hatched from studied inbreedings often are 

 so weak that their progress across the barn- 

 yard is like the tottering, falling progress of 

 a drunltflrd. There are no brothers and sis- 

 ters 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. 



NAPPIES. 

 This illustration shows the two nappies, 

 the small size and the large size, the uses 

 of which we have fully explained, ""^ey are 

 made of yellow glazed earthenware. On 

 Page 29 we say: "Do not use the earthenware 

 nests or wooden boxes which you may find 

 advertised," meaning by "earthenware 



nests'* the extremely deep heavy* brown, 

 unglazed clay nests shaped something like 

 1 he bottom part of an egg cup (only, of 

 course, larger). These are not only expen- 

 sive, but impractical, a relic of ancient, 

 cumbrous and inefCectlve methods. 

 FOOD MATERIALS. 



If anv of the food materials which we tell 

 about in the Manual puzzles you, ask your 

 grain dealer for samples and prices. Some 

 write to us saying they have never heard of 

 .Kaffir corn, another wishes to know where 

 he can get red wheat. All the food supplies 

 are obtainable anywhere in the United States, 

 Canada or foreign countries. If your grain 

 dealer has not on hand a certain kind, the 

 reason is that he has few calls for It, but 

 he can get it for you as easily as he gets 

 oats or chicken food. Many grain dealers 

 keep only horse feed and don't know any- 

 thing about other animal foods. If the dealer 

 nearest you has no Kaffir corn, ask him if he 

 has a pigeon mixture. You will probably 

 And his pigeon mixture contains Kaffir corn, 

 and this mixture is what you should buy. 

 Put it into your self-feeder just as It Is. Mix 

 up the quantity for the self-feeder of wheat 

 and com (bearing in mind what we have 

 said about varying the amount of corn so as 

 to keep down the heat In the blood). Vary 

 the dainties, feeding by hand as much or as 

 little as you choose. The birds will searcli 

 out the dainties with a rush and eat them 

 first. Throw them on the yard of the flying 

 pen or the floor of the squab-house. 



On Page 33, "How to Feed." the diet given 

 ts for local (New England) use. We did not 



think tlie Manual would find its way over 

 such a wide area of country as it has. We 

 wish to emphasize the fact, that pigeons are 

 like human beings. To be kept In perfect 

 health, they must be given a variety of foods. 

 We did not intend to give "Feed no whole 

 corn," aa a hard and fast rule. In the spring 

 months, it Is Impossible to get cracked corn 

 tliat is sweet and good. , It heats, sours, and 

 is unfit for feed. Another thing, in some 

 localities it is not convenient to procure the 

 cracked corn. Then we say feed the corn 

 whole. But remember to keep your birds i.i 

 health, you must feed a variety of other 

 grains. Locality often determines the grain. 

 For instance, we have the corn belt, the 

 wheat belt, also local centres, where buck- 

 wheat is raised, which also is an excellent 

 pigeon feed, second only to wheat. Other lo- 

 calities produce barley, another grain that Is 

 a good feed for pigeons, so considered by the 

 English. Millet la another wholesome grain. 

 Keep this one great fact before you at all 

 times, to feed a variety of grains; by doing 

 this you will avoid diseases of all kinds, and 

 your birds will be in the pink of condition 

 at all seasons of the year. In feeding whole 

 corn, do not mix it with your finer grains. 

 In feeding corn to our birds we scatter it oii 

 the floor or ground. The feed boxes are all 

 the time supplied with the finer grains. After 

 the birds eat all they wish of the whole corn, 

 they adjourn to the feed boxes for their des- 

 sert. Allow them to chooge their own diet, 

 and their health, happiness, and your pros- 

 perity will be with you. Some of our readers 

 will say, ' 'The Doctor says nothing about 

 oats. " As a muscle-making food, and to 

 build frame, there is nothing like oats, but 

 in using oats we prefer them hulled. In that 

 way we feed them .all the time, especially 

 when we are raising young for breeders. But 

 for market squabs, we eliminate It from the 

 bill of fare, as oats are not a fat producer. 



SHIPPING CRATES. 

 This photograph shows our smallest-sized 



75 



