyers. The young Homers when five months old are strong enough to be trained to fly. Take them in a basket (having omitted to feed them) a mile or two away, and liberate them one by one. They will circle in the air, then choose the correct course. You should have left grain for them as a reward for their safe arrival home, and an induce- ment for their next experience in flying. Two or three days later take or send them away five miles and repeat. Next try ten miles, and so work on by easy stages up to seventy- five or one hundred miles. If you have a friend in another _city, you may send your birds in a basket to him with instruc- tions to liberate certain ones at certain hours, or you may send the basket by train to any express agent, along with a letter telling him to liberate the birds at a certain hour and send the basket back to you. If you wish to have the birds carry a message, write it on a piece of cigarette paper (or any strong tissue), wrap the paper around the leg of the bird and SELF-FEEDING GRAIN TROUGH. It is quite difficult to de- vise a grain trough from which the pigeons cannot throw grain out, as they poke around in search of tid-bits. The trough illustrated at the top of this page is a good one, The grain falls down in each compartment as fast asit is eaten, The pigeons when eating stand in the front part of the trough and if they pull out any grain, this is not scattered on the floor of the squab- house but on the board front, from which it may be swept up as neces tye ie Bate tern of trough was de- signed by Dr. F. D. SELF-FEEDER FOR GRAIN Clum. One sketch j f shows the box without cover and the other with cover in its proper place, protecting the entire box and contents from droppings of the birds. The dimensions do not mat- ter. A good size would be about four feet long and two feet wide. This would allow for feed compartments about five inches wide, nine in number. The trough for grain illustrated at the bottom of this page is for use when feeding by hand twice a day. It was devised by Charles W. Brown. It is simple and open, still the birds cannot foul the grain in it. The size shown in the pic- ture is four inches wide and _ two inches deep inside, thirty-six inches long outside. Twenty birds can feed at once at this size. The ends are four inches high J inside to centre of Divot. These pivots are the feature of the trough and give it its ENO View SIDE VIEW novelty. The birds cannot get into the box and foul the feed be- cause the bar is in the way. As the bar is : : pivoted and _ turns when they alight on it, Top View they cannot roost on it. The pivoted wood bar is of one-inch square stock. The box also is of one-inch = stock, so as to be heavy and strong. The box is doce enousl ie pre- > vent birds from throw- OPEN TROUGH WITH REVOLVING BAR Tae ont ithe cra sae 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. 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 Auckland to Great Borrier. 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 110: ‘NATIONAL STANDARDS OUAi SE OOS 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. Takea 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 111 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? Answer. 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 Wi? NATIONAL STANDARD SOUCUAB bOCkK birds follow their eggs and accept change of nest from floor tc 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 precision. 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? Answer. 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 atl 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 NATIONALE “STANDARD: SO UAB 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 about 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 SUPPLEMENT 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 iong and seven inches wide. The upper arm (or ies) is of half-inch stock, one and three-quarters eg |) |) inches wide and fifteen inches long. The lower arm is of half-inch stock one and three- quarters inches wide and eight and one-half 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 irds. 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 purpose in the same way; see our catalogue. These 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. 2 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 to 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 uiot 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 Heaith 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. Ay 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! STANDARD SOUAS BOOK 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 three 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 difficult in some sections of the West and South to get oyster shell, which has to be transported from the seaboard. Oyster shell of the proper size is now put into our Health Grit and if you feed this, you can get along without a special supply of oyster shell. Oyster shell . fed by itself is not very appetizing to the birds but they take it in as part of the Health Grit, which they eat greeedily. 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. If 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 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 ; SUPPLEMENT 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- times 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. It is im- ossible for us to tell what is the difference etween 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 a 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-tenths 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 jnests. “They are all the time on the fluoor,’’ 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 pizeon 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-grown pigeon) out of the closed band, you simply make a saw-cut lengthwise the band, then open the band Liy with your fingers, put it around the leg of the pigeon, then ‘elo ose 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. Té eis 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 scvand in the bath pans in the squab-house in tve winter time all day, they will splash “ua much out onto the floor, and the house ~w.*’ get damp. your plant is a small one, the best ws for you to manage is this: At evenin, (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. 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 118 a wound which is visible to the eye of the customer. Use a knife with a long, narrow, sharp blade. We sell them for fifty 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. It is not necessary to nail a strip of wood across the fronts of the nest-boxes, to prevent the squabs from falling out. : 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 buildings, and if squabs zl 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. If 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 ductive 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. ggs 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 dezen 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 bornabout 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 big 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 SUPPLEMENT 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 results thus far obtained. I am about to build two houses, each house to accommodate two hundred and fifty airs, divided into five flocks of fifty pairs. nclosed 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 (9'2) 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 inbreeding 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 $7.08, payment for the following order: three dozen wood nappies, three bath ans, four galvanized iron drinkers. Ship y freight or express as is cheaper. Some- thing over a year ago I bought twelve pairs of pigeons 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 altogether 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. I 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 June 27, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen pila OOSE. nn saeeinceiee cee Oo DOlaldozen| Aug. 22, 1903....... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Sept. 19, 1908....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Oct. 24, 1903........ 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen Nov. 14, 1903....... 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Dec. 5, 1903......... 4.50 and 5.00 a dozen Jan. 30, 1904....... 5.00 and 6.00 a dozen Rebs ZOMN9O4. noe aslo 4.50.a,00zen 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....... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen July 23, 1904........ 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen Aug. 18, 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 Novy. 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 Anis UO 9IO5S Ce. aceinsle cee.) 4050/ a 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; U90G65.2. 5. 35 ies wc 400 a dozen Marae LOUG stecrce 4.75 a dozen Apre ial Q06e: sot cn 6 5.00 a dozen May, 2619068. . u22 © osc. len! 0150-4. dozen June WG 19065 6G 65 3: 4.00 a dozen ulvedS TOG «an. asos ont 1o.00la dozen Ae 227 O0G nse den cites sucay G.o0ra. dozen Oct 20 PT9OGI Se os cic ccnnsded cies. do a dozen Vane oy 90 fas nclie ener cls lon ren sD LO01a dozen an. 19, 1907........ 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen ar. 9, 1907........ 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen Mar. 23, 1907....... 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen Apr. 6, 1907......... 4.00 and 5.00 a dozen June 29, 1907....... 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen Sept. 28, 1907............. .. 4,00 a dozen Nov. 23, 1907....... 3.00 and 4.50 a dozen Dec. 14, 1907........ 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen Paty 1S, 1908). vie cdessicclsees sc D00 a. Gozen 120 es 25, 1908........$4.00 and $5.00 a dozen eb. 8, 1908......... 4.00 and 5.00 a dozen Mars 25 sl908 iis eer 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 uly 3, 1908......... 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 squabs 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 buvers in that city, suchas 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 ott, 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 high 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 rich 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 newspaper 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 sell 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 sinzle 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 smal duck. Sane 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, after 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 leading periodicals, 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. “It was our pleasure within the last two weeks to visit the home plant of the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., at Melrose, Mass. We were beautifully 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 character. 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. So far as we can 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 ye oe 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 rolific in proportion to their smallness. The argest 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 from 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 communicate 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 California, 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 maintained, 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. “T 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 toa 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 of squabs, and never had any in his store, and, consequently, never had any calls for them. J 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 get 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 right here in this city are constantly in receipt of letters from hotels and clubs in Denver wanting to buy squabs. NATIONAE STANDARD SOCABD 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 pigeons. 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 so with 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 tales 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 SUPPLEMENT time to.do other work around a place. The writer finds it a snap to other occupations and one is his 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 monthly magazine, one of the handsomest and highest-toned publications, the experience of a gentleman in squab raising gives the following facts: ‘‘Six years ago 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. I had 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 excepting the dollars the birds have earned, and my present establishment of five houses and fifteen hundred pigeons, 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 ‘rds, gives them first-class care, uses ordinary good judgment in managing the business, and has stick-to-it enough to give the business a fair test before giving up.—W. A. G., Ohio. HIS NEIGHBOR, AN ENGLISH EXPERT, COMPLIMENTED HIS PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. My neighbor, an Englishman, who has raised pigeons all his life from the time he was a boy in England, complimented my Plymouth Rock Homers very highly. One side of his pigeon pen forms one side of mine, our two houses joining, and we have a good way to compare the birds, side by side. He has fine birds (raises his for fliers), but, although a novice in the business myself and not authoritative on the matter, I would not trade my pigeons for any he has. It was evident at the start that the birds you sent me were well mated, and my neighbor also remarked how well they seemed to be paired, and how devoted the pairs were to each other. I think also, that quite an affection has already grown up between myself and the birds, of a reciprocal nature, and I am thoroughly leased and satisfed—R. R. M., West irginia. SQUABS SOLD IN OHIO AT AN AVERAGE PRICE OF $3.36 A DOZEN. My squabs are doing fine now. We have marketed 724 squabs since October 12, 1907, to June 20, 1908, off 210 pairs of birds—average price apiece, 28 cents.—W. H., Ohio. THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY CHANGED HIS BABYHOOD PLAY-HOUSE INTO A SQUAB HOUSE AT A TOTAL EXPENDI- TURE OF TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. I changed an old play-house into a squab house and built a pen and the whole thing cost me 25 cents for bolts and wire staples. I will send you sometime some photographs of my Plymouth Rock Homers and my house. follow the instructions in your Manual and am well vatisfied with everything. My papa ordered the pigeons for me. Your well- pleased customer.—W. C., Massachusetts. Note. We print this boy’s letter because we think he holds the record on cheapest squab-house construction (or remodeling). Who can beat it? STARTED WITH CHEAP HOMERS, BUT HAD TO KILL THEM OFF AND BUY PLY- MOUTH ROCKS. I send you draft for $45. Send the birds as soon as you can. I have the squab house all ready. Last fall I sent off for six pairs, then early this spring I sent for six pairs to another firm (low-priced place). I have now one pair that is fairly good and one good cock. I killed the cihers. I do not week any more $1 per pair pigeons.—J. B., owa. nnn eee nS LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY ' 279 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS A PAIR OF BIG SQUABS. f These were bred by the Pennsylvania man whose letter is printed on this page. Note the enormous breasts and their plumpness. They are world-beaters. STARTED IN TWO HORSE-STALLS. RAPID PROGRESS IN ELEVEN MONTHS. I sent you my first order for six pairs of Extras, the birds arriving November 23, 1907, all in good condition with the exception of one, which you replaced later on. I selected the two horse- stalls in the barn as a fit place for keeping pigeons and put in the floor, windows, nests, etc., according to your Manual. I succeeded in getting the first pair to hatch within a month’s time. It was very cold, which somewhat hindered them in their breeding. The remaining birds were all at work soon after the first and I became greatly interested in them. I had great confidence in this new venture and after they were all at work, I first conceived how fast they bred. In the month of January, 1908, I sent my second order for eight pairs of Extras, these birds arriving January 25, 1908, in good condition with the exception of one, which you so generously replaced later on. This second lot of birds were all at work within two weeks after liberation. They commenced to hatch so rapidly that I find I have at this date, October 11, 1908, about 200 birds in all. These birds include the original 14 pairs and their offsprings. My birds are all banded and I keep a careful account of each pair. I have seen quite a few birds in town classed as Homers which do not near compare with the birds I bought of you. My pigeons can be seen any time and people are surprised to find such a fine lot of birds. The birds which I bought of you and their offsprings will easily average from seven to nine pairs a year, and some have hatched for the tenth time in less than a year. Some of the nests had three eggs in them on two or three occasions. These eggs were all hatched out and I took the third young one and put it in the nest of good feeding birds who raised it to a good size. y : I have weizhed some of my squabs and find them one pound and over, some occasionally being under one pound. 5 5 After having read your Manual thoroughly I determined to make the feed question one of the tincipal considerations. I use the self-feeder which you describe and recommend. I mix corn (which includes cracked corn) and wheat in the proportions which you state in your Manual and keep the self-feeder always plentifully supplied with it, so that the crops of their young are well supplied. I also feed the dainties such as millet, buckwheat, peas, hemp seed and sunflower seeds, throwing lettuce, cabbage or parsley into the pen twice a week. The birds always have tock-salt, codfish and oystershell before them. ‘The pens are re-graveled every six weeks and LEETERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 280 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS the birds are always in good health. I scald the drinking fountains several times a week and clean the apartments every week. The bathpans are filled daily so that they can keep free from vermin. few weeks. Ihave not as yet been seriously troubied with lice for I disinfect thoroughly every I have tried to follow your Manual in every way possible and the results testify to its great value as the book of all books on this subject. If a person has never engaged in this pleasant pursuit he need but buy a Manual and follow its teachings and success is sure to crown his efforts. It takes patience from the start and those who think of get-rich-quick schemes had better not start in this industry.—H. F. S., Pennsylvania. HER BIRDS IN CALIFORNIA LIKE FINE TWIGS FOR NEST BUILDING BETTER THAN STRAW. Wehavenow 28 mated pairs and I have another pair in the mating coop, also saw a pair in the squab pen making up to each other this morning. We are very much interested in the work and intend to continue until we have about 2000 birds if we can. Of course we will soon begin to sell some, but we wish to have enough to supply one certain place before we do, as we think by so doing we can build up a better trade and get a better price for our birds. Several have offered to buy but we have sold none yet. Every one says our birds are the prettiest and best cared for they ever have seen. They think we take unnecessary pains with them, but we think it pays to do so. We started in March last (1907) so none of our squabs is more than nine months old and they all mate up at about four or five months. The oldest ones have had several pairs of squabs of their own. We have followed the Manual and think it all right. We feed wheat, corn, cracked corn, Kaffir corn, mixed, as a daily feed and three times a week Canada peas and hemp seed with now and then a little rice. We have running water in our pens and we use eucalyptus and pepper twigs for the nest building, as they seem to like the fine twigs better than straw. We keep oystershell and charcoal and rock salt where they can get it, and put fresh gravel in the pens every now and then. We wish to keep about 50 pairs in each unit, so we have our first one almost full. We expect to buy more breeders as soon as we can and not depend altogether on our own, but we wanted to get a start and be able to handle a few pairs properly before we tried so many. Wishing you success and prosperity—Mrs. W. W., California. WORTHY OF ENTIRE CONFIDENCE. Enclosed find postal money order for which please send Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, according to your Special Offer No.3. This is my third order. The National Standard Squab Book is as nearly perfect as it can be and has given me both pleasure and satis- faction, our improvements and additions are admirable. I am ordering from_ you be- cause you are I think entirely reliable, gen- erous and worthy of my entire confidence. Mv yians are nut auite matured but they muean more Extra Plymouth Rock Homers.— Mrs. H. A. C., Georgia. SELLING SQUABS AT GOOD PRICES AND BUYING MORE MATED PAIRS. I pur- chased of your company six pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers the 13th of June, 1907, and six pairs the 27th of the same month and had no trouble in getting them to work. Some of them started to nest two days after I received them. I now (May, 1908), have 60 mated pairs and have been selling squabs right along for $3 and $3.50 adozen. Ihave some pairs that hatch every month. I have on® pair that hatch three birds quite often and raise them all. I have some squabs that weigh one pound at four weeks of age. They average from nine to 11 pounds to the dozen. I have sold some pairs for $1.25 a pair. I feed the best of grain, such as whole corn, red wheat, Kaffir corn, millet, hemp seed and Canada peas and cracked corn, and use the self-feeder for the wheat and corn as shown in your Manual, and like it. I like your Manual and would not be without it. I have had no sickness or lice in my flock as I use plenty of lime, and keep my house well whitewashed inside and out- side. I have been in the first stores in Pittsburg and in several pigeon houses around here and I have seen none to compare with mine. I have some young birds finer than the parent birds. I like the birds very much and the business, or I would not be sending for more birds. Your birds are more than you claim them to be, for my birds have shown so, It will pay me better to buy mated birds that will hatch right off than it would to wait on the young for breeders, as I can be selling squabs all that time—J. H. S., Pennsylvania. BEST IN A LIFE TIME. I have read your book with much interest. It is by far the best I have ever seen on the subject of pigeon raising. I have kept pigeons all my life, or at least for 40 years, from the common to the high-priced carrier, and at present have a coop of some dozen different varieties, all of which I propose disposing of and putting in the Plymouth Rock Homers. See enclosed. order—W. W. B., New Jersey. LARGEST HOMERS EVER SEEN. The Plymouth Rock Homers I bought of you last season are doing far better than I had anticipated. Every one who has seen them, without an exception, says they are the largest Homers they Fave ever seen.—B. E., District of Columbia. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY ye ee MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS KNOWS WHERE TO GET RELIABLE BIRDS. I know where to come for reliable birds, having bought my Extra Plymouth Rock Homers from you. See enclosed order. The Extra Homers I bought of you June 1 have made a good record. I knew absolutely nothing about pigeons and had never seen a first-class bird until I got yours. Have depended entirely on your Manual for my knowledge.—Mrs. R. O., Indiana. MORE THAN DOUBLED. The pigeons we bought of you in September are doing nicely. They have more than doubled their number and our young stock have commenced AN ODD SQUAB HOUSE. This shows the small plant of the Massachusetts breeder whose letter is printed above and beneath the picture. laying. One pigeon suddenly became lame after his arrival here, and after trying to cure him we finally killed him. We have dis- covered no more lameness in our flock.— S. W., Massachusetts. SOME WEIGH ONE POUND AT THREE WEEKS. My Plymouth Rock Extras are all doing nicely and are raising squabs that aver- age a pound at four weeks. Some of them will weigh a pound at three weeks.—P. E., Pennsylvania. SET BACK BY POOR WHEAT. [ started with six pairs. Got along fine until I got hold of a lot of poor wheat which made my pigeons very sick. This happened in the latter part of June, ’07. I had by this time in all 25 or 30 birds, of which only five birds survived. I did not buy more pigeons until I had my pens remodeled so as to hold more birds. Got them fixed up allright and bought 17 birds of you, six pairs and five hens. They mated in about two weeks, raised about seven pairs in October, November nine pairs, December 10 pairs, January, 11 pairs, February nine pairs, and I have ten eggs for this month. I do not feed wheat as you told me not to. I cannot get a good grade of wheat so I feed all Kaffir corn or a little cracked corn mixed with it. I have followed your Manual in every way and find it an excellent book, as I didnot know a thing about pigeons at all. They do not pay as good prices here for squabs as they do in the North and East but they pay well considering the fact that people out in this part of the country do not know much about good squabs. They have been used to breeding the common pigeons’ squabs which weigh about one-half as much as the squabs I raise. I had five out of the nest the 28th that weighed one and three-quarter pounds apiece. They are very fine birds. Fort Worth is growing every year very fast. We have 7500 people. I hope I will be able to convince the hotel people that they are worth more than 40 cents to 60 cents a pair. My flock is growing every day and I will order more birds before long.—J. S. W., Texas. KNEW ENOUGH ABOUT PIGEONS TO APPRECIATE THE BOOK. Your squab book is the best on that subject I have ever read. It covers the ground completely and makes everything plain and clear enough for a child to understand. A number of years ago I bred and flew Homers successfully for about five years. This experience en- abled me to understand and appreciate your book better than if I had no knowledge of pigeon raising. I will be glad to return the old Manual and receive new one. I will do so about January first, as I like to look into the book now and then and do not wish to be without one. I note that the Puttsburgh Dispatch is quoting squabs at $4.50 to $5.00, seconds at $3.70 per dozen.—A. E. C., Pennsylvania. WORTH ALL COMBINED. We think your Manual is the best in its line. We have read many books regarding squab breeding, but none has given us the satisfaction your Manual has. We would not trade your Manual for the whole bunch. Your book is so clear that a child can understand it.— H. & F. B., Ohio. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 282 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS COST HIM ABOUT EIGHTY CENTS A PAIRA YEAR. My birds bought of you work well, raising a pair about every six weeks. I have about 40 young ones now that are beginning to mate. One pair have raised one pair of nice squabs already. I would have had more now, but the rats killed quite a few. I have not sold any yet, have been saving them for stock. I have had several chances to sell some for breeders, but thought I would rather keep them myself. I have not had any trouble with lice or sick- ness so far. I always keep the lofts cleaned out. I feed mostly cracked corn, Kaffir corn and wheat, with buckwheat mixed in when I can get it. About three times a week I throw in some red millet, they are always looking for it. I have followed the Manual in regard to feeding. In the winter I feed more corn than wheat, and in the summer more wheat than corn. I think it has cost me about 70 or 80 cents a pair for the year. 1 made a self-feeder like the one outlined in the Manual and think it is allright. Feed has been high here for quite a while. I think anybody can make money raising pigeons if they tend to business and read their Manual. I think it is all right. I like to work around the lofts and watch the old ones take care of the young. I have two sections, one to keep the old ones in and the other for the young. I keep all my pigeons banded. I use the open legbands. I like them better than the others. Part of the birds seem to like to build on the floor better than in the nest bowls. I use clean straw for them to make nests.—E. L. Y., Illinois, NEARLY ALL HIS PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS WEIGH ONE POUND EACH. I would like to say that your Plymouth Rock Homers are fine birds. The second week I got them they started to work, although it was last February and very cold weather. I have now over 40 young ones and I sold some also. I certainly would not have any other kind of a pigeon about me. It used to worry me for fear I could not get my squabs to weigh up to some of your customers, who say in your National Standard Squab Book that they have squabs weighing 10 to 12 pounds to the dozen. Now I have some that weigh more than that. I have had some that weighed 14 ounces, but most all weigh a pound apiece. I am going into the pigeon business on a large scale,and every one of my birds will be from you, as soon as I get a place where I can enlarge my plant.—C. H. P., Pennsylvania. BUILDS A NEW HOUSE AFTER FIFTEEN MONTHS’ EXPERIENCE WITH A TRIAL LOT. Fifteen months ago I bought six aa of Plymouth Rock Homers of you. hey are doing splendid. I think I will want another small lot when I have my new house done that Iam building. —W. A. R., Maryland. HAD SUCCESS WITH HIS BIRDS FOL- LOWING PLYMOUTH ROCK METHODS. Please send me some of your pigeon literature for 1908 if youhaveany. I bought one of your Manuals in 1907 and am very much pleased with it and I would not part with it for five dollars. I have had success with my birds since [ had it and recommend it to all my friends. It is full of facts that are true, and is written so that any one can understand it that reads it. I love pigeons and I like to see others make a success with them.— E. H., Maryland. CLEVELAND (OHIO) MARKET. Monday, October 19,1908, I was offered $2.50 a dozen for squabs just taken off the nest, not killed. It has been stated in this city (Cleveland) that squabs will go up as high as $3 a dozen wholesale.-—W. E. P., Ohio. TOBACCO STEMS. Used for nesting material. You should not use these stems if you are going to sell the manure to tanneries because they do not want manure containing tobacco stems, as the stems stain the hides. If you are not going to sell the manure to tanneries but to gardeners and florists you can use tobacco stems as they are an excellent preventive against lice. WOMAN’S SUCCESS LEADS TO AN- OTHER ORDER. Some time last winter I was at Spring City, Tennessee, and advised a woman to order some of your pigeons. They having proven very satisfactory to her, and upon her recommendation after a trial, I am enclosing you herewith New York exchange for $30 for which please send me as early as possible your Special Offer No. 1, Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, etc.—J. M. C., North Carolina. DOING WONDERS IN VERMONT. Our birds are doing fine and for the care they have had have done wonders since we got them. We find very few inbreeding. If you have any new literature, please advise us.— J. O.S., Vermout. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 283 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS SQUABS AS FAT AS AN OLD HEN. I have 100 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and am well pleased with them. I dressed 16 Homer squabs yesterday that averaged just a pound apiece. Several were only 26 days old. My principal feed is cracked and whole corn, red wheat and millet seed, also feed some Kaffir corn and think well of it. I use tobacco stems for nesting material. My squabs are as fat as an old hen at four weeks. My birds are healthy, snappy and strong and working fine. In banding squabs pr young birds before leaving nest how can I tell male from female, as I want to know which leg to place band on?—H. R., Ohio. Answer. You cannot tell at that age. Put the band on either leg and transfer it to the correct leg when the bird discloses its sex by its actions at four to five months. LUMP OF ROCK SALT. This kind of salt and no other should be fed to pigeons. By pecking at it they get off enough and cannot harm themselves by eating too much. If you feed our Health Grit you do not need to provide this rock salt. A BOY’S PLEASURE. You have treated me very nice. Iam fully satisfied with what birds I have got from you. I have done everything you recommend in your Manual. The red checkers raised one pair of squabs which weighed almost two pounds when three weeks old. I would like very much to order some of your specials, but I am only 12 years old and just starting out. Iam also a cripple, not being able to do very much myself, consequently I must depend entirely on my father for assistance. I do not like to ask too much of him. I feel that he does all he can for my pleasure. My education is from him, as I have never been able to go to school.—E. D., Illinois. HAD EXPERIENCE WITH COMMON PIGEONS, POOR HOMERS AND PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. I had a notion that the common pigeons would do as well in raising and raise as large squabs as the Homers would, but I was greatly mistaken as you will see. I kept my common pigeons for about four or five months, which was enough for me because it cost more to feed them than I got for my squabs, so I sold out all of my common pigeons and bought some Homers. These Homers I got from men who were selling for 75 cents and $1.50 a pair which did not do much better than my common pigeons, so I got thoroughly disgusted with pigeons and sold out again. About two weeks later I saw your advertisement, which was the starting of my success, I liked your advertisement and sent off for your catalogue. What I found in your catalogue was true and it sounded like the truth. I liked ‘the cata- logue so well that I sent for your Manual, which you sell for 50 cents, which is not a hundredth of its value. After I read the Manual I ordered some of your Extra Homers. I thought you would give me good birds the first time and bad birds the second time, but the second order was filled with as good birds as the first. I got my first birds from you in the winter, about February, 1908. By mail you sent me a slip of the most valuable information that I ever read or will read in my life. : I kept fresh water before my birds all the time. I did not let the birds drink the bathing water at all. In the winter time the water would freeze at night but fresh water was put inevery morning. My pigeons did better in the winter than in the summer. feed my pigeons wheat, cracked corn, hemp seed and about a double handful a week of Kaffir corn and sunflower seed, which altogether is about the most digestible and fattening for the squabs. I keep salt, charcoal, grit and oystershell before them all the time. I give my pigeons about four or five heads of lettuce every week. I followed your Manual in every way possible. In a few days I will send you a third order for your Extra Homers.—P. A., North Carolina. BUSY WORKING ALL THE TIME. As you, no doubt, remember, I bought 15 pairs of your Plymouth Rock Homers last March. Am very well pleased with them. My Homers are doing fine, busy working all the time. When I want more Homers will place the order with you.—H. J., Ohio. SELLING SQUABS REGULARLY FROM A SPLENDID FLOCK OF BREEDERS. In February, 1906, I bought a few pairs of very good pigeons from you, from which I have raised a splendid flock of breeders from which I have been selling squabs regularly for the last eight months.—G. A. W., Ohio. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 284 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS e HEAD OF SORGHUM SEED. This is fed largely to pigeons by our customers in the Southern States. The birds are very fond of it. The berries are brown in color and a little smaller than Kaffir corn. When dried, this head of sorghum cane may be thrown directly into the squab house and the birds will peck the berries off the stalk, AFTER HE~ HAD TRIED PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS HE DISPOSED OF HIS OTHER PIGEONS BOUGHT OF OTHERS. I am sending you a small order for 24 pairs Extra. Please ship birds as soon as possible. The birds are doing well I got of you 60 days ago. I have disposed of all my other pigeons bought of others and only have what birds I bought of you. I intend to keep buying until I get what stock I need. I had a local trade but I let it go, because I would not sell squabs from Plymouth Rock Homers at the same price I sold former squabs. I will have a four to six dozen capacity plant and would ask for the address of some firm in Pittsburg or New York City to whom I could sell a couple of five dozen shipments, just to keep from housing them in my loft. The main point is to get in touch with the market. I prefer to sell my squabs and buy breeding stock of a mature age, but I do not want to spoil the market or give them away to the local trade for 40 cents a pair. You need not be afraid to give me the name of your nearest fancy squab buyer. My shipping boxes are being made of white enamel inside and white painted hard wood outside. The white enamel box is to fit in the white wood box, allowing enough room for ice. The boxes are to be returned to me at my expense. I hope you will consider the proposition. Now I have tried many squab companies and if you people will do anyway right I will buy“all the stock I can from youu—R. B., Pennsylvania. A WOMAN’S SHORT AND SATISFACTORY MESSAGE. The pigeons I got from you several years ago have been most satisfactory. —Josephine S. H., Massachusetts. RECEIVING FIFTY-FIVE CENTS A PAIR FOR SQUABS. Our No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers breed squabs weighing eight pounds to the dozen and we are receiving 55 cents a pair for them. We have found your Manual a great help and have followed it almost entirely, and never pick it up without seeing something that we missed on previous readings. We are feeding from your self- feeder a mixture of whole corn, cracked corn and wheat, varying the proportion as we notice they scatter one grain or another, but usually about one-third each. Then we throw to them on the floor different mixtures of millet, Kaffir corn, Canada peas, hemp seed and rice. On the whole we are well pleased with the birds and the business and we hope to increase our stock as rapidly as possible—H, J. B., Pennsylvania. EVERYTHING TRUE IN MANUAL. I have your Manual. It is complete and you make no false statements. Everything you say is true, and if any one is wishing to start, I would advise them to get a hundred pairs; don’t start with a few. Our last order was small because we do not knoay whether we will stay in this town or not, but when we are permanently located we will order a hun- dred or more pairs.—R. M., Iowa. BREEDER OF COMMON PIGEONS CON- VERTED BY OBSERVATION OF PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. Enclosed find order for some of your best Extras. Your Manual came a few days ago. Itis all that you claim for it. Have had a good deal of experience with common pigeons, but have seen your Plymouth Rock Homers at work and they are ‘‘ the thing.’’—R. D., Texas. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY * 285 HEALTH GRIT. This is a photograph of our Health Grit, for which we have an enormous sale. It will pay for itself many times over, increasing both the number and the size of the squabs and also keeping the whole flock in first-class condition. The above photograph shows clearly the small shells and the gravel and charcoal which are in the grit. There are half a dozen ingredients in the grit, including medicinal substances. The formula is a trade secret. Wereceive hundreds of letters praising this grit Nearly all of our large customers, almost without a single exception, feed it constant y to their flocks, The value of this grit is well indicated by the following letter received from a customer in Connecticut in May, 1908: “* Please send enclosed order for your Health Grit as soon as possible as we have lost a few pigeons lately I think it is because I got out of the grit, They are crazy about it and were healthy when they had it.”’ 286 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 1. RED WHEAT. 2. On this page and on the pages that follow we print pictures reproduced from direct photographs of grain ised in squab raising; also grit, shells, ete. CANADA PEAS. 3. HEMPSEED. These pictures have come out very well and will give our readers seattered over this continent and in other parts of the world a clear idea of what we are talking about. In the above picture (the first of the series) No. 1 is a sample of good red wheat, showing the plumpness of the berries. No. 2, Canada peas. No. 3, hempseed. ENLARGED PLANT AND FLOCK. Seven months ago we bought one dozen pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. We now have 78 young. Ten pairs of young have mated and we find them to be larger than their parents. Our squabs at four weeks weigh from 12 ounces to 15 ounces apiece. We keep constantly before them pure fresh water and we feed from a self-feeder made from your pattern, filled with two parts whole corn and one part red wheat, then at noon we feed some dainty placed on a flat board with raised edges, alternating between Kaffir corn, buckwheat and hemp seed with rice on Sunday. We keep a cash account of everything and find at present prices we are able to keep our birds at the rate of $1 per pair peryear. Wehavesurveyeda place for a pigeon house of five units to be built on our plan and hope before many months to be doing business on a paying basis. I am fully convinced there is money in it. Your Manual is just fine and cannot be beat as far as I know. It has been the secret of our successful start so far. We have to refer to it very often. We wish you even greater success than in the past.—A. L. H., New York. RECEIVES TWENTY CENTS EACH FOR SQUABS ALIVE AND FINDS THAT THIS PRICE PAYS. I started in April, 1906, with 24 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. They got to work in about three weeks. The squabs weigh eight to nine pounds a dozen. I sell the squabs alive at four weeks old for 20 cents each. I have not sold any live breeders, but I have had chances and re- ferred them to you. I have fed as your Manual says. I have no trouble with tice. _ I like my birds and think there is money in them, but one has to have a iarge flock to do much. I intend to keep at it and this spring will build me three more pens, as I now have three and I want to get 500 pairs, and will send for more later. Your Manual is all right and very plain in every way. I use per Poses for nests, tobacco stems and straw. —B. A. L., Connecticut. YES, WE ARE CONVINCED AND THANK YOU. I bought my first lot of birds from you. Since I have bought elsewhere, but I believe you are the most reliable to deal with and this order will confirm my belief and convince another, too.—F. P. S., Mas- sachusetts. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 287 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 4, WOOD SCREWS. 5. KAFFIR CORN. 6. SORGHUM CANE SEED. Tn this picture we show in the first group a lot of common wood screws seven-eighths of an inch long. (These. are the screws which we furnish with every order for nest bowls, for screwing the bowls to the bottoms of the nest boxes.) Our object in printing the screws is to afford the eye of the reader a measure of comparison with these different grains. For example, in the above photograph the sample No. 5 is Kaffir corn. By comparing the Kaffir corn with the screws, the eye of the observer forms a correct estimate of the size of the Kaffir corn and also the other grains in the other pictures. 6 is sorghum cane seed, full size. QUICKLY AT WORK IN MONTANA. I think we will send for Special Offer No. 7 and extra supplies this month. Our birds (100 pairs) received May 17, have done very well. Some pairs are setting (August) for the third time. Have a four-unit house in course of construction, part of which we will fill with selected young from our own flock. I have sold about five dozen squabs and it is three months today since the birds were received, and have about 100 young in the squab house, which we expect to keep for breeders.— 8. A. F., Montana. SUCCESS TOLD BY REPEATED ORDERS FROM IOWA. I send you money order for $150 for which send me Extra Plymouth Rock Homers as per your Special Offer No. 7. I would like birds in place of supplies which I think amount to $24.98, making 238 birds according to the offer. I would like to get 650 mated birds in three shipments and will send you an order every two weeks until that ntmber is supplied. In November, 1907, T bought of you 12 pairs No. 1 and 12 pairs Extra.—R. I. E., Iowa. These photographs show the actual sizes of the objects. A reduced photograph of a head of sorghum cane is shown on page 285. The grain in No. FIFTY CENTS A PAIR ALIVE. I amsell- ing my squabs to a local cafe and am receiv- ing 50 cents per pair alive. If you think I can do better than that in larger cities, kindly send me the names of some firms who are in the market for heavy squabs. the average weight being 10 pounds to the dozen. Also please send me all your latest circulars. Hoping to have a prompt reply and wishing you all the success that you deserve.— P, A. W., Pennsylvania. PRAISE FROM AN OLD BREEDER. The Manual is “ non plus ultra,’? without a peer, can’t be beat. I read it through twice and still I find something interesting each time I pick it up again. I have raised Belgium Homers since a smali boy.—H. T., Pennsylvania. ALL WE CLAIMED FOR THEM. If I had the room and money, I would like to buy 100 pairs from you, as the No 1 birds I bought from you are all you claimed for them and if the Extras are so much better, they certainly must be fine.—G,. R. J., West Virginia. eee cemmemeenneeemmeeeemeeeeeeecemncecemeeacacaccaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 288 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 7. WHOLE CORN. No. 7 is common yellow whole corn. 8. COARSE CRACKED, No. 8 is coarse-cracked corn sifted and No. 9 is fine-cracked corn sifted 9, FINE CRACKED. (See the chapter on feed in this Manual for full instructions.) As a rule the coarse-cracked corn No. 8 should be fed instead of the fine-cracked corn No. 9. ‘This No. 9 sample of corn is what is known as chick-cracked corn. It is good for little chicks. HIS SMALLEST PLYMOUTH ROCK ao WEIGHS THREE-QUARTERS OF A POUND AT THE AGE OF THREE WEEKS. My birds are very tame,so much so that when I go into the coop with hemp seed or other dainties and hold out my hand, they fly right on it and eat. I was weighing my squabs yesterday, and the smallest one I have at present weighs three-quarters of a pound. It was three weeks old yesterday.—G. A. W., New Jersey. HOT SELLERS. I want to know if it is too late for me to send for pigeons on that Special Offer. If it is not too late, when I hear from you I will forward the money. I am having good luck with the pigeons I bought of you last year and am selling the squabs as fast as I get them.—T. N., British Columbia. WE SELL TO HUNDREDS OF FANCIERS TO BREED FLYERS. Although I am not interested much in squab breeding I am interested in flying. A dealer in my neighbor- hood has a few of your birds and finds them pretty good for flying so I intend to try some.— L. S. B., Pennsylvania. THREE PAIRS SHOW WHAT THEY ARE GOOD FOR. Ever since I have had your birds they have bred remarkably well, one pair raising eleven pairs of fine squabs in one year. Not one pair that I bought of you or raised myself has raised less than nine pairs of prime market squabs per year. I think that is a fair record. Besides eating plenty of squabs, I have worked up a flock of 30 pairs of prime breeders from the origi- nal small lot of three pairs.—R. E. F., Michigan. GOOD PRICES FOR SQUABS IN PENNSYL- VANIA. Squabs have been quoted at $4 to $4.25 per dozen, seven pounds to the dozen, in our papers here. I donot know what mine weigh as I have not weighed any of them, but feel satisfied that they will go more than that as they are large.—A. A. R., Pennsylvania. EVERY WORD TRUTH. A friend of mine gave me one of your National Standard Squab Books the other day and I have read it through and think it is every word truth, having raised. pigeons a long time, but never for the market, so think I know a little about it.— R. H., Iowa. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 289 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 10. WHITE WHEAT. 11. No. 10 is good white wheat. 11 shows a poor quality of red wheat. through them can be seen oats and elevator sweepings. : d 1 This is the refuse of a wheat elevator, including sweepings, broken grain, hulls, rat manure, ete. sweepings or screenings are not a profitable feed for pigeons. screenings. POOR RED WHEAT. 12. WHEAT SCREENINGS (It is all right to feed white wheat to pigeons if you cannot get red wheat.) No. The berries vary in size, showing that the wheat is a mixture, and sprinkled No. 12 is an even poorer kind of wheat known as wheat Such 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 aeeeuica 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 azo, 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.—E. E. T., Missouri. RECOMMENDED BY A FRIEND. Will you please send me price list and literature about the raising of squabs? A friend of ours recommended your company to us, as his son-in-law purchased some pigeons of you last spring and they are very satisfactory.— W. H., State of Washington. ONE DOLLAR A PAIR FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS IN PITTSBURG. I am getting $1 per pair for all the squabs I can raise, and will have another order for breeding stock as soon as I can arrange for larger quarters — H. R., Pennsylvania. Lee ee LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 290 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 13, BARLEY. 14, OATS. No. 13 is barley, which may be fed if plentiful and cheap. No. 14 is oats, which may be fed if plentiful and cheap, but they are not generally fed here in the Hast because the squab raiser gets more for his money in other grains. No. 15 is sunflower seeds Sunflower seeds grow freely without attention almost everywhere. The heads when dried may be thrown directly into the squab pen and the birds will peck the seeds out of the heads. Sunflower seeds sell at retail for from six to eight cents a pound, sometimes more. Nearly every drug store sells them for parrot feed. The supply comes mostly from the West, although a great deal is exported from Copen- hagen, Denmark. To buy sunflower seeds and feed them to pigeons is not profitable for the squab raiser, because hempseed sells for less money, namely five cents a pound, and hempseed is better than sunflower seeds for the birds. 15. SUNFLOWER SEEDS. GOT THIS BOOK FROM A LIBRARY AND STUDIED IT STEADILY FOR A MONTH. I am just starting in the pigeon business and 1 would like you to give me a few starting points. I went to the library to get a pigeon book and I found a book which you published and I read that book every day for two weeks, and then I took it back and had it renewed for two more weeks and I still have it.—A. K., Indiana. PLYMOUTH ROCKS KNOWN IN UTAH. Some man asked a question in a daily paper in Salt Lake. In answering him they boomed you up to the clouds. They praised your company so much that I thought I ould write you for a eatalogue.—H. S., tah. FOUR DOLLARS AND A HALF A DOZEN FOR PLYMOUTH ROCKS IN NEW JERSEY. My squabs all average nine to 10 pounds to the dozen. Am I doing well to get 75 cents a pair ?—Mrs. M.C.C., New Jersey. PLYMOUTH ROCKS THE ONLY KIND WORTH WHILE. I hope later on to do away with all except what I am purchasing of you and get all Plymouth Rocks, as I am convinced they are the only kind worth while. I will leave the selection entirely with you, feeling sure you will send the best you have.— Mrs. D. W. A., Georgia. SQUABS IN ARKANSAS. The squab business is a new enterprise in this section. Tf I can work it up I will build another house and order more birds from you. I have a friend who is thinking of buying a lot from you. When he sees mine I am sure he will decide at once. Thank you for your prompt- ness and square dealings.—C. W., Arkansas. MANUAL WORTH TEN TIMES HALF A DOLLAR. I received your National Standard Squab Book and find every time I pick it up something new in it. It is worth ten times its cost. I would not let any one have it for what I paid for it—P. J. L., Pennsylvania. ~ LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 291 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS ‘ 2 4 Sooners & 16. AMERICAN MILLET. 17. The above are samples of millet. No. 18 is the golden (yellow) millet. FOUR YEARS’ BREEDING IN IOWA. I am about to save the pigeon manure and sell it to a tannery at Milwaukee that is nearest tome. They will buy it if there is no foreign matter in it. They object to tobacco stems. Please tell me what I could use so as to be able to sell it. If you remember, I purchased a few pairs of Extras from you over four yearsago. Iam shipping squabs to Chicago and doing fairly well considering the high price of feed here.—J. C., Iowa. Answer. Usestraw. OLD CALIFORNIA CUSTOMER HEARD FROM AGAIN. We had 100 pairs of you once, but being obliged to move away on business sold them. We shall get more breeders before long and would like to know what you have to say in 1908 —F. B. M., California. SIX-FOLD INCREASE IN ONE YEAR. September 21, 1907, I received six pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I have now (September, 1908) 75 squabs. This is a fair increase for the old birds. My pigeons are the finest lot in Kankakee——J. W., Illinois. SIBERIAN MILLET. No. 16 is the ordinary American millet. All of these are good pigeon foods. 18. GOLDEN MILLET, No. 17 is the Siberian (red) millet. NO RACE SUICIDE HERE. We cannot hold our pigeons back. We returned from California four months ago bringing our nine pairs with us and we now have 52. I would like to have a price list of your birds again. We are counting on buying about 100 pairs, probably next spring. One little hen you sent is a wonder. She does not know any- thing about race suicide. I have a good mind to send her to President Roosevelt.—A. B. M., Missouri. IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. Two years ago I sent for your circulars, but I could not then see my way to try the business, but after seeing the success a friend of mine is making of it in Victoria, I am tempted to try it as I now have the necessary room and leisure.— W. M. L., British Columbia. BOOSTED IN SOUTH DAKOTA. I am giving your birds a good boost all around here and I think you will soon be receiving some orders.—G. B., South Dakota. HOTEL TAKES ALL. My birds are doing fine. I am getting $3 per dozen for squabs and the hotel takes all I can breed.—W. C., West Virginia. