APPENDIX A 145 



There is a minor criticism in the above know of his experience. His letters are at 



letter in the matter of express charges. Ac- our Boston office, where they may be seen, 



cording to the figures which we give in the We will not give his name by mail because 



circular headed "Express Rates," the cus- he is a customer, but if you think the above 



tomer should have been asked to pay about letters are made up by us, you write to the 



$33, instead of $37, as he did pay. We be- Boston office of Dun's or Bradstreet's com- 



lieve the figures which we give to be correct mercial agencies and ask for one of their 



fn every case the slignt variation which men to be sent to our office to investigate, 



may come as* it came in this case is due to PIGEON MANURE. Our advice in the 



the fact that no two persons will weigh up Manual as to pigeon manure has interested 



the same lot of goods exactly the same, and pigeon breeders all over the country, nearly 



that, of course, the birds vary in weight, all of whom say that they never have taken 



The weight when the shipment starts is less pains to save it, and when it got too thick 



than when it finishes, because at the end they have scraped it up as best they coul* 



the bottoms of the baskets are covered with and used it for fertilizer. They want to know 



manure. (The grain which we send for feed how we keep it pure, and all about the 



is not weighed in and charged for transpor- market, etc. 



tation.) If the waybill is lost or delayed, The pigeon breeder who does not make pfo- 



and the agent at destination weighs the vision for the purity of the manure and the 



shipment, he will get a greater weight, and steady sale of it is just throwing bank bills 



consequently a higher rate, than the express straight into the fire. We have erected, a 



employee who weighed the shipment here jn- special building at our place for just the 



Boston. manure, and take every precaution to keep 



We wish to say further that if you think the manure free from straw, sawdust, sand, 



we have figured the express rates to you too etc. The building stands at the back of one 



low, send us money which we claim to be of the long houses, and about halfway in the 



correct and we will prepay all charges, thus whole plant, so that we can reach it easily 



putting on ourselves and not on you the dif- with a wheelbarrow from the houses. There 



ference. if there is any. is a slide cut in the north wall of what we 



COMMON PIGEONS AGAIN. We have had call No. 2 squab house, and through this 



some of the old-time raisers of squabs from slide the manure is shovelled from the 



common pigeons on the ranches in the Mid- wheelbarrow (standing in the passageway) 



die West write us for more proofs that Horn- directly into the manure house, where it 



ers are ahead of common pigeons. stays until there is from $50 to $100 worth 



In reply we will print here the letter of it, when we bag it up and send it off. 



which we received in January, 1903, from, a First we take the wheelbarrow empty down 



customer as follows: a passageway and stop at a unit pen, then 



"I have for sale between four and five go into the unit pen with a bushel basket 



hundred pen fed common pigeons. Can you and scrapers. We use a trowel to clean off 



use them, and at what price? Should you the nest-pans, a tree-scraper to clean out 



not be in a position to use them yourself the nest-boxes and a hoe or a floor chisel 



probably you could refer me to some one (same as is used to clean off snow and ice 



that is in the market for some fine pen fed from city sidewalks), six inches wide at the 



birds. The Homers which I purchased of blade and with a long handle so that it can 



you some time last summer are doing very be used easily while the operator is standing, 



nicely, and have to make more room for them In scraping the floor, the manure rolls up 



is the reason of wanting to dispose of my with little exertion off the blade of the 



common birds. Thanking you in advance for chisel. It is shovelled into the bushel 



favor asked." basket and the basket taken out into the 



We asked him to tell us if he had not passageway and dumped into the wheelbar- 



found our Homers more profitable than com- row. It takes one man not over thirty min- 



mon pigeons. He replied as follows: utes to clean a pen thoroughly and the 



"In reply to yours will say that your state- product of each pen is between two and three 

 ment of the Homers being more profitable bushels, or from $1.20 to $1.80 for half 

 than the common birds is true, as the fact an hour's work, which is pretty good pav. 

 has been demonstrated to me in the past (We have been getting in the winter of 1903 

 five or six months, by my experience of hav- sixty cents a bushel from the American Hide 

 ing the two lots side by side in senarate and Leather Company of Lowell, Mass.) We 

 pens. My common birds referred to are fijie ship the manure by freight in bags. We buy 

 birds and will sell them F. O. B. at $2.50 per these bags when we can from farmers who 

 dozen, which, taking the plumpness of the have large herds of cows and who use con- 

 bird in consideration, is very reasonable." siderable grain, and they let the bags go for 



The above breeder lives in Missouri and one and two cents apiece. Second-hand bags 



we expect to sell a good many of our Horn- in the Boston junk shops cost from four to 



ers to him and to those in his state who n'ne cents apiece. The leather people let 



