10 
the bags pile up and then send them back 
to us in a bunch. We are particular to save 
. not only the manure in the unit pens, but 
in the sorting and mating cages and coops. 
We cover the floors of these cages with bur- 
lap, not tacking the burlap down, but 
stretching it over three finish nails tacked 
at the backs of the cages and two nails 
tacked at the front of the cages. The 
manure cakes and dries on the burlap as it 
would on the floor. When there is a layer 
about half an inch thick, all tramped hard, 
dry and odorless by the constant hammering 
of the feet of the birds, we take the burlap 
off the nails and stretch it outside, bottom 
up, then sprinkle water on the back and 
the manure drops off in large cakes. The 
burlap then is dried and _ replaced. This 
method saves an immense amount of time 
which otherwise would be consumed in 
scraping the floors of the cages. We have 
108 of these cages at the farm and in our 
Boston shipping room, each capable of hold- 
ing from 12 to 20 pairs of birds, and we have 
burlap carpets on all of them. We use a 
large amount of burlap not only for this 
purpose but for small grain bags to go with 
orders for breeders to distant points, and 
also for the floors of our shipping baskets. 
We buy this burlap in large rolls weighing 
150 pounds and containing from 300 to 320 
square yards. We do not hem it or sew it in 
any way for the cages, simply cut it and in 
stretching it over the nails fold the raw 
edges under. ? 
Having read the Manual, you know that we 
do not use sand or sawdust in our squab 
houses, so we are able to deliver manure 
which is absolutely pure. The tanneries do 
not like to get lots of impure manure and 
of course pay more for the unadulterated 
article. It is just as easy and more business- 
like to keep this by-product pure. 
The manure in the houses has no odor, 
but when we have got it scraped up and 
banked in the manure house, it gives forth 
a pungent, ammonia-like smell. As the 
manure house is entirely cut off from the 
Squab houses by the slide in the passage- 
way, this pungency does not trouble any- 
one. It is not a nasty smell, anyway. 
We have had customers from as far off 
as Ilinois write that they were quite 
charmed with our story about the manure, 
and that they were saving up bags of it to 
ship by freight to the American Hide and 
Leather Company at Lowell, Mass. This 
tannery is a branch of the Leather Trust, 
which has other tanneries, so use your wits 
and find out which tannery is nearest you, 
and ship to that one. If you can find a 
tannery not in the trust, sell to that, if you 
wish to. If you sell to a trust tannery, the 
check which pays you will come from the 
New York office of the trust, same as ours 
do. We recommend our New England cus- 
National Standard Squab Book. 
tomers to ship to Lowell. We have always 
found the leather people square in measuring 
the manure, in fact they have given us credit 
on two or three occasions for more than we 
thought we had. They pay after you have 
sent your bill of lading and the report of 
the measurer has gone to the New York 
office. You need not be afraid of swamping 
the leather trust with pigeon manure. They 
will take all you can scrape up. They use it 
to take the hair off the raw hides, and it is 
said to be the only substance which will do 
this job thoroughly without injuring the 
hide. Chemicals which are used as substi- 
tutes when pigeon manure cannot be had are 
said to be injurious to the hide. 
We write the above to help you sell the 
Manure from your squab houses. Do not 
ask us to advise you further on this point, 
for we cannot. If you cannot find a tannery 
within shipping distance, try the florists. 
We are informed that the florists’ exchange 
in New York city is a good place to sell 
pigeon manure, and customers near that 
city have told us that they are selling there. 
SQUABS IN THE POULTRY PRESS.—The 
magazines devoted to poultry are beginning 
to take up squabs on account of the in- 
creasing interest shown by poultrymen in 
the subject. In the Poultry Keeper for Nov. 
15th, 1902, appeared a contribution by A. 
Spiller. After giving the general arrange- 
ments for caring for the birds, he says: ‘‘At 
about four weeks of age the squabs are 
ready for market. Some markets require 
them dressed, others only killed. Good 
breeding pigeons will hatch and rear from 
six to eleven pair of young a year. The cost 
to keep a pair of breeders, including the rals- 
ing of the young, at the present time is 
about eighty cents a year, this, of course, 
varying some with location and cost of 
feeding stuff. Wild game birds are becom- 
ing more scarce each year. The properly 
raised squab pigeon comes nearer taking the 
place of these wild birds than anything else. 
That they make fine eating, those who have 
eaten them can not deny. There is always 
a ready sale for good plump squabs at 
hotels, restaurants, markets and private fam- 
ilies, prices ranging from $2.50 to $4.50 per 
dozen, depending upon quality and season. 
When one begins to raise pigeons it is better 
to try to secure strains from some reliable 
breeder who has stock bred along profitable 
lines. There is a difference in regard to 
breeding and feeding qualities and results 
obtained which warrants the paying of a lit- 
tle more at the start in obtaining more 
profitable stock. The writer is in favor of 
the straight Homer, carefully selected as to 
size, shape, breeding and feeding qualities, 
as it is well known that the Homer pigeon 
is one of the best feeders and breeders of 
any variety, and the numbers they will pro- 
duce in a year more than balance any slight 