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 292 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 19. RICE UNHULLED. No. 19 is a sample of rice with the brown hulls on. 20. RICE. 21. BUCKWHEAT. No. 20 shows the same rice with the hulls taken off. This, the unhulled kind, is what should be fed to pigeons as needed to correct diarrhoea, or as desirable where it is cheap and plentiful. Do not cook rice to feed to pigeons, grain, uncooked. No, 21 is buckwheat. SOME PEOPLE THINK SQUABS ARE YOUNG BANTAM CHICKENS. My Ply- mouth Rock Homers arrived in fine condition and in three weeks were all nesting. I now have 97 birds with them and their young. The young that hatched in February and March laid in August, so I think I did well. I have not seen any that could compare with them. Others that see them say they are a fine lot of birds. Each pair has averaged a pair every six weeks, except in the moulting time when they dropped off laying for a while. The squabs that I raise weigh from three-quarters to one pound before they leave their nests. Mr. Haganbothan saw my birds and sent for 12 pairs from you. ‘They have been doing fine since he got them. I have fed principally cracked corn and wheat, buckwheat and mixed feeds, changing from one to another. I do not think it a good plan to feed long the same grains. In moulf- ing time I feed corn, whole rice and a few peas and poultry powder. This is my first experience in the pigeon business. I have ene of your Manuals and have followed it mostly. For a tonic I give them a table- You feed the white raw grains same as you do any other spoonful of vinegar in the water once a week and some poultry powder, which I think is a good help to producing eggs. The birds are not much care—only a few minutes in the morning and evening. Your Manual is a great help to those in the pigeon business. If the loft is kept clean, with fresh water and change of feed there will be no sick birds or lice. To keep lice out, take slaked lime and wood ashes and sprinkle in loft. I have not been bothered with them. The cost of the birds per pair is something like 65 cents per pair per year. I shall keep most of my birds that I raise this year and by next year will commence to sell some squabs. They sell from 25 cents to 40 cents apiece and I could sell them to good advantage. Some people do not know what squabs are and think they are young Bantam chicks.—J. L. M., Indiana. GETTING ALONG VERY WELL IN FLORIDA. Please find enclosed check in payment for 200 fibre nest bowls. We are getting along very well with the pigeons. We have between 300 and 400 young birds. I think I should build another house and fly.—H. B. L., Florida. er LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 293 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 22. GRANITE GRIT. finer granite or quartz grit. No. 23. QUARTZ GRIT. Here are samples of grits which never should be fed to pigeons. ) f 24 is the same material, either granite, quartz or mica crushed finer. 24. SAME CRUSHED. No. 23 is a No. 22 is a coarse granite grit. " All of these poultry grits will do the pigeons more harm than good and are useless expense. Ordinary sand or gravel is better. HOW A LOUISIANA SQUAB BREEDER BUYS HIS GRAIN. PRICES FOR SQUABS IN HIS STATE ARE GOOD. I resigned my position with the railroad company and have moved to my home and you will please address me here. I have been very busy getting in shape for my birds and I now have them comfortably located in a nice house 14 by 24. They are getting to work nicely and as they are now in their permanent quarters and will not have to be disturbed any more, I expect soon to have a large flock of them. My birds have been moved three times in the last 90 days, but are all in fine condition, which shows they are thrifty and will do well under most any kind of circum- stances. I am buying wheat and Kaffir corn from Kansas City, Missouri. I get Kaffir corn at 98 cents per hundredweight f.o.b. Kansas City and wheat at $1 per bushel. The freight rate here is about 70 cents, so Kaffir corn does not cost me much more than corn chops. . I pay $1.50 per sack for chops delivered here. Every one who sees my Homers says they are the finest they ever saw. I have orders now for about 50 pairs at $1 per pair at weanling age. Quotations for squabs this week in my markets are $4a dozen. (This price is offered by commission men.) The hotels and cafes will pay from $1 to $1.50 more.—G. W. T., Louisiana. FIRST EXPERIMENT, THEN THE REAL THING. The first lot that I bought from you was an experiment, a success. I will enlarge this spring if not sooner.—J. F. C., Wiscousin. EIGHT DAYS OLD, WEIGHT HALF A POUND. I had a squab that weighed one- half a pound when it was eight days old from the Homers I got from you a few weeks ago. How is that?—R. B. W., Ohio. PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS '- THE BEST IN THIS NEW JERSEY TOWN. Mine are fine birds, the best in the town, there are none like them.—L. K., New Jersey. TEXAS WOMAN’S WORK. Something more than a year agolI purchased six pairs of pigeons from you. I have quite a flock now, having been successful.—Mrs. R. E. B., Texas. RAPID PROGRESS IN ELEVEN’ WEEKS. I bought 12 pairs of No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers and received them April 11. I now (July 6) have 33 young ones.—E. L. F., Iowa. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 294 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS 25. HEALTH GRIT. 26. COARSE OYSTER SHELL. 27, PIGEON OYSTER SHELL No, 25 is another view of our Health Grit same as the larger picture on page 286. No. 26 is asample of large gg shell such as is sold for poultry. It is too large for pigeons. The correct size for pigeons is shown in sample 0. 27. BEING DEAF, SHE WAS HANDICAPPED IN BUSINESS, BUT SQUAB RAISING SOLVED THE PROBLEM. My birds bought of you several years ago are doing splendidly and paying me amply for the care and cost given them. I have found your National Squab Book of the greatest practical value. I like the business better than anything I ever tried. Being deaf, I found it especially hard to get hold of a business I could manage myself, but in squabraising one is not thrown so much in contact with the world and one is able to feel independent. I began last fall and had several months of discouragement at first, failing to find a satisfactory market. As there is a good demand for good birds at all times I succeeded in making a per- manent arrangement with a summer resort, they agreeing to take all I could send at $4 per dozen, and pay express charges, too. My birds generally weigh 10 pounds to the dozen and are fine-looking birds. At four weeks they are hard to tell from the parents. I have only 50 or 60 birds but have just sent off 24 squabs, have 36 in the house and about two dozen eggs. I think that is doing a very brisk business for so small a flock. I have gone in regard to feed almost exactly by your Manual, indeed I have followed it in every respect and could not have managed without it. I have had no sickness except once, when I left the birds in charge of some one who did not treat them properly, and once when I was without grit for several weeks. Both times they had diarrhoea and were all fearfully thin, what you call “ going light,’ I believe. Occasionally the parents desert the squabs before they are big enough to kill and begin on a new family; but these cases have been rare.—Miss B. R., Virginia. PRACTICAL NEW YORK MARKET MEN SUCCESSFUL WITH PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS. In looking over your new Manual (1908) I noticed a letter from a firm that does business in front of our store. It is ‘‘ Heineman & Co.” I am personally acquainted with them and told them I had bought pigeons from you. William Heineman wished me to mention his name to you when I wrote again, so I have taken this opportunity to do so. I feel amply repaid for having bought my birds of you and I will place my future orders for stock with you. Just as soon as I am able to branch out more I shall send for more birds. Thank you for your great kindness and clean business dealings with me and wish you still further success in your business.—R. L., New York. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 295 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS et ‘if i 28. MIXED GRAIN. 29. MIXED GRAIN. 30. MIXED GRAIN. The above are samples of mixed pigeon grain. No. 28 is a good mixture. No 30 contains good grams but also has oyster shells and grit in it. No. 29 contains an even larger proportion of granite grit and oyster shells and the grains are poorer. The reason why some grain dealers put oyster shells and grit into their mixtures is that these two substances cost them less than half of what grain costs, and by selling the mixture at the price of. good grain, they sell grit and oyster shells at the price of grain. If the breeder wishes to mix grit and oyster shells with his grain, it is much cheaper for him to buy them separately and do his own mixing. SELLS SQUABS FOR THREE DOLLARS A DOZEN TO A MAN WHO CALLS AND TAKES THEM ALIVE OUT OF THE NESTS. Since February each pair of my Plymouth Rock Homers has thrown five pairs of squabs, all weighing 10 and 11 pounds to the dozen. Am a great believer in feed, ie., quality and variety, and feed each morning equal quantities of cracked corn, red wheat, and Kaffir corn. In the afternoon I substitute Canada peas three times a week and hemp seed twice for red wheat, and this mixture has kept my birds in good working im. The self-feeder which I made according to your instructions was somewhat of a failure in my case. The birds managed to scatter an enormous amount of feed on the floor, causing a great waste, which I have obviated by the use of troughs. I feed twice a day and have by observation got the quantity needed to satisfy them down very fine. Very little grain is tossed out of the troughs, which are six feet long by 12 inches wide with one and one-half inch rims. Was very careful to see if there was any falling off in the weight of squabs- when I made the change from self-feeder to trough, but none was noticeable. Have followed your instructions otherwise and must say they have worked out beautifully. Your Manual has proven a veritable storehouse of practical information and advice. Some time ago I bought some birds from a friend which he purchased from and must admit that the squabs from your birds are whiter meat. From present indications, I am going to get at least one pair of squabs more per pair of breeders from your birds than from my other stock. Hereafter it’s your stock for me. I keep a card file system which enables me to tell in a moment just what every pair in my lofts is doing. The squabs raised from your stock are all throwing healthy offsprings at four and a half months of age, which I think is very young for birds to go to work. I am selling my squabs now to a party who takes them out of the nest, saving me the killing and dressing, and pays me $3 a dozen for them. In the fall and winter I will get from $4 to $5.50 a dozen for them, and all the market I can supply.—A. D., New Jersey. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 296 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS FIRST-CLASS MARKET FOR GOOD SQUABS AND PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN IOWA. ’ I received six pairs from you two years ago and started to raise a flock from them. I purchased your Manual and followed it in every detail as far as possible and will state I have had fine luck. My flock nowconsists of 50 good mated pairs and they are working very well. I have sold some squabs and a few older birds. I receive $2 per pair for old and 75 cents per pair for squabs. I can safely say 1 have made a good profit on my purchase, as I paid $10 for six pairs of your birds direct from you. My order was sent in with Mr. J. Haas’s as three of us took six pairs each. Two of us are still in the business, but he was compelled to sell out on account of moving away. I think that the squab business is one of the best. If one follows the instructions of your Manual he will succeed far ahead of anticipations. Iam well pleased with my success, and now I am enjoying the benefit of my old birds, as I have squabs most of the time for my own table use and sell to customers here in the city. In the spring I will increase my flock. As far as sickness is concerned, will say that I have not had any. My flock is in the best of health and ha; no vermin. Others will fare the same as I have if they will follow the instruc- tions of your Manual in regard to care and feeding birds, also in keeping fresh water in pens, I have a hydrant in my yards and turn it on so as to keep a flowing stream at all times so I do not have any trouble in this way at all. I have my birds all marked so that if any one of them should happen to be killed or die I can pick out the mate and pair it off with another, This is also a very profitable plan so as to keep all workers in one pen. I have had no trouble in selling my squabs as the market is always open for Homers. There is a vast difference between the common pigeons and your Plymouth Rocks. There is a man here who raises the common pigeons which he sells for $1.75 per dozen, but there is no comparison between the two, as the Homers from your farm are so far ahead, and the consumers of the squabs say they would rather pay more and get good birds. We feel that there will be no opposition from him in the squab business as our price has not been kicked on yet, nor do I think it will be. I will send you a small order for some more birds in the spring as I want to increase my flock from your birds. I again thank you for past favors and will do as much as I can to push the squab business and to hold up prices. If you have an opportunity to refer any of your customers to me, you can feel assured I will say your firm is square and will do as you say. I would be pleased at any time to help you. I will do you some good here as our stock of old birds is not for sale. Our squabs are all ordered ahead of time, so let me know, as there is a fine big ae for your Homers and your birds will meet with the approval of any and all,— : ., Lowa. SPLENDID FIELD IN COLORADO. ONE HOTEL TAKING MORE THAN THIS LARGE PLANT CAN SUPPLY. The writer would like to know the names of one or two good poultry journals in which we can place an advertisement for partner in increase plant, which is at present 2000; 1200 of these birds are from your plant. Would like to procure 500 pairs from you to infuse new blood into our flock. Perhaps you might know of one who has some experi- ence in this line who would like to come to Colorado or Denver. There is a splendid field here for the business. We have but one customer, a hotel, which we attempt to supply. This hotel consumes 20 to 30 dozen a week. They pay us $3.60 a dozen dressed. Denver has many hotels and restaurants besides a great demand from the dining-car service from here to the coast. I have been in this business 14 months. I sent for your squab book four years ago and have gradually been drifting into the business. My wife looks after every detail of the plant while I have been working at the tin trade, which I soon hope to abandon and take up the squab business exclusively. We have solved the problem of keeping down the mites and have little or no disease among the birds. I hope in the next two years to have a squab plant worthy of the name. Any advice you can give to help the cause will be appreciated. If possible, would like to have the name of some party who would come West to engage in the business, with whom we might correspond.—H. J. D., Colorado. CHICKEN RAISER OF FIVE YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IS PLEASED WITH HIS SQUAB WORK. The last lot of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers came in fine shape. Some of them started to work at once. Five pairs have eggs and are setting on them, and six pairs now have nests. The first 25 pairs I received from you, June 12, 1908. I will take a snapshot of my place when I get my big squab house up. It is going to be a dandy for 300 pairs. You will get the order from me for the Extras. I think they are grand birds, and the squabs are so large they are bigger than chickens. I feed good grain and hemp seed and some rice. I clean my house once a week and sprinkle lice killer in the nest boxes. I have raised chickens for five years but squabs have got them down and out as far as I have seen. There are other little jobs of work you could do on the place with squabs, whereas if you have 600 chickens you have to attend to them from daylight to dark, and then some, I must say one word for your squab book, I think it is just grand. I would not take $10 for it, and not have one, and I don’t see how any one could get along without it, even if he was an old-timer at the squab business.—J. B. B., Missouri. LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 297 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS A SOUTH CAROLINA PLANT. What this breeder has accomplished here he tells in the letter printed on this page. GOING TO MAKE IT A REGULAR BUSINESS. NESTING MATERIAL IN THE MANURE. A little over a year ago I bought 12 pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers from you. Now I have over 100 birds in my houses and have started to sell some squabs. I'am more than pleased with my birds, they are doing fine. After a while I expect I will have to get a few more from you so as to mix in some new blood. My birds have averaged nine pairs of squabs to the pair for the year. I find the squabs at the killing age weighing from 13 to 15 ounces per bird, and for what birds I have sold, which has been only a few, I have received $3 per dozen. I have been holding most of my birds for stock, as it was my intention at the beginning to raise a stock before entering the market. I am feeding a scratch feed with a little hempseed about once a week. My birds have been perfectly healthy. Out of the original 12 pairs I have lost only four birds. It costs at an average of five cents a month per bird and I have in my houses 130 birds; which I consider a very good increase, I am more than pleased with the birds, and intend to go into it on a business basis, making it a regular business, and I do not see why it should not be a success. My houses are of the plainest kind, costing about $125. They will accommodate 300? ads Ihave one pair of birds that I have raised, which lay four eggs to the setting. This $ the first incident of its kind that I have ever heard of. They will set on these four eggs f¢ about 10 days, and then throw the eggs out, one by one, in consequence of which I lose the setting. These birds have done this thing on three occasions. Two of the eggs would be fertile and two infertile. I at first thought that perhaps some other pair had laid in the nest with these, but after watching carefully I found that the eggs came from the one pair of birds. The manure from the birds is amounting to something and I would like to get the address of some good party who will take it off my hands so that I could communicate with them. Would you kindly advise how to get rid of the nesting material or do you let it go in with the manure ?—T. L. O., South Carolina. Answer. Straw and feathers caked in with the manure are acceptable to the tanners. They do not like to get manure in which is a large amount of discarded tobacco stems, as these stain the hides. a LETTERS FROM CUSTOMERS RECEIVED BY PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 298 MORE STORIES OF SUCCESS NOTE HOW THIS BREEDER BUILDS HIS SELF-FEEDERS. On December 20, 1907, six pairs of No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers were shipped to me. _I lost some squabs caused by the old ones eating green sprouts and from cats, but as soon as I made the floor tight and mended the wire on the flying pen I had no more trouble. Now (September, 1908) I have 42 old and young, with those I raised mating up and starting to build their nests and lay. My birds are all in rugged health and are doing well, breeding fat, plump squabs. I have compared them with other breeders, but mine are far better. _ She I give them plenty of fresh water for bathing and drinking and scald out the pans and drink- ing fountains with hot water once a week. I save the manure, as it has a ready sale and helps to pay the feed bill. I clean the nest bowls and floor once a week, sprinkle slaked lime over the floor, sprinkle a little insect powder on thesquabs, and vermin does not bother them. I feed eracked corn and wheat, one-third wheat to two-thirds corn for winter, and_for summer one-third corn to two-thirds wheat. In addition, I feed rice, barley, millet, sunflower seeds, Kaffir corn and Canada peas with a little hemp seed as dainties. I put a small trough below the holes of the self-feeder on each side. In this way, the grain which falls out is caught by the trough and there is little waste. I also have a protected box divided in halves. In one side I put health grit, in the other oyster shells. All the covers for my self-feeders are three inches wider than the feeders. This prevents soiling the grain, as pigeons are very par- ticular about clean grain. My squabs weigh eight pounds to the dozen. My birds have bred at the rate of from seven t> nine pairs a year and one pair has bred ten pairs per year. The cost of feeding averages five cents per pair per month. , I think well of the squab business and expect before long to buy more as it is a profitable business, considering the small capital invested. I use egg crates and orange boxes/as I have found them best and cheapest. The unit system is best as it is easier to keep track of several small flocks rather than one 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 = uot? I can get orders for all squabs I can raise at $3 per dozen f.o.b. cars here, but I have sold EaLy (one dozen and I got $4.50 for them. 1 do not care to sell any until I get a big flock of reeders. I am making some arrangements now to build squab houses and I want to get about 150 or 200 pairs of breeders from you in the spring; as I want to get into shape to fill orders. I had an order the first of this month for ten dozen per week at $3 per dozen. This would have been a standing order for all winter if I could have handled it. I have one pair of young birds that laid four eggs, hatched and raised all of them. Has that ever happened in your flock? Write me what you think of my success and advise what price you will make me on an order for 100 pairs of Extras.—G. W. T., Louisiana. FAMILY TRADE BRINGS HIM AS HIGH AS EIGHT DOLLARS A DOZEN FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS. Enclosed you will find check and order for pigeons and supplies for $116.29. Please ship sundries by freight at once and the pigeons on July 23. The birds I got of you in February, 1908, are doing finely. Have raised three and four pairs each, squabs weighing at 25 days from 14 to 19 ounces alive. I have several pairs more, all raised from your Extras, so I have about 155 birds altogether now. I am clearing out the chicken pens and filling them beh 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 abe) in the city, and they attract much attention from the hundreds of visitors at my poultry yards. The Manual is agem. 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. _— SS 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 darge lot of pigeons bul they arexdosumae so-poorly that I do not expect to, keep stem aaa expect better results from the onés which vomdewm: The letters from customers printed in this book are evidence of the wide- spread interest on the American continent in squab breeding not only for revenue and for one’s table, but also as a pastime and instructive hobby. It will not be forgotten that the master mind of Charles Darwin evolved “The Origin of Species” from pigeon breeding. The ideas he conceived and the laws he discovered might have been worked out with other animals, but not within the span of his lifetime, with the thoroughness he accomplished, because pigeons breed rapidly, and in other respects are ideal for experiment. Prominent in political life at Washington are customers who give part of their spare time enthusiastically to this work. One of these ordered of us in January, 1908, as indicated by the letter printed at the top of this page. The next letter was as follows: loam greatly pleased with the birds: sent mer and they. Seem to bé all. that you have said “in rewaanm to them. We wrote him in December, 1908, to interest him in our Carneaux, and received the following letter: i have: your letter of some days, ago°1n recomemne Gie Homers yow sent me. °lhey were avery thine weeume I was well pleased with them. One disaster after another has followed these birds until now I have none, Lert. “hirst, “an, Owl “com aa anon i Meme mie pulled heads off, which was followed by some other misfortune, Ll shall never. experiment here. agaam With them, but: wien isretire: from Tie. i 1 old Serene labors and, go back: home, 1 certainly intend te keep pigeons... 1 thank you very, much. «or cadena 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 tock first, second and third prizes and | 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 haveabout 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 of rivalry 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 COMPA/.NY 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 eizht 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 screwed 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 FROM A 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. a4 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. lalso give a tonic every Sunday with a little hemp seed. I use a feeder which I made, as shown in your Manual, and a water fountain which I made from a bottle. I have followed your Marual fe cet HOME MADE. For this little plant the breeder has utilized what he had; expending hardly a dollar. He has done very well in these rough and ready quarters, however, as his letter here printed shows. (See letter of M. J. H., New York.) in caring for my birds and think it is an excel- lent book. Sometime in the future I intend to give you another order. I send by this mail a picture of my place and birds. The small pen is where I keep my young stock until they mate. The one with the Homer in the window is where my working birds are kept.—M. J. H., New York. vETTERS 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. involved, also depreciation on _ buildings, ONLY CULLS ARE CHEAP, by H. A. stock, etc., to take into consideration. If it Parkhurst. Many prospective customers have a vague idea of the value of good breeding stock. They expect to purchase A1 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 1 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 by J. C. Snyder. for nesting material. 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. Ihad 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 I am 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. APPENDIX 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 q 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 a little experience [invested 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 | 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. J read of a number who get large, fat squabs without using any Canada peas. I cannot see how they do it. Just as soon as I quit using peas My. squabs commence to lose in weight. 1 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 1 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 eyer purchased, but they bred so well there are now 250 full-grown birds, and I have been marketing nearly all the squabs for the last year. I never had any pigeons before, so I studied their hab- its and requirements as I went along, aided by the standard literature on the subject. In these four years, but two of the pigeons “‘ went light ”’ and there have been but six cases of canker with the squabs, never any with the old birds. There never has beenany sickness. One night there was a commotion in the flock. Taking my lantern, I went to investigate and found a rat in the loft} which I killed. Iconcluded that the only way the rat could have got in was by climbing a post of the fly- ing pen, which was against the barn and near the opening tothe loft. To guard against its occurring again I took a two-foot strip of zinc.and nailed it around this post, and have never seen another rat. There has been no trouble with lice or mites, for I used to- bacco stems when I could get them, for nest- 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 is a once-a-week job, left until Sundays. This does not take very long. My staple feed is red wheat and cracked corn the year round, in the proportions of two-thirds wheat to one-third cracked corn in summer and the reverse in winter. For change and luxury, I give a little kaffir corn, millet, buckwheat and hempseed. Health grit, which I buy regularly, fine ground oyster shells, lump salt and straw are kept before them all the time, and common gravel on the ground of the flying pen. The one hundred pairs of Homers which are mated supply me with an average of two dozen squabs a week for market. Killing them in the evening, as I am obliged to do, MR. HANIGAN’S SQUABS WEIGHING A POUND APIECE. there is some food left in their crops. I neither bleed, pick nor dress them, for this is the way I sell them at the Boston market. They weigh a pound apiece. As my run on the train takes me to Boston every day, I put the 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 have never tried to sell any squabs to the summer people who come to my town, for they seem to think I ought to sell them cheap because I am in the country. ENJOY GREEN THINGS, by Edward Rob- erts. I have a newidea. Pigeons eat water cress and radish tops, also green mustard leaves, and they like all. I feed them all the bread they can eat. One pigeon laid an egg in a nestbox with no bow! 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, (aqe[d avo uo are SMaIA OA eS0q} [TY “UAT “MO Aq ydeis0q04g) : ‘C10 SUGAM UNOd CNV SHYGAM ACUHL ‘SHAW OML ‘WAGM ANO S€VAOS XNVANUVO 1) ic Q 4 a) A, Q, x APPENDIX..G I GIVE UP CHICKENS IN FAVOR OF SQUABS, by Thomas F. Cook. Two years ago I 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 r laying, and the few squabs I did succeed in raising were so thin I could not market them. It took me months to get them back in good trim again, but I finally succeeded in doing so and they were paying me very well indeed when one night in last August my barn was burned down and the pigeon house with it. I managed to save about 100 birds, but their breeding was over for some time till I could get another house and pair them up again, but I had seen plainly that, rightly managed, there was money in squabs so hearing of a lot of about 900 that were for sale in Thornhill (about 15 miles from here) I bought them with the building they were in (a one-story frame structure fifty feet long by 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 for 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 TERPS 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. f 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 eapicly the large birds will multiply. n changing the eggs from one nest to APPENDIX G. another, you must be sure that the birds have laid about the same time (not over three days’ difference) or the one setting will either have no bird milk in her crop or, if she has set too long, the milk will be so thick the little squab cannot take it. This is the only precaution necessary, the birds will do the rest. All eggs look alike to them, but unlike the chicken very few will set longer than nineteen or twenty days. Some might object to this method as being cruel and contrary to nature, but a study of the case shows that it is not. A pigeon has a short memory and a very strong nesting in- stinct. Rob the nest one day and the birds will many times go to nesting the very next day, showing that they are not very much “upset ”’ and are willing to try again right away. Fifteen or more pairs of squabs may be raised from one pair of birds in this way without affecting the health of the old birds in the least, and the young are strong and healthy. A complete explanation of this method of forced breeding is found in Rice’s manual, the National Standard Squab Book (see page 231) and the writer can testify to its verity, as he has tested it thoroughly and boasts of one of the finest flocks of Homers and Carneaux in the West, obtained by this method of. forced breeding. After the eggs have been sat on for four of five days, hold them up between yourself and the sun, and if they are fertilized, you will clearly see a nucleus with a network of veins clustered about it. It looks just like the one- celled animal in the lowest scale of animal life, such as the 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 raised five pairs of young from them, nine of which were females, the remaining one a male. The first four pairs were eight females. I have four hundred pairs of birds. I use a great many pigeons in my work in teaching I make them pay. APPENDIX G HOW TO KEEP MICE OUT OF GRAIN TROUGHS, by W. L. Plumer. For those who, like the writer, have been annoyed by the depredations of mice in the self-feeders within the squabhouse a sketch is given show- ing arrangement which, while simple, has proven entirely effective against these little rodents. Squab breeders arein many cases losing a much greater amount of grain from this cause than they realize, as while it is compara- tively easy soto build the squabhouse that it is secure against the entrance of rats, the little mouse will in some way get in, and in numbers unsus- pected by the breeder unless he has paid a night visit to the lofts. At the time I followed the general custom of placing the feeders upon the floor, it was no uncommon occurrence on the morning rounds to disturb one or more mice which had lingered within the feeders from the night before. After some slight alterations the self- feeders were arranged in the following manner: In the centre of the unit or loft are placed two uprights two by four, thirty-two to thirty-four inches high and thirty inches apart, with strips four by ten inches on bot- tom of each, which are nailed to the floor. This together with two short braces gives the necessary support. On the top of each up- right is placed an inverted three-gallon crock, a board five by eight inches first being nailed to top of uprights, and on these the crocks rest rigidly. A NEW WAY TO COOK SQUABS, by Mrs. M. E. Slight. I clean them and split them in halves, then fry them in olive oil and butter, two-thirds oil and one-third butter. I first brown in the oil and butter, then cover them with water and simmer until they are cooked dry, then I slightly brown them again and make a cream gravy to eat with them. I ship my squabs alive to San Francisco and average $3 a dozen for them. I have sold some to the sanitarium also. BURLAP WINDOWS VENTILATE, by C. A. Herrold. I have two hundred Homers all working, and I am selling squabs from them that run from eight to nine pounds to the dozen. They bring me from $2.50 to $3 in Chicago sold by commission men. I have no trouble in keeping my birds in healthy condition. I think the first thing a beginner should learn is to ventilate the pigeon house. They must have pure air to breathe. Do not ventilate so that the wind will strike the birds. I think the roof should slope both ways, with a ventilator in each gable sixteen inches by twenty-four inches. The window on the south side should be taken out and left out in winter as well asin summer. Put a roller at top of window with gunny sacking to pull down in bad weather or in very cold weather. RAT-PROOF SELF-FEEDER FOR GRAIN. MISSOURI BREEDER SHIPS TO PITTS- BURG, by J. B. Beckman. It was a year ago the twelfth of this month (June) that I re- ceived the first twenty-five pairs of Homer breeders and I have at present two hundred and fifty pairs of working Homers, and fine ones, too. J 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. TI have fifteen acres of land, high up ona hill. Ihave about five acres of Canada peas, and the vines are loaded. I have 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 our plant before fall for three hundred more pairs. With what buildings I already have I will then be breed- ing seven hundred pairs. I think things loolc 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. f 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 APPENDS G Tyo REFERENCES» FIDELITY TRusT Co. COMMERCIAL AGENCIES —afia— TELEPHONE CALLS $302-5303 WortTH - i =te= NEAR CHAMBERS STREET 3/29/09: b AZ™ ec] Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Treasurer, NEW YORK, Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. Dear Sir: We are very pleased to note the signal success of the Squab Mag- azine, and the small card which we inserted with our name, has brought us numerous inquiries from all over the country from Squab Raisers, as to market prices and conditions, and has resulted in the receipt of ship- ments of some very fine birds. There is absolutely no limit to the quantity of Squabs we can handle, and as our trade is constantly extending, we are anxious at all times to keep in touch with raisers of good Squabs. It is a source of satisfaction to observe the better quality of birds now being received on the market, due, no doubt, to the eliminating of poor breeding stock, greater care and attention given to the keeping and feeding of the birds, and more intelligent dressing and shipping. i @, we believe, to the ucational efforts of yourself, and the testimo is present in the superior ty o uabs now de recelved, as compar Ww a lew years ago. We endeavor at all times to give our shippers the best possible prices, make prompt returns, and are pleased to furnish all the inform- ation tn our power. We wish to thank you for the courtesies you have showm us in the Past, and with best wishes for success in your continued efforts to improve tne squab industry, we are, APPENDIX G HOW THE CITY MARKETMAN WANTS SQUABS, by A. Silz. Squab raisers should bear in mind that squabs should not be more than three to four weeks old when killed, and 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 ae 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 naturallv benefit, as the birds will bring better money, at all times, where this con- dition is not apparent. During the summer months, the squabs, after being properly cooled, should be care- fully packed between layers of cracked ice, using a laver first to cover the bottom of the package, then a layer of squabs arranged head downward, then another good layer of ice, a layer of squabs and so on, and when the pack- age is filled a good double layer of ice on top, so that the birds are completely enveloped, This will keep them thoroughly chilled and prevent any chance of spoiling while en route a SILZ DRAYLOAD OF SQUABS FOR ONE OF THE TRANS- . ATLANTIC STEAMSHIPS. A. SILZ. to the dealer. Care, however, must be exer- cised, even here, that too many squabs are not put into a package. It is better to use a little more ice and not pack the squabs very tightly, as this all tends to bring them to market in the best possible condition. WHY, WHEN, HOW TO TRANSFER SQUABS. It is a noticeable fact to all squab breeders that there is apt to be a difference of size between the two squabs in a nest when they are three days old and upwards and that the difference in size becomes more apparent the older they get until they are pretty well feathered. This condition is found less with Homers than with any of the other breeds, but Homers are not exempt from it. The reason for it is that one egg hatches from one to two days before the other. As soon as the first one hatches the parents begin to feed it and it will double in size in a day or two so that when the second squab hatches it is only half the size and strength of the first one. 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. tee 0 SQUAD YARDS eal 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 havea house of four units more under construction. I have five units full of breed- ers and cannot get enough squabs for my trade. JI have no competition in my Pennsyl- vania city, and the enclosed card will show ou my prices. : ee 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. J 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 it. The mortality list is very small compared with chick- ens, and squabs are less work, while for profit, well, chickens may as well quit trying. I have all three hospitals ordering squabs, and hotels clamoring for even the- smallest. It’s great, I tell you. Guess I have blown my own horn enough, but I get enthusiastic over it and forget to stop. The card which Mr. James refers to in his letter above is what is known as a private post- card. On the front is a place for the one-cent stamp and the address of the customer. On the back is the following printed matter, the places for the prices being left blank and filled in by pen when the card is sent out. (Italic type indicates what is filled in by pen ) Trade Mark sees rade Mar (Cees here Squabs We are pleased te quote you prices on fresh panes for the month of February, 1900, 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 care (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 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 xs pas Telephone. Connection. bss Sept. 24th,1909. Mr. Flmer C. Rice, Treasurer, Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. Dear Sir: We herewith wish to state, that with all Our numerous shipments, we take great pleasure in noticing the fact that they use yOur breed Of birds. This class of birds has given us and Our customers the best Of satisfaction, we having no cOmplaints whatever Offered us during the entire past seasOne We have asked a large majority Of our shippers where they at first purchased their stock to go into business, and fina your name at the top of the list. There is none who takes such an interest in the breeding Of squabs as your firm does, and we assure you that anyone purchasing your stock will be satisfactorily recompensed for his venture, and will always be perfectly satisfied with the Outcome of using your breed Of birds. We can Only say, they are the best for them to handle, and past experience has taught us they will make more money in shorter time, DOING BUSINESS DIRECTLY WITH YOU, than with anyone else. Yours very truly, Si Bare F, APPENDIX G HOW TO TRAIN HOMERS TO CARRY NEWS, by Alfred Lloyd. To obtain best results in condition and endurance in TNT the flying game regularity in i feeding and exercise is nec- | | essary. We generally fly the 7 birds three times a day, about thirty minutes to a fly, for a week orso. After that we give them one hour three times a day. Our first toss would be two miles; the second toss five § miles; the third, ten miles; the fourth, twenty miles; the fifth, thirty-five miles; the sixth, fifty miles; the seventh, sev enty-five miles, and the eighth, one hundred miles. After that the birds ought to fly one- hundred-mile jumps right up to five hundred miles. Of course one might takea bird from the loft and jump it to five hundred miles and have it come back, but it is simply a chance. I jumped one my- self from thirty-five to five hun- dred miles, but it took five * days to get home. The above training applies to mature birds, but for train- ing young birds it is different. Young ones should not be flown before they are three months old, and it is better to wait un- tilsix months. There are more Homers whose training begins at six months than at three. Young Homers should not be given more thana hundred-mile fly for the first three tosses. The best way is to give them tosses of three, five, ten, fifteen and twenty- five miles. After that, they can stand jumps from twenty-five to one hundred miles. The picture on this page shows an opening guarded with wires set where the window of the squabhouse generally is, or at the end of the flying pen. The bird pictured has just completed a flight and is about to push the wires further and drop down into the middle of the coop. As soon as the bob wires move out from a vertical position, the electric cir- cuit is made by the contact breaker and the electric bell rings to inform the owner that the bird has arrived home. Two cells of dry battery are shown in the picture, also the electric bell. The battery and bell may be set anywhere on the premises, even two hundred feet away in the residence of the owner, if desired. As soon as the bird has dropped into the pen, the wires fall back toa vertical position and the bell stops ringing. A battery of two cells would cost fifty cents. An electric bell costs about fifty cents. The wiring would cost half a dollar more. The bob wires and frame cost about twenty-five cents a wire. You can buy them with two, four or six wires, etc. The whole outfit is in- expensive, and is the source of much pleasure @ il 315 BOB WIRES WITH ELECTRICAL ATTACHMENT, and enjoyment. The bent wire and cord shown in the picture are for the purpose of raising all the bob wires by a pull from the back of the squabhouse, so that the birds can go out for their exercise. The cord is released so that the bobs will drop and be in position for tripping when the first bird comes home. HOUSE TO HOUSE CANVASS, by William H. Woodruff. As wehave no very large quantity of squabs, our method has been to make a house-to-house canvass for custom- ers. This prevents creating demand without supply, as advertising would do. We have sold squabs for over two years and have al- ways received at least seventy cents a pair to private trade. We shipped a dozen to New York and got $2.55. From this express charges were deducted. The best plan, es- pecially with a small flock, is to build up and hold a good private trade. SALT BAKED IN CANS, by A. L. Thomp- son. I take a common empty tin fruit can and punch holes in the bottom for drainage, then fill with salt, and dampen, after which I put in the oven and bake hard. You can put these cans in any place in the squab- house and if you lay them on the side, the pigeons cannot soil the salt. One end of the can is open, the other end closed. 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 canlkxer. ? 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 eqwal them. In the fall of 1907, I began tosave the squabs from the best breeders. I had to keep them in the house with my older birds because I had no other pen for them. They disturbed the breeding pairs somewhat but the following spring they mated and got down to work, I sell all the squabs I can raise to the local ° marketman. At first there was no sale for them in my Connecticut city, except in the summer when the wealthy people from the larger cities were sojourning here, but the marketmen bought all I had last winter, When ready for market my squabs weigh from two pounds totwo and one-half pounds a pair. They are white and fat and the dealer has complimented me about them many times. I find the business very interesting and would like to engage in it more extensively if I could get more time to devote to the birds but it is impossible to do so at present. I am often praised for the fine appearance my birds make when out in the flying pen. Last week a gentleman told me my little house is the neatest and the birds the finest looking he had ever seen, NO NEED TO GRIND PIGEON MANURE, by Harry Howe. Having read in the maga- zine the different methods of handling pigeon manure for the making of commercial fer- tilizer, I will tell you the result of my own experience. I take the cleanings and then pack them in barrels. When I have 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. APPENDIX G WHY I PREFER SQUABS TO CHICKENS, by Mrs. Lizzie A. Trout. I wish to keep on increasing my flock of pigeons as I like the work better than raising chickens. I have learned that if one would succeed in squab raising he must like it and by so do- ing acquaint himself with the little things that are of great value to the success- ful squab raiser. The following are important points: care of the birds, what to feed, how to feed and when to feed. My squabhouse is built on the slope of a hill facing the south and as this is a warm and pleasant _loca- tion I do not have frozen squabs in the winter. I give them tobacco stems to build their nests and by frequent cleaning give no chance for the lice to live in my squabhouse. I find that to 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 left over any feed, or very little, until the next feeding time. so I know that their grain will be sweet and clean. They will be more eager for their feed. I do not like the idea of throwing feed on the floor and they will get the feed more or less dirty even if you do clean the floor once a week. feed in a box six feet long, two feet wide and three inches high. The birds cannot scatter the feed in this way very much. This box is large enough for a loft of fifty pairs as they never all feed at the same time. Feeding should if possible always be at the same hours, seven o'clock in the morning and four o’clock intheevening. This will give the birds plenty 317 BLUE-BARRED RACING HOMER. A beautiful flyer bred by Paul F. Miller which has covered five hundred miles in one day. of time to feed their young before night. I wash my fountain and give my birds fresh water twice a day in winter and three times a day insummer. They are as glad for the nice fresh spring water in the hot summer day at noon as 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 chili the squabs at night. All this vou must con- tend with if you want to raise chickens. Feed your pigeons the right kind of feed, give them plenty of fresh water. Then they will care for the squabs themselves and in four weeks’ time the squabs will be ready for market. There is a field for prosperity in squab raising. When President Taft started on his 1909 trip, he was given a banquet by the Boston Chamber of Commerce. One line in the menu was roast squabs, two thousand in number. 318 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 foursquabs. 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 acd ene in a moderate oven for an hour and a half. BRAISED SQUAB. Clean, wash carefully. Put a large olive in the body of each. Bind legs and wings neatly to the sides of the birds. Fry six or eight slices of fat salt pork in the frying-pan until crisp. Strain the fat back, lay in the squabs and roll them over and over in the boiling grease until seared on all sides. Take them up and keep hot. Add a tablespoonful of butter to the hot fat, and fry an onion, sliced, in it. Lay_the squahbs 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- creased in proportion. It required little time for me to discover that my Homers, properly handled, were money makers, and to that endI 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. 4 The market conditions at that time were verymuch undeveloped and when I would mention squab$ there would bea round of laughter from my friends. However, to-day, through persistent effort and the production of first-class squabs. the demand is greater than I can supply. During the present winter I will enlarge my plant to four or five thousand breeders, and later on will be prepared to furnish all squabs desired by my patrons. My customers con- sist of cafe, club, hotel and railroad officials, who buy the best, and whose patronage is very satisfactory to me, because Iam not compelled to sell to commission men and can thus de- mand a larger price for my product. The price in this State is from $3.50 to $6 per dozen, undressed. The future for the business here appeals to me as being a very bright one and I feel con- fident that my business stunt of squabs will reward me handsomely. The business is attractive and profitable be- yond expectation, provided the proper atten- tion and skill are exercised that would be de- manded in other lines where success is at- tained. I am delighted with my birds and business and trust all who are or may be in- terested in the same line will have their efforts crowned with success. PECULIAR COLOR RESULT, by C. C. O’Neal. About the young birds from the cross of two Carneaux males with two white Homer females, generally they are of solid black plu- mage, sometimes dark-shaded checkers. 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 balance of the body. The squabs are then placed in the buckets to remove the animal heat. When the buck- ets become full, the bodies of the squabs are washed off, the blood is removed from the mouth and the filth from the feet, and they are placed in another and larger tub, where they Temain 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. 9/ ie = Fd Par. 28. 9 eee. Ves EXTERIOR OF ONE OF THIS OHIO PLANT’S HOUSES. Never use a box for packing your squabs as some will recommend, for the simple reason that the express messengers will up-end the package, also pile other boxes on your ship- ment, and when it reaches your market, your commission man reports it arrived in bad order and you are given a nice little cut in your remittance. We use a small keg for small orders and a cracker barrel for larger shipments. First fill your barrel or keg with water and let it stand until it drains out to swell it, then line it with a good grade of white parchment paper to make it air-tight. This also helps the ap- pearance of your package. Before placing any ice in the package bore a small hole in the bottom of the barrel to drain off the water which would gather from the melting of the ICes Place a iarge scoopful of finely cracked ice in the bottom of the barrel, then place in the barrel in very nice order a layer of squabs, a thin layer of ice and another layer of squabs, repeating until barrel is three-fourths full. Then fill to edge with ice cracked to about the size of a man’s fist. Fold the balance of your parchment paper over the top, remove the hoop, place a piece of burlap over the barrel, replace the hoop and drive down in place, holding it in place with small lath nails. Fasten your express tag to a strong cord or wire and run through the burlap, fastening same securely. Question: I have bought a set of steel figures to number leg bands but the figure 9 is missing. Answer: To make figure 9 hold the figure 6 die upside down. None of these ce has botha9anda6. One die serves for FLYING PEN WITH BOB WIRES. The small holes guarded by the bobs can be seen at. the top of the flying pen. The 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 twas 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 mav be sown. In this way a squab raiser can have all the sunflower seeds he needs for hi> pigeons at a trifling cost. Pigeons are very fond of these seeds and if a breecer raises his own the feed bill is cut down just so much. Sunflowers require little cultivation and will grow and thrive in almost any location. Question: Are squabs ever scalded before plucking? Answer: Yes, but it is not neces- sary, nor do the dealers want them scalded. They should be dry-picked. APPENDIX G SEVEN YEARS’ PROF- ITABLE ERIENCE. by P. A. Heiermann. have been raising squabs for nearly seven years and have found it a good pay- ing business. I started with one pair of common pig- eons. After having them a few months and learning their habits, I bought ten pairs of good Homers. Their squabs were much larger than the common pigeon squabs. _ I then be- gan tosave allof the largest squabs and banded them so as not to inbreed, and numbered the bands and kept arecordof them. At present I am getting from $3 to $5 a dozen for my Homer squabs_ dressed, according to size, but at wholesale I get $3.50 a dozen straight through. I sell most of my squabs at retail, and then cannot supply all my orders, The city in which I live has a population of about sixty thousand and I have a home market: for all the squabs I wish to put out. My squab plant is on the car line and can be reached from all parts of the city. I never have donated any squabs to get customers, but at first when I had no market for them I telephoned parties whom I thought would want them and I soon found places to sell. When I got a new customer always gave him a few of my cards, and by so doing I soon built up a large trade, as a satisfied cus- tomer is the best advertisement. I feed wheat, cracked corn, peas, kaffir corn, millet, hempseed and other different kinds of grain, but I always keep changing so as not to feed one kind too long. _I feed three times a day in long troughs, and do not use any self-feeders, but in the moulting season I do not feed so much. I always keep plenty of fresh water before them at all times, also grit, oyster shells, charcoal and rock salt. , It costs me about $1.25 a year to feed a pair of breeding Homers. Can you tell me how it comes that one of the pairs of blue checkers has an almost white-feathered squab? Answer: Colored Homers do not breed true to color. Blue checkers may breed blue bars, or blue checkers, or any other color. A white young- ster from colored-plumaged birds is rare, like a white calf from a black bull and biack cow, and is generally called a throw-back, or re- version to one of several constituent types. we white Homers breed true to color as a rule. Question: APPENDIX G WHAT ONE PAIR OF CARNEA PRODUCED, ne Mrs. . M. White, he 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. MHer 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. Ofcourse she could have accom- plished nothing without inbreeding. It was all inbreeding, except the young bred by the orig- inal pair. Her flock are fine, large and rugged birds. This is the record of one pair of good Car- neaux in competent hands. DELAWARE HOTELS PAYING $4.50 A DOZEN, by N. H. Case. I can sell my four-weeks-old squabs faster than I can raise them. There are three large hotels in my nearest town in this State (Delaware) whose proprietors all say they will give me $4.50 a dozen, for as many asI canraise. They want them killed and bled. They offer me this rice for both winter and summer. Each otel 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. > = ea ; ~*~, Pah be "git. ees * hy MRS. WHITE AND CARNEAUX. I am sure there is a fine opening here for squabs as San Antonio (Texas) is a city of 100,000 population and nothing of the kind here. I never have seen anything but common squabs here and very few of them. A friend, Mr. Hobbs, is working in a near- by country town, and he says they are al- ways ringing up from San Antonio asking if they can find any squabs.