CHAPTER XV 



Amount to be Safely Invested 



A question frequently asked is : "Can large capital 

 be safely invested?" To this we answer, yes and no. 

 Yes, if a man has had several years' successful ex- 

 perience in keeping pigeons, and knows where he can 

 buy the kind of stock he must have. We would say 

 no, with emphasis, if any person, who has merely a lot 

 of money, thinks he or she can be successful by invest- 

 ing it in a big lot of birds and the necessary buildings 

 at the start. We believe it is not at all possible for 

 anybody profitably to put, say, $5000 in the business in 

 the first six months, if he has had no previous ex- 

 perience. So far as danger of overstocking the 

 market with squabs is concerned, the fellow who be- 

 gins with a little experience and carefully selects his 

 best birds, will, in our judgment, be doing more to 

 keep the market supplied than half a dozen of the 

 other fellows, who have only money and' no experience 

 in the squab business. 



Interesting experiences. — Our correspondence has 

 given us interesting experience on this very question. 

 Some persons who had considerable means at their 

 command came to us for advice. When they had 

 made careful investigation along the lines we suggested, 

 they very wisely refused to enter the business 

 until they could secure the services of a thoroughly 

 competent man to run their plant. 



We recall two cases in point : One was a New York 

 business man, who was willing to invest from $5,000 

 to $10,000 in the squab business. He wanted to know 



97 



