National Standard Squab Book. a8 
sell for fifty cents a pair and are frequently offered as Homers. “Do Dot 
start with common pigeons and think to learn the habits of squab ‘breeders 
with them. If you cross a common with a Homer pigeon you will take 
away the good qualities of the Homer and add nothing. There’ is not 
one element in a common pigeon which if added to a Homer would im- 
prove the offspring. It is hard to convince some people that there is any 
difference in pigeons whose feathers are the same color. The result is 
they buy the cheapest they can get. After feeding them for a time and 
getting no profitable results, they are compelled to sell them to the first 
trap shooter who comes along, and they go among their townspeople de- 
claring that the pigeon business is no good. Remember this point, that if 
you are going te buy grain and feed it to anything so as to get a profit, 
it is the best policy to fecd it to that grade of animal which will show the 
largest profit. Very few people are satisfied with shoddy suits nowa- 
days, even if they lock almost as well as the all-wool garments. It is 
the wear which the customer is after. Beware of shoddy pigeons. Buy 
the best Homers you can get, they will wear best and give you the most 
pride. Experienced poultrymen do not go here and there looking for 
fowls at cut prices. They buy breeding stock of u reliable ‘breeder which 
is reliable and sold at a price which will enable the seller to deliver a 
high quality article. We can tell pretty well when an order for our 
reeding stock comes from an old poultry man, for they all write: “I 
want the best stock you can give me.” 
Good Homers do not glut the markets. They are always fairly scarce, 
and the price for them has always been well kept up. Beware of cheap 
Homers for sale at cut prices. There is always something the matter 
with such birds. They have been worked too long and are played out, 
or if a flock is offered “at a bargain,” the birds do not produce the large, 
plump, No. 1 squab, but only culls. If a squab breeder is going to quit 
the business and offers you his flock of birds on the bargain counter, 
make him give a good reason to you for selling. If he has been unable 
to make the tlock pay, you may be sure that you will be unable to make 
them pay. If he offers them to you without a good reason for selling, 
the chances are that it is a poor flock and he has got tired of buying 
grain for them, and wishes to saddle the burden on you. We are always 
selling breeders and it is very much to our interest to ‘protect our repu- 
tation by sending cut only good Homers that will make money for their 
owners, and this is what we do, and our large business has been built 
up by square dealing, and knowing the business thoroughly. 
A pair of Homers capable of earning a pair of squabs in one monath 
which will sell for at least 50 cents is worth more than $1 or $1.25 a pair. 
A pair of birds capable of earning only a ten-cent or twenty-cent pair of 
squabs once in two or three months is worth only 50 cents a pair. Jersey 
cows are worth more than common cows because they earn more. Good 
Homer pigeons, bred skilfully, are woith more than poor Homers because 
they earn more. 