—J. W. Mann, Texas. =H Ke On iN 7) IE seats eke NI S SS — SS SSS —— a — FSS i ee Se fT wares i eas NUL => SELL SSS ss SSS rt rs AW on ue v Sr ay 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- right scantlings, which were set at a proper distance to suit the width of the cotton. Poul- try netting was put on outside of the cotton. On the east side, from which direction come our prevailing high winds, another thickness of cotton was put on. This house was cheap to build, and is light, dry, and airy. It is cold, but I have as vet seen no harm resulting from that cause. A number of my birds have been occupying it during the past winter, and they have done as well, and raised as many squabs, as any of my other birds. At present the flock consists of about three hundred and sixty pairs of birds. For the squabs I get $4 a dozen, the buyer paying the express charges. Question: What, if any, is the difference between the squab-breeding Homer and what is generally called the Carrier pigeon? If the Homer is not the same as the pigeon generally used for long-distance flights, can it be trained for such flights? Answer: There is no dif- ference between the squab-breeding Homer and the message-carrying pigeon. A carrier pigeon is a Homer which has been trained. There is a variety of pigeons known as English Carriers, but these are not used for message carrying. Everybody breeding squabs from Homers can fly the young which he is raising. ce ee LN eeeee Naa Be NG ee: APS ah N ih * i APPENDIX G NORTH CAROLINA SQUABS IN OPEN AIR, by Julius A. Caldwell, M.D. We have oeen experiment: ing with twenty-five pairs of the best Homers. We put them in a wire pen 24 feet x 12 feet x 12 feet built against an old house whose roof projected out about five feet. This afforded some protection from the weather. I send you a sketch to show you the idea more in detail. Find- ing the work a pleasure as well as profitable, even in such an elementary manner as this, I decided to build a unit squabhouse and it is now built. I am buying \ f 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. lt 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. AMI aN 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 ezas. 1 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 right way. I adopt the plan of selling my birds by weight—five cents per ounce. When asked what my price is, and I tell them this they exclaim that they can buy all the squabs they want for forty-five cents apiece. There are many flocks of common pigeons in this surrounding country. I don’t run down the birds that they are buying, nor do I stand and argue the question with them. I ask them to weigh the birds they buy and see what my price would make them cost. They find they are getting more six and seven- ounce birds than anything else and at my price they would cost only thirty and thirty- five cents instead of forty-five cents. They come back to me and want to see my squabs and are astonished at the size of them. They find I have squabs instead of jack-knives to sell. Most of my squabs are eleven and twelve ounces. I have some eight and nine 323 MY BROTHER AND MY BIG HOMER SQUABS. and I have a good many twelve to fourteen. I have no trouble in making customers under- stand that they are getting meat for their money—for they have proved the fact to their own satisfaction. When you have the right squabs, your biggest trouble is {oo 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 in it, although the old ones were blue. Is this liable to hap- en any time? Answer: Yes. The co cred omers do not breed true to color. 324 Ls —— Zo era CMLL LLL OLA WIRE NAILS INSTEAD OF CLEATS. Question: I would like to inquire. if stale dread crumbled into small pieces about the size of corn would be good to feed to squabs. I do not mean exclusively but at times. I have a large bakery and have considerable stale bread which I thought I might be able to use to good advantage in connection with the squab business. Answer: Yes. 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, where they fly out over the salt marshes and get a good deal of their living from small snails, eaten shell and all. Question: Can peat moss be used for nesting material? Answer: Yes, and it will drive away lice. It is good for nests for setting hens (fowls) for the same reason. An attempt was made in Indiana to use this peat moss for upholstering furniture but this did not work very well. It is used for bedding horses. APPENDIX G ONE DOLLAR FOR EVERY LOUSE FOUND ON MY BIRDS, by F. Beltran. As I believe in exchanging ideas, 1 am going to tell you about my last arrange- ment ot nestboxes such as I draw them here. The whole thing is plain. The bottoms rest on only four nails, two on each side, that is all. My aim has a!- ways been to have not the smallest hiding place for mites, etc., and when 1] 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 atfords no hiding place for those pests that live in the cracks here in our Mexi- can climate. The lice which live on the bodies of the birds would be also a thing of the past in every house of mine, if only the man in charge would keep as close a watch on the squab-raising pens as I keep on the breeding stock and raising pens, where I would give a dollar for every louse found on the bodies of the birds. SET YOUR STANDARD HIGH. It is not merely the birds, it is the intelli- gence and skill behind them. In buying breeding stock, whether pigeons or ysoul- try, of a man you are not buying sin ply his birds but you buy his knowledge, skill and experience. He has attained a cer- tain standard which may be high or low, as you can judge for yourself by reading what he says, and knowing his record in the business. All Homers and all Carneaux are not by any means alike. ‘The best ones are furnished by the men of most skill and intelligence, because they have set their standard high and do business accordingly. The man of nostanding may offer to sell you birds at half the price of the man whose standing is high, and it almost invariably happens that such birds indeed are found to be worth about half price, because the offering of them at a low price is a confes- sion of the advertiser that he has not a high standard and is not making his birds indis- pensable, but is satisfied to take the trade of people who want the cheapest they can buy, and such people are satisfied with poor stock. I have seen something in the magazine about high altitudes and dry climates. Up in this part of Canada it is very dry and we have to make our pigeons breed on the ground so as to get the dampness, for the eggs will dry out if they are up on the wall in nest- boxes. So we do not put more than twenty pairs of pigeons in a house twelve by twelve, and we let them build nests on the ground.— J. H. Smith, Saskatchewan. Question: Are pigeon wings salable? An- swer: The wings of colored Homers are not used to any extent on women’s hats, but the white wings are readily salable to wholesale milliners. APPENDIX G HOW TO TAKE PIG- EON PICTURES. Almost everybody has a camera these days and with a small one, costing two dollars, it is possible to take excel- lent pigeon pictures. The film can be enlarged to any size. Choose a day when the sun is out and take them in the flying pen when they are walking around on the ground. Do not take them while they are on the perches because then they are drawn out of shape. They strike a natural and handsome pose when they are on the ground. Youshould sit on a board on the ground. Hold your camera not over six inches from the ground and point it at the birds. Have a pocketful of hempseed and throw it out to the birds in front of the camera from four to eight feet from where you are sitting. Do not snap the birds while they are pushing and_ scrambling for the hempseed but wait until they have eaten and raised their heads expect- antly as if looking for more. This is the time to press the button. Try to get a group of the birds in this manner, showing six or eight birds. The best view of a pigeon is obtained broad side, but sometimes an excellent picture is ob- tained from the front or even from the back, such a view showing the width of the shoul- ders. Photographs showing squabs_ four weeks old alive or dressed or novelty pic- tures likejthe 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.—Goitlieb Pjister, New 325 GRANDPA, BABY AND SQUABS. I send a photograph of myself and grandchild, Miss Janet Pfister, oes “ork. the scales and the two weighed just a pound. I then put one of the Homers on and it weighed fifteen ounces, so the Homer squab weighed only one ounce less than the pair of common ones. Question: I have been contemplating for two or three months trying the squab business. I wrote to a commission house in Chicago to give me prices on squabs and they quoted me $5.50 per dozen for eight-pounds-or-over squabs. I also wrote to another commission house about the sale of squabs and they sent me a price list in which it priced squabs at $2.50 and $3 a dozen for choice squabs, and as low as $1.50 a dozen. Answer: If you were to go into a hat store and offer a man $1 for a hat which you happened to see and liked, and he should laugh and tell you you could not have it for $1, that the regular price was $3, would you be disappointed because he would not take your $1 and give you the hat? You are not obliged tosell for $1 a dozen just because you are offered that amount. 326 NEW YORK CITY SQUAB MARKET BOOMING, by William R. McLaughlin. The New York City squab market, with which I have been intimately connected for many years, buying and selling to a trade which I know thoroughly, is steadily increasing in demand, especially in January and the fol- lowing eight months, when no game can be had. There is no possibility of overdoing the production, as the squab business is here to stay. There is a good demand all the year round for birds running from seven pounds to twelve pounds to the dozen, at good paying prices, and breeders should place themselves right at the start by buying birds enough to ship from five to ten dozen squabs at a time. In this way they will save considerable on express, as the charge on this quantity is a trifle more than on one, two or three dozen shipments. The very small shipments are unsatisfactory to handle as they do not con- tain enough birds of any particular size to keep a good average scale. There is no line of goods I handle which has grown so much in the last few years as squabs, especially since the squabs have been sold ac- cording to grade and size, and I believe they will continually crowd to the front. I want squabs all the time. I know there is nothing around a farm pay- ing any better and holding to a more steady price 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 Saturdays for my home orders. At this time of year (July) I start in killing at five a.m., and have all squabs killed, plucked and delivered by ten a.m. I have two covered baskets which I take with me to the lofts and the squabs which are to be killed are put in them. Then they are taken to where I kill and pick them. I have a boy who does all the killing and helps pick. My wife and myself do the most of the picking. As soon as the 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. APPIN DIXAG I have at home a large hotel trade, having a standing order of four to six dozen a week. Prices range from twenty-five to seventy-five cents each according to size and weight, the average being about fifty cents each. In shipping squahs to the city markets I pack all squabs in ice, first putting in a laver of ice, then a layer of squabs. I have not shipped very many to the city markets as my home trade takes nearly all that I can raise, but have always when shipping received the highest market prices. The inexperienced wiil at first find in using the squab killing knife, that they do not stick the squabs right and that some will live for quite a long time, and have to be stuck the second time. This has been my experience so I tried this plan so as not to let the squabs suffer any. I made a killing machine, the same as described in the National Standard Squab Book, pages 114-115, which breaks their necks and kills them at once. I then use the squab knife and bleed them. As soon as the squabs are plucked they are at once placed either in a pail or tub of cold water, into which some salt has been put. If you use a twelve-quart pail put in three to four pinches of salt, that is, what you can hold with your thumb and fingers. If a tub is used put in according to size. This will give the squabs the fine white skin desired by the New York market, taking out all the dark or red spots.’ It also gives them plumpness. I leave them in water from four to five hours, which takes out all the animal heat. I then clean the feet of all foul matter and wash all the blood from their beaks and mouths and wrap their heads in white tissue paper. The paper costs very little and the trouble will more than repay any one. It gives a fine, clean appearance when your dealer opens the box and your squabs will bring the top prices. , I pack all shipments in ice, putting in a layer of ice first, then a layer of squabs, keeping this rotation up until the box is filled, but being very careful not to get the box too full. No breeder will ever be sorry for any extra pains he takes with his shipments, as it will pay in the long run. SOFTENS PEAS IN WATER, by Elmer Streckwald. I know a woman breeding squabs who softens peas by moistening them in water. Her idea is that they will not be so hard to digest, especially for the young pigeons. 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. T 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: Tread 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. “XNVENUVO MOOU HLNOWAId WOU GHUd CIO SMAHM UOd savnos APPENDIX G APPENDIX G WE SELL NO SQUABS FOR LESS THAN $6 A DOZEN, by Elmer E. Wygant. A few months ago I wrote you to the effect that I was having some photographs taken of our buildings, to show you what we have been able to do with the twenty-five pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers which we bought of the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, in April, 1909. When the birds arrived, we placed them in a box stall, built a small pen on the outside, and did not pay any attention to them except to water and feed for over three months, when we found we had to prepare other-pens for the young, which were coming very fast. In fact, every pair shipped us were all raising squabs at this time. They came so fast that we have been compelled to put up a building which is 128 feet long, eighteen feet wide and twelve feet high. At this writing (June 3) it is filled with three hundred mated pairs all breeding, besides ten pens in the large barn with four hundred mated pairs. I can see where I made a mistake when starting and that was that I should have bought about five hundred pairs and saved the time we have taken to breed. For since last August, when we began to sell squabs, we have been compelled to refuse orders owing to our wish to breed to one thousand pairs. We have made a point not to sell any squabs less than $6 a dozen dressed, and guarantee every squab to weigh three-quarters of a pound, dressed, or no sale. We are careful not to kill any birds if under the above weight. We have supplied banquets and hotels at the above price and in doing so we show a common pigeon by the side of a Homer, which settles all arguments at once. We feed entirely according to the directions in Elmer Rice’s book and have had no trouble in keeping all the birds in fine condition. The main point, in our estimation, is to have clean coops, fresh water at all times, and see that every bird is given enough to eat. If these instructions are lived up to at all times, there is no reason why anybody should not make a success of raising squabs. (By Ray E. Brown, Manager.) Owing to the fact that Mr. Wygant, the proprietor of Etwinoma Farms, is also the owner and manager of a Jarge summer resort, this time of the season finds him rushed, so he has handed me your request for further detaiis regarding the way we are getting along with the squab business. We started small and enlarge as we grow. We are at the same time growing a large poultry business. Make up your mind what variety of pigeons you want, how many you want, and remember the best is what you want. There are a great many varieties suitable for squab raising. We prefer the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, which we find come up to all the requirements called for by the squab demand. Regardless of the variety you start with, it is quality you want, not quantity Buy your foundation stock from a reliable breeder. 329 Tell him what you want and pay his price. Don't think the price too high considering quality, as he knows the value of the birds he is quoting you prices on much better than you, and bantering over prices with a reliable breeder is only waste of time. Also remember that saving money buying cheap stock birds is not saving, only wasting. This being a large farm covering 300 acres, we find valuable use for all the pigeon droppings in the orchard. We raise some of our grain, which is but a small advantage over those who have to buy their entire amount. Our main advantage is that our entire lofts and farms are connected with running water. The successful squab raiser should study the National Standard Squab Book, subscribe for the aaa Magazine and take advantage of some of the many good hints published in each and every copy from men who know from experience. A correspondent in Maryland writes to us March 20, 1911: ‘‘I have seen some of your Plymouth Rock Homers in this neighborhood and they are fine birds, so fine indeed that I am anxious to get rid of my Carneaux to get them instead.’’ That is quite a recommenda- tion, is it not? We might add, that the Car- neaux which we sell at a higher price than our Homers are bigger and better than our Homers. Many people buy only by labels and prices; in other words. if pigeons called Carneaux were offered them at one dollar a pair, they would buy them, without any thought further. There is not much satisfaction in that kind of trade either for seller or buyer. BOTH HATCH ON SAME DAY, by Leroy Wiles. I think it is a good idea for a breeder to save all his eggs that do not hatch and when a pigeon lays her first egg, take it out of the nest and put in one of the infertile ones, then when she lays her second egg, take out the infertile one and put back her own that was taken out the first day she laid. (The infertile egg can be told by putting a mark on it.) This will keep one squab from hatching a day before the other. Then very few squabs will get stunted. Considering the question of ‘‘ How best to reach the retail trade,’ would say, although I have not tried it out, I believe a good way (and one of small cost) would be to send post- cards, either neatly printed or written, to each doctor in the city, stating that if any of his patients are in need of squabs, the writer is in a position to supply them.—H. A. Knelly, New Jersey. Charles S. Eby, a Michigan customer, is taising squabs from Plymouth Rock Extra Homers weighing from one pound to nineteen ounces apiece. The smallest squab he ever weighed registered fifteen ounces. He has the sent Homers and he knows how to feed to atten, 330 NOW, BUSTER, DON’T MOVE. CARNEAUX PRICES. It is a_ peculiar thing about the pigeon trade that whereas there are a certain number of purchasers at, say, six dollars a pair, the number will treble and quadruple at three dollars a pair, with no further inducement than the price. This is an absurdity and in the old days did more to drag the pigeon business down than any- thing else, for few selling pigeons at cheap prices could afford to replace dead birds, odd APPENDIX G sex, etc. Cheap pigeons are never cheap, but in most cases are a total loss and a source of the utmost vexation from start to finish. Ina pigeon transaction, the price is a very small matter. What you wish to know is: Will I get them prompt- ly, or wait from three to six months while the birds are being bred for me? Incase there are some dead ones in the coop on arrival, will the seller promptly make good, or will he refuse, putting the blame onto the express company, which never pays such claims unless the deaths have been caused by a wreck? In case I am not satisfied with some or all of the pigeons, have I any redress? Who pays the express, myself or the shipper? In case I find some youngsters, or more of one sex than the other, can I force the seller to make good? So, you see, suppose you can buy Carneaux at $3 a pair, and do not buy character, reputation and good service with it, you get less than half of what you would have secured had you paid $6 a pair and received satisfaction. The friendship and good will between buyer and seller is avery important matter in a pigeon sale. If one finds he can buy regular ten-cent soap for six cents, why one would of course pay six cents. Soapis not alive and does not breed. It can be transported without risk. It is not likely that you would ask for a refund of the money. But there is some risk in buying pigeons and it is to your advantage to trade with a firm which will take the risk, and not compel you. I can talk Homers allday. Iowe a great deal of my success to the National Squab Magazine. I start- ed three years ago with thirty-six Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. I have now nineteen units on Mr. Rice’s plan, and have betw ‘en 1200 and 1500 birds. In June 1] shipped 434 squabs to a northern market, first week in July 115. We have . no local market in summer, this being a winter resort. My best prices are obtained in the winter. I sold in two and a half months eight hundred squabs at six dollars per dozen.—W. C. Hyer, South Carolina. Your Manual, the National Standard Squab Book, is the best and most thorough publica- tion on pigeons and squabs ever published. I am more than pleased with it. I shall send on an order early this spring, possibly earlier, and if your birds are like your book, there shall certainly be another order.— W. C. Val- entine, Illinois. APPENDIX G HOW I NET $4000 A YEAR WITH SQUABS, by Oscar Maerzke. | have been in the squab business thirteen years. Ihave a mixed flock containing “os both common pigeons and Homers. The squabs from the Tiomers are larger and_ bring more money, and the Homers breed better than the com- mons. I make $4000 a year profit. I always have run the business alone, up to last year, } when I took a partner, Charles ~ Lutovsky. Inthecounty where we live (Wisconsin) many of the farmers breed common pigeons. We have an automo- bile with a rack on_ back to hold pigeon crates. My part- ner goes out daily in this automobile, to gather up the squabs from the farmers, cover- ing regular routes. He brings them home alive and I kill and pluck them and ship them along with the squabs we raise. We have shipped squabs as far East as New York. Just now we are shipping to Chicago, about 150 miles distant. We use any kind of a second-hand box, provided it is clean and fairly tight, for shipping, put- ting a layer of ice ontop of the squabs and nailing the box up tight. empties are not returned to us. My home is half a mile down the street from the squab plant. I have built one residence from squab profits and am now building another alongside my present home. It costs us $3500 a year to feed our birds, or a little less than $1 a year a pair. An im- portant part of the daily ration is a wild seed mixture, bought cheaply. We get it from a brewery. It is what is left after cleaning barley for malt. The brewery, having no further use for this refuse, sells it cheap. It is perfectly clean, dry, sweet and good, how- ever. The pigeons are very fond of it and it does them good. Of course, when they are eating it they are not eating the more expensive wheat and corn. The mixture contains the small black kernels of wild buckwheat, also cockle seed, flaxseed, the seed of pigeon grass, and some barley. We store it in bins and it oe not have much of a tendency to heat or spoil. The squabs from our common pigeons and the common squabs bought from the farmers weigh about seven pounds to the dozen. They are smaller, do not. look so good and do not bring so much in the market as the Homer squabs. The squabs trom our Homers weigh eight or nine pounds to the dozen and we have some ten-pound Homer squabs. The When I started in the business a squab was . a squab, no matter what size, and brought a flat price, but now, on account of the enor- MAERZKE’S $4000-A-YEAR PROFIT SQUAB PLANT. mous number of superior, large-size Homers which Elmer Rice has imported from Belgium and sold in this country, the small-size native American Homers and the common pigeons have been overshadowed in the markets. Squabs are now graded by weight when sold, and the more they weigh to the dozen, the more they bring. I have always sold to commission men and dealers in the large cities. We have no heat in our houses. In the winter the temperature goes as low as twenty degrees below zero. The squab production falls off some in winter and we lose a few squabs and eggs by freezing, but this is trifling compared to the cost of installing and running a heating apparatus, which is out of the ques- tion with our houses built and located as they are. We have so many pigeons in each of our three flocks (and a fourth flock of one thousand pairs to be soon added) that the houses are kept quite comfortable by the heat given off by the birds. Mrs. W. R. Lycan, a customer in far off Oregon, writes us March 31, 1911: “I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers just one year ago and have raised over seventy, lost very few. One pair has raised nine pairs and is setting again. This notwithstanding the fact that we have moved during this time and had them in a coop for several days, and have never had a flying pen; just have them in an open-front chicken house. How’s that?”’ 332 HOW A MAN OF 75 MAKES $25 WEEKLY, by John D. Ludwig. I am making $100 a month net profit squab breeding with 1400 mated pigeons, mostly Homers. I am seventy- five years old. In front of my house I have a sign: ‘*One squab contains two to five ounces of liquor protoplasm. This is the liquor of life, without which nothing can live. Thirty good squabs have more protoplasm than a beef weighing eight hundred pounds.’’ I live onthe Southern Pacific railroad line, and thou- sands of people read the sign. At the present time (March) I receive $3.75 a dozen for Homer squabs, and $4.50 a dozen for my larger squabs, net. Last year I sold 8199 squabs. My customers call at the aviary for my squabs. I put from twenty- four to forty squabs in a box alive and the expressman calls for the boxes. My market is Oakland and San Francisco. I cannot raise the number of squabs that are called for. My squabs are always plump and fat, and weigh from twelve to eighteen ounces each. The boxes I ship the squabs in are the size of Swift turkey boxes and have a partition in the center. I place eighteen or twenty squabs in each compartment. The boxes are returned to me and the poultrymen pay the express both ways, on the squabs and empties. They are paying as high as $5 a dozen in San Francisco, one year contract. _ Is it hard work to take care of 1400 pigeons, they ask me. I have two boys, George, the older, thirteen years old; Edwin, the younger, nine years. In vacation they did all the work around the aviary. Gathered all the squabs for market. Removed the dirty nests. Cleaned them. Dipped them into the whitewash barrel. Set them aside ready for future use. Placed clean boxes for the dirty ones taken out. Raked out the houses and lofts. Shoveled the manure in the wagon and delivered it to the florist. Mixed the feed and placed it in thehoppers. Gathered and handled eucalyptus leaves to refill nestboxes. They ran the place in fine order. (The boys did that during their vacation from school. I was on a trip to Sonoma county.) At present they go to school. After schoc] hours they are on hand and we do the work. Both love pigeons and are pleased to be with them. Boys certainly can make money raising squabs for market. They must learn all about pigeons. Must attend to business or they will lose the cash they invest. Start with only a few pairs. Does it pay to raise squabs? Yes, it does. [am making money. But like any other busi- ness you must learn the details. Learn the habits of pigeons and how to take care of them. I write you these few lines to let you know that we are still in the business, and I will tell you of our success after a year and a half. We wish to enlarge. We have now working about 135 pairs of the old original birds, of which seventy-five pairs were secured from your company, and the balance elsewhere, but like most new beginners we of course got a APPENDIX G few of those so-called Homers, and that meant we were stung, but the seventy-five pairs that we got from you are certainly fine workers and are going great for us. Out of the last year we have saved something like one hundred pairs of young birds out of those we bought from you so now we have about 240 pairs turning out squabs for us, and we are shipping on an aver- age of four dozen squabs a week and also are supplying some few small breeders around here. Besides the Homers we have thirty-eight pairs of Carneaux working but have not put any of their young on the market yet. We are proud of our success, which we lay to the birds bought from you. We want to add another sixty- foot building to our present holdings and to secure about three hundred pairs Plymouth Rock Homers from you. You have the only pigeons that we care to handle. We ship our squabs to Heineman Brothers in New York.— E. J. Quigley, West Virginia. ONE YEAR’S RECORD, by Emil Oetteking. I kept a record of the feed consumed by eight pairs of Homers in the year from January 1, to December 31, 1910, with the following result: Whole corn, 177 lbs, at $1.55 per 1001 bs.— $2.63 Red wheat, 168 lbs. at 2.40 per 1001bs.— 4.03 Kaffir corn, 1221bs. at 2.30 per 1001bs.— 2.81 Buckwheat, 51lbs.at 2.25 per 1001bs.— 1.15 Peas, 158 lbs. at 3.80 per 1001bs.— 6.00 Hemp seed, 91bs.at 6.00 per 1001bs.— 0.54 Total, 678 Ibs. $17.16 I killed 129 squabs in twelve months from the eight pairs of pigeons. This is at the rate of sixteen and one half squabs per pair, or eight and one-quarter pairs of squabs to each pair of parent breeders. I suppose you are always ready to read of a customer of yours that has made a success with pigeons, so I _ am writing to give you that information. I started my flock two years ago with three pairs of your Plymouth Rock Carneaux and now (March 26, 1911), am the proud owner of nearly two hundred pairs of as fine birds as there are in the country. I have sold squabs, youngsters and mated pairs, and at no time have I had any trouble in disposing of them. The breeders are always of good color, good size, and _as for breeding qualities, they are hummers. I want to thank you again for starting me right. Still have my original , pairs (three), which are as busy as ever.—Cadet H. Hand, New York. Two weeks ago I killed and shipped my first squabs. I never killed and plucked a squab or fowl of any kind so you can imagine the task Thad on hand. I had eleven squabs. For the best I received seventy-four cents a pair clear, or eighty-three cents gross; for the smallest forty-four cents a pair clear or fifty-five cents gross, an average of $4.20 a dozen gross, or $3.70 after packing and shipping expenses were deducted. How is that for a ‘* greenie’’ in the business — good, bad or indifferent?—Park F. Esbenshade, Pennsylvania. APPENDIX G HOW AN IOWA FAMILY MAKES SQUABS PAY, by R. L. Allen. I am very much in- terested in the pigeon business. I believeit is onlyin its infancy and that better times are com- ing. I send you a picture of our unit house which, as you see, has eight separate apart- ments. We have three other houses not shown in this pic- ture. These apartments are each eight by ten feet. They are eight feet high on the high side and six feet high on the low side. The fly yards are ten by sixteen feet, eight feet high. Each of these apartments has an average of one hundred and twenty-two nests, and an average of one hundred and twelve mated, working pigeons. We find it better to have more nests than birds. The girl in the picture is LiJa Allen, sixteen years old, another member of the firm, who has charge of the feed supplies. Once every day she goes all through the plant and refills the automatic feeders that are in need of grain. In these feeders there are compartments to accommodate two kinds of grain. We also have a little contrivance of our own in- vention to keep salt and grit always before them. We are not prepared at this time to furnish the pictures of Mrs. Allen, who is bookkeeper and secretary, or of Mr. R. L. Allen, general manager. In this pigeon plant, each member of the family and firm has his or her work to do, and each receives a share in the receipts. We have one thousand breeding pigeons. I find in traveling about over the country that where there is a bunch of pigeons that the owner is “sick of ’’ and complaining because there is no money in them, the house is in bad condition, feed and water supply is poor, and the pigeons are not evenly proportioned in regard to sex. Under such conditions good results are out of the question. The owner is trying to sell them cheap, and if he gets a buyer, unless the latter is a good judge and understands how to cull them closely, he too finds out a little later that there is no money in the pigeon business. Then the poor Pigeons get the blame for it all. HOW THEY BREED IN ONTARIO, by W. Ernest Williams. In March last I pur- chased three pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers and to date (October 27) I have twelve oe of youngsters that have been spared for reeders. In March all three pairs had eggs within two weeks of being in their new home. In my pen I have up to the present twelve pairs of youngsters that are flying about, and VIEWS ON THE ALLEN SQUAB FARM. have killed two pairs for eating. One pair fell out of its nest or was pushed out and killed when only two weeks old. Now I have one pair about four days old and two pairs on eggs. Mr. Baker and Mr. Burgess will no doubt want to buy my birds after seeing this, but not for $5 a pair if I know it. Just look: sixteen pairs and two pairs of eggs. This is a straight fact and no fairy tale, I can assure you. I have been getting three dollars per dozen for my squabs. At one of the Chicago markets I asked the man what he would pay me for what he called fancy Homer squabs. He said they were too high for his market, and that the hotels and big restaurants paid six and seven dollars a dozen for them dressed, done up in one-half dozen lots, and they had to weigh just so much. I also spoke to a party that used to be in a meat market where squabs were handled, and he told me they paid around forty cents apiece for squabs and sold them as high as seventy-five cents apiece.— Henry Huecker, Illinois. I ordered three pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers six months ago. I had other Homers in my house but in the scramble for nestboxes, the new ones were easy winners, they were so much bigger and stronger. I am raising some big squabs from them. The largest I had were a pair of red checks, one weighing twenty ounces and the other twenty-two ounces.— Walter Sieverling, Ohio. 334 SQUAB MONEY KEPT THIS BOY IN SCHOOL, by Elmer Krider. I am a boy of seventeen and live with my grandparents in California. Both my mother and father are dead, so you see I had to find some way of making money without having to quit school. While reading a paper one day I saw the Plymouth Rock advertisement and sent for a free book, then bought the complete pigeon guide, which I found was the same as having an expert squab raiser with you all the time. By studying this Manual I got a clear view of the squab industry, purchased twelve pairs of Homers in September, 1907, and up to this writing (September 27, 1909) have three hundred and sixty, including one hundred mated pairs. I ship the squabs at the rate of about seven dozen every month to San Francisco, where I get never less than thirty- five cents each. Boys who were my best friends wanted me to go out in the fields and work with them for $25 a month. I told them I would not quit school to go out in the hot sun and work for $25 a month. Then here is where they began to tease me about the pigeons and that I would not make a cent out of them. So, what happened is, that I have kept on with my school, making a clear profit of $20 a month with little work. This just shows what a great chance the pigeon industry offers. There is one man here who came from Minnesota to raise squabs and on arrival took the ginseng fever and began raising it. Now he is beginning to see his mistake in not sticking to squabs. SQUABS SELLING IN BOSTON $7 A DOZEN, by Elmer C. Rice. Just one year ago this month I wrote an article telling how squabs were selling in Boston at seven dollars a dozen, the highest known up to that time. This year (1911) squabs are just as high, and appear to be scarcer. In the Boston Globe for January 27, 1911, squabs were quoted at $5.00 to $7.00 a dozen. In the Globe for January 20, $5.50 and $6.00 a dozen. For January 13, $5.00 and $6.00 a dozen. For January 6, $5.00 and $6.50 a dozen. For December 30, $5.00 and $6.00. The Globe prints the squab quotations in a special market article every Friday afternoon throughout the year, along with quotations on: meats, butter, cheese, eggs, fruits, vege- tables, fish. When squabs weighing eight pounds to the dozen sell for $6.00 a dozen, this means that the buyer pays seventy-five cents a pound; ten pounds to the dozen at $7 a dozen, seventy cents a pound; twelve pounds to the dozen at $7.00 a dozen, sixty-seven cents a pound. This is double the prices at which chickens sell, pound for pound, and indicates how profitable it is to breed squabs. MY SQUAB PLANT PAYING 221-2 PER CENT PROFIT, by H. C. Longcoy. For any one entering any business, the urst ques- tion coming to mind is; How have others APRPEN DIXG succeeded? So a few figures of actual facts are here submitted. I have been raising squabs in Ohio for five years and have made big money for the time spent on them. I get all my grain, grit, etc., at wholesale. I sell through a retail store. They give me $3.50 a dozen, flat rate, the year round. I have fifteen pens of breeders at present, but, for example, we will take one pen of twenty-one pairs of large crosses with actual figures. These birds have done no better than the others: Grain for 365 days $30.57 Cost of house (pro rated) $1.57 per pair or 32.97 Value of birds, 21 pairs at $4 84.00 Interest on $84 plus $32.97 (investment) 7.01 Depreciation on investment 10% 11.69 Actual outlay $30.57 plus $7.01 plus $11.69, total $49.27. Twenty-one pairs produced 246 squabs during the year at $3.50 per dozen Droppings sold 3.90 Income : $75.65 $75.65 minus $49.27 equals $26.38 profit, or $1.25 1-2 per pair. Very few business propositions pay 22 1-2% net; so I say a squab plant well taken care of is the best money maker I know today. POISONED PEAS, by C. W. Blanding. I found it extremely hard to procure Canada peas, and to take their place I bought .some peas of a dealer which he recommended as pigeon peas. In less than two weeks my birds were all dead with the exception of a few pairs. A careful examination proved that the peas had been doped to prevent the worms from bothering them, as they are very poor sellers. You can bet now that I know what my feed is when I buy it. Question: No two accounts agree as to the average yearly increase from working pairs of pigeons, and I am at sea as to what I might reasonably expect from say fifty pairs in one year under favorable circumstances. Answer: Accounts differ with regard to the average yearly increase of a flock of birds, because the ability of each breeder varies. It depends mostly on yourself what you will do with a flock of pigeons. If you are skilful you will get the maximum results. If you are not skilful you will get the minimum results. If you have average ability you will get average results. It is impossible for.anybody to pre- dict what you will do at squab raising. _ A buyer appreciates that prices mean very little when he puts $20 into a lot of pigeons, obtains twice the number obtainable for the same money elsewhere, but finds on getting the birds from the express company that perhaps one-third of them are desirable, and he can get no relief, frequently not even an answer to letters. Itis our belief that the customer is the best judge of what is shipped him, that the pigeons themselves talk more convincingly than printed matter or letters. ca $71.75, APPENDIX \>G RAISING SQUABS BY HAND, by E. Guenther, M.D. My squabhouse recently fin- ished is: fourteen by twenty feet and cost $150. I put tin pans on top of the posts under the sills to keep rats and mice from working up. On October 2, I took out thirteen squabs (Homers) which weighed four- teen pounds. During the sum- mer [I lost a pair of Homers which had hatched out a pair of young Carneaux. The young birds were thirteen days old when the old ones flew away. They were yellow Carneaux and I was very anxious to raise them, so I got my boy Harold to lookafter them. One of the pictures shows Harold feeding one of them by mouth, which was the way they were first nourished. When they were older they were fed with a spoon. They are now in the rearing coop and doing well. The other picture shows Harold and my girl Blanche feeding a young Carneau with a spoon. SIX DOLLARS A DOZEN, by George N. Childs. I am having good luck with my Homers. I have quite a few calls for squabs. Ican get six dollars a dozen for them. TI follow Rice’s Manual to the letter and find it to be just the right thing. I would not take $25 for it if I could not get another copy. I sell my squabs to private families. They made the price themselves and are willing to pay six dollars a dozen. This Pennsylvania town is very rich and I can sell all the squabs I can turn out. I cannot say enough or too much for the squab business or my birds. There was a man here this morning from a New York town and he said he had been to see a squab plant there which had seven hundred birds, but had not any to come up to mine. I am going to have a picture taken of my place and will send you one. FLYING PEN ON EAST SIDE OF BUILD- ING, by M. C. Martin. For warm climates, I think the flying pen should face the east instead of the south. In the summer when it is so intensely hot, if the pen faces the south, the sun shines on the flying pen all day long, and except in the early morning and late in the evening the birds must stay in the squabhouse to escape the sun. If the pen faces the east, shortly after noon there is shade in the flying ven, and all the birds off of eggs will be found njoying the shade, and very few suffer during the hot season. In the winter the flying pen _ should have a windbreak on the north side, then remove this in the spring again, My pian for perches in the flying pen is to . have six-inch boards all around the sides of the pen. One may have two or three tiers of 335 RAISING SQUABS BY HAND. boards on a side if needed. This leaves more flying space in the pen than the ladder system. Question: I have a good-sized flock of omers which have been working fine, but recently I bought two pairs of Carneaux. One pair worked all right, but the other pair although they are mated do not work properly, so I have come to the conclusion that the Carneaux are not so good as the Homers and I think I will stick to the Homers. Answer: It has been my experience that a party will buy, say ten pairs of Homers and be well satisfied if eight or nine pairs go to work soon. On account of the expense of Carneaux, they may buy only two pairs. They expect both pairs to be perfect breeders under the change of circumstances, although they do not expect an absolutely perfect percentage with their Homers. It is a well-known law stated by all competent observers, that some pigeons will breed properly only when at their old home or with their old partners. It is also true that birds which breed properly in one pen may not do so if sold and shipped away to a new pen. Therefore, in every flock there may be some pigeons coming under these exceptions. Such birds should be mated up with new birds, or later on with birds of your own raising. It is impossible to do much breeding with Carneaux, or with any pigeons, unless you have from three pairs to twelve pairs, so as to have some material with which to work Anybody who buys one pair of birds and figures on perfect results is taking a chance. From the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers that I bought and received May first this year, I have one hundred pairs, some of which are beginning to mate; will have a big bunch mated up by spring.—A. E. Perkins, Iowa. 336 TELEPHONE SQUAB SALES $6-$9 A DOZEN, by R. E. Sons. Having read all the books relating to pigeons and carefully thought over the matter, I decided to try as an experi- ment forty-eight pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and to see for myself if I had any demand for squabs. When they arrived I was well pleased with their looks and was better pleased when I saw them getting busy ten days after their arrival. Then when my first squabs hatched I commenced to look for ways and means to sell. The markets were selling them at forty cents each so I decided to try fifty cents each. I inserted a small advertisement in the local paper but could trace no business there. I then wrote several prominent people and received two answers, each with orders too large for me to fill. I then started in to call the wealthy ladies by telephone, asking them if they would like some fresh killed squabs, as I had so many for sale, and by this means I sold my first birds. This I continued, always calling new people, and when I de- livered my squabs I always placed my card on the package and requested the cook to keep the card in a conspicuous place, and when she wanted fresh killed squabs to call me by telephone. Soon orders were coming in far beyond my supply. I then ordered fifty pairs more Homer breeders from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. As soon as they were working and I was able to market their squabs I found I could not meet the demand. I ordered again fifty pairs more, but even then I could only meet about half the orders. My plant has always been open to inspec- tion and I tamed my first pen so that they would come and eat hempseed qut of the hand. This was a great success for many wealthy people stopped to see how squabs were raised and I found I sold quite a lot simply because they would eat out of the hand: These I sold for pet squabs. I weaned them when they were four weeks old and received from nine to twelve dollars a dozen. I refused all offers for the old birds. Some of the wealthy people thought that fifty cents was too high as the markets had by this time cut their prices to thirty and thirty-five cents each, but I explained how I plucked and chilled the birds, which were only killed upon order, and that if they would try a small order, they would be convinced. Some would place an order for one and two and in nine cases out of ten they would try to get my squabs, and if I was sold out then go to the market. All this summer I have received fifty cents each for killed squabs four weeks old, seventy five cents for live squabs five weeks old and one dollar for six weeks old, weaned and trained to eat and care for themselves. I have not at any time had any squabs ready to kill that I have not had an order on my books to fill. In fact, I have not had a chance to eat one myself. I have four more units about half completed which I will fill with Homers as APPE NDIZXVG I believe they turn out squabs that are just right for the home market. _ For canker, I put three drops of squab-fe-no, in’ one-half a glass of water for a wash, using a small swab. I then powder the throat with half Venetian red and half burnt alum, and find that this mixture works quickly, effecting the desired cure. Here is a record to date (March, 1910) of the three pairs of Extra Homers bought of you last March, 1909. It is a record you can be proud of. I will swear that it is correct, as I have them banded and keep a book to record them. Pair No. 1 hatched April 1 (1909) 2 squabs; May 12, 2; June 18, 2; July 21, 2; August 24, 1; September, none; October 4, 2; November 14, 2; January 8 (1910), 1; February 20, 2. Total, 16 squabs in 10 months. At present date (March 20) building another nest. Pair No. 2 hatched April 5 (1909), 1 squab; May 18, 2; June 24, 1; July 28, 2; August, none; September 1, 1; October 5, 2; November, none; December 1, 2; January 26 (1910), 1; March 8, 2. Total 14 squabs in 10 months. At present (March 20), sitting on two eggs. Pair No. 3 hatched April 15 (1909), 2 squabs; May 27, 2; June, none; July 15, 2; August 28, 2; September, none; October 11, 2; November, none; December 11, 2; January (1910), none; February 6, 2. Total, 14 squabs in 10 months. From these three pairs I have now twelve working pairs of birds that I have yet to see the equal of in California. I hope this record may be of some use to you, and it will be if you are as proud of it as Iam. {I never had raised a pigeon in my life until I received your birds. You gave me a fair and square deal both on my Extra Homers and Carneaux. I follow your Manual from A to Z. The results speak for themselves. — Fred M. Parkison, California. I have adopted a way for holding my nest material which you can print if you wish. On the wire partitions between units, at the bot- toms I put a thirty-inch width of the wire, fasten this at bottom and ends, fill from the top with stems, straw, etc. This makes a clean pocket for keeping the nest material in the pens, and it also makes a good break from wind caused by the flying of the birds. Don’t cut wire to make this. Use a regular made width, then you have the edges in shape.— . W.E. Blakslee, New York. I am very proud of my flock of Plymouth Rock Homers. From the twenty-four pairs bought a year ago, I now have two hundred and eighty-eight birds, all beauties. My neighbors and every one who sees them say they are lovely.—Mary R. Forbes, New York. I have four hundred working Homers. They are producing seven pairs of large squabs to each pair of breeders a year. Half of these breeders are too young to do their best. I hope to enlarge my plant in the near future.— D. D. Powell, California. APPENDIX G HOW TO JUDGE WHEAT FOR SQUAB RAISING. I have found, in travelling over all parts of the country, that there is a great difference in wheat. It is divided into the two general classes of red wheat and white wheat. There is also winter wheat, which is planted in late summer in time for it to send up its blades or leaves, then remains like this over winter and starts to grow again with the first opening of spring, thus having a long or full season to mature or ripen in. Spring wheat is wheat planted in the spring, thus having but a short season to mature and ripen, for the farmer has to wait until the ground is sufficiently thawed and dried out to work it. The very best staple feed’ for pigeons every- where on this continent is the first or best quality of the red, winter wheat—the same as is used for making the best quality of flour. Necessarily, this is the most expensive wheat in cost, but the cheapest feed, all things con- _ sidered, for squab raising. In appearance, it is copper-colored, well filled out or smooth on the surface, not puckered or wrinkled, clear colored, almost transparent like a small chip or a fine specimen of brown flint, not cloudy. It should be well seasoned, dry and hard to bite. This kind of wheat is not offered for sale on the general market and it takes a fairly skilful buyer to procure it. It can seldom or never be bought by the bag except direct from the farmer or possibly from the flour mills, and the flour mills would only let you have the poorest of this grade. Next to this, in desirability for pigeons, is the number one, red, winter wheat often sold by grain dealers. Then comes the number two, red, winter wheat which may have considerable wild seeds and some chaff mixed with it and it may be somewhat shrivelled or wrinkled. This last is not objectionable for squab raising if the kernels are clear, transparent-like and hard. But if the majority of the kernels are cloudy and especially if they are soft or easy to bite, I would never buy it. In some sections, the screenings of this red, winter wheat can be had cheaply and it is not objectionable if the kernels are clear and hard, as stated above. The next on the list is red, spring wheat. Though not so good as the winter wheat, it is all right to use, provided the kernels are clear and hard. It hasn’t as much nourishment for pigeons and is more likely to be soft or im- mature and hence cloudy. Any genuine, red wheat, although cloudy, may be fed to pigeons without serious harm, but it will not produce the results you are looking for with the squabs, neither in quality nor number. If this last kind has to be used more peas and hempseed should be given. White wheat may be fed for squab breeding, if handled with judgment, in any part of the country, if it is impossible to get the red wheat. Wheat of any kind, which has been “‘ heated ’’ and has the slightest musty smell, or has the slightest amount of bluish mould or dust on it, must not be fed to pigeons. It is much easier to find good wheat and to detect it if it has been spoiled than it is to judge cracked corn. 337 BEST WAY TO FEED SALT, by Edward G. Rice. I have heard many people say that coarse ground salt is all right for pigeons. In my experience it is not. The pigeons when eating will sometimes get too much and it will kill them. I used it for a while, but of course when it began to kill my pigeons I stopped it. It is best to put a lump of rock salt in a box of grit or gravel and wet it thoroughly every day. The pigeons will eat this grit or gravel after it has been flavored by the salt and you will find that it keeps them very healthy. It is almost as necessary for pigeons to have salt as it is for them to have feed and water; that is, if you expect them to keep in good condition and work. TEN CENTS A PAIR A MONTH, WEST VIRGINIA, by J. L. Wallace. I have kept a record of the feed, and find that my Homers cost me ten cents a pair a month, or $1.20 a year. I have now moved into my new home and want to make arrangements to get my squab plant fitted up as soon as possible. I[ work in the bank from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., which gives me ample time to look after a good- sized flock. I wish to join the National Squab Breeders’ Association. Please enter my name, also that of Fred Le Blond, Jr. Send two buttons. The Homers that I bought of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company are the handsomest and best birds that I have. I sold off every one of the old ones and now have my loft full of the offspring. They are certainly fine birds. The squabs weigh from nine to twelve pounds a dozen. I have turned the entire financial part of the business over to my boy, who is ten years old, and even if it does cost me money each month, I am perfectly satisfied to pay it for the splendid training it is giving him. He keeps an accurate account of all money, pays himself a salary, and just about breaks even. I consider training a young boy along these lines to be invaluable, as it gives him a fair insight into business methods, and not only in handling the business itself, but in teaching him the importance of watching details so as to insure success.