114 SQUABS FOR PROFIT 



skin ; corn a more yellow one ; while wheat, if fed too 

 largely, will surely give a darker hue to the skin. A 

 well-balanced ration will not only give best results as 

 to plumpness and size, but also as to color. 



Account keeping. — Any business requires a careful 

 system of keeping accounts so that at any time the ex- 

 act financial condition of the enterprise may be known. 

 Our method is the very simple one of entering all re- 

 ceipts on one side of the account, and all disburse- 

 ments on the other, but it is attended to daily and at 

 the end of each month we know exactly how the 

 plant is running and on the last day of the year 

 the balance sheet tells the story. 



A record is kept of the number of squabs produced 

 and sold and a column tells the cost of feed and other 

 supplies. The same necessity exists in raising squabs 

 of knowing how the business is paying as in any other. 

 A breeder careless of his accounts can easily run 

 further into debt with a poor purchase than he would 

 care to unless he puts down all outgoes at the time. 

 Some breeders sell squabs and pay their feed bills 

 and guess they are doing well enough, but at the end 

 of the year they do not have any cash surplus from the 

 business. 



When prices are high and the whole flock working 

 well it is easy to be deceived into thinking the flock is 

 paying well, but there are other times during the year 

 when the production of squabs falls off, and a loss 

 occurs. Unless exact records are made daily the 

 footings of the columns of expenses at the end of the 

 year may exceed that of the income. Keeping an ac- 

 curate account enables one to keep a finger on the 

 business and to detect and stop any leaks. 



