National Standard Squab Book. 23 
by freight without previous notice to the American Hide and Leather 
Company at Lowell, Mass., and are paid for it at the rate of sixty cents 
a bushel, 
A peculiarity about pigeon manure is that it is not foul-smelling like 
hen manure, and when it is mixed with water you get a kind of crude 
soap. In washing the nappies, no soap is necessary. Use warm water in 
washing them and the manure caked to them forms a cleansing soap in 
conjunction with the water. If you have a basket in which.,you have 
transported pigeons, and whose ‘bottom is caked with the hard droppings, 
lay the basket face down and sprinkle water liberally on the underside 
and the manure will drop off in large pieces from the inside aud the 
basket will ‘become perfectly clean. 
In raising live stock of any kind, arrange matters so the animals will 
look after themselves as much as possible. We all know that automatic 
machinery has cheapened many articles formerly dear, and the perfect 
breeding outfit is automatic, needing only a supply of feed and water. 
Aim to cut down the factor of personal drudgery, so-as to leave your 
time clear to observe aud plan, and execute intelligently. Beginners who 
load themselves down with a daily round of exacting duties soon lose 
heart, their patience gives out and they become disgusted. We have 
known breeders of rabbits to fail simply because they raised them in 
hutches. Hach hutch had a door and two dishes, one for feed, the other 
for water. Hvery day, the door of the hutch had to be opened, the hutch 
cleanéd, the dishes refilled (and often cleaned), and the door closed. It 
took 15 or 20 motions to do this for each hutch. Multiply this by 20 to 30 
{the number of the hutches), and the burden grew unbearable. It was not 
surprising that in three or four mouths the breeder’s patience was worn 
out. The factor of personal drudgery had become greater than the rab- 
bits. ‘The ‘thoughtful breeder would have turned his rabbits into two or 
three enclosures on the ground and let them shift for themselves. Then 
one set of motions in feeding would have answered for all, and there 
would have ‘been no dirt to clean up. Infinite patience as well as skill jis 
required to make a success of animals given individual attention. The 
aim of every breeder should be to make one minute of his time serve the 
greatest possible number of animals. When you think and reason for 
yourself, you understand how much more practical it is to give sixty ani- 
mals one minute of your time tuan one animal one minute. Time is money 
and if you are too particular, and too fussy, and thoughtless about these 
details, it is a clear case of the chances being sixty to one against you. 
‘At the start, the problem of breeding squabs for market is in your favor, 
because one hundred pairs of breeding pigeons may be handled as easily 
and as rapidly as one pair. Try to keep this numerical advantage in your 
favor all the time. Discard every plan that ¢uts down the efficiency of 
your own labor, and adopt every device that will give you contro] in the 
same time over a greater number of pigeons. 
It takes brains and skilled labor to run a poultry plant successfully. 