—F. E. Le Blond, Ohio. I sent you in a couple of orders a few days ago and from time to time you will hear from me, as my birds are giving you some fine adver- tising in these parts. Of course you know as I do that it is the man behind the gun and I tell these people that when the birds arrive, they will be all right and just like mine, but it is up to them to get the same results that I do. My short experience with your firm has convinced me that you have the stock all right and that you are responsible in every respect. — A. Penn Krumbhaar, Louisiana. I began my plant with four pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers in April, 1910, and I now (April, 1911) have over ninety strong, healthy birds -including twenty-six mated couples.— Ethel M. Watson, California. NOTE THE SIZE OF THESE PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA CARNEAUX 338 APPENDIX oG SQUAB SUPPLY FALLS SHORT OF DEMAND,* by Burton T. Beach. Epicures are coming to think that squab on toast is as appetizing as quail on toast, provided the bird is bred scientifically, killed at the right moment and properly kept in the larder. Squab meat is one of the few forms of food the supply of which falls absolutely short of the demand in the United States. Scores of ban- quets given last winter in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston were arranged with- out squabs in the menus for the sole reason that it was not possible to get enough to go around. ““My chef,’ said the proprietor of the famous Manhattan hotel, ‘* tried to gather eight hun- dred squabs for a dinner in February. The committee insisted that we get them. After searching the markets and squab farms and cold storage houses all we could find was five hundred, and we had to cut out squabs. Very likely there will be a similar shortage next winter. And it will be a genuine shortage, not an artificial one.”’ The first solid food given to Mayor Gaynor after the shooting was squab. Medical men are more and more inclined to prescribe squab in the dietary of invalids, especially children. - One of the most nourishing fluids is the juice of the squab killed when about able to leave its nest voluntarily. Six years ago the business had a boom, but the boom soon collapsed. In 1907 there was a vigorous revival: improvement has been con- tinuous. On Long Island, near New York, the Misses Bohannan, after five years of unremitting attention, have built up an excellently organized plant, with improved modern appliances, and are exploiting a flock of four thousand birds, soon to be enlarged by half as many more. One who never had met them save at a social function in Manhattan or in their parlor at Knollside Farm would not suspect that they knew any more about pigeons than could be learned from books or an inspection of rare columbidz at the zoological gardens or a visit to the Basilica of St. Mark’s, in Venice, where the pigeons are a whirling wonder. Confronted suddenly with the necessity of making parental capital yield at least four times what it would yield if deposited in savings banks or invested in securities, they decided to try squab farming as likely to bring a better return than the New York market for poultry. While there are plants larger than theirs de- voted to raising ‘‘ breeding birds,’ these young women have the satisfaction of owning one of the largest devoted exclusively to raising squabs for food. Question: I have my nestboxes numbered and know what each pair does. In the even- ing I transfer the records to a book, and thus know from week to week where I stand. I give the birds quite a lot of bookkeeping. Answer: It is easy to do too much record keeping. The record should be kept either on the nestboxes or at the back of each pen, and in a card index kept handy in the squab- 009 house. Do not make memoranda which later you have to transfer. Write it only once, for keeps. Do the record-keeping in the squab- house, otherwise one is liable to spend as much time over his records as over his pigeons, which is a poor use of time. Evening work, if any is done, should be devoted to writing letters and postal cards, advertising matters, etc., pushing sales. The marketing is quite as important as the raising, that is, intelligent marketing which gives the breeder a fair share of the money which the consumer pays. A BIG SQUAB SHIPPER, by E. L. Kauff- man. Please send me the Association member- ship button. I think your ideas are all right. Push the price and urge more squabs eaten, as all squab raisers and shippers want that. The last year I shipped over one hundred thousand squabs to the New York market. We seem to have a fine country for squab- raising, and J hope it may come to be one of the great things. Wish you good success. This is not an uncommon experience: ‘‘ Be- fore I commenced to correspond with you I bought five pairs of Homers of a dealer near home and I got eight cocks and two hens, and he will not exchange back so I can mate mine up. Now, Iam about ready to get the ones I had written you about, special offer No. 2, and I would like to get also six of the No. 1 hens to mate with the six odd cocks I have. If you can fill the order in this way I will send the money as soon as | hear from you.’”’-—H. W. Nims, Minnesota. I entered my five pairs of pigeons, each pair of solid red Carneaux, white Maltese, white Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, blue checker Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and blue checker Swiss Mondaines, at Seymour, Colum- bus and Franklin Poultry Shows (Indiana) and captured all fifteen first premiums, or five first premiums at each show. Our judges said that my birds cannot be beaten. Don’t you think it is a good record to win fifteen straight first premiums?— George S. Beyer, Indiana. The pigeons which I bought from you a little more than a year ago (six pairs Plymouth Rock White Homers and six pairs Plymouth Rock No. 1 Homers) are certainly fine, and I now (June 27) have nearly three hundred birds and they are splendid pigeons. I have at present two pairs that have three fine squabs each and also one pair sitting on four eggs. I haven't been trying to dispose of any as yet, butin a month or two I am going to be in a position to sell quite a lot of squabs.— E. G. Davidson, Illinois. The three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers I bought in March, 1910, multiplied so fast that up to November inclusive, I raised thirty- four squabs, and every one of these weighed one pound apiece alive when four weeks old.— John N. Moeller, Connecticut. *Copyright, 1910, by the New York Herald Co. All rights reserved. 340 MR. LLOYD PAID $50 FOR THIS HOMER. It is an investment because he sells for good prices the racing stock bred from her. Question: I send you a newspaper clipping showing today’s San Francisco quotations: pigeons $1.50 a dozen, squabs $2.50 a dozen. I spoke to a Chinaman the other day and asked him what he asked for squabs and he said fifty cents each. He showed. me some and they were common pigeons. The China- men are big squab eaters. Would it pay me to ship to Eastern markets in large lots or would you seek a home market? Answer: Sell squabs right where you are. Your present doubt is caused by assuming that those figures you saw in the newspaper are correct, just because they were in print. As I explain periodically, those figures are what the commis- ston men would like to pay to get the squabs, not what they are obliged to pay a breeder of intelligence. The Chinaman gave you the straight tip. He said $6 a dozen, therefore sell at wholesale at $3 and $4 a dozen. For scouring out the drinking fountains and bathpans, I use baking soda and scalding hot water. This cleans and purifies the vessels and leaves them fresh and sweet.—James Y. Egbert, West Virginia. My birds are coming on so fast that I have to build larger quarters for them. The demand for squabs here continues very good, prices, too.—Walter I. Hayes, Colorado. APPENDIEGUNG $50.00 PAID FOR A MILE- A-MINUTE FLYER, by Alfred Lloyd. I have bought for $50 the Atlantic combine winner (see photograph) which won the three-hundred-mile race in the Malden district. This Ho- meristhe best heninthe United States flown in 1909. She was competing against thirty dis- tricts, two hundred lofts, 1274 birds in the contest. The race was from Midland, Ontario, to Everett, Massachusetts. This bird made a speed of 1753.22 yards, or very nearly a mile a minute. One of my customers flew a bird that he bred off of birds which he bought from me in the greater Boston concourse race. He won first diploma in Malden district and won third diploma and third cup with 1864 yardsa minute. This Homer is a straight bird im- ported by the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. The man who flew the birdis Joseph McKane, of Malden district. The race was flown October 17, 1909. I stopped at the Kirkwood Hotel, one of the leading hotels of Des Moines, and asked what they were paying for Homer squabs, and I found they were paying $4.25 a dozen for those weighing seven pounds or over to the dozen. I asked if they could use any, and they said they could not at present, as they are getting a regular supply from some one out of town; but they told me of two other hotels that can use quite a number at the same price, so I consider our home market pretty good.— Charles Starkey, Iowa. T could have sold the last order of pigeons a dozen times over, but none of my pigeons are for sale. I was quite proud of the comments and attention they received at the depot. You selected a fine bunch of birds, and I sincerely thank you. If I have occasion to order more soon, you will get my order.—Dr. I. B. Thomp- son, California. If you will look at your books, you will find I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers of you about two years ago. I have sold about $100 worth of squabs outside of what we have used ourselves. At the present time I have about nine dozen mated pairsx—John Freel, Iilinois. I have the beginnings of a really good pigeon lant of the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. rom the original eight birds which I bought in April, 1910, I have now, January 26, 1911, rae! fine birds.—Ethel M. Watson, Cali- ornia. APPENDIX G DO NOT HELP SQUABS OUT OF THE SHELL, by M. C. Martin. I have received inquiries about squabs dying in the shell. Some have said that they had helped dozens of young out of the shells and that many of them had died in the shells, and many that they helped out died later. I had the same experience several years ago. I used to become impatient after the eggs were “‘pipped,”’ and have killed many a squab by helping it out of the shell before it was ready. Some young break the shell slightly two or three days before they get out, others come out quicker, but for pity’s sake let the eggs alone and do not try to get the squabs out ahead of time. A little one that. cannot get out of the shell itself is not worth helping out, for it is not healthy and will very likely die anyway, but the harm is this: You kill so many good young by pulling them out before they are ready. One writer stated that the young seemed stuck fast to the shell and she had to pullthem out. The young were very likely all right had she just left the eggs alone and let the young run their own business, viz., getting out of the shell. ‘‘ Care killed a cat,’”’ and it has killed many a pigeon as well. There are two kinds of squab breeders, those who are too stingy to feed a sufficient amount of the higher priced foods or luxuries, and the other class who treat their birds like pet canaries, and feed too much of the rich foods. Don’t help the young out of the shell. Let nature attend to this. Don’t give baths excepting on warm days in winter weather. Don’t be stingy, but ‘‘ treat ’’ your birds to the luxuries as several writers have indicated in the magazine columns in their bills of fare for feeding. Don’t “treat’’ the birds all the time to luxuries or they will become like candy-fed children, disordered and sickly. Don’t jump at conclusions about your birds and their habits. ‘‘ Make haste slowly,’ and study the birds. My plant now consists of twelve units, and the structure is fourteen feet wide and 120 feet long. Three years ago I started with five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers, having no intention of increasing my flock this soon, and now I have 400 pairs of birds. I am now building another structure containing six units, sixty feet long and fourteen feet wide.—Frank Hucht, Kansas. My Homer squabs weigh aliveasI sell them, nine or ten pounds to the dozen. The Car- neaux or Carhomes weigh at four weeks old, while yet on the nest, one pound each, or about twelve pounds to the dozen, average. I got my first pigeons in 1906, Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. In 1908 I got Carneaux same place. —Graham Roys, Michigan. The sunny squab breeders are the successful ones. Follow the failures home and you find debt, gloom and snarling. 341 REASON WHY SQUABS DIE IN THE SHELL, by Elmer C. Rice. Squabs dying in the shell have puzzled many. In all such cases, I formerly gave these causes: a damp loft and lack of vitality due to improper feeding. The second is rather indefinite, being a result tather than a cause. I have no doubts now that the two causes, and the only two causes are: dampness and lack of ventilation. I have been keeping track of letters of this kind and have watched to see the results of advice. The average case of squabs dying in the shell is mild, affecting only a few. Be- ginning over a year ago, however, Alfred Karker, a Wisconsin correspondent, had an adventure which he tells as follows: ‘* Last year I wrote you asking what caused the squabs to die in the shell, and you told me it was either a damp loft, lack of vitality, improper feeding. Last spring I lost at least sixty to seventy squabs this way, and this spring I am having the same trouble. I have been feeding only the best grains and as you direct in your Manual. My loft is in the hay-loft of my barn directly overhead the horses, and I think the steam from the horses goes thrqugh the ceiling and condenses in the hay-loft and causes this dampness. In cold weather the rafters in the hay-loft are all covered with white frost which shows that the moisture must come from the horses below. What would you advise me to do, and how can [I arrange it to overcome this trouble without changing the location of the loft? I am a subscriber to the magazine and think it the best published. Thank you for any information you can give me:* I replied as follows, February 25, 1910: ** That trouble is surely caused by dampness if you can see the white frost on the timbers. You can dry off this dampness by letting more fresh air into the lofts. You should arrange a ventilator so as to get plenty of fresh air. Do not be afraid of the cold. The fresh air will dry off your loft.” April 21, 1910, Mr. Karker again wrote: ** Received your letter of February 25, and wish - to thank you for the advice you gave in regard to dampness in my loft. Since I tried your plan I have had no more trouble.” In other words, to use language easily remem- bered, squabs in the shell may be drowned by too much water, or suffocated by bad air. I find that pigeon breeders able to tell damp- ness when they see it are as scarce as those able to judge grain. In case of doubt, no matter where you live, summer or winter, take out your windows entirely and stretch cotton cloth. There are absolutely no sick pigeons or squabs housed in dry, open-front houses and fed on a variety of sweet, sound, old grain and grit. Ability, or lack of it, to control health, as well as profits, is in the caretaker, The birds you sent me in October, 1908, are doing fine work, also those shipped to me last August. I have one red checked cock. raised from your No. 1 Homers that weighed nineteen ounces at four weeks.—Jerry F. Kaftan, Ohio. 342 APPENDIX G ; ie {5 ‘ B ; | 8 EE : } Ed — a q | . . . 4 FOUR-WEEKS-OLD SQUABS BRED FROM WHIT APPENDIX °C I SELL SQUABS AT MY DOOR FOR $5 A DOZEN, by Harriet L. Ayres. I have bought the share in chickens and pigeons from the young woman who started with me, so I own the stock now complete. I began three years ago last September with six pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. They started to lay within two weeks after they arrived. I purchased six pairs more Extras of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company one year oot July. I have raised about five hun- ed. . I have had a great many compliments on my pigeons for their size and beauty as well as for their hatching. I have been with them and watched them so often that I know their little ways very well. I find it very interesting. Ihave kept track of some and know they have hatched nine pairs to the year. They average about one pound apiece, over ten pounds to the dozen. I get $4.50 and $5 a dozen right at my door in private trade. I sell them for luncheons and for the sick and have sold some at our hotel here (New Jersey). I feed a mixture and find my birds do better on that. I give them their dainties of hemp and Canada peas separately. They have plenty of fresh well water. They have a lump of rock salt, and oyster shell, pigeon grit and charcoal before them all the time. The sickness I have had would not be worth mention arid have not been troubled with lice, as I believe keeping them in a clean place is the root of health. I keep a cash record of everything and will say they more than pay for themselves. The pigeons alone paid for my partner’s half of poultry and pigeons when I bought her out last May and a great many other things I have not the room to mention. I am pleased with the business and am convinced there is money in it and expect as soon as I can get the plans and material to put up two unit houses and progress in that business. I keep on raising chickens for the eggs as the two are well combined. I consider Rice’s Manual a good one. If followed, one cannot help succeed. I have found experience a very good teacher but one must love the work and be interested in the birds to make a good success. . On three previous occasions we have bought your pigeons and found them satisfactory, especially the white ones. We find that your birds go to work rapidly, and we have a good demand here at a good price.—Olympian Homer Squab Company, Kentucky. My stock were Homers received from your company. They have been doing excellent work for me. I began the business in a very small way about two years ago with three pairs; now I have about 250 breeders on hand. —C. H. Burton, Maryland. Squab breeders, don’t forget that no one is interested in your getting good prices for good squabs but yourself. 343 HOW TO CURE PECKING, by Eleanor G. Ames. There is one thing I have to offer which may be of help to the breeders who have trouble with squabs being pecked. It is a remedy I have used with great success. Dust a pinch of powdered aristol on the spot. It will cure the sore, and as the pigeons do not seem to like either the taste or smell of the aristol, the squabs are let alone. The powder is quite expensive, but a little will last a long time. I have had great success with my Plymouth Rock Carneaux as breeders of squabs averaging seventeen ounces each. I cannot supply the demand for squabs among my own friends and acquaintances. I have one Plymouth Rock squab just three weeks old that weighs one pound, two ounces. I think there is some class to the Plymouth Rocks. The squab is a Homer and the largest I have raised. I have about three hundred now. We get $4.50 per dozen and all we have sold have weighed from ten to twelve pounds to the dozen, which I think is very good. I bought three pairs of Carneaux from another party over a year ago. One pair has done very well, one other pair laid a few times, but never hatched a squab, and the third pair never laid for the whole year, and they were turning gray and I thought I had fed them long enough, so killed them. If I ever get any more it will be from the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Co.—A. H. Eldredge, New York. In looking back over my file of your Squab Magazine, I find that I have received twelve copies of the paper since I sent you my last subscription of a dollar, and as I would not miss a copy of the pigeon man’s best standby, the Squab Magazine, I am sending you an express money order for one dollar, for which please send the magazine for another year. I have about fifty pairs of Homers, as fine, tacy, broad chested and fast breeders as any one would wish to own. They are from Plymouth Rock stock mostly and that accounts for it. Though only in the business one year this month, I find that poor stock at any price is dear and as for my part I wouldn't take any as a gift and mix them with mine.— R. R. Muirhead, Washington. There is a great demand for squabs in Colorado Springs. The butcher charges eighty cents a pair for them. Our butcher, while selling us a pair last week, said that he thought they made the most popular dish. I men- tioned the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. and he said, ‘‘ Their squabs are quite famous.’— Howard B. Carroll, Colorado. I hope to be able to build another pigeon house this spring, in which case I would place an order for birds with you of about the same number as last year, because I was and I am well satisfied with them.—Stefan Schwarz, California. RED AND PURE WHITE CARNEAUX. This photograph is the first ever printed of pure white Carneaux, obtained by breeding out the red of the splashed birds, exactly the opposite procedure of those who have bred out the white to get all- red Carneaux. Fully ninety per cent of Carneaux have both red and white in their plumage and these two colors are characteristic of the breed. When you find eggs on the floor, do not throw them away unless they are broken or cracked. Some of my best pigeons have come from eggs that I have found on the floor. Put an egg in a nest that has only one egg in it. If you find three eggs in a nest, take one egg out and put it in a nest where there is only one.—Pruyne Van Alstyne, New York. The Homers that I bought of you two years ago are doing fine. The squabs at four weeks old weigh from fourteen to sixteen ounces apiece, and they have been breeding eleven pairs a year. I think that I will want one or two pairs of Carneaux in the spring.—Harvey C. Jasperson, Wisconsin. The Homer females I ordered from you arrived today. I must say they are the finest birds I ever saw. Your Extra Homers must certainly be large birds, as these are the largest I ever saw. When I order again I will know just where to get them.—Karl Fach, Jr., Mis- Sissippi. Pigeons which are observed and studied are more entertainment and less work. APPENDIX G HOMERS ARE THE REAL MONEY MAKERS, by J. W. Arthurs. My experience in the squab business dates from the spring of 1908. I use tobacco stems for nest material, I have absolutely no lice trouble. All my houses are from eighteen to twenty-four inches off the ground. No rat trouble. I weighed all feed consumed by one hundred pairs for one year. It totaled 7500 pounds, and at a cost of two cents per pound it makes the feed cost of $1.50 per pair. In the same time the pigeons produced 1300 squabs at a cost per squab of eleven and one-half cents not including cost of labor. This year feed is fully fifteen per cent cheaper than last. During the four summer months last year I sold from 400° pairs, 1800 squabs. I sell all squabs to a dealer in Philadelphia. I have tried several breeds of pigeons and as yet have found none that I can do as well with as the Homer. It is a wonderful bird, and I believe it will have to be the basis of most large squab plants for some time. My ideal squab pigeonis one that has the many good qualities of the Homer and that will produce a one- pound squab. I weighed this week two squabs out of the same nest, eighteen and twenty- three ounces, and as far as I know they are straight Homers. Personally, I am delighted with the raising of squabs as a business. I enjoy the work and am satisfied with the result. I have had ex- perience with chickens and can obtain the same results with one-half the labor with pigeons as I could with chickens. The birds I received from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. October 31 pleased me very much. Every pair is sitting on eggs, except one pair of Maltese with squabs five days old. Enclosed you will find Money Order for $10 for which send me six pairs more of your mammoth crosses. This is my third order. I would have sent you a larger one but my loft would be overcrowded, as I now have a large flock of Homers which I raised from the six pairs of No. 1 stock purchased of you January, 1909.—Mrs. Ada T. Hayden, Massachusetts, A little-thing is a little thing, but faithful- ness in the little things of squab breeding is a very great thing. More squabs, better squabs, higher prices for squabs. More business squab talk and less politics and personalities. APPENDIX G SQUABS PROFITABLE TO ME FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, by William P. Gray. We often read in the poultry papers of hens that do phenomenal laying during a short period of time. Usually this will be for the spring months, with no account given for the fall laying. Such reports are of little value, and are misleading to the novice. Yearly records are what count. the birds that breed through the fall and winter are the ones that raise ten pairs of squabs a year—they are the mortgage lifters. For the past fifteen years, pigeons have continued to be a goodinvestment with me. The average cost of feed per year for a pair has been $1.20, and I have never sold a dozen squabs for less than $3 a dozen. My birds in large flocks always average better than twelve squabs per pair per year. I have been engaged in the poultry business in all its branches, both for myself and manag- ing large plants for others profitably. I believe my observations are of some value. The advantages of squab raising over broiler raising are briefly as follows: 1. One thousand squabs can be raised successfully on a plot that one hundred chicks would be crowded on. 2. No such expensive equipment is required to ay squabs, as with broilers on a large scale. 3. No incubators to watch or cranky setting hens to fuss with. 4, Small chicks require five feeds a day and constant attention, while in squab raising with a hopper filled with food once a day, the old birds attend to the wants of the squabs entirely. 5. Squabs do not get into cold corners and get chilled, nor wander of. in the bushes and get lost. 6. Squabs do not require a range where they are liable to become the prey of rats, cats, hawks and crows. 7. The death rate is almost nothing in squab raising, while it is something appalling in young chickens. 8. Squabs mature in one-third the time that broilers do. 9. Squabs are raised the year round at a good profit, while broilers are rarely raised success- fully more than six months in the year. 10. Three squabs can be picked in the time it takes to pick one broiler, and the three squabs will sell for twice as much as one broiler. 11. No need of getting soaked to the skin driving stock to shelter every time a shower comes up, as squabs are always safe in their nest. 12. No night work in all kinds of weather as in the broiler business, stoking coal or pncinE on your head to look at a brooder amp. 13. The broiler raiser must be continually on the job. He has no Sundays and no holidays, while the squab raiser can often with afew hours’ work in the morning filling hoppers and fountains have the balance of day himself. It is the same with pigeons: . 345 I can state without any qualifications that my experience has proved squab.raising to be the best paying branch of the poultry industry. Every ten cents’ worth of feed used will maintain a pair of breeders and raise a squab selling from thirty cents to fifty cents. I trust these facts may put some one on the right track. I am at present caring for 1800 head, mostly small chicks, also hens, pigeons, squabs, ducks, and geese. SQUAB ORDERS TOO LARGE FOR ME TO FILL, by C. S. Eby. I am going to make a specialty of Carneaux, as I am having good success with them. I started in a four by eight chicken coop with some Homers. I then built a unit squabhouse, and have it full of Homers, and have no more room for any more units. I am now looking for a larger place so as to go into the business on a larger scale, having the desire to raise them by the thou- sand. I still get from sixty to seventy cents a.pair for squabs wholesale, and they retail here (Michigan) at ninety cents and one dollar. I have been doing all wholesale business and I am now going in for the retail trade. I can sell all the squabs at sixty cents a pair and better. The only trouble I have is that the orders are larger than I can fill and that makes it hard on me. A few weeks ago I went toa market downtown and inquired about squabs, and the marketman told me he sold them whenever he could get them. So I left my telephone number with him. A week or so later he telephoned me an order for two dozen. I had been selling right along and did not have enough squabs to fill it, so he told me his opinion of me. I resolved not to advertise unless I am sure of the goods. I am going to move into a place where I can raise a thousand pairs of pigeons. I have been in the business two years and feel confident that I can make a success. My birds have been greatly admired and praised for their size and quality. I beg to advise you that the shipment of 115 Extra Plymouth Rock Homers reached here in good shape Saturday night and on Sunday morning I liberated them in their new home. I wish to thank you for your liberality in sending me the two extra pairs, and for sending me such a fine, healthy lot of birds, not one of them being in any but the best of condition. I have some very fine stock, originally bought from you, and this last lot of birds, taking them all the way through, equals the balance of my stock, which has been bred from year to year to pro- duce only stocky, full breasted birds. Your guarantee accompanying the shipment is very broad and fair, and had I known its terms, my letter of October 21, 1911, to you would have been superfluous, for the guarantee itself covers everything. I then asked of you concerning matings. I am very much pleased with all of the birds, and especially with the pair of Carneaux, which are un- doubtedly the real thing —B. N. Spangenberg, New Jersey. 346 HOW I DRESS MY SQUABS. “The method here described applies to those which I deliver to families. I draw them and cut off the head and feet. believe in selling squabs alive to a retail trade.’— R. C. Boyd. WHY SQUABS SHOULD NOT BE SOLD ALIVE, by R. C. Boyd. The squab from which the above picture was made weighed seven-eighths of a pound: a Homer. The picture shows the way I dress my squabs for my private customers, with one exception: [ draw them and take crop out perfectly clean. I also give with each order a couple of printed recipes. I do not sell live squabs to customers except on_ special request. I give them no reduction. I charge the same for a live squab as I do for a dressed one. Consequently my customers do not order live ones. One should not sell live squabs to private trade because (1) some will order to get them a little cheaper than dressed ones. (2) It is a knock against the squab business. (3) No cook or other servant in private families likes to dress poultry. If they have to do it, you bet they could burn them a little or have them cooked in some way that would make the mistress not want any more squabs in her house. When I solicit customers, the first thing they ask me is: “You dress them, do you? How much are they in the rough?’’ Answer: Seventy cents small, eighty-five cents large. ‘“‘ How much dressed? ’’ Answer: Seventy cents small, and eighty-five cents large. I hope all other squab men who are catering to private trade will not sell any squabs in the rough. The seventy-five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers which I purchased of you are doing good work. They are the most carefully selected birds as to size and color that I ever purchased. The Carneaux are large birds, and breeding rapidly—D. D. Powell, Cali- fornia. It pays to be a live squab breeder. Remem- ber that the inscriptions on the tombstones of ~ the dead ones do not tell what their faults were. white-skinned _ APPENDIX G $30 FOR GRAIN, $100 TO $120 FOR SQUABS, by J. B. Beckman. I must say am doing fine with my Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers and they are doing fine with me, so we set along very well. I do for them and they doforme. You ought to see the swell addition I am putting on my plant for three hundred pairs more. I have not shipped very many squabs for I have been saving them for breeding birds. I have now seven hundred pairs not counting squabs. I never lost a breeding bird in the last moult, and the house is just a mass of squabs, nests and eggs. I was the first: one in this Missouri town to start a squab plant and they all laughed at me and assured me Jmust have money to burn, and went so far as to tell me I had no sense to : put up such a fine building for the old pigeons. If I had listened to them I would not have a fine plant worth about $2200, with birds, and just as it stands I would not take for my place now $6000. But I havethem all thinking when they come out and see for themselves what is going on at my house. Last Sunday there were fifty-one persons out to see the fine birds and I feel very proud of it, too. There is a man close to me who is running a dairy farm. He has ten milk cows and he said when I showed him my account in the German-American Bank, just on my squab plant from last March to first of September, 1909, that I had his father beat on his dairy business. He didn’t say how much. From March 18, 1909, to September 11, 1909, I sold $392.63 worth of squabs from 229 pairs of breeders, expenses $150.35, total of $242.28 net profit. If I had 1000 pairs I would have made a nice piece of money and you see I will make more when I get better posted on these lines, raising my squabs and marketing also. There is always something to learn about this. I am shipping seven dozen fine squabs per week, which bring me from $25 to $30 a week, and it costs me $1 a day for feeding, or $30 a month. I tell youit’s fine doings. I have been in this business now almost two years, have made quite a success, and I am well pleased when one comes to see my plant, for it is a dandy. I do not My Plymouth Rock Homer squabs are dandies. Weighed several pairs of squabs already, and one pair twenty-six days old weighed two pounds four ounces. None less than three quarters of a pound each have I found yet. My birds are all working now and I expect great doings from them, for they are certainly hustlers—Norman E. Crozier, New York. APPENDIX G TEXAS JUDGE ON SQUABS vs. CHICKENS, by Ocie Speer. I am one of the justices of the Court of Civil Appeals for this State (Texas) and my interest in pigeons and poultry is purely for diversion, and I must say lhave found it most interesting. As between pigeons and chickens, I am decidedly for the former. This conclusion has been reached after’a very thorough comparative test, for one season, at least. During the past spring I have expended nearly two hundred dollars in incubators, coops, chickens, eggs, oil, and feed. Have set nearly two thousand eggs, hatched nearly one thousand chicks, eaten only about twenty, and now have, of all ages, only about one hundred. They began dying immediately after they were hatched — indeed, hundreds of them made greater haste, and died in the shell— and those that didn’t die of bowel trouble waited to die of sore head and roup. I have fertilized my kitchen garden with their decaying carcasses. I have tried all the remedies, from copperas to car- bolic acid, and fed everything from bran to alfalfa. I have all the chickens I want — in a Pickwickian sense. I have eaten more broilers and had more pies from my few pigeons than from all my chickens. I have never lost a pigeon, but a few squabs have died of canker. I fed many bushels of grain and chops in an automatic feeder and finally canker appeared in my loft. I immediately ceased using the box and threw the grain on the gravel bed of the flyer, and the trouble disappeared entirely. If I use the feeder again I shall remove the board bottom and replace it with screen wire, which will act as a sieve for the dust to which I attribute the canker. The plain way to get good prices for squabs is to refuse to sell at poor prices. SEE THE BIG SIZE OF THESE EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN TEXAS. ONE YEAR’S GROWTH. I would like to write to let you know how I have succeeded with my Carneaux and Homers which I pur- chased from Mr. Rice of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company about one year ago last March. Starting with twenty-six pairs of Carneaux, nine pairs of colored Extra Homers and four pairs of Whites, I now have over three hundred Carneaux, one hundred Extras and fifty Whites. In fact, so many that I have no more room, and will have to sell some.—William McK. Ewart, Pennsylvania. I have been very successful in the squab business. Have one hundred pairs of the finest Homers that you ever saw, all raised fron thirteen pairs of Plymouth Rock Extras. All my squabs are sold to private trade for five cents an ounce. My lowest weight has been ten and one-half ounces, highest seventeen and one-quarter ounces each; average weight thirteen and three-quarter ounces each. Have sold several pairs of breeders for four dollars apair. Trusting that you are doing a success- ful business, { still remain a friend of the Seu 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, Minnesota. 348 =a SSS MY FEEDBOX IS SIMPLE BUT GOOD. This illustrates the idea. wide. board is removable. from this type of box. Fred Ambrose. It prevents soiling. ONE WOMAN’S SUCCESS, by Mrs. Ida Knosman, Indiana. My success is due to the Extra Homers and service given by the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company. In July, 1910, I bought twenty-four pairs of Plymouth Rock Extras. Now (October, 1911) I have sixty mated pairs and 150 youngsters. I intend to start buying adult birds January 1 and increase my flock to six hundred. I will buy of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, so I'll get Al birds. My experience has taught me that it is cheaper to buy adult pigeons than to wait and raise the young and feed six months. In June, 1910, I purchased thirteen pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, and now (November 2, 1911) have about eighty pairs of breeders and 140 youngsters. Have just started to sell my squabs and find a ready market. Can get $4.25 per dozen for eight to nine-pound squabs. I am on a rented place, but expect to move in the spring and build more lofts and increase my breeders. If you know of any one in this locality who has Plymouth Rock breeders and cannot dis- pose of their squabs at a fair price, would be pleased to have their address, as at present I can dispose of ten to fifteen dozen more squabs a week than I can supply. There are a great many breeders here who have what are called American Homers which breed a squab a little larger than the common pigeon. Enclosed find ten cents to join the National paul Breeders Association—H. W. Moore, 0. 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 oe 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 The box may be any length to suit any size flock. The top I feed grit and shells also The birds cannot squeeze into this box.— APPENDIX G I FEED ONLY ONCE DAILY FROM THIS BOX, by Fred Ambrose. I consider the feed question of the most importance in 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 grain clean. It hasan advantage over some feeders because a larger number of pigeons can get around it at once. This enables the parents to feed their young at daylight instead of squealing for a couple of hours while the old birds are scrapping around a self-feeder to get a chance to fill up. ‘ I received the birds and Manual, and cer- tainly cannot recommend either too highly. I am an old breeder of pigeons and thought I knew about all that was to be known, but on perusing the Manual, I found out I could still be taught. It is the best book of its - kind that I ever read, and would not part with it at any price if I could not get another.— Charles Jansen, Illinois. 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 raisers to come here and do well. The bugbear which has held back so many squab raisers as well as poultrymen from com- jing 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 T like to try in the line of good cheap feed. have been very successful in the business by following your Manual, which I would not be without.— Walter A. Hagedorn, Ohio. 349) HOW THEY BUILD SQUABHOUSES IN FLORIDA. Only one thickness of boarding, (Mr. Brown is seen standing by fly-pen in lower picture.) In 1909 I sent to Boston for Plymouth Rock Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. I have sold squabs for breeders when about three months old for $1.00 per pair. I have always fed the best grain and given them plenty of fresh water. and have had but one or two sick ones. The hotels will take all that I can raise at from $2.75 to $3.00 per dozen. In the fall I am going to build for one hundred and fifty pairs. I have raised my flock of sixteen birds in less than two years to over eae 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. 390 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. APPENDLEXSG FAT SQUABS FOR ME ON THREE GRAINS, by H. A. Howe. Starting a year ago I stopped using hemp entirely, substituting a mixture of one part oil meal, one part table salt and three parts sharp sand. This I keep before them in hoppers all the time, and be- coming accustomed to it they eat it freely. The only grains I feed are peas, coarse cracked corn and red wheat. I givea mixture of these grains twice daily, at 7 a.m. and 4p.m., in an open feed trough with a re- volving stick running along the top (see page 108 of this book). I give them just what they will eat up clean between feed- ing times, feeding more corn in 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 went fiom 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. winter than in summer, increas-. APPENDIX G SQUABS, FRUIT, 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 POULTRY, VEGETABLES RAISED HERE BY MR. VAIL. 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 Jast year. They havé 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 havea good Plymouth Rock stock of Homers to breed from bought from Mr. Rice.—F. G. Fillmore, Missouri. 352 PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA HOMER OF BELGIAN ORIGIN. Other breeds come ard go, but our large, first-class Homers have ; _ The original photo- graph from which the enlargement was made is seen in the lower no equal as money-makers in the squab business. left-hand corner. I have been steadily building up my flock of Plymouth Rock Homers, selling only enough squabs to pay for their feed, and have found my birds all you represented, often_ having squabs weighing eighteen ounces. Both of us have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of handling them. We sell their output to the steamers sailing from Galveston, having felt out the market and knowing it to be good.— W.S. Faires, Texas. APPENDIX G INDIANA WOMAN GETS | $3.65-$4.60 A DOZEN, by Mrs. M. Bunyard. My Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers are doing splendidly. I do not see how they could do much better, They are fine healthy birds and splendid workers. I have sold since April 27, 1910, sixty-one dozen squabs, besides giving some away. IL have got a good price for allI havesold this summer. Ihave been getting from $3.65 to $4.60 a dozen for the last month. Our banker says there must be a lot of money in pigeons from | the amount of checks we bring in. I hardly ever lose a squab. | 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 4] and three in the barn with the | flying pens outside built up to ij the barn. I have one squab- house in the coal shed. find my birds like clover hay »|| (that has been threshed out for the seed) to build nests. They never know when to quit building with it. ; Some time ago I wrote to you in regard to purchasing twenty- five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. I was finally per- suaded by the proprietor of a local plant to invest the money in a larger breed, Runt-Duchess- Homers. He represented them to be faster breeders than the Homer and said that they bred larger squabs. The former is anything but true, and he barely gets by on the latter statement. fam sorry that I did not then know of the breeding qualities of the straight Carneaux. I have recently taken in a partner and we have decided to rid our- selves of this mixed breed if possible, and fill this unit with straight Carneaux from your company.,—T, R. Frank, Rhod Island. : Our stock was originally purchased from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co., both Carneaux and Homers and we can assure you our stock is good. We have several letters from Messrs. Silz of New York, to whom we ship most of our birds. We also supply the Hotel Royal Poinciana, Palm Beach, Florida, during their season, and we can assure you that nothing but the best holds their trade.—Seminole Squab Farm, Florida. APPENDIX G 3938 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, 1910: Fresh dressed, per pair..............- $0.75 Reathers) OnjsPerspall ace oieieiesya\ Aare erate -65 Live, per pair. saascbap ede donsietalescle sls he Lepote Roach -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. ton in 1904. The three pairs which I bought of you in March, 1909, have done splendidly. I now have forty- five pairs working and a few young- sters. Have sold a good many, and we have eaten a great many. I have worked up a fine trade and now sell to the swell clubs in Portland at thirty-five cents each. They will take all I have. Enclosed find an order for thirteen pairs more of your Extra Homers. If these only do as well as the ones I got before, we will be satisfied. We simply can- not get along without the magazine. It is fine—Mrs. W. R. Lycan, Oregon. If grand opera were fifty cents a ticket the 400 would not attend. The higher squabs are priced, the more the rich want them, always provided the quality is there. twenty-one ounces at four weeks. a rooster six months old from this pair that weighs 244 empty.—James T, Fisher, Montana. Es ‘SAR 2 &. FE Oar yer Ae NS eM ge PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN MONTANA. My pigeons are straight Homers raised from some I bought in Bos- I have a pair which raise squabs from eighteen to They are both 1909 birds. I have ounces, crop In January, 1910, I bought a few breeders of you, six pairs of Carneaux. I have a nice flock of one hundred mated pairs now (October, 1911), besides having sold all their produce since last May. I have been getting from $4.50 to $6.00 per dozen for them during the summer, the town I live near being quite a summer resort, and I had not breeding stock enough to supply the demand. Now the market is over for this season, and I must look further afield for an outlet. I notice in one of your books that you have requests from commission men asking you to send them the names of your customers so they can keep them posted on the price of 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. I am 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 T 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 ALL RAISED FROM ONE PAIR. It is just a year ago since I purchased six pairs of the Plymouth Rock Extra Homers and I had very successful results. present (December 7) fifty mated pairs and 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 which brought me $218.50, leaves a profit of $144. nappies better than any other sort of a nest. are reared fifty per cent easier than chickens. blue checkers.—George Briggs, Jr., Connecticut. Last May I bought one hundred pairs of pigeons crossed between a Maltese and Runt, bought them at first sight on account of their size, but have found out since that they can- not deliver the goods like a Homer, and 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 I can unload them I will be in the market for two hundred pairs of your Plymouth Rock Homers.—F. J. Baker, Indiana. I am glad to say that the twelve pairs of Homers you shipped me in March are doing fine and have increaseed to about seventy-five pairs (August 20, 1911).—William M. Wilson, North Carolina. APPENDIX G ra HOMERS ARE MOST RE- | LIABLE FOR SQUABS, by ' Fred Fisher. [ have close onto two hundred mated pairs of Homers. I am selling between $35 and $40 worth of squabs / to San Francisco markets per month. Some people here are in favor of the Maltese and . Runt pigeons crossed. To be sure they raise a large, fine _ | squab, but in the moulting sea- ~ son they act like a poor chicken, taking from two to three months ' to moult, and at the same time they eat their heads off. This | year in moulting season I did / not notice it at all with my Homers, and shipped just as many squabs then each week as » IT am shipping now. The Ho- mer is the squab breeder. I feed in open troughs twice } daily, about 9 a.m.and 2 p.m., | giving each pen enough so they will have feed before them all the time. I feed my birds dry blood once a week with good results. I give each pen the top of a fruit jar filled with the dried blood, and the birds are very fond of it. It 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. 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 taised 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 matzd pairs. Don’t you think that is doing well?— Mrs. J. H. Moynodier, Maryland. APPENDIX. G 305 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 fineiy all the year, so that at the end of that year I found they had paid their way and a little more. Having weeded out some of the drones, I began the year 1910 with sixty pairs of mated birds and at the present time of writing (February 26) I have fifty-three pairs either with young or setting on eggs, making me think that the out- look for 1910 is pretty good. From the very first I have been a believer that in every community there are some that will buy dressed squabs, and I have built up quite a trade in my town and the adjoining towns in this part of Massa- chusetts. 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 1911: Solid red, first premium; red and white, first, second and third premiums; yellow and white, first, second and third premiums. All birds raised from Plymouth Rock stock. I won as many prizes as were allowed on my entries, so I have no kick coming.— Cadet H. Hand, New York. The eleven pairs of Carneaux I received from you last October are doing well. I have one hundred and eighty or more birds now (September 15, 1911).—Dr. J. W. Cutler, California. 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. 396 —a—— ) \ NI AN) \ ] = SS SSS SS 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 Gn 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. APPE NDIEXOVWG 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 the pan. 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 M. Wilson, North Carolina. I have some of your Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and will say that there is no other stock known to me that can even compare with them.—John Overbrook, Illinois. APPENDIX G SQUABS FOR ME IN- STEAD OF FANCY POUL- TRY, by W.H. Brown. I have had a stock of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers since January 1, and have been saving most of my squabsfor breeders. I have sold some squabs and received thirty-five cents each for them. People say my squabs are the nicest they have ever seen. I have had calls for ten times as many squabs as I have raised; some one is wanting from two to a dozen every day. There are squabs to be had here (North Carolina), but none like mine. They sell for twenty-five cents each and weigh about six to eight ounces, while my squabs weigh twelve to sixteen ounces, so you can plainly see why the people are after mine. I have also had many calls for breed- ers, and hope some day to be able to fill them. I have been raising fancy oultry for five years, and I find the pigeons ave got the chickens skinned a country block. They are a great deal less care and more profit. The pigeons for me every time. I have plenty of room and can raise most of my feed, and intend making squabs my business. I live two miles out of the city, and have been for the last four years with the largest retail grocery firm here, and in thisway have learned all the best people, and how to deal with them. J 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 hensif cleaned and mixed with bran. Your pigeons will eat it if mixed with salt after it cools. (Do not give the salted to the hens, as it is sure death.) On page 349, December number of the Squab 307 CARNEAUX SQUABS SEVENTEEN OUNCES EACH. Magazine Brother Newcomer says he feeds cabbage and lettuce as green feed. The lettuce is all right, but no cabbage for me. I have known of the finest fowls and birds and canaries to be killed by feeding cabbage. It bloats them just as it does cattle. (I once lost in that way, a cow for which I had paid $69 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 dcing 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. z NO ADVANTAGE IN BREEDING CROSSES, by J. Wallace Williams. I do not raise any crosses. I believe in improving the thoroughbred Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux. I’ve never seen the advantage in crosses, if there’s any. When you breed a first-class Carneau to a. first-class Homer, where’s the advantage? You get a freak pigeon. Let us improve the thoroughbreds. Plymouth Rock Homers for squab breeders are hard to beat. I put thirty pairs in each pen. Every month in the year you will find from sixty to one hundred eggs and squabs in each pen. Before writing this article, I counted in one pen of thirty pairs, fifty-six squabs, twenty-eight eggs and six new nests. What’s the name of the freak pigeon that will come up to that record? Squabs well sold are easily raised. OSTRICHES AND WHITE HOMERS. APPENDIX G 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 let, and can’t enlarge very much. I have a good market here. (Montana.) I get from thirty- five to fifty cents each for all I can raise. I have only eighty- one pairs of breeders, from which I sold thirty-nine squabs in December and forty-two in January. Ialso have one hun- dred and twenty young, which are mating up now. The smallest squab I raised in the last three months weighed eleven ounces, There were only two under 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. 