preface. 



This Manual or Handbook on squabs is written to teach people, begin- 

 ners mostly, not merely how to raise squabs, but how to conduct a squab 

 and pigeon business successfully. We have found breeders of squabs who 

 knew how to raise them fairly well and took pleasure in doing so, but 

 were weak on the business end of the industry. The fancier, who raises 

 animals because he likes their looks or their actions, or because he hopes 

 to beat some other fancier at an exhibition, is not the man for whom we 

 have written this book. We have developed Homer pigeons and the 

 Homer pigeon industry solely because they are staples, and the squabs 

 they produce are staples, salable in any market at a remunerative price. 

 The success of squabs as we exploit them depends on their earning capac- 

 ity. They are a matter of business. Our development of squabs is based 

 oa the fact that they are good eating, that people now are in the habit of 

 asking for and eating them, that there is a large traffic in them which may 

 be pushed to an enormous extent without weakening either the market or 

 the price. If, as happens in this case, pigeons are a beautiul pet stock as 

 well as money makers, so much the better, but we never would breed any- 

 thing not useful, salable merely as pets. It is just as easy to pet a prac- 

 tical animal as an impractical animal, and much more satisfying. 



This Manual is the latest and mo.st comprehensive work we have done, 

 giving the results of our experience as fully and accurately as we can pre- 

 sent the subject. It is intended as an answer to the hundreds of letters we 

 receive, and we have tried to cover every point which a beginner or an 

 expert needs, to know. It is a fault of writers of most guide books like 

 this to lea^e out points which they thiuk are too trivial, or "which every- 

 body ought to know." It has been our experience in handling this subject 

 and bringing it home to people that the little points are the ones on which 

 they quickest go astray, and on which they wish the fullest information. 

 After they have a fair start, they are able to thiak out their operations 

 for themselves. Accordingly we have covered every point in this book in 

 simple language and if the details in some places appear too common- 

 place, remember that we have erred on the side of plainness. 



The customers to whom we have sold breeding stock have been of great 

 help to us in arranging and presenting these facts. We asked them to 

 tell us just the points they wished covered, or covered more fully, or just 

 where our writings were weak. They replied in a most kindly way, nearly 

 every letter thanking us heartily, and brimming over with enthusiasm for 

 the sciuab industi'y- 



It has surprised a great many people to learn that Homer pigeons are 

 such a staple and workable article. They have been handled by the old 



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