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. JI 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. 252-5 Biakslee.’ When killing squabs, = ~ [! S this device will be found useful. = It is a rack of funnels made of tin, open at top and bottom. Hold the squab in the:eft hand, stick it with the killing knife and put it inone of the funnels, 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, — — How to cut the tin, make seam and bend. each funnel to board. se 1S Vi ? FUNNELS TO BLEED SQUABS. One wire nail fastens and then some good live advertising that greater Cleveland may know what squavs are, where to get them and how to eat them. About two years ago I purchased three pairs of your Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and two pairs alone have increased to about fifty- five by now (the other pair having own away when I released them about three months after I received them). I am very enthusiastic about the raising of squabs and in order to have even pairs and also to introduce new blood, I wish to purchase about ten females. My males have increased more than the females so that I need about this many to even up. I desire the Extras. At present I am enlarging my unit house and in the near future expect to increase my flock to at least five hundred pairs.—W. M. James, Ohio. 360 MALE AND FEMALE PIGEON BILLING, OR KISSING, HOW I LEARNED TRUE CALIFORNIA PRICES, by Stefan Schwarz. In the leading San Francisco daily papers, squabs are quoted at $2 and $3 a dozen at present (May 29, 1911). Everybody knows that squabs are numerous at this time of year, and that com- petition is active. Circumstances did not encourage me. Anyway I did not ‘expect a very ready demand, or good prices either. Iam breeding a flock of several hundred pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. I asked my grain man for the address of a commission house, and he sent me to a big one of first-class reputation. Who can describe my great surprise as one of the members of the firm told me: ‘‘I will take all the squabs that you will ship to me and I am ready to make a contract with you for one thousand dozen squabs a year, for which I will pay you $3.80 for Homer squabs weighing ten to twelve pounds, and $4.50 for Carneaux squabs weigh- ing fourteen to sixteen pounds.’’ It is a puzzle to me how my fellow squab raisers in California can afford to go so much below these quotations just mentioned, unless they ship squabs which weigh considerably less, or are fooled by the newspaper quotations, as I nearly was. Squab buyers must buy squabs. Squab breeders alone can furnish squabs. It is the business of the seller and not the buyer to make the price. AP PEN DTXAG: HOW I LEARNED TO GET GOOD PRICES, by A. J. McCauley. I sold all of the Plymouth Rock Extra Homer squabs | 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 succeedec 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 lot of birdson hand that they had bought reasonable and consequently could not pay any more for them just at that time. I at once got busy with other buyers in Chicago where I received $4 for eight-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 the squab business in May, 1908, with two hundred of Ply- mouth Rock Extra Homers. We have sold squabs most of the time since, but have saved four hundred, of which about two hundred and fifty are at work. We have sold about forty-five dozen squabs since June 1, 1909. There is no trouble about the market here in Montana. We have quarters for one thousand birds and ex- pect soon to fill the houses. I 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, acking two dozen in a crate, ut 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 Bellevue-Stratford, Bingham and Walton, and each chef in charge told me he could use all the squabs I could bring him, but they had to be prime, large ones. There was an old breeder who served the Bingham Hotel regularly every week, but with hotels you must have quantity as well as quality. As an ordinary person cannot comprehend the demand for squabs I will say that when hotels and other large institutions cannot be supplied by the breeder himself, they turn to the commission men, who “.cve hundreds of shipments daily from all parts ot the country within a radius of five hundred miles. Com- mission men take 2ny quantity, small or large, and can be better relied upon by the hotels because of the large army of squab breeding shippers pouring squabs into one firm. If a breeder cared, he could increase his flock large enough to supply the trade direct, and make a good deal more on his squabs. Every person without doubt has wondered whether he really could sell the squabs he could raise, and whether there really is a big demand for squabs. It is positively a truthful fact that the demand for squabs is equal in some sections to the demand for eggs, although this may not seem so to many, when you think how many people eat eggs. You never have Four pens 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 will not be supplied for some years to come. In many localities it is not necessary to ship squabs now, aS commission men have buyers in all parts of the country to take the squabs right at your place, and pay you cash. There is more competition in buying squabs than one would imagine, as each dealer has his trade to supply and must have the squabs. When commission men will send out their men to visit the squab plants to get the goods direct, and have your assurance that you will let them have your squabs, this should be confidence enough to cause any one to enter the squab business. HOW TO KNIFE A SQUAB WITHOUT PAIN, by F. J. Bunce. In killing squabs, by inserting the knife well back in the throat, the picker will come in contact with a little, hard lump, which is the brain cell. The knife should be drawn sharply through the brain and up toward the point of the bill. It is always possible to tell if the sticking has been done properly. If it has, a con- vulsive shudder will pass over the bird, the wings draw back and the eyes become set, but if the bird continues to kick and gasp for breath, the sticking has not been done cor- rectly. If the sticking is right, the bird should be perfectly dead in two minutes. If the bird does not die as fast as the picker thinks it should, another quick incision should be made. This as a sul¢ will be sufficient. MR. TROXEL’S SQUAB KILLING CHUTE. I CAN SELL 100 DOZEN DAILY IN OREGON, by Louis A. Hart. The squab market here is quoted in the papers at $2.50 per dozen, but I just ignore that price and go to Mr. Hotel Man and engage my pound birds at $5.50 and the nine pound to the dozen birds at $4.50. I find the market firm and demand, well, say, I guess I could sell one hundred dozen every day if I only had them Only you who are near New York city can appreciate the position that I am in, for it surely looks good to me. The staple grain is wheat, al- though some corn and barley are raised. I am located close to a broom factory, so for nesting material I use the refuse broom straws, with all the dead twigs I can find. HOW I TEST EGGS THROUGH A STRAW HAT, by H. A. Davis. For an egg tester, I use a straw hat draped with black cloth that draws together with a string at the bottom around my shoulders. This is practically a small dark room for one’s head, except for a small hole opposite the eye through which the egg to be tested is seen when held to the light. The egg is held close to the hole to shut out all light, and it is surprising how easy it is to tell whether the egg is fertile or not. When we pass through the pen to test, we glance at the date the egg should hatch, and reckon back ten days. Thus we are testing an egg about eight days old, and we have gained more than ten days more than once, by testing, which only takes a few minutes. We like to record on the sticker the date the egg should hatch rather than the date it was laid. We find our birds will drink from the bathpan but since we have whitewashed the bathpans once a week in summer, their bowels are in better condition than before. We put a piece of rock lime about the size of a hickory nut in each drinking fountain also. APPENDIX-G EXPERT TELLS HOW TO KILL AND PLUCK, by Clinton L. Troxel. Being a poultry dresser long enough to dress more than forty thousand chick- ens, I willgive you a goodidea how to dry-pick squabs. They look better than when scalded. It is also much quicker. One can be killed, dressed and drawn in less than five min- utes. I dress them upon a barrel. (This is fixed in a man- ner known to poultry dressers as a chute.) The way it is made is to take a barrel and place it upon a box one foot high. This makes the barrel the right height. Place another box, which may be about two feet square, with the top, bot- . tom and end removed, upon the barrel. This leaves the re- maining three sides to form a shield around your squab, which keeps the feathers from drop- ping upon the floor. They will drop into the barrel, where they can be saved, then sold. Over the center of the barrel is a board eight inches wide, which is used to lay the squab upon while dressing. This board is padded so as not to bruise the squab. At far end of: the board is a hole two inches round. Below this hole a cup is placed so that the blood cannot drop upon the feathers. At the other side of the hole a sharp hook is set. Place the bill over the hook, hold the feet, and tip the wings in the left hand. Insert a sharp-pointed knife in front of the eye, upward into the brain. Bleed from the side of the throat; sticking in this way causes the squab to give up its feathers more easily, and at same time it also loses its feeling. , One would be surprised to see how quickly and easily a squab can be dressed. The tail, wings, entrails and head can be placed in a pail which hangs near. In front right-hand corner, a small shelf is used to support a lamp for night work. in front left-hand corner is another shelf upon which is a cup of water in which to moisten the fingers. After dressing, draw and remove the head, . singe and put into pan of cold water for four or five hours. Add pinch of salt to the water. I have no trouble in disposing of my squabs after dressing like above. We find in this locality, with prices high on feed, that it costs $1.25 per pair per year. Our birds average about five pairs squabs per year. We get twenty-five cents each alive for them. This gives us a profit of $1.25 on each pair a year after paying above amount for feed. Did you ever see a drunken pigeon raiser? Rum and squabs don’t mix. There is no such thing as a squab plant with a whiskey bottle hid in the grain bin. APPENDIX G HOSPITAL, CLUB, FAMI- fq LIES, $3.50 DOZEN, by West- | © ley O’Harra. I have never } shipped any squabs as I have hard work supplying the home market (Ohio). Wehavea large new private hospital, which takes five dozen a week. The first club of the city takes ten or twelve dozen just as I hap- pen to have them. Then with the family trade I can dispose of all and more than I can sup- ply. I am thinking of enlarg- ing my plant soon. I get $3.50 a dozen the year round without sorting, feather dressed. . I do not believe in starting with a small number and breed ing up your own flock. I tried that for a year without selling any squabs, then bought a large flock of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and began to get re- sults. Onething I accomplished that first year was proper feeding, which I wish to say is the most essential point to the best results in this business. Do not be afraid to give them plenty to eat. I use the self-feeders, which I keep filled with plenty of cracked corn and red wheat. I have always had good results with these boxes. If any feedbox is not successful, it generally is due to the fact that it is not kept free of the dust which accumulates in the slit where the grain falls through. I sift all of my corn and wheat and clean my feed boxes once a week, give my birds plenty of good, fresh drinking water, with bath water twice a week. I have found that straw is a good lice producer and that the only way to stop the lice is to use tobacco stems for nest material. HOW TO HANDLE TWO KINDS OF BUYERS, by Arthur S. Burlingame. Selling squabs direct to consumers no doubt will bring in the most money, buf all people cannot look after a retail trade, as it takes considerably more time. One can get good prices, however, by grading his squabs according to weight. A breeder of squabs ought to have a price for his birds in proportion to their weight by the dozen. A squab that weighs a pound surely ought to be worth more than one weighing twelve ounces. I have about forty pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and very often get squabs that weigh sixteen to twenty ounces each, and never have had any less than twelve ounces at four weeks old. When I started to sell my squabs, I sold them to a large market and received twenty-five cents each, and sometimes thirty cents, according to their supply and demand. I tried to get more for the larger ones, but they would not pay any more. ‘They told me a squab was a squab, and that they sold them all for the same price. They had them marked on the poultry counter ~ at forty-five cents each. Not satisfied with these prices, I looked around and found a MR. O’HARRA’S SQUAB FARM. smaller market that sold to amore particular trade, and this one wanted squabs that weighed twelve or thirteen pounds to the dozen. For the first lot I took there I received thirty-five cents each, and have worked the price up to forty cents. I think they sell them to their trade at about fifty-five or sixty cents each. This still left me the ten and eleven-pounds- to-the-dozen birds, which are very good sizes. I went to a good hotel and asked if they used squabs, and they said they used them all the year and would like any that I might bring in, provided they weighed from ten to eleven pounds to the dozen, just the ones I wanted to sell. I quoted thirty-five cents each, and they were willing to pay that. They list on their menu, ‘‘ Native Squab 75c.”’ I simply have to kill the birds. I made a machine according to instructions in Rice’s Manual and it is all right. I catch the squabs after dark and kill them in the morning and let them hang in a cool place and take them to market the next morning. I would rather kill a dozen or more squabs than to kill one chicken. It is much more simple and very much cleaner. My squabs weighing from nine to ten pounds I turn into the first market at $3 to $3.60 a dozen. They seem satisfied and I am. Don’t sell ycur largest birds in the same lot with the smallest sizes, unless they pay you more. You can find several places where the trade calls for the smaller sizes, and others who want the better birds. You can keep all satisfied and hold their trade. I would not put in the large birds (in case your pur- chaser of that size was overstocked) with the smaller ones. If you do, they will expect to get them all the time. Eat them yourself. I have not found much of a demand for squabs weighing from one and a half to two pounds, Always make your deals with the owner of the place; he is the man. Show him what you have and he will appreciate quality. : LED CARNEAU. SPLASHED CARNEAU. HOW TO PATCH AND HATCH BROKEN EGGS, by M. C. Martin. One who deals in high-priced pigeons can by hatching out the broken eggs save many dollars. Infertile eggs should be saved for patching the cracked or broken eggs. In warm weather place these inasmall boxinthe squabhouse. Inthe winter keep some ‘‘fresh’’ infertile eggs where they will not freeze, and whenever you find a ‘‘ good”’ egg that is cracked or broken, select an infertile egg of similar size. If the egg is broken on an end, take an end half of the infertile egg and place it over the egg to be patched, and if the fit is a good one put the egg back in the nest and as soon as the shell lining is dry, it will fit like glue to the “‘good’”’ egg. If an egg is broken on the side, break the shell of the infertile egg lengthwise and patch the egg as above directed. Unless a good round, sound shell covers the egg, the two will roll together in the nest and the broken or ‘‘dented’’ shell will soon be broken in by the other egg, hence the reason for patching the egg. Of course if the mem- brane of the egg is broken, there is no remedy, but this is very seldom the case, and the patching can be done very quickly as this is a very simple method. T have a flock of 175 Homers and am getting $4 a dozen for my squabs. I ship them to Charlotte.—J. Paul Leonard, North Carolina. APPENDIX G aT Le HOW A PRACTICAL IOWA PLANT IS RUN, by P. P. French, M.D. From what ex- perience I have had with a number of different varieties of pigeons, it is my opinion that a good Homer is hard to beat for squab purposes. By keeping our birdsin large pens, it reduces the labor of taking care of them toaminimum. We try to keep the flock as nearly mated as possible. We know they were mated in the first place, and when an old bird dies it is an easy matter to break it open and see whether it is a male or female and then replace it from our small pen with one of the same sex. That method comes the nearest to keeping a flock mated of any I know, keeping the birds in large pens as we do, and while it is not a perfect method, I consider it good enough for all practical pur- poses, and does away with a lot of time spent in banding, num bering and recording. I tried that method when I first started in the business, but soon gave it up and adopted the other method, and have been just as well satisfied with the results. Again by keeping a large num- ber of birds in a pen it is pos- sible for one man to take care of ten thousand birds, except picking the squabs, and I believe in having the same man take © care of the birds all the time if possible, because they very much object to having strangers around. Regarding prices I can say that we ship our squabs to Chicago, and last year (1910) they averaged us thirty-two cents apiece net the year round, leaving us a profit of over a dollar a pair for our flock, and by that I mean all expenses for feed, etc., except the work. . I go to Chicago in the spring and fall and sell our entire ou.put of squabs for the suc- ceeding six months at a contract price, and by so doing we know just where we are at all the time, and do not have to feel that we are ° getting stung by sharp buyers, as the element of doubt is removed. I am getting for squabs dressed: 1 pound, $6.00 per dozen; 14 ounces, $5.50 per dozen; 12 ounces, $5.00 per dozen; 10 ounces, $4.50 per dozen. I sell nothing less than ten ounces and have fair luck with my birds, my prices and squabs. My squabs advertise themselves.— Albert H. Gerling, Illinois. Question: Do you believe in pulling out the tail feathers of young pigeons, to help them grow? Answer: No, it is unsightly, and unnecessary. Let Nature attend to this mat- ter in her own way. APPENDIX G GOOD SQUABS SHOULD BE SHIPPED RIGHT, by B. F. Babcock. Shipment of Sep- tember 23, 1909. dozen 10-pound squabs. .$2.13 dozen 9-pound squabs.. 7.00 3 dozen 8-pound squabs.. 1.40 $10.53 The above is a statement of a shipment of Plymouth Rock Homer squabs that I have made lately to a New York commis- sion merchant and shows the actual cash received by me. The following is a copy of part of the letter received from the commission merchant, under shipment of October 14: “We received from you this week a shipment of squabs for which we are enclosing check and account sales. Your birds were very fine and hope that you will continue to send us your output.” In making the above two ship- mentsno pick of birds was made, taking the birds of killable age fromeach pen. But in the fol- lowing matters I was particular (and it is the only way to bea successful shipper): A clean box, clean paper, clean ice, clean birds, clean mouths, and clean feet, and to make the shipment more at- tractive when the box is opened, is to wrap the heads in tissue paper. No one will ever regret following the above particulars. Thave a nice printed card which is tacked on the lid of the box. (i sa ch be s ENORMOUS DEMAND NOW IN CALIFORNIA, by William J. Reid. I have made a canvass of the local market conditions and find the following state of affairs: Several commis- sion men inform me that they cannot supply the demand, par- ticularly during the last year; that small, common squabs, “‘ rejects,’’ weigh- ing six and seven pounds, find ready sale at $3.50 and $4.00 a dozen; that Homers are very scarce, those that can be obtained being easily disposed of at $4.50 and $5.50 a dozen, alive. From these figures the commission men deduct eight per cent for handling. In Oakland, I bought a pair of dressed Homer squabs, medium sized, for which I paid $1.30. Broiled, they were enjoyed very much by Mrs. Reid and myself. The marketman stated that he can handle all the choice Homers brought to him, at good prices, according to weight; would pay $4.50 and $5.50 a dozen. California Market (retail) the poultryman told me he would pay $4.50 a dozen for all the At the. 365 Ll ee A PIGEON AND TWO BUNCHES OF SQUABS. Homer squabs I could bring him, regardless of weight. All the dealers agree that this is not a temporary condition, but that the demand is increasing faster than the supply, and it seems to me that the forthcoming World's Fair will not hurt the business. A year and a half ago I purchased from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. eight pairs of Carneaux. I now (June, 1911) have over three hundred of all ages, of which some eighty pairs are mated.—Percy A. Bath, Ontario. ~ fhe difference between success and failure in the squab business is the difference between work and hot air, APPENDIX G 366 *g1048 011} Wor] S8900NS B SEM PIE ABTOTT POMOLIOG OOTS TIA porreys sea JuEIA SL ‘NODGYO NI ASQOH AVMOS ANY N@MOIHO NOILYNIGNOO V APPENDIX G HOW TO PUSH AND HOW a TO COOK SQUABS, by Fred M.Parkeson. I have seen peo- ple pay seventy-five and eighty cents for a chicken in the mar- kets here that could not begin to furnish as much meat as a pair of my four-weeks-old Ply- nouth Rock Homers, not men- .oring the difference in the quaucy ofthemeat. Yetif you or I asked them why they did not try the squabs instead of the chicken they would say: “Well, I don’t know how to cook them.’”’ I dare say that every eight out of ten house- keepers in this State have never cooked a squab. . Now the ques- tion arises, why? I can answer it. Every morning excepting Sundays there are pedlars going from. house to house here in San Francisco selling fruits, vege- tables, rabbits, eggs, butter and evenlive chickens. But I have yet to see for the first time any one going to the homes to sell squabs. There seems to be a mistaken idea that the working class of people cannot afford to buy squabs, and that squabs are for the rich only, but such is not the case, as can easily be proven by the way that the working class buys other high- priced articles of food in general. I wish that I were so situated that I could put in a stock of five hundred pairsof Plymouth Rock Homers, I would not hesitate so far as paving me a nice profit is concerned. I wish to offer a recipe for cooking squabs. This recipe has been prepared exclu- sively by Mr. Victor Hirtzler, chef of the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, California: Squab en Casserole Squab, or a small bird of any kind, is very good cooked in a casserole. Have the squab cleaned, then dust ever so lightly with flour and put into the casserole with a piece of butter the size of an egg. Cook for twenty minutes, then add one small tender onion, cut fine, three or four mushrooms and a little chopped celery which has been parboiled in salted water. Let this bake together for ten minutes then add half a cup of strained brown gravy and two spoonfuls of sherry. Let simmer. for ten minutes until the squab is tender. It should be very tender when done. Place a napkin neatly about your baking dich and serve hot. Brown gravy is made by browning two spoon- fuls of butter in an iron pan until it is at an even color. Stir all the time. Then add two cups of hot water and a spoonful of beet extract and simmer for half an hour. Salt and strain. You will find this to be one of the most delicious dishes you ever tasted. PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS IN TE a aa one + + ~ deel, XAS, The two marked with an X are a prize pair of silvers. TRY ROASTED SQUABS LIKE THIS. Prepare much the same as you would chickens. Scald, pluck and clean, tie their wings against the body, place in baking pan on backs, put quarter-inch hot water in pan, place on bottom of hot oven and cook slowly thirty minutes, then baste and put another baking pan over them and put on grate in oven for one hour, basting occasionally while cooking. Remem- ber a slow fire is better than a hot one, and the oftener basted the better, but do not cool oven opening too frequently. Cooked in this way, you have a dish fit for kings. None of the thin parts are burned and bitter. The flesh leaves the bones freely. The wings, legs and small muscles on the back are all good, delicious. After trying them this way, you will find you can afford them much oftener than you thought you could, as there is more meat on the legs, wings and thin parts than you ever thought there was, when served broiled. Avoid squabs of the common pigeon. Secure good, fat, genuine Plymouth Rock squabs and prepare as above, and you will always want more and consider them cheap at any price. I started three years ago with thirty-six Ply- mouth Rock Homers. have now nineteen units on Mr. Rice’s plan, and have between 1200 and 1500 birds.—W. C. Hyer, South Carolina. 368 BACK YARD SQUAB BREEDING. Showing that squabhouses in the rear of a city home may be A very satisfactory business of For particulars, see made attractive and interesting. | considerable magnitude has been built up here. the accompanying article. WHAT WE HAVE DONE WITH SIX PAIRS, by Columbus Nelson. We started here in the State of Washington two years ago with six pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. From these we now have over two hundred * mated pairs of breeders. We sell the squabs in Anacortes at a good figure. Besides saving a number of pairs of breeders during March, over $20 worth of squabs were sold to local fanciers and eager consumers. Ours is the only plant of the kind, so far as we know, in Skagit County. In connection with squabs, my wife and I make a specialty of thorough- bred buff and white Orpingtons and Pekin ducks. We expect to enlarge our plant to two thousand mated pairs of Homers, and then will devote our entire time and our five-acre tract to the raising of squabs for the city markets. We declare, after much work, careful study and experiment, that the business will be a complete success. To break up floor nesting, first let the male and female build the nest and as soon as she has laid the first egg, take her and her egg and nest and put her in a nestbox. Put on a wire door so she cannot get out. The door must be taken away at night, so she will not see you. You will not have any more trouble with them. I have been raising pigeons since September, 1908, and have one hundred pairs of Homers and Carneaux. I send my squabs to New York, where I receive the top price.— Walter Hudson, Connecticut. APPENDIX G HOW I PUSH SQUABS ALONG IN TACOMA, by Adam Sossong. I started with one dozen common pigeons about two years ago to see how it would pay raising squabs for market. I raised one dozen squabs from the commons, took them to the Tacoma Hotel. The first question asked was, are they Homersquabs? _Ihad to tell him,no. The answer he gave me was to get Homers and lie would buy the squabs at all times. So I came to think that I would sell the commons and buy Homers. I bought two dozen. As soon as I glanced over Mr. Rice’s Manual, I saw some mistakes on my coops and nests. I took the book, read it over carefully and followed his directions up to the mark. I did not have any more trouble selling my squabs, and got more customers in a short time. At present I have four hundred pairs of Homer squab breeders, which are doing their best and raising fine squabs. Ido all my selling to hotels and high-class fraternity clubs. My squab- houses arein my back yard. (See photograph.) I praise soaked wheat bread which I give to my birds twice a week, all that they will eat, and green vegetables such as lettuce, clover and cabbage. I will give you the prices on all the feed. Wheat is $2.35, peas $4, kaffir corn $3.50, millet $3, scratch food $2.35, hemp $7, flaxseed $4, buckwheat $6. The prices for squabs are from $3.75 to $4.50; if you supply good squabs, you get top prices, for there is always a big demand. There are lots of markets here that would buy squabs if they could get them and enough of them to keep the trade. I don't bother with any markets. I have my steady weekly cus- tomers. I dress all my squabs and get top prices. I get letters from Seattle for squabs so I am not worried about not having a sale. I am going to get a few acres next fall and then I will put in a large stock of breeders. The more Tacoma is growing the better squab « sales there will be. Take my advice and get interested in raising squabs. Piling Wty, I was troubled by three and four weeks old squabs leaving the nests, especially those close to floor. I have begun to wire each in with two-inch poultry wire, tacking a six-inch piece of lath on to the front for a perch, so that par- ents may alight there and feed them through the wire. Most parents feed them O. K. I have had a few that seemed to be allowed to starve to death.—E. S. Riggs, Missouri. Keep your squabhouse$S clean, and neat looking; that is, if you wish to interest visitors. © APPENDIX -G FROM AFLAT TO SQUABS IN THE COUNTRY, by Laura A. Pierson. A year ago I be- came interested in the subject of squab raising through a mag- azine article,and determined to inform myself with a view to engaging in the business. I accordingly sent for the ‘*‘ Na- tional Standard Squab Book’’ and read it through. At that time we were living in a sub- urban flat, but contemplated moving to our present location, pouch we did in the spring of There is a barn on the lot, the loft of which we fixed for pigeons, the lower floor for chickens. We built flies to the south and have a nice chicken- tun to the east. The chickens are simply to supply our own table, although we have a sur- plus of eggs, and have enjoyed the sale of someat the extremely high prices the past winter. The flock of pigeons we intend to increase as rapidly as possible and concentrate on as a busi- ness. Last August we received thir- teen pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. The birds set- tled down very promptly and have worked well. We now feel that we are sufficiently experi- enced to handle a larger flock and are fixing our quarters for more birds. We have ordered one hundred pairs more. WHAT I AM DOING WITH A SMALL FLOCK, by Walter Sieverling. Six months ago I ordered three pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers. They ar- rived in good condition and in a week they had eggs. I fed them the best that could be bought and they repaid me with fine, big, fat squabs. It was very funny to see them claim their nests. I had other Homers in the house at’ the time but in the end the new Homers were the winners. They were larger and could handle my birds like babies. I have nine pairs working now and in May I had nine pairs of eggs in the nests. The day the first pair hatched out the last pair laid their eggs. They all hatched and I had eigh- teen squabs all of good size. The largest I had was a pair of red checks which weighed, one twenty ounces, and the other twenty-two. In order to raise good-sized birds, cull your squabs when they leave the nest and after they develop. 369 Leas NOTE SIZE OF THESE EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. One of the Chicago houses has contracts with a squab raiser paying $2.50 for six-pound squabs, $3.00 for seven-pound squabs, $3.50 for eight-pound squabs and $4.00 for nine- pound squabs. One man in Iowa has six thousand old birds and has a yearly contract with this house.—H. Huecker, Illinois. Don’t ship to a wholesaler unless you are wholesaling. If you want retail prices, go and get them according to the directions given in the Squab Magazine. 370 PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAU SQUAB. Weight one pound, age three weeks. squab. 1 glass tumbler, to show size. HOW MY BIRDS GET NESTING MA- TERIAL, by Harvey Drake. The usual way is to use crates to hold the material, but what the birds pull out and do not want they throw or drop down until they find what they do want. I have found a way to overcome this. Take a box about one and one-half feet deep, one foor wide and three or four feet long and put it under the window. Then take a board a little larger than the box you use and fasten it to the window for a sill inside like a shelf. This protects the nesting material from being soiled by birds sitting on the window sill, also if a shower of rain comes up in summer when the windows are up, the material is protected. I put the nesting material I use in the box and do not fill it more than one-third full. The birds fly down in this and pick it over until they find what they want, and then fly to their nesting place. A year ago in May I bought five hundred pigeons of the Homer variety and lately I have bought two hundred and fifty pairs more. I am greatly interested and have been greatly encouraged the past three months, as I have been getting $4.00 net for all of my nine-pound squabs, and $3.25 for those weighing less, and never have been able to fill the orders I get.— D. G. Barstow, Missouri. } s. Two views of the same In the upper picture the squab is compared with an ordinary APPEN DIX 4G. I USE STEMS OF LEAVES FOR NESTING, by Dutch Cropper. I fully believe pig- eons prefer dark-colored ma- terial for their nests. Just give them a chance at the stems of different kindg of leaves, such as are easily gathered from under the black walnut, butternut or locust tree; also, the inner bark | torn from cedar posts or logs, and the bark of the grape-vine. | I have known instances where salt-marsh hay was bought for the purpose, when, with very little effort, material far more desirable could have been pro- cured right on the owner’s place. I have made beautiful jack- straws out of rye and oat stalks which were absolutely refused. Tangled oat straw they will use, but give them a chance at one or the other of the above, and note the difference in the archi- tecture of their nests. The Fulton Market Company are now buying squabs at thirty cents a pound and sell them at ] forty cents a pound. They say they rather quote them by pound, because the size varies so much. The demand is dull just now (August), and they are placing squabs in cold storage. | Geis & Waelde will pay $2 a dozen for squabs and sell them at $2.75 and $3. I visited the farm of the O’Harra Squab Company. The proprietor, Wesley O’Harra, has Plymouth Rock Homers. Mr. O’Harra sells his squabs direct to the consumers and gets from thirty- three and one-third cents to forty cents each dressed. Thisis at the rate of $4 to $4.85 a dozen.—R. D. Hiatt, Ohio. VASELINE FOR CANKER, by L. T. Dunn. Please publish this for the good of those who Taise pigeons as it is the most valuable thing I have ever discovered for the pigeon raiser Just common vaseline is a marvel for canker. Take some on the end of the finger, a good lump of it, and poke it down the squab’s throat. It will loosen the lumps in the throat and you can pull them out easily with a hairpin. Put some more vaseline in the throat-after you do this. You will not lose two squabs in a hundred. Question: How shall I whitewash a loft filled with working pigeons? Answer: Drive your pigeons out into the flying pen on a sunny day and shut the windows, then paint ths interior with cold water white paint, whicu will dry before night, then you can let your pigeons back into the house. Begin with the very best pigeons that money can buy; then breed for better ones. APPENDIX G FRESH SQUABS DISPLAC- ING COLD STORAGE, by Harry U. Bell. Despite the fact that Washington City may be classed as a poor squab mar- ket, the demand for fresh-killed squabs is far in excess of the supply. The bulk of the squabs han- died during the winter season is the product of the cold-storage plant. These are bought up during the summer, wherever they can be obtained, the source |* of supply being from persons | with smalllofts of birds, or they are shipped from surrounding country places. The supply of cold-storage squabs has to be very short before they will pay as much as $3.50 or $4 a dozen. The recent investigation of the cold storage has done a great deal towards helping squab breeding in this vicinity. The squab-eating public is now clamoring for a better class of goods, and is willing to take them from breeders, knowing that they are the fresh-killed product. Having had to pay a goodly little sum for cold-stor- age squabs they are equally |: willing to pay for the fresh | product. No one starting into the squab breeding business in this vicinity need fear for his mar- ket. Itis waiting for him. If he produces good squabs and lets a few people know it, it will be but a very short while before he will have as much trade as he can handle. GRAIN WEIGHTS, by W. H. Cunningham. Below are given the weights of various products in their raw state, the figures indicating pounds per bushel: Wheat, 60; corn (shelled), 56; corn (on the cob), 70; rye, 56; barley, 48; buckwheat (in Pennsylvania), 50; buckwheat (in Ken- tucky), 52; buckwheat (in Massachusetts), 48; oats (in Illinois and Massachusetts), 32; oats (in Ohio), 33; oats (in Kentucky), 33 1-3; oats (in Maine and Pennsylvania}, 30; flaxseed, 56; hempsced, 48; broomcorn s.2d, 52; sorghum seed, 40. - When a pigeon gets out of fix, it fasts some- times three or four days and later comes around O. K. Don’t worry about a bird’s not eating. It knows its own business and is taking its only treatment, fasting. I have noticed this so much among the birds, especially with young- sters, I am earnestly entreating all pigeon friends to let the pigeons do the “‘ doctoring ’’ and let the owners of the birds give attention to feed, water and care of squabhouse, and Nature, the great doctor of all animal life,.wik take care of the pigeon’s ailments.—M. C. Martin, Kansas, WHITE HOMER AND PEN OF COLORED HOMERS. GROWTH OF AN IDEA. Ten years ago the word ‘“‘squab’’ was practically unknown. Today it is on the lips of every one not only as an article of food, but in slang, which is a true test of popularity. For example, at the great American preparatory schools, the freshmen are now dubbed ‘“‘ squabs,’’ meaning the soft, tender, inexperienced youth, of both sexes. In the West, a “ squab ”’ is a tenderfoot. In the theatres, a “‘ squab ”’ is a young chorus girl of eighteen years or under. A ‘‘broiler’’ is a chorus girl between nineteen and twenty-one. ““Squab parties ’’ are gatherings of children. Fried spring chicken, roast turkey, duck, or beef are all good eating, but not as good as roast squab for my taste. It is the choice of all other meat for me. One of my customers, who is a hunter, just recently told me: “‘If I were served with young roast quail one meal and squab another I could not tell which was which.”’—W. B. Glotfelty, Pennsylvania. I am very much impressed with the squab business here in St. Louis, and think there is no better market to be had. I get $4 per dozen for nine pounds and $4.50 for ten pounds. pay no attention to markets.—F. Mc- Donald, Missouri. 372 year. They are ‘the largest birds I have. A. F. Ayers, California, HOW TO GET AIR INTO SQUAB HOUSES, by W. P. Jencks. When you see frost on the nails of your roof inside, make up your mind your house is damp. ‘To venti- late a hcuse ten by twelve feet make a box about five or six feet long and about one foot wide. Have doors on the north and south side on hinges that swing in from the top. Close the one on the side where the wind is blowing and open the other one. A small ventilator one foot square open all around will let in more fresh air than one six feet long that is open only on the side opposite from the wind. A ventilator that is not over one foot square in a house ten by twelve with seventy-five or one hundred birds in it is not much use. The average squabhouse ventilators are too small. Make them larger. Try one as an experiment and find out as I did. I have sold all my squabs to a hotel right in the town. They have taken all I could raise and wanted more. They paid twenty-five cents each and took them alive. I did not have to kill them. I now sell my squabs by the ounce. I get two cents an ounce just killed and three cents an ounce dressed.—W. P. Jencks, Rhode sland. We are starting in the squab business on a small scale but with the idea of success and of a large plant. Our enthusiasm is strengthened by the remarkable success of a friend during the past'two years. He has fully demonstrated to ur satisfaction at least that the squab business is O. K.—H. C. Voss, Ohio. TEN PAIRS OF SQUABS A YEAR. What do you think of these Homers? The ones with the crosses on them are the two best breeding Homers in my flock. squabs weighing sixteen ounces apiece at the rate of ten pairs a I get twenty-five cents apiece for all my squabs alive and cannot raise one-third enough. — APPENDIX G HOW TO IMPROVE A FLOCK BY REMATING, by George F.Lunn. I have about three hundred pairs of Ply- mouth Rock Homers and Car- neaux. If I find a pair that do not breed well, I remate them. I find that it is better to try that than it is to sell them, if they are good birds. If I find two pairs which I do not think are doing what they ought, and mate them over, then they do as a rule very much better. I take them out of the pen and use a mating coop for one week, then I put them in a small pen which I have built for that purpose, and I keep them there until they lay one set of eggs and have hatched them out, then I give the squabs to another pair and put them backinto the pen from which I took them. I have not had any trouble of their going back to their old mates if they are kept apart for one or two months. Iam getting for squabs that dress eight pounds to the dozen $4 a dozen at this date (May 5, 1911) and think that is very good. January, February and March, I recieve five and six dollars for them in the market. They sold well last winter and the birds have been doing very well. My birds averaged six and one-half pairs of squabs for each pair of breeders for the year 1909, and I think that they will do better than that this year, as they have worked at a more rapid rate so far. RAT TRAPS IN A BOX, by James Y. Egbert. When a breeder is troubled with mice in the squabhouse, he can get rid of them by using one or more traps in boxes. I take a box 13 x 7 x 3 inches, or a tobacco caddy may be used. With a one-inch auger bore eight holes, four in each side. Bait your traps and set them inside, then put a cover over the top so the pigeons will not spring the traps. Traps in a squabhouse should always be protected as pigeons or squabs may be injured if they are not. In this way I cleaned out all the mice around my pen. They raise I am going to buy more Homers soon, and will then have an output of twenty dozen squabs a month. I have standing orders for private trade for squabs. I get seventy cents a pair for the smallest squabs, or $4 a dozen. For the largest squabs I get $1 a pair, or $5.50 a dozen.—R. C. Boyd, Pennsylvania. I have a printed postal card to keep my cus- tomers informed and jog their memory as to the desirability of a course ~f squabs. They have the habit now and require no reminder.— Frank R. Tucker, Rhode Island. AEE NDRX=6C HOW A HOTEL MANA- GER PUSHES SQUABS, by John Hill. We pay seven dol- lars a dozen for the kind of squabs we serve. Just at pres- ent we have enough, but I would be very glad to know the names and addresses of some breeders of fine squabs. We cook them in any way our patrons want them, but put them on the bill of fare merely as squabs. Irather prefer them roasted, to any other way of cooking them. I ran the advertisements of our hotel in the New York Times and Brooklyn Eagle to stimulate the night-dinner trade. The night following my pub- lished talk about squabs, the sale was forty-two orders. Our average number of orders per night for squabs had been six or seven. That advertisement was read and it brought the business. I have been engaged in rais- ing pigeons for eight years, and as I am employed in the city, the only time I have to attend to my birds is in the morning and afternoon, after returning home. During my experience I have bred various pigeons, but have finally settled dewn to Homers for first choice and Carneaux for second choice. My Homer squabs weigh from twelve to fourteen ounces each, and Carneaux squabs from fif- teen to seventeen ounces each, and I have also crossed the Carneau and the Homer, and squabs from this cross weigh from fourteen to sixteen ounces each. I recently purchased ten acres of ground near the city and it is my intention to convert this entire place into a squab plant early next spring.—T. P. Meyer, Texas. I am getting from $2.75 to $4.50 per dozen for live squabs from the commission men in Cincinnati. I have not started to sell to the hotels yet. My best squabs weigh over ten pounds to the dozen. We grow wheat, corn, sunflower, kaffir corn on our farm. We save much money on feed bills. Corn and wheat are the staple articles of feed and every other day I mix corn, wheat, kaffir corn, sunflower seed, Canada peas, hempseed. Most of the time I feed mixed corn, wheat and Canada peas, the rest every other day. I think the first thing a beginner should learn is to ventilate the pigeon house. They must have pure air to breathe. Don’t ventilate so that the wind will strike on birds. I store grain in barrels covered with tin, so rats can’t eat.—George S. Beyer, Indiana. WHITE AND COLORED HOMERS. One thing I have learned about the care of pigeons: first and most important is plenty of clean, fresh drinking water, one fountain in the fly and onein the loft so when the old birds feed the squabs they can get water without flying outside for it. Second, that all grain or seed should be free from dust of any kind, and musty grain should not be fed under any circum- stances. I think most of the pigeon men here feed a little different thanin most places. My main feed is wild brown mustard seed. I have fed it with good results for three years. I will give my way of feeding: One and one-half quarts wheat in morning. From three to four quarts mustard seed at noon. One and one- half to two quarts Egyptian corn at night, with a feed of peas and rice once a week each. In each loft is a feeder containing grit, charcoal and sea-shells, in each fly a piece of mineral salt. One reason I feed more mustard seed is that it is a cheaper feed than anything else. It costs here $1.25 per one hundred pounds; white wheat is about $1.60 and Egyptian com $1.75 to $2 per hundred.—Riley C. Clark, California. 374 HOW I FEED SO AS TO LOSE NO SQUABS, by Fred C. Schrein. I started to raise squabs in 1904 with six pairs of Homers, the Extras from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. They cost me fifteen dollars, and my coops five dollars, total twenty dollars. I did not know a thing about pigeons, and so you see I had to start at the bottom and climb up, and now I am on the top rung of the ladder. When my squabs came, where was my mar- ket? I had to look for one. I took some down to the leading hotels and the managers startled me by remarking that they were not squabs. I asked in some perplexity, ‘‘ Why are they not squabs?’”’ ‘‘ Because they are too large for squabs.”’ It was up to me to make good. I replied that for every one of the birds that was not a squab I would give them a dollar. Then they said they had no calls for squabs, but I finally persuaded one of them to try mine, telling him that I would let him have them for three dollars a dozen. It did not take long before he found out that it pays to have first-class goods to do business, and so it was. I had to educate the people first as to what a squab was, and now I have them pretty well educated, and I cannot raise enough for my trade. I am now catering mostly to private custom and get fifty cents apiece for all my squabs. It makes no difference who it is; every one is treated alike. I have at present about one thousand birds, and if I had room I would have five thousand more. I expect in the near future to go out _n the suburbs and build a large squab plant. I use a mixed feed, and everything but corn. The only time that my birds get corn is in the winter months, then in the afternoon I feed it to keep them warm through the night. Do not feed cracked corn at any time unless you can crack it yourself, and know it is fresh. Follow these instructions and I bet you will not have any more squabs die with canker unless your grain should happen to be musty. I know what I am talking about, as I have gone through the mill. HOW I MADE ROAST SQUABS POPU- LAR, by Clara M. Hodson. I have hatched eight hundred birds, kept one hundred pairs and sold the others at a fair profit. I have sold the squabs from twenty-five cents to fifty cents each according to size. They average ten pounds to the dozen, but many of them weigh one pound after removing feathers. I selected the birds I wished to keep, built a small addition to my first house and mated them up as I wished according to the colors, blue, white, black, brown or Carneau red. This is easily done if the youngsters are confined together in a mating coop for a couple of weeks, then are allowed to go into the fly where the young pairs are kept. They will bill and coo, build a nest and go to work. I have quite a number nesting at five months. My pigeon coteisin the rear of a lot 80 x 180 feet on one of the main streets of this Maryland town of eight thousand people. It is the only APPENDIX G pigeon plant in this section, and I have created an interest in my birds and a taste for “ roast squab with peas.’’ that make a sale here for all. I cannot always supply the demand. I had pure healthy stock to begin, studied Mr. Rice’s valuable book and the magazine and without any experience have had exceptional luck. No disease of any kind. I feed them a special pigeon feed (which stood first under a recent’ examination by the Maryland Agricultural College). It has about twelve different kinds of seed and cracked corn in it. I pay $2 per 100 pounds forit. It costs me two cents apiece per week for my old birds and their squabs. Sometimes if the number is larger, I feed a little higher. They are fond of hemp. I watch them and feed them what they like. They are very little trouble. I feed and water regularly twice a day in troughs and fountains, and have the house cleaned every week, some- times oftener, as nests may require. This work is done by a boy twelve years old who loves the birds. My birds are the admiration of all who pass and see them sunning themselves. They know me and many of them know their names, I think. They are far more easily reared than chickens. I have fifteen White Leghorns and fifteen Rhode Island Red hens in a lot adjoin- ing my pigeons, but they are not so profitable. T find great pleasure showing my guests my birds, and all are enthused with them. I recently took a prize serving them roasted whole, stuffed with celery and served with petit pois and crab apple jelly. Let every woman who loves pets try a few pigeons. Question: In what cases do you believe in selling squabs to middlemen, and in what direct to private trade? Answer: I believe in knowing the cost of production and selling to somebody at a profit. The average pigeon or poultry raiser doesn’t know either costs or selling prices. The product of a large squab plant in the hands of an average business man is best sold to middlemen because the cost of finding retail customers for a large output is something requiring bother, skill, time, money and equipment, all of which the middlemen have, as well as the educated habits of people who are trading with them. The product of a small squab plant is best sold at retail because it costs nothing to find the customer if you follow directions. Producers are much more common than salesmen, in all lines. The salesmen have the equipment, the know-how. The producers should try to get it. It must be remembered that it takes training to lead a business life, although few seem to ap- preciate it. The man or woman who raises beautiful squabs but doesn’t know how to sell them is very much of the habit of mind of the professional man, a physician, for example, who can write a book on how to cure a cold but can’t cure one. Many of the misunder- standings in the pigeon business have arisen from the inability of the writers, who never do, to comprehend what the doers were doing. APPENDIX G HOW ONE WOMAN WORKS AND WINS, by Nellie C. Wellman. The business of squab raising had always appealed to me as most fascinating, but living in a city I could not very well engage in such an occupation. But a few years ago, a very pleasant home- stead in the country, my husband’s boyhood home, came into our possession. In the spring as soon as the weather per- mitted, our squabhouse of two units was started, and May 4, 1909, we installed thirty- one pairs of birds in unit No. 1. We were fortunate in securing fine Homers. I began to save the young birds for future breeders and by the last of August had about one hundred youngsters in unit No. 2. We sold no squabs until the first of Septem- ber of that year, and have been most succes- ful in raising fine birds, and also in disposing of them to the very best markets and private customers. I live about twenty-five miles from New Haven, Conn., which was my birthplace and also home for many years, and having an extensive circle of acquaintances, I found no difficulty in selling my squabs. Then, too, being personally acquainted with the proprietors of the best markets, I found them very ready and willing to buy good birds. Another means of our getting customers was through a private chef, who goes to the houses of the wealthy class to cook for private dinners. This chef (a woman) has done much to recommend our squabs, telling people they are the best that come under her notice. Two of the markets take the birds with feathers. Another market wishes the feathers off, but birds are not drawn. For our private trade, we dress the squabs completely, wrapping each one in wax paper and packing nicely in pasteboard boxes. As the birds are all sold in New Haven, this way of packing seems all that is necessary and we have never been obliged to use ice. In the spring of 1910 three more units were added to the house, which now consists of five units besides a grain and killing room at one end. I believe in absolute cleanliness, pure, fresh water, and plenty of it, good health grit, char- coal, salt and oyster shells. My birds have all of these, and I have never had a case of canker in my loft. I hire a man for cleaning and other heavy work, but attend personally to the birds, being familiar with each individually. Several of my breeders have raised nine and one-half pairs of squabs, and few less than eight pairs during the year. If possible I am more enthusiastic as regards squab breeding than ever. The pleasure I derive from being with the birds more than repays me for the! labor connected with their care. As a rule, those who offer any class of pig- eons for half price, either have failed to figure out what it cost to raise and mate, or they are selling a poor class of birds, - cOarse meats. 375 HOW A POSTAL CARD FOUND MY BUYERS, by Frank English. I purchased some Homers and Carneaux of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. I started in to raise my own breeding stock, and my birds proved to be excellent workers. I began to advertise in the local press and by the following post card: SQUABS Rich, juicy, fat squabs are not only a dainty food, but also very nutritious and far superior to chickens. They are especially valuable to the sick and convalescent who cannot assimilate If you have never enjoyed the pleasure of eating squabs, try them. We have them on sale either killed and dressed, or alive as desired by some. We have nothing but the very best, and raise all we offer. No cold storage nor common pigeons. We sell by the single pair and upwards in half dozens, or any number required. + FRANK ENGLISH, Squab and Pigeon arm. Within forty-eight hours my telephone kept me busy with people inquiring about squabs. { need not say that in a small Northern Con- necticut section many of the inquiries were both original and provincial. Some wanted to know if I raised squabs for Gloucester fisher- men. Some wanted to know if it was right to skin them. Others desired information con- cerning the nature and purposes of squabs, while a few wanted to learn how to hunt and trap them. Of course, among the Berkshire and Litchfield Hills this simplicity was pardon- able, but out of one hundred postal cards sent out and a small advertisement in a local paper, { received orders for more squabs than I could furnish and the prices ranged from four to six dollars per dozen, according to size. To say that I was agreeably surprised goes without saying. I feel that many of the squab breeders unfavorably situated for expressing squabs long distances at great expense may take heart by my experience and cultivate a local trade to their advantage and profit. Later (April 25) Here’s a how-de-do! My post cards and the advertisement one of our local hotels has given me have created a furor. I cannot supply squabs enough and have had to refuse orders. I did not dream when I sent out the post cards that I would have such a deluge of orders. The hotel man informs me that he never had such fine squabs before. There are squab breeders as far West as Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas who are shipping steadily to the Eastern city markets. Your success with squabs does not depend upon the markets, but it does depend upon your intelligence in dealing with the markets. The pigeon business is like any other busi- ness; that is, you must talk pigeons if you sell pigeons. 376 FOUR PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. HOW I EXPERIMENTED WITH COW PEAS, by William P. Gray. Although I have always found that it paid me well to feed Canada peas liberally, their price was so high through the summer and fall that in October I decided to try cow peas as a substitute, and accordingly mixed four bushels of cow peas with about eight hundred pounds of other grains. Shortly after beginning to use this mixture, I noticed that about all my squabs were affected with a looseness of the bowels that made my nests the filthiest that I had ever seen them. Several squabs died and those that I have marketed the past two months have been about the poorest I have ever had to dispose of. Ten days ago I made up another grain mixture, this time using instead of the cow peas four bushels of Canada peas and other grains, the same amount as before except for an extra one hundred pounds of cracked corn. Here is the result in ten days after substituting the Canada peas for the cow peas: The loose- ness of the bowels in the squabs has disap- peared. My scales have shown that the squabs taken out of the loft today were the heaviest that I have produced this fall. The old birds act as though they had taken on a new lease of life. Out of sixty-four pairs, sixty-one pairs are working, and seventy-four eggs have been laid the past week. To any wishing to know what my birds ere being fed now, I wish to state that my grain mixture for cold weather is as follows: four bushels peas, five hundred pounds cracked corn, four bushels wheat, one hundred pounds kaffir corn, fifty pounds millet, twenty-five pounds hempseed. APPENDIX G I never place a pair of pigeons in a pen unless they are banded. Talso limit the number of birds placed in a pen to conform to the size of the pen, and under no conditions whatever do I allow another bird to be added to this pen. In my case the number is twenty-five pairs, as I have built my pens with this idea in view, for I believe this number is the most practical for all purposes, and I am con- vinced that a greater number than this will fail to produce the results shown by this num- ber of birds. I then make out a chart with the numbers one to twenty-five in a row, and allow twelve spaces for the twelve months of the year. Then I make a note in the space opposite the pair number in the corresponding month when robbing the pair of its young, showing just how many were taken. By referring to this record I am able to know exactly what this pair has ac- complished in a certain period, and if it does not show a stand- ard result I make arrangements to dispose of one or both birds at once, and in this way I save the feed the pair would consume and also avoid any possibility of either bird causing any trouble in idleness. This takes practically no time and is a big money saver.—F. L. Stock, Missouri. A year ago I moved my drug store about a mile from its former location, and about that time I had about one hundred old and young pigeons to move with squabs and eggs. caught all the pigeons, old and young, put them in boxes with a sack over the tops, and lost only one young pigeon from suffocation. I lost all the eggs, and strange to say did not lose one squab, which were of all ages from one or two days to a couple of weeks old. I just put them in the squabhouse, and the old pigeons went on feeding them as before. By using a little common sense, pigeons are the easiest thing in the world to raise, and beat poultry all over.—C. Montz, Louisiana. In June, 1910, I purchased a dozen pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and now (October, 1911) have eighty pairs of breeders and 140 youngsters. I have just started to sell my squabs and find a ready market. Can get $4.25 per dozen for eight to nine-pound squabs. I am on a rented place, but expect to move in the spring and build more lofts and increase my breeders. I can dispose of ten to fifteen dozen more squabs a week than I can supply. There are a great many breeders here who have what are called American Homers’ which breed a squab only a little larger than the com- mon pijeon.—H. W. Moore, Ohio. APPENDIX G DRY GRAIN HEALTHFUL, by Hugh Donlon. Having had trouble and sickness in my birds, especially in the ‘big fellows,’ I was at a loss for some time to know where the trouble came from. I had grain from different sources to see if that would help, but no better luck. Lately I have taken each day’s feed and left it on the hack of the stove all night, or put jt in a warm oven for a short time, and I find a wonderful difference. The birds picked up at once and seem to relish the crisp grain. There is very little grain, after it has stood in damp storehouses for a year or more, that will not draw dampness. I have been feeding dry bread for some time, and see it spoken of but how to feed it is the puzzle that will bother a great many, as it should not be wet. Run the bread through a coarse food chopper and it will come out in the form of pills that will be devoured greedily. It makes great stuffing for squabs. Of course it must be used in connection with grain rations. HOW I MADE A RAT-PROOF GRAIN BIN, by J. E. Maccabe. My feed room is down stairs, and the lofts are up stairs. The tats used to eat about half of the feed. I went to a tin shop and ordered a box of galvanized iron, twenty-four inches wide, thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches high, eight com- partments, four of the compartments six inches wide, and the full width of the box, the other four compartments six inches wide, but only half the width of the box, or twelve inches. Each compartment the full width of the box will hold a bushel, so the whole box carries six bushels of grain. Inside of two months the box had paid for its cost, five dollars. : Between the rat-proof feed box and the lime in the lofts I have no more rats or mice. What Lime Did I couldn’t go into the loft but what there was a rat or mouse, although I didn’t keep the feed in the loft. The floor was of boards. The rats would go up the side of the building, then they would make their way into the loft. This spring, to make some whitewash, I bought too much lime, so I put some of it around the wall on the floor of the lofts. It extended out from the wall for six inches, an inch in thickness. From that day I have never been bothered with rats. IT was in Seattle last week looking for a mar- ket. I went to all the high-class cafes and res- taurants. Here are a few: The Butler, Mancas, the Rathskeller, Olympus and Gerald’s. All offered three dollars a dozen (feathers on) de- livered. In one I had rather an amusing ex- perience. I went to the chef and asked if he bought squabs. Hesaid,‘‘ Yes.’ I asked how much he paid. ‘* Ten cents apiece,’’ he an- swered. turned and started out. ‘‘ Hey, vait,’”” he called. ‘‘ Gif you fifteen cents.’’ “Nothing doing.” ‘‘ Gif you twenty cents.”’ “Come again.”” Well, he “‘ came ’’ to twenty- five cents each delivered in Seattle.-—Wallace Todd, Washington. 3ol7 SQUABS AT GOOD PRICES IN CALI- FORNIA, by Walter E. Hiller. I have moved to California from Massachusetts, where I bred squabs, and am all ready to have my Extra Plymouth Rock Homers shipped on_ here. They have fine pigeons around here. Squabs weigh twelve pounds to the dozen. They get $3.50 to $4 a dozen alive, and don’t even have to twist their necks. Grain costs about the same asin the East: peas $4 per one hundred pounds, hempseed $6 per one hundred pounds. This is a fine climate to raise squabs. I have bought a nice home, one acre of land, all kinds of fruit, large stable, hot and cold water, electric light, bath room and a line of cars, eight miles to the city. I have built two coops, fifty feet long, and am building more. Things are all different here. The house is fifty feet long, four feet wide, ten feet fly, seven feet high; cement floor; everything all open, no windows, very easy to clean out. One coop holds fifty pairs. FOUR PAIRS HOMERS STARTED ME IN 1903, by E. W. Lewis. I purchased six pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers in 1903. I did not purchase a bird in the seven years, but selected the best from these four pairs and their increase for breeders. The inbreed- ing did not seem to hurt them in the least, as the seventy-five pairs I have now are never sick, and the squabs at four weeks weigh eleven to fourteen ounces. I put my squabs in a separate coop for twenty-four hours before killing, and then their crops are entirely empty. Then kill and dry pick. In that condition they weigh eleven to fourteen ounces each. I am getting $3.75 a dozen the year round. -A few days ago I had a large squab which dressed sixteen ounces. The chef at the hotel I sell to looked me up next day and said, ‘‘ If you can furnish me squabs like that, I will give you $4.25 per dozen the year round.” That decided me to get Carneaux, which I am doing, and I hope they prove all that has been written of them. I have not been in a position to expand as fast as would like. Of the seventy-five pairs of breeders I have now, here is the record for last year: January 1 to December 31, 1910, 748 squabs for which I received $224.90. Feed for the year was $106.75, leaving a profit of $118.15, and the work attending them was a recreation and pleasure. I feed whole corn, macaroni, wheat and kaffir corn as main feed, and hemp, peas and millet as luxuries. (Mr. Lewis, the writer of the foregoing, livesin Colorado. It is often asked by residents of that state whether pigeons will breed well there, on account of the high altitude. His story is proof that they do. We are acquainted with a number of squab breeders in Colorado who never have complained that the aititude had any effect, and we do not believe that it has, either one way or the other. Pigeons seem to breed there as well as anywhere.) The demand for first-class pigeons is greater than the supply. NOVEL FLYING PEN. Squabs in the loft of a wagon house. Any fancier can find enough desirable char- acteristics in the Homer and Carneaux utility pigeons to fully satisfy his fancy and at the same time be breeding something that is of some use to the world. I get just as much pleasure in breeding something that’s useful, as any fancier does in breeding useless fancy varieties. If a person wants to breed pigeons for pleasure or fancy, utility pigeons are more desirable, in that by selling or eating the squabs that are not your ideal, you can pay the feed bill. If you have a squab which is off color or has some- thing about it you do nog you get just as much for it as squab, asf it were just what you desired and you sent it to market. I believe in fancy utility pigeons, and as long as I breed pigeons I will consider the fancy points, even in squab breeding pigeons.— J. W. Williams, Texas. The most essential point in buying utility pigeons is to get the kind or class that will breed the most and the best squabs. However, the kind that’s in demand must be considered. The kinds most in demand in the South are the Homer and Carneaux squabs. The reason for this is that there are a great many more Homers and Carneaux than all other varieties combined. In fact, all dealers know what Homer and Carneaux squabs are.—J. W. Williams, Texas, APPENDIX G For several years I had been trying to get a flock of well-bred chickens. I had paid good pricessfor eggs and hatched a mongre! lot of chicks. So few were at all what would be called good lookers that I became thor- oughly disgusted with the whole business. Too y casualties and fatalities of chicks, to be profitable. Too much bother to run out in the storm and pick up the half-drowned chicks. Too many mites to keep off the roosts. Too much of a job for the financial returns. So I de- cided to look to squab raising. Some of my friends have gotten past the point where they smile as they ask me how the pigeons are getting along. They for- merly acted as if they thought that pigeons were good enough for a boy to have, but for a big strong man with a good pro- fession to bother with pigeons was too much like child’s play. The person that is looking for a pleasant and profitable busi- ness would do well to take up squabs.—C. F. Wilson, Illinois. I will tell you of a little ex- periment I had with a pair of pigeons. I didnot like thelooks of the place where they had their nest so one noon {| changed it into another nestbox. During the afternoon while I was away at work a white cock chased the cock off the nest In the evening when I came home I found the eggs very cold, and I put them back where they were in the first place, caught the hen, put her on the nest, and she stayed. I didn’t expect them to hatch after being chilled, but to my surprise they did, but the young ones were two days behind time in getting out. They are getting along nicely—Edward Knapp, Indiana. Some one gave me an old copy of Rice’s Manual five or six years old. I began to study that and soon decided to send for the last issue. It came in due time and along with it’ a sample copy of the National Squab Magazine. After considerable deliberation and delay I sent in my one dollar subscription for the paper and from that time on I began to see what squab raising meant. For the first few months the magazine was worth more than the subscription price each month. I could not do without it now.—R. C. Clark, California. About a year ago I bought of you thirteen pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I now have about two hundred pigeons, and they are beauties. I have killed but few, as I wish to get a large stock on hand and then offer squabs only for sale.-—William C. Davis, Georgia. APPENDIX G MINE EAT LOCUST LEAVES, PEPPER- GRASS, by George Jackson. I bought thirteen pairs of the best Plymouth Rock Homers in May, 1909, and now, eleven months later, I have two hundred birds. Every one that comes along admires them. I have a friend who gives me boxes, which I break up and make use of in building. Soin this way I do not have to buy much lumber. We have an offer here (Kentucky) for squabs weighing eight ounces at $3 per dozen, and as ours weigh from twelve to sixteen ounces I think I could get at least $5 for my squabs. I feed seven different kinds of grain, but my young birds do not like the Canada peas. I feed rice and locust leaves sometimes, and as 300n as peppergrass grows I will give them that. RICH SQUAB OPENINGS IN CALI- FORNIA, by M. W. Donaldson. Nowhere outside the city of New York is the demand for squabs so strong as in the cities of Oakland and San Francisco, California, with their combined population of approximately 700,000 (census just completed). While Oakland boasts of her hotels, grills, clubs and sanitariums, where squabs find a ready market, San Fran- cisco’s three leading hotels alone could con- sume all the squabs produced in California today, and then run short on orders for this delicious luxury. One dollar per pound can be obtained for the right kind of squabs in the Oakland or San Francisco markets when offered -to the right kind of trade. As the game laws of our state are becoming more stringent each year, and prices correspondingly higher for the inadequate supply of wild game brought in, also likewise for young poultry, the only substitute for the squab, there must soon be found by the caterer a means of taking care of his menu along the lines of wild game, and the only logical solution appears solely in the squab. There certainly is a field here for many who might care to invest in this lucrative industry. San Francisco is a most cosmopoli- tan city and right up to date. Californians are not afraid to spend their money. They want the best money will buy and they get it, regardless of what it may cost. If they should call for squab on toast, they would not hesitate at $2.50 to ask for it. It’s the same in all other lines of trade in California. The people here demand the best and they certainly have it. Squabs will soon be in- cluded, and the best that can be produced, both in size as well as in flavor. The man that gets in first on this market with a modern squab plant will have the easiest and_ the surest sailing, but nevertheless, sure. Such are the possibilities for the producer of squabs (for the rich man’s stomach) near the Oakland and San Francisco markets of California. About October of last year I bought from our firm nine pairs No. 1 Plymouth Rock omers. At the present time (June 12), [ have about eighty-five birds all in first-class shape, besides about twenty killed for the table.—A. E. Buchanan, British Columbia. 379 NEW ORLEANS WAITING FOR GOOD SQUABS, by K. J. Braud. I am raising squabs for pleasure and for my own table use. I received my birds exactly nine months ago, twelve pairs of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, for which I paid $30. I have raised in that time twenty-four pairs of breeders, some of them larger than the parents, and have used for our table seven dozen squabs, and now have ten pairs of young ones in the nests, making a total of 146 birds. Thisis not remarkable, but in view of the fact that I had never had any experience in the business I consider it highly satisfactory, at least to me. I have never lost a single large bird, having all the original birds, and a finer lot I think it impossible to find. I have six pairs of my young ones working, three of which have hatched young squahs, and the other three are setting. Taking things generally, I am highly pleased so far. I derive a great deal of pleasure, and besides quite a delicacy for our table. I have no doubt in my mind that squab-raising can be made profitable here in Louisiana as well as anywhere else. I feed my birds along the lines set in the National Standard Squab Book, and I feel that any one following those direc- tions can hardly fail if they give them the proper attention. It appears to me that a good market could be created in New Orieans for squabs if the proper energy and push were behind the business. MUST SAY I PREFER SQUABS TO CHICKENS, by Albert F. Neblung. I will tell you why I am going to raise squabs and not chickens. I. have been raising both for some time and have wanted to sell my chickens, and have found a buyer at last, and have sold out all I had, also sold all my pigeons, because they were not what I wanted. Now to get a start with the best there is in the line of squab breeders. I could clean my squab coop in two hours, then they would be all right for one week without need of cleaning, but the chickens needed about two hours’ work each morning to keep away lice, then it was never right. The chickens were always wild and would fly as if I were going to kill them all, but the pigeons would mind their business, be tame, sit on my hand, and eat out of it. I’d like to see a chicken do that. Then I set an incubator with 108 eggs and hatched fifty-four chickens. The first week I lost fifteen, the second week, fourteen, the next two weeks eleven. Out of the fifty-four I had fourteen left. That is the way chickens do with you. But when pigeons lay, you will have two squabs. You don’t have to feed them or watch the heat in the incubator or brooder. Well, to cut a long story short, chickens eat about twice as much as pigeons. About the same with work,if not more. Me for pigeons! I will have some good Carneaux or Homers. have room for about one hundred pairs, but will not start with that number. PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAUX IN NEBRASKA. I used oat straw for nest material. The birds leave all other kinds for it. It’s soft, pliable, holds shape, is superior to anything for both hens’ nests and birds’ nests, of any- thing procurable. They build of it large nests which protect the eggs from cold. Having the nest shelves on cleats of iron keeps lice or mites away. With a keg of good, strong whitewash with carbolic acid in it, a man can clean nests in a jiffy. Dip in keg and save lots of time. His lofts look neat at all times. A man could clean many hundred in an hour. I use plenty of salt in all whitewash. The birds peck at it, and get plenty of lime and salt. In buying birds I always put on an extra fifty cents a pair. This gets the best at all times for foun- dation stock.—William B. Thomas, Texas. APPLE NDICEG A great many children come into this world every year with a decided deficiency of the liquor protoplasm in their little bodies, and continue to suffer for want of the supply of it, until some bright physician ad- vises that they be given squabs to eat, as it is practically the only known way of supplying this life-giving fluid. It is a well demonstrated fact that nothing is so beneficial in the treatment of children’s diseases, such as dyspepsia, stomach and intestinal, where the pancreatic and gastric juices have vanished and the ptyalin of the saliva has disappeared. This squab elixir is almost instantly ab- sorbed into the veins and is the most nourishing, invigorating and vitalizing juice the medical profession has ever discovered, especially in the case before mentioned, and also in all other “wasting away ’’ diseases due to malnutrition. It must not be understood that squabs as a life-building food are necessarily confined to the children — far fromit. Any one suffering from dyspepsia, indigestion, chlorosis or any of these system-deplet- ing stomach diseases is equally benefited.—Franklin H. Smith, California. MY SALT CAT, by P. Earl Kolb. Take one part charcoal, one part sifted sand (using the coarse part), one part salt, and add a little lime, enough to make it stick, and add a little water. Mix well. Make one or more wood movlds and fill them with this mixture, then let them dry (1 put mine near the stove, for the bottom part is hard to get dried without heat). When the mass is hard it will come out of the mould like a brick. Place a brick on a board in the cage and the pigeons will peck at it. : To retain the peculiar delicate flavor of the squab the favored method of preparing them for the table is as follows: If possible make use of a regular covered roaster; in any event use a pan that can be covered. If you care to stuff them, and oysters are not objectionable, use bread crumbs and fresh oysters, though many claim this method is no improvement. Roast them rather slowly for an hour and a half or two hours, basting with melted butter every fifteen minutes. In frying or broiling them the greater portion of the delicious delicate flavor of this superior dish is lost and you are the loser thereby.—F. B. Shepard, Pennsylvania. APPENDIX G FOUR-WEEKS SQUABS BEAT EIGHT- WEEKS CHICKS, by A. J. Alexander. Six airs of Plymouth Rock Homers arrived here Riacch 13. Three weeks later I sent an order for ten pairs, so I have a stock of seventeen pairs and have had them about two months. I now have thirty-six squabs, about twenty of them off the nest, and they weigh at from three to four weeks old from three-quarters to one pound each, I am writing this to show you and others how much easier it is to raise squabs than chicks. I hatched twenty-four barred Rock chickens in February and March and now have only eight of them. They have disappeared by night from rats, and some were drowned by being led out in grass by old Biddy. Each day finds me looking them up to see if the eight remaining are all there. My little Rocks are now nice broilers while the oldest squabs can’t be told from the old birds. In fact my squabs are larger at four weeks old than the Rocks are at eight weeks old. After I have time to raise pigeons enough to have a reasonable stock there will be no more chicken raising in mine. I put an extra pick-up pigeon egg into a nest with one egg and three more were laid. The hen hatched four squabs but one died. One nest with two squabs in it was deserted and I lost them, making three squabs lost out of thirty-nine, which is much better than I did with chickens running at large or in a barnyard. Doubling my stock in two months’ time I think pretty good for a new breeder. I FEED WILD SEEDS PICKED ON THE STALK, by Vivian E. Dawley. I saw in the April issue of the magazine an article by Je Wie Arthurs, saying that Homers were real money- makers, and I am convinced beyond all doubt that they are as good as the best, and better than the rest. I have eighteen pairs in one pen and since the first of May have sold $20.73 worth of squabs, and on July 24 there were twenty-two squabs and twelve eggs in the coop. All my feed since April 1 has con- sisted of yellow corn, whole and cracked, and Canada peas. Corn is going up in price every week here. It is now (July) $1.50 per bag, and Canada peas $2.40 per bushel. My wild seed I feed at this time of the year, green. I pick it on the stalk and place it on the wire in the flying pen, and the birds get plenty of exercise clinging to the wire and pecking it to pieces. I keep grit by them at all times, as I think it the most essential of anything we give them, except water, which should be given at least three times a day, and the best of spring water should always be used, as tiver or pond water is softer and creates a slime in the drinking fountains quicker than the spring water. My three hundred birds (Homers) purchased fa May, 1910, have given me squabs for sale every month since, except December, paying. from five to seven per cent per month on cost of flock and equipment. I am planning to en- large my plant.—D. N. Carrington, New York. 381 HOW I LEARNED NOT TO LOSE A SQUAB, by Mrs. E. C. Monahan. One year as a pigeon breeder hardly seems long enough for advice-giving, but I am so sure that I have the solution why young stock are lost in the first few weeks after leaving the nests that [ can’t keep it to myself. Advice need not.be taken, anyway. I lose not one bird. When the squabs first leave their nests, I arrange re- treats to give the frightened little things plenty of opportunity for rest from the hazing even the gentle Carneaux give. Next I transfer them to the youngster pen at night and slip them into a roomy corner. For several days after this, I scatter food kandy before the callow brood when the older birds are inter- ested in fresh bath water or a little hempseed. The last thing at night, before the newcomers have mustered courage to go above to roost where the older birds already are, I scatter grain as long asit is picked up. AsI am raising birds which at eight months outweigh their parents, who are eighteen to twenty-two-ounce arneaux, my plan seems a good one. I also keep the same bone and muscle-making dry mash before them in hoppers that poultrymen Say is indispensable. It is dry bran mixed with charcoal, grit, oyster shell, salt, and a very little cayenne pepper and commercial beef scraps. This hopper is liberally patronized by the birds. The squabs in the nests nearly always weigh sixteen ounces at three weeks, and where the nests are low many of them run about at this age. The parents feed them for eight to ten days longer. At five weeks, when the young are no longer tolerated near their former home, I do the transferring. At first any work that required handling the pigeons made me about sick, for fear I would fail or would hurt the birds. I use no net or other device, simply do all the catching at early roosting time. Mated stock is especially easy to handle that way. The pigeons were bought to keep me out of doors, for reason of health, but have developed into a fine pin- money investment, so the plant is to be en- larged soon. I often give the Squab Magazine to persons buying stock of me, and recommend it to all who show the faintest interest in pigeons. I notice some writers suggesting that the first egg be taken from the hen pigeon as soon as laid, and another be substituted, until the second is laid, then both eggs again be re- placed, so that the two eggs will hatch the same day. Child play. Again I wish to say that the birds with Nature as the teacher can tun their own business. As a matter of fact, as all experienced breeders know, the birds do not hover the first egg closely in any season; in winter, just enough to keep it from freezing. You can examine the one egg and you will find almost invariably the first egg cold until the hen goes on the nest for laying the second egg, which is about 2 p.m. the third day. Then she hovers the eggs closely, and the hatching process begins with the two eggs in the nest.—M. C. Martin, Kansas. APPENDIX G FIRST-CLASS HOMERS IN THEIR KANSAS HOME. SIXTY CENTS A PAIR, by Charles S. Eby. I have a standing order for all the Plymouth Rock Extra Homer squabs I can raise from a large firm in Detroit (Michigan), and they pay me sixty cents a pair, just as they are off the nest. They told me they were the largest squabs they had ever seen. They weigh from one pound to nineteen ounces apiece. I think I have the largest or rather the heaviest Homer squabs in the country. Don’t you think so? The smallest squab I ever weighed at four weeks of age weighed fifteen ounces. I have lost but three old birds since I started, ead that was with sour crop, caused by poor eed. Question: I am going to start squab raising in a carriage house which is now overrus. witn tats and mice. How should I arrange the piace to keep them out? Answer: Ladvise you to lay one-half inch mesh wire netting on the whole floor, also the walls and ceiling, so as to make it physically impossible for rats or mice to get into the squab room from the outside. If you have a double floor you can lay the wire netting between the floors. You must be careful to screen the ventilators, and in the management of the window, especially when closing for the night. _ Question: Here in Illinois we have cow peas in plenty. Are they good feed for squabs, and are they as good as Canada peas? I can buy them for from $1.25 to $1.75 per bushel, accord- ing to the season. Answer: Cow peas are not favored so much as Canada peas and are gen- erally more expensive. They are all right to feed to pigeons. Question: I am a woman and dislike to kill and pluck the squabs. Would you recom- mend my shipping the young squabs alive from Mississippi to the northern markets? Answer: No. If you don’t like to kill them, why don’t you raise up your pigeons for breed- ers and sell them alive in pairs, as so many are now doing? WHAT AN EASTERNER SEES IN CALI- FORNIA, by B. F. Babcock. Having been in Southern California and Los Angeles for over a year, it has given me a good opportunity to look around and give to the readers of this magazine an idea of the possibilities of squab business in Southern California. The climate is par excellence (except occasional fog and dampness in the morning, which may cause sickness among the breeders, but this is easily overcome) having none of the extreme Eastern winters and no bad storms. I have not so far seen any squabs in the markets that compare with the ones that I raised in New Jersey from Plymouth Rock Extra Homers and sent to the New York markets. I have been raising pigeons for the last few years, but never paid any attention to the rais- ing of squabs for market until about a year ago. I had some Homer pigeons, and then I bought a few more, and sold my first pair of squabs in May, 1910, and from that time on I have had sale for all the squabs I could raise. I sell all my squabs dressed, and get seventy-five cents a pair for all. I feed corn, wheat, kaffir corn, buckwheat, hemp, peas, barley and millet. They are very prolific breeders and raise nice squabs.. I ama great lover of pigeons and find squab raising very interesting work. I have been a subscriber to the Squab Magazine since January, 1910, and think it is the best period- ical on pigeons every published, and would not be without it.— Ralph Lenz, Ohio. I bought some fine Homers from the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company two years ago. A friend asked me to try my birds in a Homing Club, but I thought they were not good enough forracing. I joined one of the largest Homing Clubs in Canada. I won a good many prizes in the club, the birds flying as far North as Cobalt.—Peter Chormann, Ontario. The retail prices in Providence for ten- pound squabs are $1.10 per pair, $5 per dozen.— H. C. Card, Rhode Island. oF helbalb gata ome APPENDIX G HOW I BUILT LARGE FROM A SMALL START, by W. E. Blakslee. Many times we fail to realize that the things we do for a pleas- ant pastime may become most important later. About three years ago I thought it would be an enjoyable and interesting way to spend my spare time to have a small flock of pigeons, and make a study of raising both breeders and squabs. At that time I little realized what it was going to mean for me later. My first move was to obtain the National Standard Squab Book and study up what information I could derive from that. I found it to be a great aid to me for the “‘ know how,”’ and what to do, in getting my place in proper shape for keeping birds. As I advanced in my experience I appréciated more and more what the Manual taught. ] fixed a place at the start for a good number of birds, and also a good-sized rearing pen. My first order to the Plymouth Rock Squab Company was for only three pairs of birds. It was my intention to go slow and sure, and let my knowledge increase as my birds in- creased. I can see what it means to me now in being able to handle any number of pigeons with perfect ease. After I got started under way, I found my- self getting more and more interested. There -seems to be something very attractive in it if one once gets fully interested. The growth of the squab is a fast and wonderful develop- ment. Any lover of nature cannot help being astonished by seeing it. After one has raised a nice lot of selected breeders, he certainly has done a work to be proud of. As I advanced in raising my flock, I added now and then a few birds from Mr. Rice to mix in with my own raising. I had such good success, and increased so fast, that many times I found myself wishing I could devote my whole time to them. [ little thought then the time would come so soon for me to do so. My birds have done well and proved a perfect success from my start, and I have a fine large flock at present that is a good investment for me. I have had the misfortune to lose my health and have had to stay ina higher altitude than my own home all the summer, leaving my home and birds to the care of my wife and daughter, who have kept everything right up to good success and standard. This proves a family might be left in worse circumstances than having a good, profitable flock of pigeons to help out. My condition has made it neces- sary for me to give up my home in the valley for one in the mountains, so I am having to give up my position in the manufacturing line and do what I am next best fitted for, and able. If it was not for my squab experience, I don’t know what I would take up, for I am prepared for maintaining myself only in a mechanical life. It now looks as if the squab business came to me for a good purpose. I now have nearly a thousand pairs, all Plymouth Rock stock. I am getting fine squabs, very few less than ten ounces, most twelve to fourteen ounces and very often I find a few fifteen, sixteen and seventeen ounces. 383 HOW WE RID A LOFT OF FLIES AND MICE, by H. J. Moeller. We are living in the trade center of this state (Wisconsin), but the game laws extend over such a wide range of time, that it is a hard proposition to have our squabs bring the right market prices. At present (July) we are receiving three dollars per dozen for squabs weighing eight to nine pounds per dozen, while the same are being retailed for four and five dollars. The prices of grain, however, are reasonable, thus afford- ing us one advantage over the low prices paid. We have arranged to have always about fifty extra nestbowls on hand, so that when the squabs are taken from the soiled ones we can quickly take them out and replace with clean ones. Then if the time does not permit we can put the dirty nestbowls aside and clean them later in the day. After the nests are cleaned we scrub them with a solution of lime and carbolic acid. We also use the crystal form of carbolic acid as a disinfectant around the coop, placing it on different parts of the floor in cans with the tops perforated. This is a quick way to rid a loft of flies and mice, as neither of them can bear the odor. For nest- ing material we use nothing but tobacco stems in the warm months and marsh hay in the winter. Our loft is given a good cleaning twice a year, and painted a good heavy coat of whitewash. The floor and nests are at- tended to weekly. I have just finished the job of whitewashing my pen with a very good whitewash made as follows: Dump a bushel of lime into a water- tight barrel and add water until it is slaked, at the same time adding cup by cup, while the slaking is going on and the mixture is very hot, common kerosene oil until you have added a gallon. If added in this way the oil forms a curious chemical combination with the slaked lime. The product when mixed with water to form a whitewash of ordinary consistency gives a smooth, hard finish, brilliant whitewash. Fill the barrel up with water after the mixture has cooled, when a small amount of the uncombined oil rises to the surface and protects the wash against deteriora- tion. Any unused residue keeps for years. Put the wash made as indicated above on the outside of everything that you wish a brilliant, durable white. On the inside use the same whitewash, modified by adding a third of a cup of crude carbolic acid (purchased at drug store) to the water bucket of the wash. The carbolic acid reacts with the lime, making carbolate of lime, which is the basis of most of the lice powders. This is an excellent white- wash to put on the nestboxes and walls on the inside of the squabhouses—H. M. Mayhew, California. Carneaux come not only in red splashed with white, but also yellow splashed with white and solid yellow. These colors are liable to come out at any time, just as several colors come from Homers. SMALL SQUABHOUSE. In a corner of the right-hand picture is seen a group of some of his Homers. PITTSBURG A RICH MARKET FOR SQUABS, by William McK. Ewart. One year ago last March, I purchased twenty-six pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux and nine pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I had no intention of making a business out of my birds, but bought them te please my son. This started me to making an effort to reach two hundred pairs of birds. Last August I started to kill squabs and have been since selling them to a Pittsburg wholesaler who pays liberally and takes all I offer him. I must tell you what grand breeders my birds have been. By substituting Carneaux eggs under Homers, I have been getting my best birds to lay fifteen times a year. (For full directions for doing this, see page 231 of this Manual.) The squabs weigh a pound at four weeks of age, which is what good Carneaux should weigh. Most of my young birds have proven as good and better than my old ones, which goes to prove that my original birds were first class. It pays always to buy the best. A friend of mine told me about mixing Venetian red in the grit, which has proven a first-class way to give it to them. They must get the red when they eat the grit. I have no trouble now with canker. Another plan of his is to equip your nests with wire bobs, made from griddle toasters, which cost five cents each. Have these fastened on your nests when squabs are about three weeks old, and keep them there till you are ready to kill at four weeks. This keeps the squabs from getting out on the floor and running off all their flesh and weight. The old birds feed them through these wire bobs which will swing in if you wish them to, thus letting the old bird into the nest. This, however, requires you to let the old bird out to get feed and exercise. I find the cock bird will feed through these wires all right. While raising youngsters I found that more females were dying than males, so I tried the scheme of taking away the first egg and only hatching the second. As a result I now am actually long on hens. APPENDIX G Four years ago the Healys purchased twenty pairs of Ply- mouth Rock Extra Homers. The increase was conserved, the culls disposed of, and new stock was introduced and added just as fast as the owners were able to pay for it. The market- ing of squabs was also carried along with the growth of the plant, demonstrating conclus- ively that the profits would be greater, and the expense far less than usual to the conduct of a large chicken plant. The houses, fliesand other equipment were gradually gotten in place. As the large stock of poultry was disposed of the proceeds were invested in more adult Homers, and some Carneaux. The flock has grown until now there are 750 pairs of producing birdsin the nine- teen units of houses and flies. Nomore beautiful sight was ever beheld than that presented by these contented and happy birds in their clean and comfortable homes. Shipments of squabs to New York have been successfully made through three summers without the loss of a single bird and no shipment has been re-iced en route. In each box is a tiny outlet for drainage. The rate to New York is $3.50 per one hundred pounds by express, there heing no charge made for the ice. The boxes are returned at a very low charge and one box will make the round trip in six days. The New York market alone would take one hundred birds ‘or every single bird offered. There is no way to fill the demand and there seems to be no limit to the demand. Mr. Healy, the manager, stated that while he had no stock of any kind for sale, he would be glad to see others enter the business, as there is no element of risk encountered in it, and, with fairly good attention and a little capital most any energetic person could make a suc- cess of the industry.—T. K. Bates, Florida. If you raise pigeons get all you can out of them. Raising squabs is a business, so by all means make it a business. You would not in- vest your good money in a dry-goods business and sit down and expect the business to come to you. Ifa business man with the big, red-writ- ten word of success ever before you, you would ° fix up your show windows to attract attention, would carry all the newest and best goods, and, above all, you would advertise and advertise well. What applies to one business applies to another. If you go in for squabs, either as your business or as a help to your income, go into it well, and with all your heart. Do not buy your birds and then sit down and wait for results.—Charles B. Durborow, New Jersey. Your birds have proven to be what you claim them to be. I find also that I can depend upon you with absolute confidence.—Sylvester Grote, Ohio. APPENDIX G POOR JUDGMENT IN MARKETING SQUABS. Members of the National Squab Breeders’ Association will be interested in the following letter received from New Jersey: “IT take my squabs to a New York supply house, and am getting top prices. I have found out that some breeders are considerably to blame if low prices for squabs prevail. A commission man sold me eight dozen eight- pound squabs for $1.96 a dozen, and_ the breeder received $1.87 a dozen, minus express- age. I sold these squabs at $3 a dozen, but I can not always do this, as they smelled a rat.”’ The above is an instance where one squab breeder profited by the ignorance of another. What happened was this: The breeder of the squabs had eight dozen good ones which he could have sold at retail by the use of ordinary intelligence and the directions given by the National Squab Magazine for $5 a dozen, and at wholesale for at least $3 a dozen. He parted with them at the absurdly low price of $1.87 a dozen. The expressman or other middleman reported to him that the sale had been made at $1.96 and took off nine cents a dozen commission, probably figuring at five per cent. The breeder did not get the whole of $1.87, because the express charges had to ‘come out of that. It reads like an express company sale. All interstate express com- panies have what is called order and com- mission departments. They will take any farm produce and sell it on commission. In such cases the wagon starts out from the depot with the goods and the driver calls at a con- venient marketplace. It is for the interest of the express company to sell the goods at highest price so that they can get a higher commission ut their interest is not nearly so strong as that of the shipper and as a matter of fact, in the case of perishable goods, they are anxious to get rid of the Joad in the quickest possible time. The buyers know all this and taking advantage of the circumstances, buy at what is practically their own figure. The expressman will put up no argument with them and will not move on to another place but concludes the sale then and there. Franklin wrote: ‘“‘If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.’’ If you wish your squabs sold properly, sell them yourself; you are the interested party and don’t think that anybody else will fight your battles for you. The man who sold the squabs for $3 a dozen made his profit because his intelligence was superior to the breeder’s. It is a case of knowledge and skill every time when squabs are marketed. It seems incredible that the original breeder was a member of our associa- tion. Some might ask: Was not the commission man to blame for buying the squabs so cheaply? Did he notrob the breeder? Itis business, and honorable business, to buy in the cheapest and sellin the dearest market. The breeder was to blame, if anybody, in giving up his squabs so cheaply. He would not have done so, had he known that another breeder would step in and buy, and again sell, at a profit. This lack of 385 knowledge on the part of any squab breeder is easily remedied by joining the National Squab Breeders’ Association, subscribing for the mag- azine, reading it every month,and remem- bering what he reads. The subscription price of the magazine for a year can be saved on every dozen of squabs marketed if the reader will sell as we have instructed him to sell. HOW I CATCH MATES THROUGH PEEP- HOLES, by Arthur H. Penny. I have been in the squab business four years, and have learned by hard experience a few things that may help others just beginning. From my observation, and what I have learned from hotel stewards, commission men, too, I believe that Homers are much the best for the squab breeder, unless he has very fancy private trade. My squabs bring $4 a dozen for all weighing seven pounds to the dozen and over, and I find this a very good price. If I had all ten and twelve-pound squabs, I could not hope to get very much more for them, and taking into consideration the greater amount offeed required for the larger birds, and the fewer squabs produced, I consider the Homers more profitable. Ihave never seen described my method of mating, which has proven easy and satisfactory. I have several pens for the youngsters that are boarded all around, with a peep-hole, close by a slide in each door. When the birds are mating, I watch them through the peep-hole, and when I see a pair together in a nestbox, building a nest, I walk in on them quickly, and almost always catch one in each hand. If I am not certainI have the right ones, I let them go and try again. For this method, rather a small pen is best, and not more than one hundred birds in a pen. COST PER PAIR FOR ME, $1.60 A YEAR, by G. Allan Sorrick. During the first week in March, with a pen of eighteen working pairs, I endeavored to ascertain the cost of feeding a pair of breeders for a year with feed per bushel as follows: Corn .80, wheat $1.20, peas $1.59, millet $1.38, buckwheat $1.11, grit $1.50 per 100. Total pounds fed 30 3-4, cost 57 cents, or $1.60 a paira year. One year ago I made the same test, result $1.80 a pair. I credit the difference to buying feed in larger quantities, and a different method of feeding. The Pitts- burg wholesale prices to jobbers and retailers, which are an advance over prices paid to pro- ducers and shippers, were from December 1 to April $5.50 And $5.75. Newspaper market quotations $4.75 and $5. Few squabhouses are heated. Cold air, if ure, will not hurt pigeons if they are well fed. t is customary for the old birds to hover their young more closely during freezing weather. If the pigeons are not broken in to cold weather you will find some frozen squabs in the squab- house if you forget and leave the windows open on such a flock some night in zero weather. The Squab Magazine has printed articles written by Canadian breeders telling how they breed squabs through the winter as well as the summer in houses built of cotton cloth, 386 TWO KINDS OF SQUABS. The top picture shows Homer squabs ten days old: the bottom a (The camera was they look larger pair of Carneaux squabs almost four weeks old. closer to the Homers than to the Carneaux, so proportionately.) I received the Plymouth Rock Carneaux ten days ago and the other goods a few days before the arrival of the birds. Everything came to mein good shape and is satisfactory in every way. I am not much given to making testi- monials, but I want to say that the birds you sent me are fine, indeed much better than I ex- pected, or bargained for. You advised me that you had now no solid yellow birds, so I was much surprised to find one fine yellow cock and three other birds so nearly solid yellow that the white can be seen only by close examination. I made two entries in the pigeon show I told you about, and won first in class of five. Some of the pairs have already gone to work and have eggs, although they are in the moult.—C. R. Deardorff, Indiana. APPIN DIX iG Since quail can no longer be served at California hotels and cafes, fine, fat squabs are filling the place at first-class tables. A large squab plant about sixty milesfrom San Fran- cisco has a contract for all its squabs (large varieties), killed and feathers off, at $5.50 per dozen. Another gets $5 alive the yeararound. When wecon- sider that these birds are but four or five weeks old, and re- quire little or no care except that the parent birds are well fed and watered, it certainly | looks well for this growing busi- ness. It pays, like any busi- ness, to raise the best. When people ship little, half-fed, half- feathered, black-meated squabs, bred from small stock, there is small profit, and no satisfaction to seller, dealer or consumer. The San Francisco papers have all summer aanteds squabs at $2 to $2.50 per dozen, but hun- dreds of shippers have been getting from $3 to $5 right through, according to size and quality. They pay better than chickens. One squab plant in Sonoma County sends as high as 700 fat squabs per month to San Francisco.—W. A. Bolton, California. I am shipping Plymouth Rock squabs to a hotel in Ind- iana. They give me $3.75 a dozen. They wanted me to sell them by the pound, offering me so much for twelve pounds, but I made one shipment of sixteen Homer squabs that weighed twelve pounds, and they were so well pleased with them, that I finally got $3.75 per dozen to start, and I think I can contract with them for about $4.50 per dozen the year round. The parties I deal with send me a check on the first and fif- teenth of each month. They will accept even half a dozen squabs at one time. The express charges on my shipments are only twenty-five cents.—Mrs. Ida Kosman, Indiana. In South Bend, the people like squabs very much, but they do not want to pay more than $3 per dozen. I sold some squabs in Chicago last summer at $3 per dozen. I paid the mer- chandise express rate for dressed squabs until we got a new agent. I asked him what the express rate on dressed squabs was. He looked it up and found that they go at the general special rate, which is less than mere chandise rate.—W. O. Bunch, Indiana, APPENDIX G CHICAGO $4.50 A DOZEN, by Stewart Gal- braith. Send the National Squab Magazine for another year. [I like it and prize it next to the National Standard Squab Book, which taught me how to raise squabs at a profit. I live in a suburb of Chicago and get $4.50 a dozen for my squabs twenty-five to thirty days old, not picked, no express charges, and although I have about one hundred breeders, Icannot begin to supply the demand. I have only the best Plymouth Rock Homers. I use a prepared pigeon feed only, costing $2 a hundred in half-ton lots delivered. I have an iron kitchen sink sunk in the pigeon fly. The fly is forty-four by forty, nine feet high, and as I have the garden hose attached to faucet in basement and running to this sink with water running slowly all times (except very cold weather) and keep a solution of perman- ganate of potash in the water, I don’t know what cankeris. Put one-quarter ounce perman- ganate of potash in a pint bottle of water and use about one teaspoonful of this solution to one gallon of water. HOMERS ARE WORTHY THEIR HIGH PLACE, by Harry M. Samson. Only too often the opportunity presents itself for the man with a fairly productive loft of Homers and kindred breeds to launch out upon the sea of uncer- tainty by becoming interested in some of the larger varieties of squab producers. ‘There are about as many varieties of large squab pro- ducers as there are hairs on a dog’s tail, some good, others fairly so and many absolutely worthless. It is not size that counts, but the breeding qualities. An old breeder quoted something that seems to ring true, viz., “‘ Other birds may come and other birds may go, but the Homer keeps on forever.’’ Go where you will, one finds the Homer in evidence. The safe way in shipping is to have a tag of your own printed something as follows: ““PLY- MOUTH ROCK SQUABS, from JOHN JONES, COLLIERS, WEST VIRGINIA, PERISHABLE RUSH, FOR ” and then write plainly in ink or indelible pencil the full name and address of the consignee, being sure to put on his street address and spell out in full the name of his state. Inside the box put your in- voice, with your name and address in full printed on it, and send him by mail a letter telling him what and when you are shipping, with duplicate invoice. Sometimes irresponsible grain dealers will ’ doctor peas, and actually make them poisonous for pigeons. Some of the least scrupulous will go so far as to take a lot of cracked corn or other grain which is green with mould and dye it yellow. Such grain will make pigeons sick and kill squabs. Cases of sickness and deaths in the squabhouse are in nine cases out of ten traceable to the grain. One must be observing to detect such bad grain and it is not to be wondered that other causes are imagined. The remedy is to buy grain only of reliable dealers, 387 HOW TO FASTEN WIRE NETTING, by W. O. Bunch. Take No. 12 galvanized wire and with a pair of common pliers in the right hand and the wire in the left make a ring about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Then cut off and make another, or as many as you want. These little rings should be open enough so that you can easily put one around the two outside wires of the poultry netting. Then with the pliers pinch the little rings together. An- other nice way is to take hog rings and with hog ringers you can fasten the netting together very quickly and neatly. Question: In my flock of thirty-five pairs of Homers which at one time were all mated and at work, eight pairs have broken up and taken other mates. One male bird has raised squabs with three females, and built a nest with one, leaving her before she laid eggs, making four matings for him in eight months, er less. Is this customary? Answer: In every flock there are exceptions to the rule. For that reason, no seller can give mated pairs whose matings are guaranteed to hold absolutely. I think it is a mistake, as I have many times written, to advertise mated pairs guaranteed, for pigeons themselves settle such matters. Moreover, if-one sells what he calls guaranteed mated pairs, this means, in the mind of a rascal, that the buyer can hold the seller responsible for profits he might have made if certain pairs had held continuously together, instead of readjusting, as in the above case. That may seem to be far-fetched, but I have seenit tried. Themost satisfactory way to sell pigeons is to let the customer try them for a while and, if he is not pleased with them, exchange them, or refund his money. That certainly is fair both to buyer and seller. Anybody who would guarantee the flirtings and other Jove affairs of a pair of pigeons in a pen with many other pigeons has quite a con- tract on his hands. It has been my experience that those who were the most insistent in guaranteeing such matters have been the slow- est in performance. ‘They rectified nothing and in the end, ninety-nine per cent of them went out of business. The reasons pigeons look for new mates occasionally are the same as one sees every day in the human family. The rule among humans, as among pigeons, is that of one wife, one husband, nevertheless there are sailors with a sweetheart in every port, and railroad men with wives at both ends of the line.—Elmer C. Rice. In Savannah there is great interest in pigeons. The Homers and Carneaux have full sway down here. They are raised mostly for pets and not for commercial purposes. ‘The Homer squabs bring from $4.50 te $5.00 a dozen and the matured birds about $3.00 a pair. The Carneaux bring $6.00 a dozen for the squabs. The matured birds are $5.00 a pair straight. The demand exceeds the supply and it is a pity that some large plant is not established here. The hotels sell the squabs as quail.— Timothy F. Sullivan, Georgia, 388 vi. ft y al THE PERCY PERKINS ENERGIZER. The inventor finds use for this excellent machine almost daily, in his work among the squabs. SPLENDID MACHINE FOR THOSE WHO SELL SQUABS AT LESS THAN COST, by Percy Perkins. Every squab breeder should make use of cheap and simple appliances to help him in his work. A little ingenuity in such matters will save him considerable ex- pense. I send herewith a sketch of a little device which I find exceedingly useful in producing animation in the breeder. It stimu- lates the thought cells and, incidentally, humiliates the spirit. I have found it helpful in cases like the following, for example. Our butcher called me on the telephone and said he would buy a few dozen squabs if the price was right. I asked him what he considered the right price. He replied in turn by asking me what it cost me to raise a dozen squabs. As I have not raised any yet, I was in some doubt, not to say perplexity, but I promptly rejoined that each batch cost me, as near as I could figure, about two dollarsa dozen. There- upon he said he would give me $2.10 a dozen, which would allow me a profit of five per cent, which is more than government bonds pay. I told him his argument was good and that I would accept and give hima few dozen at his price. He asked how soon I could send them and I was obliged to reply that I would not have any ready for market until probably about February, 1912, as I was experimenting with a lot of young birds and wondering how many cocks and hens there were, and when it would be likely that they might reach adult age. He hung up the receiver with a fearful oath and I then repaired to the corner of the squabhouse where I have my machine set up, and exercised violently with it for half an hour, to remove the vexation caused by my failure to make that five per cent profit. I think the price the butcher offered me was a very fair one, as it would have enabled me to see several dollars which I could view in no other way. APPENDIX G A word of eppreriauan from a conscientiously handled and well satisfied patient never made me mad yet. Possibly a little of the same thing from a customer of yours won't hurt your business feelings any. Six months ago I bought your Manual. Before that I knew as much about breeding squabs as you do about medicine, and prob- ably less. After reading it over three times I ordered three pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, which arrived April 14, 1911. 1. From these three pairs in just six months I got the following results, viz: Seven and a half pairs killed for personal use and sale, one and a half pairs banded, two pairs eggs in nest now, besides one egg broken in two different nests, and parent birds deserted nests. 2. From six pairs Extra Homers bought of you May 4, 1911: Twelve and a half pairs killed, two and a half pairs banded, two pairs eggs deserted, one pair in nest. 3. From six pairs bought of you June 8, 1911: Nine pairs killed, one and a half pairs banded, one pair eggs deserted, one pair in nest. For the squabs killed [ have received on an average one dollar per pair. The squabs I banded were all very largé. Kept and moved to a separate pen to mate and save for breeders. I have fed whole corn, kaffir corn, red wheat, cracked corn, Canada peas, barley, and twice a week rice and hempseed, feeding twice daily, except when I didn’t get home before dark, which happens about twice a week. My birds have had no lice or disease, and are strong and vigorous. The house is cleaned weekly, and they have a bath in the middle of every pleasant day, also a constant supply of rock salt, fresh water, hard grit and fine oyster shell. Average time I spend every day is about ten minutes morning and afternoon, feeding and watering, and two hours once a week cleaning squabhouse. This is a greenhorn record of a small squab plant that is a source of recreation and pleasure, and a fair return to a man who is decidedly not mak- ing a business of squab raising. If my birds go through the winter safely, I shall give you a good order in the spring, for I can handle three times as many as I have now with little or no more demand upon my time.—Dr. Howell S. Bontecou, New York. Your Manual has been of the greatest assist- ance to me, and since adopting your methods and style of housing, a great improvement has taken place in my pigeons, although I am anxious as soon as possible to get some of your birds, as the demand for squabs is grow- ing here, and will be just as profitable here in the course of a year or two as in America. I have the best birds it is possible to get here. I have 170 pairs with accommodations for 400 pairs. I want to send for some of your stock. —D. R. MacDonald, Australia. APPE NDI X.G HOW A MARYLAND WOMAN COOKS SQUABS, by Mrs. Clara M. Hodson. I recently furnished the squabs and recipe for preparing them for a spring luncheon. I cannot always fill my orders for fresh birds. Here are two of my squab recipes: Grandma's Pigeon Pie. When I was a little girl, I went from the city every summer to visit my grandparents, living on a large farm on a beautiful river in Mary- land. There was an old mill on this place of the Dutch type of wind gristmills. It had gone to decay and become a rookery or pigeon loft. I would climb up and gather the young squabs in a basket and take them to my grand- mother, and then we would anxiously await dinner. This is the way she made it: After the bird had been shorn of feathers and drawn, it was split down the back with a sharp knife and pressed flat, or cut in half, as many pre- ferred half a bird, and it serves better. Placing the birds in a large stewing kettle, she covered them with water, cut up a very small onion, and a tablespoonful of minced parsley. This she added with salt, and a tiny piece of red pepper pod, tc the cooking birds, about ten or fifteen minutes cooking. Having made a nice pastry, she lined a large round baking pan with it, and put in the birds and stock. Adding a large lump of butter, half a cup of flour for thickening, and a cupful of rich milk or cream, she would cover the whole with fine pastry, touching here and there with a little butter, and bake until it was a golden brown, serving very hot at the midday dinner with fresh vegetables and plenty of fruit. About it there are pleasant memories. Roast Squab with Peas. Select medium-sized, fat squabs, draw and wash thoroughly, cleansing the mouth and bill carefully. Tuck the head under the left wing, bending wings close to the sides of the birds. Make an incision in which to tuck the legs, after cutting off the feet. Stuff the birds with minced celery (or minced celery and bread- crumbs), salt and pepper birds and rub with butter and a little flour. Place them in a shallow baking pan with just enough water to keep them from burning, and roast about twenty minutes in a hot oven, frequently bast- ing with the juices drawn from the birds. Serve whole or individual plates with a garnish of water cress and two tablespoonfuls of sifted or very small peas. Celery gives the flavor of the canvasback duck to the squab, and the whole makes a very acceptable spring luncheon. Question: Please tell me the proper propor- tion of grain to feed my pigeons, so as to obtain the largest squabs. My squabs although they have been as large as a pound apiece when four weeks old, now scarcely weigh half of that. Answer: The feed has a great deal to do with the weight of the squabs. If your squabs are Tunning light, you should cut down your wheat and feed more corn, Canada peas and bread crumbs, all of which are fattening. 389 HOW I STARTED A BOYS’ PIGEON CLUB, by Reuben Brigham. Knowing how much pigeons have meant to me, I have been always glad to help other boys to learn to care for them and stick to them. About a year ago, the pigeon craze struck the boys in this Mary- land neighborhood, and I helped organize the Sandy Spring Pigeon Club with thirteen charter members, all being boys under twenty-one excepting myself. Our object was ‘‘to encour- age the keeping of pigeons in this neighbor- hood and to promote the more intelligent and profitable care of those already in our posses- sion.’’ We agreed to meet every other Friday night and to admit only bona fide pigeon keepers. Strangely enough, after the first en- thusiasm waned, the attendance and interest continued and it is rare that more than one or two members are absent. Minutes are read, short papers are written and delivered, and pig- eon papers subscribed to and studied. MUSLIN WINDOWS FOR ME, NO GLASS, by W.E. Blakslee. Last fall we put up on our new mountain site a building for our Plymouth Rock squab breeders, two hundred feet long, twenty-four feet wide, with a four-foot wide alleyway lengthwise in the center. Over this alleyway the whole length of the building is a lantern with windowsinits sides. All the doors for the pens are only frames. The ones on the alleyway are covered with wire. The outside ones opening into the flying yards are covered with muslin. The windows in the lantern are also frames covered with muslin. At each end of the alleyway is a tight-boarded door swing ing out for winter use, and a wired frame door Swinging in for summer use. The way the doors and windows are arranged makes sure of no direct circulation across the nestboxes. There are no drafts from the use of muslin, but we do plan not to have any direct line of circula- tion across the nests. Our building is on posts six feet above the ground. The floor is double boarded with paper between. This gives a thorough ventilation underneath and the whole building is perfectly free from any ground dampness whatever. Just two years ago I bought four pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and ten pairs of Ply- mouth Rock Carneaux. I have thirty-five pairs of Homers (sold all the rest for squabs) and four hundred Carneaux—sold seventy- three. So you can see that for a beginner I have done fairly well. I never have sold a squab for less than twenty-five cents, and never had enough of them to supply my neighbors. I have just bought five acres and hope to build up a good business. Will want more birds before the first of the year.—W. C. Barrett, California. Have some cards printed with ‘‘ Eat Squabs and Stay Young ’’ on them. Send these to all the women in town who are financially able to eat such; and explain in brief why squabs are the best meat. Be sure that you havean extra supply on hand when you do this. ‘MR. STEWARD AND HIS BIG PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS. SQUAB BREEDING FOR A STAY-AT- HOME MAN, by Charles E. Steward. Three years ago today I was stricken with heart trouble and not being able to do any work of any account, I sat around the house and did nothing but worry about my trouble so I thought I would get a few pairs of Homers to keep my mind occupied. I sent to Boston for twenty-five pairs of Homers and one pair of Carneaux. Today I have two hundred Homers and twenty Carneaux. Last summer I kept eighty youngsters for breeders, all banded, and left them to choose mates for themselves. Out of the eighty I got thirty- seven pairs and six odd mates. The best part of it was there were no nestmates that went together. I put twenty-five pairs of these young birds in a pen by themselves. Today, June 21, I counted forty-eight young ones and nineteen eggs. This shows that some birds have both young and eggs. Can any one beat it? This shows that it pays to buy good stock to start with. As squab breeders I think the Plymouth Rock Homers can not be beat (if they have the attention). My birds get fresh water twice a day and all the green stuff they will eat, such as lettuce, horseradish leaves and dandelion. For nesting material I use tobacco stems and hay cut about six inches long. I notice that when you use only tobacco stems they become hard and dry in the nests and when a bird happens to bear much weight on the eggs you will find a good many eggs broken with a little dent or crack, and won’t hatch. This is because there APPENDIX G is no “give” in the tobacco stems. When it is dry, mix hay or straw with your tobacco stems and see if you haven't less broken eggs. My first squabs I sold all sizes for $3 per dozen. I am now selling eight-pound squabs at $5, nine-pound squabs at $6, twelve-pound squabs at $8 per dozen, less express and com- mission. I have nothing in my pens breeding less than six pairs per year, averaging nine to twelve pounds per dozen. The Carneau-Homer cross makes a large squab, also Maltese- Homer, but I would not like to keep them for breeders because a well-established breed is so much more reliable in reproduc- ing its characteristics—Mrs. W. A. Roth, Indiana. I have been in the squab business for some time and have done fairly well, but after visit- ing a number of small plants find they all use the Plymouth Rock Homers. Now what I want to know is if ycu will trade me Extra Homers for forty or fifty pairs of red and splashed Carneaux, most of the Carneaux I have being from parent stock that came from you and bought by a doctor of my town. I want to put in these two pens and buy them, and if satisfactory I will sell my other breeds and replace with your Homers. One of your customers was at my house last evening and he told me that your Homers are certainly first class, and of course I want the best.—George Sisco, New Jersey. HOW I SAVE MONEY BY FEEDING BREAD, by Charlton Green. I have been feeding bakers’ discarded bread, crushed dry or moistened. The pigeons like clean bread and white bread better than rye bread. Besides bread, I feed about half a pound of Indian corn each day. I find the bread an excellent feed for squabs that are just out of the nest. They learn to eat it much quicker and easier than they do grain. I have noticed squabs in nests with it also. I believe it is as good for squabs in nest as it is for the older squabs or youngsters. I don’t believe a better feed could be fed to youngsters. The bread costs me one cent a loaf, or from $1.00 to $1.10 per one hundred pounds. Take a piece of paper, wrap it around a pencil, glue and pull the pencil out, dip the paper in pulverized sulphur, hold the mouth of the bird open with thumb and first finger, and blow the contents down the bird’s neck once a day for a day or two, and the canker is gone.—Harry Wesner, Pennsylvania. APPENDIX G PEA VINES ARE BEST NESTING MA- TERIAL, by C. S. Persons. In nesting material I have used nearly everything, and I have found that the common pea vines which every one raises in gardens and throws away or burns are their choice: They willleave any- thing else for them. After I have used the peas I pull up the vines and thoroughly dry them, then cut them in lengths of about six inches, leaving as many of the leaves on as wall stay. Sweet pea vines are equally as good. In regard to green food, clover, lettuce and Swiss chard are their favorites and a fine tonic as well. A ten-cent package of Swiss chard (or cut-and-come-again spinach) will feed seven hundred birds from June until the third or fourth frost, asitis very hardy. They will pick the stems clean and leave only the stalks. I feed lettuce the year round, in winter buying it by the crate once a week. I feed clover through the summer. With regard to a market for squabs, the Chicago commission men are paying from $2.75 to $3.25. I do not blame the commis- sion men for buying at these figures but I do blame the producer for selling, for with every- thing as high as it now is, and after deducting express charges and labor, what has the breeder made? He has simply lost money, and the commission man is getting the benefit of the failure to hustle. HOW TO WASH OUT THE SQUABS’ CROPS, by Henry Blake. A handy and quick way for cleaning the grain out of crops when washing squabs is easily arranged if you have piped water supply. Have a fitting made to screw on the bib-cock. One can go to the ex- pense of having a special fitting made. A cheap way is to tinker one up by using an old hose coupling. Solder a piece of bent small tubing into it. To use it, hold the bird’s head down, putting its mouth over the tube, set the water running slowly, work the bird up and down a few times, so the tube goes well up into the crop, and the job is done. If one does not have the water pipe: he can use an elevated reservoir either ung up or put up on a bracket. I stew squabs until tender and done, in water seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. I bake biscuits a delicate brown at the same time, being careful not to make them too thick. Take up the meat, add a little milk to the soup, being careful not to put in enough to weaken it, add salt, butter and pepper to taste; thicken with flour, making a medium thick gravy. Split the hot biscuits and add to this hot gravy. When well saturated take up and place hot squabs on top. Serve. De- licious! I have used in this way, too, rabbits and chickens.—Mrs. Dora B. Badger, Washing- ton. _ Do not keep extra small squabs for breeders just because their parents are fine birds — all birds will raise offs sometimes. 391 NOT TRUE TO COLOR, by Ralph Walker. I have a pair of Homers, the male being pure white, and the female black all over except one white feather in the back and a few on each leg. I have*had only one pair of squabs from them that were of the exact color of the par- ents, and they were of different hatchings. Even then the male was white and the female black. Among the pigecns raised from them I have had the following color combinations: Dark brown, female; several light red pigeons, both sexes; heavy booted, solid silver female; black with white on tips of wings and at base of tail and various other places, both sexes; light brown with dark brown bars, female; and also a big dark blue cock with a shiny red blue breast. Don’t you think this is a pretty good color combination? Question: Of hat value are pigeon fairs and exhibitions in advertising to sell breeding stock? Are the money prizes enough induce- ment to go to the expense of exhibiting? An- swer: The value of pigeon and poultry exhibi- tions as an advertising medium is something to the breeder who relies for sales on persons who come to visit him and look at his stock, but such results are practically nothing in comparison to the results obtained from peri- odical and newspaper advertising. Pigeon and poultry shows are an interesting neighbor- hood enjoyment, bringing good stock of each section together for comparison and gossip. The money prizes are never of themselves of any particular value, certainly not enough to recompense one for the time and effort ex- pended. One should go into a poultry and pigeon show with the idea of making a week of enjoyment for himself and his family, meeting others, seeing what they are doing, etc., but not with the idea of making himself rich or famous, for that never is accomplished by exhibitions alone. Question: I have been reading a _ story written by a woman who lost money raising poultry and squabs and her figures of produc- tion do not agree with those given in a bulletin which Ihave. Amswer: That is why she failed. It is always assumed, in such writings, that intelligence, skill and industry are factors, but one who fails in these branches is seldom either intelligent, skilful or industrious. I have benefited much from the Magazine and am selling my own squabs to private trade for fifty cents each, dressing five cents extra, and ten cents for delivery; Carneaux squabs one dollar each, and have all I can do. Ply- mouth Rock stock.—Miss Marion S. Baker, Massachusetts. The general wholesale quotations on squabs here (San Francisco) range from $3.00 to $3.50 per dozen, although some extra large would bring $3.75. They can be handled better alive than dressed at present. Trade would prefer to do their own dressing.—Har- baugh & Co. (Wholesale Dealers), California. 392 ARP ENDIZESG: A PEN OF FIRST-CLASS HOMERS. SQUAB COST AND PROFIT, by H. C. Frankforter. For the last few years I and a friend of mine have been raising squabs and find that there is profit as well as pleasure de- tived from them. We buy feed from a Balti- more firm which costs us till we get the freight paid $2.25 a hundredweight. We have tried it on a separate pair of Homers and find that they ate nine cents worth of the feed from the day the young were hatched until they were salable, so we made it fifteen cents for labor, feed and health grit. We receive from $3 to $3.25 a dozen for our squabs, so you can see that the profit would be from thirty to forty cents on one pair of squabs. “* Market reports ’’ are generally furnished to the newspapers by the produce exchanges and in every case are not a record of true transac- tions, as are the stock exchange reports, but are the lowest prices which the members of these exchanges hope to pay for chickens, squabs, fruit, potatoes, etc. If you live in a city where such inspired quotations for eatables are being printed, write to the editor and tell him that as a subscriber to his paper you object to such information as being misleading and . untruthful, and published in the interest of the marketmen, with no thought of the producer. This will help to bring about a much needed reform. Not every newspaper will stand for such ‘‘ market reports’’ nonsense. The best send out a man or woman reporter to shop and write what they find. Prices of eatables ob- tained in any other way are inaccurate and false. If there are any squab or chicken breed- ers who are fooled into selling at such low prices simply because they have seen those quotations “in print,” they ought to have a guardian. Get your retail prices by actual shopping and then make a fair deduction to get at the whole- sale prices. DURABLE WHITEWASH. A_ whitewash adopted by the United States Government and used for -coating light-houses and keepers’ dwellings, is composed as follows: To ten parts of freshly slaked lime add one part of best hydraulic cement. Mix well with salt water. This whitewash when properly mixed and applied, produces a clear white that does not easily rub or wash off. I sell all my squabs to private families and sell all I raise. In winter time the prices run from $4.50 to $5.50, in summer $3.50 to $4.50. Every Tuesday morning I ’phone to every customer one after another until I have my forty-seven customers called, and then I have a boy hired to deliver the squabs. I have a one- horse wagon, painted orange color, trimmed black, and have a very showy horse, which makes a good appearance. It looks very tidy. I feed a mixed ration which I buy for $28 a ton. I sold over 5700 squabs last year, took in $1575, cleared about $1000. Not so bad for the boy and me.—J. M. Shellenberger, Penn- sylvania. I inquired the retail price of dressed squabs of Robert Barron, a Yonge Street fish and game dealer of Toronto. He informed me that the price was fifty cents each, or $6 a dozen. Mr. Shelts sells his squabs to the dealer whom I mention at $4 a dozen. There is a large de- mand for squabs in Toronto, as it is a city of 400,000 people.—Charles Watson, Ontario. During the past fourteen years I have had considerable experience, always as a side line, in selling eatables to family trade, and the only way I ever succeeded in obtaining a customer was to go right after them. The personal face-to-face interview captures the trade— Raymond W. Dotts, Pennsylvania. APPENDIX UG I FEED A GREAT DEAL OF SWISS CHARD, by Hugh Steele. The market here (Kansas) is not very good yet, but is improving. I think a few good marketmen would make it the equal of any, as with all the large cities surrounding us, and very strict game laws being made, the demand is sure to come very fast. Our grain market is rather high: wheat ninety cents, corn eighty cents, kaffir $1.50 per hundred. Canada peas cost about $2 per bushel here and hemp sixteen pounds for $1. I feed a great deal of Swiss chard, which seems to be relished very much. A small bed will supply a large flock, as it is a very rank grower. GOOD SQUAB DEMAND AROUND PITTSBURG, by James G. Bennett. It costs me about $1.40 here (Pennsylvania) to feed a pair of breeding pigeons that raise from eight to ten pairs of squabs a year. That is the cost with good feed. Do not ever feed old or musty grain. In their free state, pigeons can select a variety of grain and seeds, but when they are kept in flying pens, they must, of course, take what they aie given. While you may have seeming success for a time feeding only cracked corn and wheat or any other two grains selected, yet a long continued feeding of such invariably fails to produce as many or as good squabs as when a properly balanced ration is provided. Always have oyster-shell and the best of grit before them, and I find it very healthful to mix a little air-slaked lime and Venetian red with their grit. The lime sweetens their crops and helps the same as oyster-shellin producing eggs. I find kerosene oil and turpentine in equal parts good for canker, two or three drops to a dose. There is a fine outlet for squabs in this section, Pittsburg being the main market. In fact all along the three rivers here there is a good sale for squabs, as there are so many hotels and clubhouses. The supply cannot more than half meet the demand. The price paid by the wholesalers in Pittsburg is $5.25 a dozen for twelve-pounds-to-the-dozen squabs. ONE BOY’S WORK, by Roland Ralph. There is not a very good squab market in Richmond, Va., but I can make two hundred pairs pay me a good profit. I have made twelve hundred dollars clear profit out of three chicken incubators, twenty-two turkeys and a small root beer plant on two acres of ground, which father gave me, and I worked only after school and vacation time. I am situated near the city of Chicago, and I think I have a golden opportunity facing me. Upon having a personal interview with a stew- ard of a certain hotelin Chicago, I was informed that squabs were as high as $7.50 per dozen this summer. The commission merchants were paying $3.50 last week.—W. G. Puls, Illinois. I bought thirteen pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers, part of them a little over a year ago, and the others will be two years this fall. Inow (une, 1910) have 250 all told.—R. C. Brenmer, Illinois. 393 HOMERS BREED BETTER IN DARK- ENED PEN, by Richard L. Fishburne. I have found by experience that my breeders do better work in a loft slightly darkened. My build- ings face south, are 10x15x 10 feet, with a fly about the same size for each pen. Around the fly I have planted sunflowers and sweet peas which add to the attractiveness of the place, at the same time affording shade for the birds, keep dampness from the fly and loft and give me a quantity of feed. Once each week my lofts are scraped and sprayed with a ten per cent solution of creolin, and air-slaked lime scattered on the floors. A few applica- tions of this solution will soon saturate the wood and positively prevent any lice in the lofts. About once or twice a week in the sum- mer I use a small quantity of creolin in the bath water and in spraying any birds or squabs that are near, spray without injury or frighten- ing them. The reason Plymouth Rock Homers are so popular is that the squabs they produce are good enough for any market. In many hands, skilful in feeding and selection, they do the work of more expensive breeds costing three times as much, and more. We have a letter dated August 23 from a customer in Connecti- cut, John N. Moeller by name, stating: “I intend to purchase a piece of property and erect a large plant and buy stock of you as soon as I find a satisfactory place to sell squabs in large lots, and regularly. As already stated in previous correspondence, I have raised twenty squabs from three pairs since March 12, 1910, and every one weighed one pound alive at four weeks of age.” Mr. Moeller does not say that some weigh a pound apiece, or that the average weight of his squabs is one pound. He states that every one weighed one pound. This is twelve pounds to the dozen. The sales of Ply- mouth Rock Homers are many times more than all other pigeons combined. As we have before written, always remem- ber that prices of pigeons mean nothing with- out service. We throw out twenty-five per cent of all our pigeons, sending them in as culls to market, where we get only the eating price. We don’t put them into shipments and expect the customer to throw them out. Moreover, we don’t keep our best pigeons. Every bird on our farm is for sale. Anybody who calls there and fancies a bird can take it away with him in a coop and we're glad to see it go. My present squab plant consists of 300 pairs Homers, and a few larger breeders, but no Car- neaux. I have been visiting various squab plants in the country, and know what a good Carneau is supposed to look like. Most of the Carneaux that I have seen do not come up to what I call good Carneaux. The best that I have set my eyes on so far are those owned by M. C. Martin, and he told me that they were from you. Enclosed you will find a bank draft for which please send me the eleven pairs of Carneaux under the conditions stated.—J. E. nruh, Kansas. 394 MY PLANT MAKES $100 MONTHLY PROFIT, by W. Pa A. Bolton. The Sunny Slope S . Squab Farm is shown in the | s accompanying photograph. The writer having been inter- ested in pigeons since his school days, when he kept a few for pets, resolved in 1908 to make it a business and made his first mistake by sending to Europe for his Carneaux and Homers, several hundred of them, with the result that about half of the birds died en route, orjust after they arrived. They are splendid birds and after a few months became recuperated and acclimated and proceeded to do their best, but if they had come from good reliable home breeders or eastern breeders, the results - would doubtless have been much more satisfactory. Last year the plant practically paid for it- self. Today there are about 1400 birds at work, and taking care of some 1400 more young and old that will soon be at work, besides netting about $100 a month profit. The demand for breeding stock has been brisk since the squab price: dropped, so that but few squabs have gone w market. Our Carneaux youngsters bring from $10 to $15 per dozen and Homers to the market bring $3 in summer and $4 in winter. Next year, I expect to contract all our squabs at $5 a dozen the year round, ot including the Carneaux which are likely to go for breeders as they always have done. I saw the books of one poultry dealer in San Francisco recently, showing where he gets $7 per dozen from one of his customers for large squabs. He pays $5 for the same, alive. The majority of raisers ship alive to San Francisco and Oakland, and the coops that produce best results are not over six inches high in the clear. This prevents the birds piling upon each other. BOSTON 1911 SQUAB PRICES. The following figures for 1911 taken from the Boston Globe show the prices for squabs from January to December of that year. The first price quoted in each case is for the poorer grade of squabs. The prices quoted highest in each case are for squabs bred from our Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers and Carneaux. These figures show that the Boston squab market, like that in other cities, is steady all the year around at highly profitable prices, in no case falling below $3 a dozen, this price coming in the summer, when squabs may be sold at summer resorts in New England at prices equal to the best winter Boston city prices: January 6, $5, $6.50; January 13, $5, $6; January 20, $5.50, $6; January 97, $5, $7; February 3, $5, $6; February 10, $5. 50, $6. 50: APPENDIX G A CALIFORNIA HILLSIDE SLOPE SQUAB FARM. March 3, $5, $6; March 19, $4.50, $6; March 24, $5, $6; March 31, $5, $6; April 7, $5, $6; April 14, $4.50, $6; April 21, $4, $6; April 28, $4.50, $6; May 5, $4.50, $6; May 12, $4.50, $6; May 19, $4, $6; May 26, $4, $6; June 2, $4, $5.50; June 9, $3.50, $5.50; June 16, $3, $5; June 23, $3, $5; June 30, $3, $5; July 7, $3, $5; July 14, $5, $6; July 21, $3, $4.50; July 28, $3, $5; August 4, $4, $5; August 11, $3.50, $4.50; August 18, $3, $5.50; August 25, $3, $5; Sep- tember 1, $4, $5; September 8, $4, $5.50; September 15, $3.50, $4.50; September 22, $3.50, $4.50; September 29, $3.50, $4.50; Octo- ber 6, $3.50, $4.50; October 13, $3, $4.50; October 20, $4, $5.50; October 27, $4, $6; November 3, $4, $6; November 10, $4.50, $6; November 17, $4, $6; November 24, $4, $6; December 8, $4, $6; December 15, $4, $6. When a beginner, like Etwinoma Farms, takes 25 pairs of our Extra Homers worth $50 and in two years multiplies them to 800 pairs worth $1600, do you realize that this is a big return? You can’t put $50 into any bank and get $1600 back in two years. And remember, that in the two years squabs enough were sold . to pay the entire running expenses of the plant. Fifty dollars increased to $1600 in two years is thirty-two hundred per cent increase. This is not theoretical, but is the record of something which actually has been accom- plished with our Plymouth Rock Extra Hom- ers. This is only one of hundreds of such phenomenal returns. After you have read this Manual, write us a letter telling us how you think it can be im- proved. Is anything lacking? What do you wish to know that is not covered here? We intend to keep the book full and complete from year to year and welcome suggestions for its improvement. Tell us what your plans for squab raising are and let us help you if we can. —— APPENDIX G SQUAB MARKET UP IN SALT LAKE CITY, by J. H. Armstrong. I will try and tell you something of the squab and its market in Salt Lake City. It has been only within the past few years that the squab has had a place on the tables of our private families. Only the hotels and restaurants knew what it was to have squabs to serve to their fine trade, but today the squab will be found on the tables of those who can afford it, and, in fact, on the tables of a good many who can not. The squab of today is taking the place of the young chicken. The demand is growing and the “‘hello’’ for squabs is getting greater every day. I have only one hundred pairs and I cannot breed enough squabs to fill my orders, so I am buying from other parties, and even then my supply is limited; I cannot get enough. I am looking forward to the time when I will have two thousand squab breeders instead of two hundred. I am working slowly, but it is steady. This past week’s market (July) has been good with prices as follows: 8-lb. squabs per dozen, $3.00 hotel and restaurant. 9-lb. squabs, $3.50 hotel and restaurant. 10-Ib. squabs, $4.00 hotel and restaurant. 10-lb. to 11-lb. squabs per dozen, $4.50 to $6.00 family trade. These prices I have fought for the past three years (credit to the magazine) as I could not get other squab raisers to stay together on the prices until the last few months. New Yorkers are spenders, and money is no object when they desire something that appeals to their appetites. Go where you will, squabs will always be found on the bill of fare. The demand is simply enormous, as thousands of birds are consumed daily and the demand is continually on the increase. The trouble has been to obtain a sufficient quantity to supply the demand, and I have heard it stated that birds actually were imported to satisfy the demand for extra large squabs. Here is an excellent opportunity for the wide-awake, up- to-date breeder who is in a position to deliver first-class stock to the consumer direct. A veritable hidden treasure of practically un- limited profit awaits him. Just think of the prospects, with our industry still in its infancy. —Harry M. Samson, New York. We have been selling a few Plymouth Rock squabs in Louisville, Ky., at $3 a dozen. The men we sell to say they are the finest they ever handled. As soon as we can get enough to make regular shipments we intend to send them away, as we were offered $5 a dozen for them in June. We keep a strict account of all expenditures in our large single entry ledger and find it costs about ten cents per pair per month to feed them.—James C. Martin, Indi- ana. We have no ground oyster shells here, so we use ground clam shells.—Miss B. Devereux, British Columbia. 395 EGGS AND SQUABS DUE TO CONDI- TIONING. I am inclined to think that there is such a thing as introducing too much red tape in this business of mating and tabbing birds so as to make the task too burdensome. It would be a nice thing if you would give us a line once in a while as indicating where system leaves off and red tape begins.—J. C. Broadwell, Oregon. Pigeons will breed naturally if you give them a chance and if they are in condition. Novices who have had no experience with poultry cannot be made to comprehend that the production of pigeon eggs is a study in conditioning, the same as the production of hen’s eggs. Poultrymen also have their matings but they know enough to look to condition and not to the sexual relations for eggs. Pigeons should be banded, but the system of record keeping should be simple and end in the squabhouse, not be carried into evening work underthestudylamp. The most important work, as the National Squab Maga- zine "has demonstrated, is to sell the squabs intelligently. Squab breeders who fuss about the small matters never accomplish anything. TRANSFERRING BREEDERS, by Ida Dana. I have been transferring my breeders from the house in which they have been work- ing since I received them in May, to one better fitted for the winter. I have been careful to take each family when the youngest squabs were two weeks old, before the mother had started her new nest. When I placed the squabs in a nest in the same part of the new room as that occupied by their nest in the old room, the parents never failed to recognize and feed them. It was before I understood the necessity of this arrangement that one pair, neglecting their own squabs, fed those in the place in which theirs should have been. I granted their wish by putting their squabs into that box, and had no further trouble. FACTS ABOUT NEW YORK FRESH SQUABS, by William R. McLaughlin. I get a great many letters during the year from timid beginners and also from old breeders that in- dicate they fear to make heavy investments at the start or doubt the advisability of increasing their flock for fear of overstocking the market. To all such inquiries I urge them to go ahead and increase their flocks of breeders so that they can ship every few days from five to twenty-five dozen squabs at a time. They run no risk as to demand at good prices all the year round. They run no risk of overioading the market. I have had extraordinary success with Ply- mouth Rock Homers and am more than pleased with the results. I have met with ready sale for my squabs, and if I had the space would increase my flock. I sell my squabs locally and get $3 to $4.50 a dozen, in other words fifty to seventy-five cents a pair. My squabs will average in weight nine pounds to the dozen, in fact in some instances had them to weigh fifteen and- sixteen ounces.—H. H. Kangeter, South Carolina. 396 HOW I FEED HEALTH GRIT FRESH DAILY, by M. C. Martin. When I first started to feed health grit, as it was rather expensive, I was not very particular about the birds eating very much of it. So I would filla covered trough with a good quantity. Result, pigeons would ‘go some’’ for it, when first put in the trough, but would soon eat the choice ingredients, and care little for the leavings. Also, after water was poured on for several days, the grit became packed and hard, and the birds would pay little attention to it. In this way a sack of grit lasted a long time. But I began to study my birds, and found that when they ate more grit, they were healthier and heartier. Then I began to experiment and after thorough trial have set- tled on the following method: Provide covered wooden troughs about four or six inches wide and two inches deep, and long enough for all the birds in each pen to eat at once. The top of the trough may be made so as to be lifted off or removed when putting grit in the trough. Once a day feed the grit in the covered troughs and the little birds will soon learn to come for it, and make more fuss about it than when you feed them hemp. Give them grit once a day just what they will eat up in a few minutes, With a little experimenting you can soon learn about how much is best for them. For, by this method, you can overfeed them easily. I use five-gallon cream cans to keep the grit in. Pour in a little water and keep closed, and in this way, the grit is always damp and moist, ready to feed. Grit should be bought in 500-pound or ton lots, thus saving on the freight bill. Now, as to the reasons for using health grit. I find the iron in it enriches the blood corpuscles. The small sea-shells; which it contains, I have noted, make better hatching eggs, as too much crude lime, contained in oyster shells, makes the eggshells have large white deposits on them, causing the eggs to be easily broken. Such eggs seldom hatch, and if they do, the ‘‘ peepers”’ usually die. An- other thing I have noticed is that the birds seldom if ever have sour crop, a common ailment without a liberal use of grit. If you follow the method I have explained here, be careful you do not feed too much. A good, large handful once a day is sufficient for a flock of thirty birds. The other way of feeding as used by most squab men is to put a large quantity in a covered trough and leave it a number of days until it is all eaten up. SAVES WIRING TIME, by Louis A. Hart. Instead of the old method of tying every other mesh of the wire netting with a short wire, or even running a long wire all the way through the entire length of strand, just take an eight- penny nail and twist it around the two wires three or four times, causing the wires to weave together the same as the rest of the netting. It is very fast, also simple and entirely safe. To undo, just reverse the operation. APPENDIX G PREVENTS STICKING, by C. C. Fraser. I find it a good plan to dust the nestbowls with buckwheat hulls or tobacco dust. This pre- vents the manure from sticking to the bowls and makes the cleaning much easier. If nothing like this is used, the work of cleaning the bowls is quite difficult. One of our customers in New York State, Henry Blumers, who bought a big flock of our Homers and Carneaux last year, has raised six- teen squabs from one pair of our Carneaux ina period of seven months. This is how he tells the story: ‘‘ We noticed in the magazine a party in California having sixteen squabs in ten months, so we thought we would send you the record of one of the pairs of Carneaux which we purchased of you last fall. They hatched: January 10, two squabs; February 9, two;: March 14, one; April 22, two; May 7, one; May 25, two; June 27, two: July 15, two; July 31, two; and now at the present writing (August 23) they have a nest started with one egg. We call this the champion pair of the five hundred and fifty pairs of Homers and Carneaux which we bought at that time.’’ A man in business judges his correspondents by their style of correspondence. Anybody who wishes information of an advertiser should write him a letter, not a postal card, and en- close a two-cent stamp for his reply. If the advertiser has a stenographer, it will cost in her wages at least five cents to write the letter, not to mention the postage as well as the time of the advertiser in dictating or writing the letter. Every advertiser gets a great many foolish and needless inquiries which are a con- stant burden of expense, and scores of such cor- respondents are productive of no business. Hundreds of questions asked daily are fully answered in printed matter sent out by the advertisers. Another point to remember is that advertisers cannot reasonably be asked to make estimates of what the inquirer will do with certain pigeons, or in certain contingencies which come up in daily work in the squabhouse. The only way one can find out what one can do, is to do it, or try to do it. Nobody can tell without trying. We are very particular about the quality of our grain. We never buy damaged or second ° quality grain, and we have told our grain dealer so in such plain words that he distinctly under- stands it. We govern the amount to give the birds at one time, by the looks of the feed box. If they have not eaten all that was given the time previous, we do not give them so much. We try to gauge the amount so there will be very little, if any, in the feed box at feeding time.—George F. Cook, Maine. I sell the pigeon manure to a tannery for fifty cents a bushel. I find plenty of fertilizer that does not go to the tannery, splendid for the garden and lawn.—Graham Roys, Michigan. Breed for three things: good feeders. good color and good size. AP BN DT Xe G HOW I OBTAINED A PROFITABLE PRICE, by John F. Bushmeyer. My brother has been selling Homer squabs in St. Louis at ten and fifteen cents apiece, not knowing they were worth more; in fact, not even looking up the market prices in the daily papers. We got wise to the fact that they were worth more through the Manual and the magazine, which is a daisy. My brother decided not to sell any more squabs unless he got a better price. One day last week, having three pairs of squabs ready for sale, he put them into a small box and went down to the market; but instead of going to the ten-and-fifteen-cent dealer, he went into the opposite side of the market to walk through, and the first butcher’s stand he passed, the man behind the counter, seeing the box he carried, called him, saying, ‘‘ What have you got there, squabs? ”’ “Yes,’’ answered my brother, ‘‘are you buying them? ”’ “* Are they commons? ” “*No,’”’ answered my brother, ‘‘they are fancy Homers.” “What do you want for them?” asked the dealer. ““The market price,’’ was the answer. After looking them over, he asked again, “What do you want for them? ”’ ““The market price as I said before, if I cannot get any more.” “Say, Chollie,’’ the butcher called to anotker man behind the counter, ‘‘ what are Homer squabs selling for today? ”’ Chollie picked up a morning paper, made a bluff at looking at it; ‘$1.75 a dozen,” he answered. ‘“ Wake up and let me see that paper,”’ said my brother, which he did after some stalling, and my brother proceeded to read the market quotations, which were as follows: “*Pigeons and Squabs— Live pigeons at seventy-five cents per dozen. Squabs — Fancy Homers at $2.75 per dozen for eight-pound, $3.25 for nine-pound, $3.50 for ten-pound and at $1.50 for small; common at $1.00 and $1.25 per dozen.’ This is out of the Post Despatch of today. Now if you want those squabs, weigh them up and give me the price.” The butcher put them on the scales and they weighed four and a half pounds; for the six he readily produced $1.60 and said, ‘‘ Bring me all you can get.’’ This shows you how anxious they are to get good squabs. , I am now shipping all my Plymouth Rock squabs to a Chicago marketman. He pays $3.25 for eight-pound squabs, $3.75 for nine- pound, $4.00 for ten-pound, and sends check weekly. I ship at 4.12 p.m. and they arrivein Chicago at 8.30 a.m. the following day. I am building another fine addition for three hun- dred more pairs of my Carneaux.—J. B. Beck- man, Missouri. Squabs are a good proposition around here. Ours are in demand, many more than we can care for. The trade is waiting for them at $5 to $6 a dozen.—Mrs. Ed Cogley, Iowa. 397 SQUAB CONDITIONS IN ST. LOUIS, by Fred L. Stock. This is intended mainly for the information of the western squab breeder, yet it may prove of some interest to the eastern breeder, to the extent of giving him some inside, as to the conditions now in force in St. Louis. But, in the start, I wish to make my position clear, by the statement that I have no interest in any manner with the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company, as I do not own one bird that was ever purchased from this firm. The market in this city (St. Louis) is without doubt the most unsatisfactory market in the United States today, and will continue to be such so long as the conditons are in force that now prevail, the conditions I refer to being the limited number of really good flocks of Homers in the city. In fact, I can use one hand in counting the owners of these first-class Homers, and in each and every case the original breeders were purchased from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, and their owners have no trouble in finding a private market for their squabs at the eastern market price, owing to the vast difference in quality of squabs from these birds, and the squabs to be found .2 the public market. Many people state how much per pair it costs to feed their birds. The price of grain in California and the Middle States differs so greatly that their estimate gives me no idea whatever of what it would cost me per pair. For this season I am weighing all the feed used in one house. In the past three months they have eaten at the rate of eighty-four pounds to each pair per year. I will continue to weigh for a full year. There is little demand for large squabs in the small towns, but in San Francisco they want large squabs and lots of them. San Francisco is only seventy miles from here, so I ship my squabs alive. The express is fifty cents per hundredweight. A few of my squabs go to commission houses, but most of them go to marketmen direct, and I pay no commission. Several marketmen have asked me to contract my squabs to them by the year at a given price. They are willing to give a good price anyhow so I have not contracted yet. Squabs are quoted at $2 to $4.50 per dozen. My squabs are classed as extras and I never receive less than $3 per dozen and this for only a few shipments each year. I have been unable to find a demand for larger than a one-pound squab on the open market.—D. D. Powell, California. The largest New York hotels consume on an average of sixty dozen squabs a day, each hotel, and the prices range from 75 cents to $1.50 per squab, according to the location and size of the hotel. My readers can draw their own conclusion as to whether squab raising pays in this part of the country.—Harry M. Samson, New York. I can sell all my squabs to private customers from fifty cents to seventy-five cents a pair— Ray F. Peavey, Massachusetts. APPENDIX G FRANK HUCHT’S KANSAS SQUAB FARM STOCKED WITH PLYMOUTH ROCK PIGEONS. APPENDIX G I SHIP SQUABS FROM KANSAS TO COLORADO, by Frank Hucht. [I started four years ago in the business. I did not know anything about the pigeon industry but have learned something since. The first Homers I saw were in our town, shipped from the East, one-half dozen pairs. They were fine birds, and I liked them very much. I stocked up with Plymouth Rock Homers. My start was in an old barn almost ready to fall down. It did not take very long when my second room was filling up. I talked the matter over with n.y wife in regard to building a squabhouse, but she would not listen to me at first and told me I had better sell those old pigeons and get back what money I had spent on the birds I had. I had quite a time to convince my wife that there was money in raising squabs. I began selling a few dozen every week, and got $2.50 and $3 a dozen for them. My wife was well pleased with that, and I convinced her of the fact and built a house sixty feet long, fourteen feet wide, with three-foot aisle, self feeders in every unit. I then had only one hundred pairs and had four units to go on. I sent for one hundred pairs more Homers. That made the house fill up some. A year ago I bought other property in town, which gave me more room. I moved my sixty-foot building to this place and added sixty feet to it, which makes the present structure one hun- dred twenty feet long. (See photograph on opposite page.) My principal feed is corn and kaffir corn, millet and wheat. I have kaffir corn in self feeders at all times. The other grains I throw on floor. I also feed hempseed and peas with plenty of grit. I have now five hundred mated pairs of Homers and some youngsters, and also Carneaux. I ship all of my squabs to Colorado. I dry- pick them in the winter and in the summer months I ship them alive. The market West in the summer is not as good asit has been. I received $2.50 and $3.00 a dozen for them F. O. B. Denver, which I considered a fair market. I got as high as $3.75 for them. Let members of the association, when they go shopping, inquire the prices of squabs, as if they intended buying a pair ora dozen. Mail us the dealer’s fvill name and address, date and price quoted. ‘These figures would give the true retail prices. Then the wholesale prices will be from twenty-five to fifty per cent less. It has been true, is true now, and will be true, that nobody can be guided successfully by rinted quotations, but must find out first what is squabs cost him per dozen, then add what he desires for a profit and sell at that figure. Otherwise nothing but failure will result. I had a dirt floor in my pigeon house, think- ing it a necessity, but after I put in a floor of two-inch plank and raised my house about two feet off the ground I raised squabs with ease and rapidity. Dampness was the cause, aes by the dirt floor.—Charles A. Tupper, ew York, 399 NON-FLAKING WHITEWASH. To pre- pare whitewash for fences, buildings, sh interiors, etc., that will not flake and fall off, mix one part fine Portland cement with about eight gallons whitewash. The cement binds the whitewash to the wood and makes a per- manent covering which is unaffected by weather conditions. The small quantity of cement used and the constant stirring necessary to keep the whitewash in good condition for applying, pre- vents the cement hardening in lumps at the bottom of the pail, as might be expected. I have been in the habit of robbing the Car- neaux nests twice in succession, allowing the old birds to hatch the third pair of eggs, I had robbed a certain pair twice and as the third pair of eggs was laid on the floor in an undesir- able place, I determined to rob them a third time. It seemed pretty hard, but I considered it best all round, so it was done. Nine days later pair of eggs number four appeared, this time in a nestbox. They were allowed to hatch this pair (strong, healthy chaps they are, too) and — here’s where the speed comes in — just seven days after these youngsters were hatched, the hen laid again. These eggs were removed to a Homer pair as usual. It has now been four days since the second egg was laid and I am eagerly waiting to see how long it will take this fine little egg machine to produce again. I call this rapid work and if any one has a breed of birds which can go ahead of it, I should like to hear from him.—George N. Rogers, Maryland. I am glad to say that the reason we are getting a price of ninety cents per pair for Plymouth Rock squabs is on account of the quality of the squabs we raise from breeders which were purchased from you. We sell toa private trade who were accustomed to cold storage stock and when they got our squabs they certainly praised the quality. The first lot of squabs we sold was at a price of sixty-five cents per pair because they were sold before they were four weeks old and we were afraid that they would not come up to our expecta- tions and quality desired, as they were for a well-to-do family. After we found out that they did meet with satisfaction we increased our price to ninety cents a pair, which is our present price. We intend to increase this to one dollar per pair for squabs that weigh about nine poundstothedozen. Wehave more orders for squabs than we can supply at pres- ent.—Alvin F. Simon, Michigan. (February 15, 1916) I purchased my Homers from your plant some two years ago, and I have bred them under the most adverse circumstances. I wish to state that after looking at several plants in this town my pigeons are just a little bit the best looking, and if I can get these ether pigeons from your place, would be delighted to do so.—H. G. Cooper, Louisiana, 400 HOW GOOD SQUABS TOOK THE RIGHT OF WAY, by C. E. Plank. In May, 1908, I purchased one dozen pairs of the Extra Ply- mouth Rock Homers, intending to raise squabs for my own use only, but in a year I had on hand seventy pairs, and lacking room had to dispose of the surplus squabs. I called on one of the largest retail grocers, handling groceries, meats, fruits and all good things to eat, who offered me only $1.50 a dozen, saying he never paid over $2 for the best. I told him he must be getting only common birds of about seven or eight pounds per dozen. He acknowledged such was the case. When I explained what my birds were and that my squabs ran ten and eleven pounds per dozen, he was’ willing to talk, and we finally com- promised on $2.50, alive off the nest, any quantity and at any time, this because I had to sell my birds alive, having no time to dress or even pluck them. I averaged eight dozen a month the rest of the year, or $20 a month, and my feed was costing me about $7. I had one house twelve by fourteen feet, with a low upper story, keeping about ninety birds in the lower part and thirty above. In May, 1910, I built another cheap house seven by eleven feet, stocking it with select youngsters, fifty Homers and twelve Carneaux, allowing them to mate up as they wished. Most of the Carneaux mated with Homers and their squabs all run over a pound each, and these Carhomes are fully as prolific as the Homers. To verify the quality of my squabs, I will say that last month the head buyer for the grocer instructed me to bring no more squabs, as they were overstocked. I told him I had arranged with the owner personally for the sale of my birds, and the conditions. He called the owner, who said: ‘‘ Oh, you are the gentle- man who has the large squabs,’’ then to the buyer: ‘‘ Cut out some of the others, and take all this man brings. We can always dispose of his birds.’’ His retail price is thirty to fifty cents each, and if I had the time to kill and pluck my squabs, I could find a ready sale for all of them to private parties and hotels at $3.50 to $4.50 a dozen. Comparatively few private families in this Missouri city use squabs to any extent what- ever. I have attended several banquets at hotels and clubs, at which squabs were served, and find them invariably broiled, practically ‘dried up’ and usually the common birds. It is no wonder that people who try the small birds, served in that manner, are not very “ strong ’’ for squabs. While my pigeons are yielding me a big per cent profit on the investment, I know they would be much more lucrative were I to give them an hour or two each day. I see them a few minutes each morning and spend a few hours with them on Sunday. In winter J see them in daylight only on Sunday. An elderly Englishman who raises fancy Pigeons of all kinds for shows and fairs called to see my birds recently and said I had the nicest, healthiest lot of pigeons he had ever ARPENDIDIG seen. I lose very few birds with my present manner of feeding. I have tried various methods and find whole corn and kaffir as main food to be the best, with about one-sixth hard wheat. BRILLIANT WHITEWASH. Half a bushel unslaked lime; slake with warm water, cover it during the process to keep the steam; strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer; add a peck of salt, the same to be previously well dissolved in warm water; add three pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin paste and stir in boiling hot; add one-half pound of glue which has been previously dissolved over a slow fire and add five gallons of hot water to the mixture, stir well and let it stand for a few days, covering up to keep out dirt. It should be put on hot. One pint of the mixture, properly applied, will cover a square yard. Small brushes are best. There is nothing can compare with it for out- side or inside work and it retains its brilliancy for many years. Coloring matter may be put in and made of any shade — Spanish brown, yellow ochre, or common clay, etc. I tried to find out if there was any one in London, Ontario, a city of 50,000 inhabitants, who is doing a squab business, but I hear of only one man selling squabs. He is over eighty years of age. He pays the boys twenty-five cents a pair for common pigeons alive or dead. He plucks the feathers, and sells the pigeons to private customers at eighty centsa pair. That is I think a pretty high price, for common old pigeons. There are quite a few breeders of flying Homers in London and I understand they have an association, but apparently they have not yet become much interested in squabs. Near London is the city of Hamilton, with 65,000 people, sixty miles away; also Chatham sixty miles away, with 30,000 people, and St. Thomas twenty-six miles distant, with 30,000 inhabitants. Surely this is population enough to make trade for squab plants.—W. W. Suther- land, Canada. Sulphate of iron is a good tonic and cor- rective for pigeons. Use a tablespoonful to a gallon of water. I grind charcoal as fine as J can and mix it with salt, then dampen it and pack a paper bag and bake in the oven for half a day or longer, so it wil! be as hard as a brick. Put it in the pen and the pigeons peck atit. I have sold some of my squabs for sixty-five cents a pair. squab raising, both to make money and for satisfaction.—Louis F-. Scharff, Pennsylvania. In regard to nest-building, I have found out that by taking mustard stalks and cutting them about three feet from top of tree and then chopping the little thin branches and stump together to about six inches in length, this makes excellent nesting material for pigeons, They will leave all others and pick out mustard sticks. If some of your subscribers will try this, they will see how quickly their pigeons will build nests.—Elmer Krider, California. I think there is nothing better than. APPENDIX G HOW TO SAVE MONEY IN SHIPPING SQUABS, by Elmer C. Rice. Having a well- settled belief, formed while handling hundreds of inquiries on the subject, that not one-tenth of the squab breeders on this continent are shipping killed squabs at the lowest express rate to which they are entitled by the rules of the express companies, I am going to give the facts in detail. These remarks apply to all express companies operating between points in the United States and between any point in the United States and any point in Canada, also within the United States on husiness to or from other countries. They also apply to minor express companies or individuals, some of them too small to have any rules or regulations, but who take their cues from the big ones, and who are governed, if they are doing an interstate business, by the rules of the Interstate Com- merce Commission at Washington, which has put its O. K. on what I write here. Most shipments of killed squabs are now made, on account of the ignorance both of the breeder and of the express agent to whom he is giving the packages, at the regular rate charged for ordinary merchandise. For example, the rate from certain points in Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, and Canada to New York City is two dollars per one hundred pounds for ordinary merchandise. Under this rate a box of squabs weighing for example, twenty pounds, would have a charge of eighty-five cents as- sessed against it. For carrying a box of squabs weighing one hundred pounds, two dollars would be charged. These charges and all similar charges based on the rate made for ordinary merchandise are in error, being much too high. < The express companies’ classification has what is known as ‘“‘ General Specials.’” Thirty commodities, from beef-fat to zwieback, are these general specials. In S, between smilax and stearine, is SQUABS, dressed, with accom- panying language as follows: ““SOUABS, dressed. Charge upon the actual gross weight, except that an allowance of twenty- five per cent from the gross weight may be made when it is necessary to use ice for preservation and it is used for that purpose only. The charge on a shipment packed with ice must not be less than the charge on the net weight, with twenty-five per cent added, unless the gross weight at time of shipment ts less.” ; Any general special commodity goes at a specially low rate. For example, when the merchandise rate is two dollars per one hundred pounds, the general special rate is only $1.50 per hundred pounds. This applies to squabs. Some of my Texas friends have been shipping squabs to New York profitably as ordinary merchandise, paying six dollars for a box weigh- ing one hundred pounds. Correctly made, the rate should have been $3.90 (the general special on six dollars) with twenty-five pounds of ice out, making a correct charge of three dollars, of just half what they have been paying. I have said it many times, and I repeat it now, that anybody living anywhere can ship squabs to a highly profitable market, even - above, pound rates must be charged. 401 hundreds of miles distant, provided he will follow plain directions such as I am giving here. Always prepay express charges so as to be able to talk and pay at your end. Do not imagine that anybody at the other end will look out for your interests in the matter of express charges. If you have been paying the regular merchandise rate, do not go to your express agent and make afuss. You might as well throw a dollar into the ocean from the shore and wait for the tide to bring it to your feet. Above all, remember that if you are going to succeed in the squab business, you need the regard, friendship and good fellow- ship of your express agent, same as everybody with whom you come in contact in a business way. _ If you are shipping either live squabs or cull live pigeons to market, the express companies have a special rate for you known as Scale O. This is practically a twenty-five per cent de- duction. For example, when the regular rate is two dollars per hundred pounds, the Scale O rate is $1.50. I think the amount of excess express charges being ignorantly assessed amounts every year to $100,000, which I regard as a low estimate, as it allows only a dollar a month overcharge against ten thousand squab shippers. There are more than ten thousand squab shippers and most of them I believe are paying out more than a dollar a month illegally. The purpose of this article is to put an end to this illegal tax on the squab industry and it will be effective if you will start the conversation with your express agent when you ship your next lot of squabs. MORE LIGHT ON SQUAB EXPRESS CHARGES, by Gerald E. Swihart. I am a squab breeder and have given the matter of express rates and charges a lot of study and time and I think I have it down to the lowest figure. At the head of ‘‘ General Specials”’ in the Official Express Classification No. 21, article 5, page 17, will be found this paragraph: “Pound rates must be charged on General Special Matter with a minimum of thirty-five cents (except where a lower minimum is speci- jically named for any particular commodity) unless the graduate under the merchandise rate is less; when carried by more than one company and shipping point or destination is an exclusive office, minimum twenty-five cents for each com- pany carrying.” Now as per Mr. Rice’s article (see page 401) when the regular rate is $2, the general special rate is $1.50, as per Scale ‘‘N’’, and going farther and taking a box of squabs weighing forty pounds, and allowing twenty-five per cent for ice, making a net weight of thirty pounds — now take your graduate charges scale and thirty pounds is eighty cents, correct; but under general specials as per article quoted é Now as that is the case, then if one hundred pounds cost $1.50 to New York, then one pound would cost one and one-half cents and thirty pounds would cost 30 x 14, or forty-five cents. 402 Now another example, using same rate $2 merchandise, $1.50 general special rate, and box weighed twenty-eight pounds. Allowing for ice twenty-five per cent leaves the box net weight of twenty-one pounds and at one and one-half cents per pound makes thirty-two cents; but the minimum charges are thirty- five cents, then the express agent should charge you thirty-five cents for your box. Again, if you are in a place which has but one express company and that company does not have an office in the point to which you are shipping, the charge would not be less than fifty cents, twenty-five cents for each company. For example, you live in a town by the name of X and have but one express company doing business and that is the Cana- dian, and you bring in a box of squabs for New York. The expressman says the rate to New York is $2 and that the box will cost you $1. Then you might say, “ Well, I under- stood that the express companies gave a special rate on squabs. Let us look it up.” Have him turn to Official Express Classification and look over about page 17 and you will run across a heading General Specials, then reading that heading you will find the paragraph as quoted at the beginning of this article. After reading this carefully, run on through the list of articles under this head and in the S’s you will find squabs, just as stated in Mr. Rice’s article. You will also find a small letter (b) just before the name squab. This is a note and must be looked up. This reference tells that for a box containing squabs and ice, an allow- ance of twenty-five per cent must be made. Now going back to your box that weighed forty pounds, allowing twenty-five per cent for ice, leaves a net weight of thirty pounds. You will also find in the heading of General Specials, rate as per Scale N. Turn to page 29 and you will find a section marked Scale N, and going down the rate column per 100 pounds to $2, regular merchandise rate, it will be found that the General Special rate is $1.50 per 100 pounds. Now that means one and one-half cents per pound and thirty pounds x 14 cents is forty- five cents. But as the Canadian Express Com- pany has no office in New York and must transfer it to another company in order to get the box to destination, each company says it must have not less than twenty-five cents each; hence the agent must charge you fifty cents and you have saved fifty cents, and the agent is posted for the next fellow. Of, if the place is located so that it must go over three express companies’ roads to be delivered to destination, then the charges would be seventy- five cents, twenty-five cents for each company, but if it went through three companies’ hands when it was only necessary to go through two, then the rate should only be fifty cents. Again, a great many places have a special rate that is cheaper than the General Special. For instance, the regular rate from this point in Michigan to New York is $2.25, and that would make the General Special rate as per Scale N $1.75 and the special rate from here is $1.50, so we can ship from here to New APPENDI AAG York or to Boston just as cheap as to Philadel- phia where the rate is $2 regular merchandise, which would make the General Special $1.50. Another example. go to the express office with a box of sixty pounds for Chicago. The rate from here to Chicago is ninety cents and per Scale N the General Special rate is seventy-five cents per hundred. Now allowing twenty-five per cent for ice, the net weight of the box is forty-five pounds. Now as 100 pounds would cost seventy-five cents, one pound would cost three-quarters of a cent, and forty-five pounds would be 45x, or thirty-four cents, but_as the minimum charge is thirty-five cents, I should pay thirty-five cents, the correct charge if the shipping office and destination are common points or if express company at shipping point hasan office at des- tination. If not, theneach company would de- mand twenty-five cents and the correct charges should be fifty cents. Again, in all express offices you will find, or should find, notices like this: ‘““The rate schedules applying to or from or at this station and indices of this company’s tariff are on file in this office and may be inspected by any person upon application and without the assignment of any reason for such desire. The agent or other employee on duty in the office will lend any assistance desired in securing information from or interpreting such schedules.” I would suggest that any shipper of squabs go to the express office beforehand and look this matter up and get it clear about the rate before taking the box of squabs. Do not bother the agent when he is busy getting ready for a train or just after a train when he is checking his express; but just ask for the Tariff Book and start in at the beginning and find the section headed Official Classification and in the index find General Specials and then turn to page and article as per the index and go to reading and after reading the heading of General Specials, either run through the articles under General Specials until you find Squabs (dressed) or turn back to the index and look up squabs and read that and also the note indicated by the letter ‘‘b’’ before the name Squab. Now you are ready to talk to the agent when he is at liberty and you ~° can ask him to explain the meaning of the sections you have read; then say to him, “‘ What would it cost me to send a forty-pound box to New York,” or whatever your shipping point is. If you think the rate he quotes you too much, kindly ask him to take up the matter with his Route Agent or with his Superinten- dent, and let you know what he finds out. Do not go to him for a few days, say a week, and then drop in some day and say, “‘ Well, what did you find out about the rate on squabs?” or ‘‘Have you heard anything aboutthe rate on squabs?’’ and see what he has to offer. EXPRESS RATES ON KILLED SQUABS. A lot of letters have come from squab shippers who read the article on express rates and have found out that they have been paying tco APPEN DIK SG much. They have warm praise for the infor- mation. This science or art of finding out what the lowest express charges are for special industries is something to be mastered and applied. It is a very live detail of salesman- ship of squabs. Mr. Swihart emphasizes the point that on small shipments of squabs from ten pounds to seventy-five pounds, as well as on large, not only is the general special rate applied, with twenty-five per cent off for ice, but also pound rates are applied. This means, in effect, that twenty pounds of killed squabs can be shipped a distance as far as that from Chicago to New York for only thirty-five cents. Mr. Swihart’s article reads as if he were at one time an express employee. This may not be true but he certainly shows an expert knowledge of express regulations. It may appear strange that express regulations are unknown, but who shall tell? It is true that the rate book can be seen, if asked for, at every express office, but not one shipper in a hundred asks for it, and that one cannot stand at the window studying the book half a day to ferret out the truth as applied to him. A banker knows many businesses because he makes money at it. An express agent, how- ever, on a salary of $10 to $20 a week, has no motive to know other businesses and tell every business man how to ship. That is the busi- ness man’s business. The producers of this country know nothing about express rates and should be told regularly in the public prints not only how to sell their goods, but also how to ship them. Not only are squabs general specials, but also (to name what is of interest to the farmer) dressed poultry ot all kinds, butter, eggs, milk, plants, berries, celery, maple sugar, maple syrup, vegetables. You will recall my writing to you that my wife and myself were intending to continue the squab and poultry business which she as Miss Ayres carried on so successfully with your Homers in New Jersey, and now that we have settled in our new home here, I wanted you to know that sometime during this month you will again hear from us, giving an order for probably one hundred birds and supplies as described in the special offer No. 7.—William R. Pearsall, New York. I have a friend who intends to start a large squab plant up the State, and think it advisable for you to get in touch with him at once. His name is enclosed. I have bought some birds from you and am well pleased. If I can do anything more for you would be pleased.—R. S. Quinlan, New York. You will remember that I purchased one pair of Carneaux of you about three years ago. lost the female the first year after raising about twenty birds. I still have the old:cock, and have sold a number of pairs of breeders and lots of squabs and still have over seventy-five pairs of breeders and all fine, first-class birds which I can only thank you for. I am getting 403 $6 a dozen for all of my squabs at home trade and could sell three times the amount if I had them. Iam strongly thinking of adding more breeders. Please send me one of your 1913 catalogues and price list of pigeons and supplies. —E. P. Tharp, Indiana. : The dozen pairs of pigeons which we bought of you the first of June, 1912, are doing finely. We have over ninety birds at present (January 7) which we consider doing well, as we knew nothing whatever about pigeons — merely be- came interested in their beauty at the Buffalo Poultry Show last January, but find them ex- ceedingly interesting, and hope to build up a plant of profitable size. Hope to order some Carneaux in the spring—Mrs. W. M. Chad- wick, New York. I have read and reread your dollar Manuat several times, and think it the plainest and most concise work of its kind I have ever read, and I want to thank you for putting such a book before me. (Mr. Locke is superintendent of the Mountain View Poultry Plant).—Charles M. Locke, New Jersey. There is surely a difference between common pigeons and Homers. This may be of some interest to those who read the magazine, also to any one who thinks common pigeons are more profitable than Homers. To see the difference I weighed some squabs of the com- mons and the highest were nine ounces apiece at four weeks old. Then I weighed one squab of my Plymouth Rock Homers, four weeks old, and it weighed 16144 ounces. I also weighed one of my older birds (Homer) and it weighed 174% ounces. How's that? No other Homers breed so large a squab as the Plymouth Rock Homers.—Wesley E. Budde, Illinois. I have been in the squab business two years and have had lots of experience and disap- pointments. I started with six pairs of pi- geons, mostly common stock. They did fairly well and after a few weeks I bought some more. Now, if they had been all Homers, I would have had twice the number of squabs I am getting now. In August, 1912, I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers and have never regretted it. I have made a pair of Carneaux raise Homer squabs for me. I throw their eggs away after testing them and put Homer eggs under them. I expect to enlarge my plant in the spring with Plymouth Rock stock.—Maxwell McCollough, Iowa. I was pleased to receive your dollar Manual, which I consider to be the best book I have yet read on the subject of pigeons. Since reading it I have determined to “* havea shot ’’ at squab raising. I have had pigeons for twelve years, so I ought to know something about them and also books.—R. M. Thomson, New Zealand. The birds purchased from you a year ago are beating everything in my pens as fast workers. —Joseph McGurk, New Jersey. 404 HOW A FRENCH CHEF COOKS HIS SQUABS, by A. Escoffier. To the optimistic American a pigeon is nearly always a squab, just as a hen is always a chicken. In the following receipts a pigeon may be replaced by a well-grown squab, but in cases where genuine squabs from three to four weeks old must be used, that word squab is employed. The meat of the pigeon, though dark, has an excellent flavor, is tender, stimulating, easily digested. It is very suitable for delicate persons who need good nourishment. The squab is a par- ticularly delicate food. It may be eaten from twelve to thirty days after hatching. The pigeon may be served in many ways —as an entree, in a compote, in a pate, as a galantine, cold in a deep dish, or “‘ en terrine,’’ as we say in France. Pigeon Soup with Curry This is one of the most delicious and nourish- ing soups of our cuisine. The following quantities of materials will provide soup for six persons: Two large _pi- geons, cleaned, singed and each divided into four pieces; two large onions chopped up; two large soupspoonfuls of butter, three soupspoonfuls of curry powder, five pints of water, half an ounce of salt, a bouquet made of sprigsof parsley, a bay leaf and a mite of garlic (the last named being quite optional) and six to eight table- spoonfuls of rice. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and let it cook for several minutes on a gentle fire. Add the pigeons and cook them from ten to twelve minutes with the onion. Then pour the curry powder over them. Stir the whole with a spoon and add the water, salt and the bouquet. Bring the liquid to a boil and cover the saucepan. After fifteen minutes’ cooking add the rice and let it cook twenty to twenty- five minutes and serve. The above receipt is reduced to its most simple form, and is very suitable for a small household. The soup, however, may be re- fined by replacing the water with bouillon (broth) by straining the onion after cooking through a fine strainer, and by only using the filets of the pigeons, after removing the skin, and cutting the filets in squares, which you add at the moment of serving to the boiling soup, with several tablespoonfuls of rice cooked in broth. Pigeon and Barley Soup The following quantities are sufficient for six persons: Two large pigeons cleaned, singed and divided into four parts; one large onion chopped fine, two medium-sized carrots cut in little squares, six to eight tablespoonfuls of cleaned barley, two large soupspoonfuls of but- ter, half an ounce of suet, a pinch of pepper, a bay leaf and three pints of water. : Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and let it cook several minutes on a gentle fire. Then add the pigeons, cook them eight to ten minutes with the onion. Then add the carrots, barley, water, salt, pepper and the bay leaf. Cover the saucepan and let it boil on a gentle fire for about an hour and a quarter, APPENDIX G _ This soup may be improved in the manner indicated in the other soups. A few spoonfuls of green peas during the season will give it a particularly exquisite flavor. Cream of Pigeon Soup Quantities for six persons: Two pigeons, cleaned, singed and divided into four parts; one large onion chopped up, two large soup- spoonfuls of butter, holf an ounce of salt, one pinch of pepper, six to eight soupspoonfuls of flour, one bouquet made of parsley sprigs, a bay leaf and sprigs of thyme well tied together, two full quarts of water and half a pint of fresh cream. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and the pigeons, let them cook for about fifteen minutes on a gentle fire and then mix in the flour. Let them cook again for a few minutes, add the water and bring the liquid to a boil, taking care to stir the mixture with a wooden spoon, so that the flour may be well dissolved and not stick to the bottom of the saucepan. At the first boiling remove the saucepan to the corner of the fire and then add the salt, pepper and the bouquet. - Let it cook again at a gentle fire for about an hour. Finally remove the pieces of pigeon. Cut the lean meat in squares and keep it warm. Strain the soup through a fine tammy or strainer and put it back in a fresh, clean sauce- pan, keeping it hot. At the moment of serving add the cream, mixing it well with the soup, which should be boiling. Pour it into a soup tureen with the little squares of meat you have kept in reserve. You may also at the time of serving add to this cream some spoonfuls of rice or cooked barley or Italian paste. Pigeon and Tomato Soup The preparation of this soup is nearly the same as the preceding, except that the curry is replaced by seven to eight large firm tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped up. The bouquet is made of the same materials, the proportions of water, salt and rice are the same, but you must add also a_pinch of pepper. This receipt may also be elaborated for more expensive tastes, as the other soup is. When fresh tomatoes are not obtainable they may be replaced by tomato puree. Pigeon and Pea Soup a la Paysanne Quantities for six persons: Two pigeons, cleaned and singed; one large or several small new onions chopped up; two saucespoonfuls of butter; two ounces of lean bacon, cut in small squares; a quart of large peas; two lettuces, well cleaned and cut in squares; half an ounce of salt, a pinch of pepper, a piece of sugar, five pints of hot water, a bouquet garni made of sprigs of parsley and a bay leaf. Melt the bacon and butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and the pigeons. Let them cook ten to twelve minutes on a gentle fire. Then add the peas, the lettuce, the water, the salt, the pepper, the- sugar and the bouquet. APPENDIX G Bring the liquid to a boil and then cook at a gentle fire for forty-five to fifty minutes. Cut the lean meat from the pigeon, then cut it in small squares and keep it hot. At the time of serving add two soupspoonfuls of fine butter, mixing it well, and pour the soup, which should be boiling, into a soup tureen, in which you have previously placed the squares of meat. Pigeon Saute a la Paysanne Quantities: Two pigeons, cleaned, singed and divided into two parts; two soupspoonfuls of butter, four tablespoonfuls of lean bacon, cut in little dice; two medium-sized onions, chopped up; six medium-sized potatoes, cut in small dice; salt, pepper and chopped parsley. elt the butter and the bacon in a frying pan or sauteing dish, and add the pigeons, which you cook gently. After fifteen minutes’ cook- ing add the onions, the salt and the pepper; let the onions cook for several minutes and add the potatoes. Finish cooking and add a little good gravy if possible and some chopped parsley at the mo- ment of serving. This is one of the oldest and most favored methods of cooking pigeons in the country. Like many of our most savory dishes, it origi- nated in the home of the farmer, as its name, ““a la paysanne,”’ indicates. Estouffade of Squabs or Squab Stew Take two or three squabs, cleaned and rre- pared for cooking, but not tied up; roast them lightly and then put them in a terrine (a deep earthenware dish of French design). Add to the cooking liquor a glass of cognac and a glass of white wine; boil it several seconds and pour it all over the pigeons. Surround the pigeons with several little onions, browned in butter, and twenty fresh mushrooms, cut in quarters and sauteed in but- ter. Season with salt and pepper. Add sev- eral tablespoonfuls of good gravy. Lay over the pigeons several slices of lean bacon, slightly browned in butter. Cover the terrine close and cook at a gentle fire fifty minutes and serve. Estouffade of Squab a la Cavalieri This is a more refined and expensive method of preparing the squabs than the preceding: Roast the squabs lightly in butter and put them in the terrine with their cooking butter, cognac and white wine. Then surround them with a dozen small lamb sweetbreads, slightly browned in butter, a few slices of truffles, cut rather thick, and a few spoonfuls of good veal gravy, the whole well seasoned. Cook gently in the oven for about fifty minutes. This and the preceding dish have the ad- vantage that they can be eaten hot or cold. Stuffed Pigeons Take two pigeons, cleaned and singed, and prepare the following stuffing: A soupspoonful of butter, three soupspoonfuls of lean bacon; the livers of the pigeons, chopped up; three tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs, white and 405 fresh; half a soupspoonful of chopped onion, a coffeespoonful of chopped parsley, salt, pepper, spice and two yolks of eggs. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion, let it cook gently six to eight minutes and then add the bacon. As soon as this is slightly heated, add the pigeons’ livers and, if possible, two or three chickens’ livers, the bread crumbs, the chopped parsley, salt, pepper and yolks of eggs. Stuff the pigeons, tie them up with the feet turned in, and cook them in a saucepan thirty to thirty-five minutes at a gentle fire. At the moment of serving, untie the pigecns, put them back in the saucepan, with several soupspoonfuls of good gravy or hot water. Give them several seconds’ boiling so that the gravy and cooking butter may be well mixed. GOOD SQUAB RECEIPTS, by Mrs. E. E. Wygant. Singe, split down the back and dress as for chicken; season with pepper and salt, parsely and onion, celery and bay leaves, a few slices of bacon, and baste with melted butter and water while baking about an hour; include the giblets in the baking. (2) Clean and dress as for turkey, let them drain, and stuff with a moist dressing over night, made of bread c-umbs, onions, pepper, salt, parsley, celery, and a few English walnuts, and fasten a small piece of bacon on each breast with a tooth pick, baste often with melted butter and water, and serve on lettuce leaves. YOUTH AND MATURITY, by F. M. Gil- bert. Another joke! I get letter after letter from parties wanting pigeons, with this clause, “they must not be over one year old.’"’ Now what idiot has been telling.or writing that pigeons breed best when a year old? And these men believe it or they wouldn't make the stipulation. Suppose I give balm to a few minds. I imported Derby (once champion of England) when he was twelve years old. He died at twenty from a cold. Dundee, the father of the crack birds that Messrs. Topping, Kelley and others of Chicago showed, was seven years old when he came over. I showed K. C. at the first show Kansas City ever gave, and I heard of him two years ago in the East, still breeding and doing well. I bred Unser Fritz and Seventy-Six for some twelve years. I bought the Palace cock at two years old and never got a fertile egg till he was seven. The very best pair of producers I ever owned — the pair that bred me birds which brought $250 in one season, were so old that they were get- ting coarse about the necks. PIGEON SALAD. Truss and roast three pigeons, carefully basting and not allowing them to brown very much. When cold, strip the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces. Chop one cup celery and a half cup of English walnuts fine. Mix the salad with mayonnaise. Serve on green lettuce. 406 I will now leave it all to you in regard to sending me another pair. It is a pleasure to do business with you. There are so many dis- honest people in business that a person doesn’t know whom to deal with, but I will say for the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, I will have no hesitancy in recommending you to others.— Clarence Kerr, Ohio. I am glad to state that I just took two blue ribbons at the Pigeon Show of the California Pigeon Club, Oakland, 1912. They were won by two pens of Exhibition Homers, Red Barred, Silvers and Black Homers. They were bred from the stock that I bought from the Ply- mouth Rock Squab Company two years ago. These birds, also your Carneaux, are excellent breeders, raising fat, white-meated squabs. I handle the squabs of a good many other people here and noticed that those that have Plymouth Rock Squab Company stock are always sending me the best.—Stefan Schwarz, California. As you wanted to know how I made out at our show with Plymouth Rock pigeons, I am proud to say: I showed 16 birds and got 14 ribbons —7 blues, 4 reds and 3 yellows, also got a silver cup for best display of working Homers.—William R. Mollineaux, New York. It may interest you to know that my Ply- mouth Rock Carneaux took the blue ribbon over all exhibits of their class at the poultry show last week.—Dr.C. L. Rion, State of Wash- ington. Enclosed you will find two dollars, for which please send me by first boat one hundred pounds of your Plymouth Rock Health Grit. There is nothing which will take its place. My birds are doing nicely now. They have gone to work in earnest. I will send some more pictures soon.—Mrs. H. F. Maxwell, Florida. You will recollect that I bought from you six or seven lots of the Extra Homers. These have given excellent satisfaction. At present I am breeding about ten dozen squabs per week from eight hundred breeders. Practically all of these have been raised from your Extra Homers within the last two years. Your Extra Hom- ers are breeding nine to eleven-pound squabs for us regularly.—K. C. Jursek, Pennsylvania. We are more than delighted with the birds we bought of you nearly two years ago. We have now 250 pairs, besides selling most of our young squabs at fifty cents each. You remem- ber we started with twenty-five pairs. We are going to extend our plant and order some Carneaux.—Lewis A. Briggs, Rhode Island. SIX TO SIX HUNDRED, by A. S. Temple, New York. I started in the squab business June 15, 1910, with three pairs of Extra Homers which I purchased from you, and the flock has increased (January 7, 1913) to more than six hundred birds that will all be old enough to be APPENDIX G workers by April 1, 1913, and I have kept only the best of the production, killing and selling or using for our own table all that were not up to standard in size. Some of my best squabs weighed from sixteen to twenty ounces at twenty-seven to thirty days of age. Wearein the business to stay, and think after I get a steady market for my production will increase my flock by buying mated pairs from you, as it is quicker than waiting to raise them, although the experience of the past two years with the aid of your invaluable squab book has been of great advantage to me. $7.50 TO $9 A DOZEN, by Karl C. Jursek. We are receiving from private families from $7.50 to $9 for nine and ten-pound Plymouth Rock Homer squabs. From hotels this month (January) we received $6.25 to $7 for nine-and- one-half to ten-and-one-half-pound squabs. In this list are included the Fort Pitt, Lincoln, Henry and Monongahela houses. We cannot of course give a list of the private families. We start building a good-sized addition in the spring. NO SET RULES, by Fred H. Dodge. Please tell me the cost of keeping for one year one hundred pairs of breeding pigeons at the present prices of pigeon grains. How many squabs could I market by taking the best care of the birds? Amswer. The matters you speak of very up and down the scale with management. We cannot give you a set of rules, nor can any- body. You might get a certain number of squabs per year while another breeder more skilful might get more, or still another person not so skilful would get less. The same applies to grain, whether you buy it in paper bags, as the owners of a few pairs do, or whether you buy it in 100-pound lots or whether you buy it in ton lots. The best guide for you is to read actual experiences in which breeders tell in their own words what they have accomplished. Success with squabs depends more on your acts than on what you may read or not read, al- though you should study as much as you car and then adapt yourself accordingly. BOSTON GLOBE QUOTATIONS On SQUABS. January 26, 1912, $5 and $6 a dozen. February 16, 1912, $5 and $6.50 a dozen. March 1, 1912, $6 and $7.50 a dozen. HOW SPLIT PEANUTS FATTENED OUR SQUABS, by H. A. Henkel. We are located right on the western edge of the peanut belt and up to two months ago had never thought of peanuts as a food for pigeons. However, after learning that pigeons were very fond of them, we decided to give them a thorough trial and secured from one of the big shellers a few hundred pounds. These we commenced feed- ing to our birds in one pen which contained thirty-five pairs. We thought it best to feed only to one pen of birds for a while to see how the breeders thrived and how the squabs would be. We fed this pen of birds a proportioned mixture of kaffir corn, cracked corn, red wheat, APPENDIX G and sorghum seed in a Jencks’ self-feeder, and every night and morning we fed in an open trough one quart of cracked peanuts. The birds were in excellent condition, and the squabs were fully up to those that were in the other twenty-four pens that had been fed a large per cent of Canada peas and other costly grains. After this test we commenced feeding all our birds a mixture similar to the above, which gave results equally as gratifying as were obtained from the more costly grains. We find, however, that the feeding of the peanuts in a separate trough is an unnecessary trouble, and recently we have been mixing the peanuts with the other grains. The mixture is as follows, and we guarantee it will produce squabs equally as heavy, if not heavier, than those produced with the more costly grains. The grains proportioned as follows will give best results: 200 pounds kaffir corn, 100 pounds good red wheat, 100 pounds good, sound cracked corn, and 75 to 160 pounds cracked peanuts. The kaffir corn costs us $2 per 100 pounds, wheat $1.50, cracked corn $1.65, and the pea- nuts at present $1.80 per bushel. At these figures this mixture can be made for $2 per 100 pounds. Of course, in localities where grains can be secured for less than kaffir corn, wheat, and cracked corn, it would be advisable to feed them instead. Always adapt your feeding to the grains that are to be had at the lowest prices in your town. In most every section of the United States certain grains can be secured to mix with peanuts that will make an excellent feed which will not cost more than $2 per 100 pounds. i On September 18 we shipped north fourteen and one-half dozen Plymouth Rock Homer squabs which were the first we have shipped that had been fed on peanuts from the start. They were nearer one size than any lot we have ever shipped, nice large white ones, and I think will bring better prices than any we have shipped this year. Just two days previous to this we shipped from these same houses five dozen Plymouth Rock Homer squabs that weighed ten pounds to the dozen. PEANUTS HAVE OVER 40 PER CENT PROTEIN, by Edward E. Evans. Until squab and pigeon breeders learn what constitutes food value, until they learn why the American farmer pays $25 per ton for one kind of feed and $45 per ton for another kind, there is no use to talk or write about peas, cowpeas or soys. The general idea seems to be that bulk as compared with price is all there is to the feed question. When your people learn that on the basis of absolute food value a bushel of peas is worth two and one-half bushels of wheat, they will begin to know something about squab production on a paying basis. Red wheat is today two and one-half to three times as expensive as peas, while weed seeds and wild grass seeds (the seeds of fox- tail, pigeon grass and barnyard grass) are not any better. The money that it takes today to buy eleven feed units of kaffir corn, will pay for twenty-eight units if expended in peas. 407 notice that a great number of so-called ‘‘ bal- anced ration’ feeds, composed of a mixture of grains, hemp, millet and weed seeds, are being sold all over the country, in direct viola- tion of the Pure Food act. No such mixture contains to exceed twelve per cent protein and most of them contain much less. The only way to balance a pigeon ration is by the use of legume seeds, i.e., Canada peas, soy beans, vetches, cowpeas, horse beans or peanuts. Later. Do not misinterpret the statement I made in my previous letter regarding mixtures of grain. The Pure Food act does not stipu- late that such a mixture shall contain a certain specified amount of protein, nor did I state that it did. My complaint was that a great many mixtures of grains and seeds were being offered on the market as ‘‘ balanced rations,’’ which they certainly are not. A mixture of cereal grains and seeds such as millet, hemp and wild seed, no matter how many different species or varieties, cannot under the act be called a “balanced ration,’ for the reason that the above-mentioned seeds and cereals contain only from 10 to 12% per cent of protein. A ‘“ bal- anced ration ’’ for pigeons can be obtained only through the use of legume seeds, such as peas, cowpeas, soy beans, vetches, etc., all of which contain from twenty-five to forty-two per cent protein. I notice that a breeder in Virginia obtains good results from the use of peanuts. This success could not be rightly attributed to the large percentage of oil contained therein. As you are doubtless aware, vegetable fats and oils, in other words, carbon, do not produce growth in any animal body, but furnish energy or motion, and some portion of it is stored up as fat. Peanuts are of such great value to squab raisers because they contain more than forty per cent actual protein and are the richest in that substance of any material produced on American farms. This exemplifies the statement made in my previous letter, that American pigeon and squab breeders have much to learn of feeding values as compared with bulk, and until they learn this they can never buy feed intelligently nor use it profitably. I HAVE FOUND THE REAL REMEDY FOR LICE, by George S. Terry. It was not until my fourth year in the squab business that I had any trouble with lice. I woke up one fine June morning to find four hundred pairs of my best birds affected. I consulted authorities who informed me that lice were usually due to filth and poor management in the loft and that the best cure was prevention. This was poor consolation and useless advice. Asa matter of fact I had always given my birds the best of care. I never yet have failed to make at least two dollars per pair per year net profit from my birds. Considering that I have had no private trade and always sold to commission men, I do not think my results show poor management in the loft. But the lice were there and the birds began to show it. I wrote for advice to friends. I visited neighboring and distant lofts. I was variously advised but no one seemed to have a real knowledge of just how 408 to rid a loft of lice. Some advised perman- ganate of potash in the bath water, moth balls in the nests, various kinds of insect powder, several kinds of nest sprays, carbolized lime, etc. I tried all these. For three months Ff wrestled with the lice. I caught and dusted every bird at least three different times. I was getting desperate. I even made a revolving cylinder or dust bag through which I passed all the birds. It was an immense amount of work but did not do the business. It killed some lice, to be sure, but in ten days they were as bad as ever. Finally I hit it, and it is easy when you know how. Simply spray the birds with a mixture of two-thirds kerosene and one- third crude carbolic acid. I close the birds in the loft and take a continuous spray pump full of the mixture and give their feathers a good dose of the evil-smelling stuff. I try especially to hit their backs. They sneeze and sputter and it does spoil their beauty for a while, but no harm ever has resulted in my lofts. A better and more thorough method is to catch each bird and pour about a dessert- spoonful among the feathers along the back, especially just above the tail. This place is the last stronghold of the louse. You will find him here when he has been driven from every other quarter. This treatment, taken with the tri-weekly bath and the usual spraying of the nestboxes, has completely solved the problem forme. May it do as much for you. We are to have a poultry and pigeon show next month. . There are quite a few people en- gaged in the business here. I have had a couple of orders of birds from you. I bought them when I was in Kellogg, Idaho. I am not engaged in the business now, but intend to start again in the spring. I thought perhaps you would like to have some advertising left atthe show. I am always interested in telling people about the Plymouth Rock Squab Com- pany, as you sent me fine birds on both of my orders. JI am in a position now to tell lots of people about you, as I am soliciting for a tea house here and call on a good many people who raise poultry and pigeons. If you will send me some advertising I will pass it out to good advantage, and possibly I can send you on some orders. I will feel amply paid if you send me good birds when I order next spring. The demand for squabs increases every day. The price paid depends on the size and color and mostly on one’s ability to sell them to the tight people.—G. Evans, Utah. The birds you sent me last April are doing nicely. Have saved considerable squabs as breeders, and have sold enough to more than pay ‘or feed. I have never sold squabs for less than $3.75 per dozen to dealers, and re- ceive $6 per dozen from private trade. These were raised from your Extra Homers. Have had squabs run as high as seventeen ounces, but they average fourteen ounces each. You can use above as an unsolicited testimonial if you wish. Yours for continued success.—H. A. Parkhurst, New. Jersey. APPENDIX G I recently moved to Utah from Bedford, Indiana, and while in Bedford I bought some Homers from you. They were beauties, and I can’t get along without some pigeons out here. The prospects for squab raising here are good. Iam trying to get some one interested who owns property and can put up a large plant. I have misplaced your catalogue and must ask for another one. Squabs bring $6 to $7 a dozen here now (1913).—George G. Crocker, Utah. Plymouth Rock squabs are bringing sixty cents apiece with prospects of very heavy sales this winter. My private trade is rapidly in- creasing, due to the fact that my customers are doing a little free advértising for me. A satisfied customer surely is your best advertise- ment.—R. W. Edson, Ohio. Received your dollar Manual and it is the plainest and easiest understood of anything that has ever come under my eyes. You may use my letter and name if it will help to get amateurs to read the Manual, as it is surely a great help.—A. E. Edgerton, Michigan. I have only a few hundred now, but will en- large my squab plant as it furnishes the capital. I am greatly pleased with the magazine and look to your National Standard Squab Book for advice, and have implicit confidence in it. I know its advice is good because I have been in the poultry business for twenty years, and have had pigeons for pleasure and have natural love for all the feathered tribe.—Mrs, Edith Love, West Virginia. We find a ready market for squabs in Chicago at $3.50 for eight-pound, $4.50 for nine-pound squabs. We ship at 3.45 p.m. and they are in Chicago for the next morning’s market. We had a severe case of canker in one bird, his own fault, as he must have eaten the dirty feed from the floor, and we cleaned out the mouth with a bit of cotton wound around a match, moistened with vaseline, then we covered the spots with sulphur, Had to treat him for a week and a day and the canker was all gone.— Griffin & Hazen, Wisconsin. : I went to one of the markets in Vancouver to buy a chicken and after making a purchase I inquired the price of squabs that were in a crate nearby. The marketman thought I wanted some, I suppose, and said, “‘ Seventy- five cents a pair.’”’ When he found out that I had no intention of buying he talked with me about them and said he paid sixty cents a pair and sometimes more, but never less.—Harry Gardner, British Columbia. An easy way to lose money in the squab business is to follow the advice of those who talk but have nothing to show for their talking; and, conversely, the successful pigeons and methods are found on the places of the money- makers, who have eager attention when they talk or write. APPENDIX