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APPENDIX G 



WIRE NAILS INSTEAD OF CLEATS. 



Question: I would like to inquire if stale 

 bread crumbled into small pieces about the 

 size of com would be good to feed to squabs. 

 I do not mean exclusively but at times. I 

 have a large bakery and have considerable 

 stale bread which I thought I might be able 

 to use to good advantage in connection with 

 the squab business. Answer: Yes, 



Question: Do pigeons breed as well on the 

 seashore as inland ? Answer: I think so. 

 The species originated in the cliffs on the 

 seashore, according to the ancient writers. I 

 have seen a fine flock of squab breeders at 

 Buzzards Bay, where they fly out over the 

 salt marshes and get a good deal of their 

 living from small snails, eaten shell and all. 



Question: Can peat moss be used for 

 nesting material? Answer: Yes, and it will 

 drive away hce. It is good for nests for 

 setting hens (fowls) for the same reason. 

 An attempt was made in Indiana to use this 

 peat moss for upholstering furniture but this 

 did not work very well. It is used for 

 bedding horses. 



ONE DOLLAR FOR EVERY LOUSE 

 FOUND ON MY BIRDS, by F. Beltran. 



As I believe in exchanging ideas, I am 

 going to tell you about my last arrange- 

 ment of nestboxes such as I draw them 

 here. The whole thing is plain, Ihe 

 bottoms rest on only four nails, two on 

 each side, that is all. My aim has al- 

 ways been to have not the smallest hiding 

 place for mites, etc.. and when I could not 

 avoid having them, then to have them 

 movable so as to be sure to reach the pests, 

 easily, whenever I wanted. Everything 

 inside of my house is absolutely smooth 

 and affords no hiding place for those pests 

 that live in the cracks here in our Mexi- 

 can climate. The lice which live on the 

 bodies of the birds would be also a thing 

 of the past in every house of mine, if only 

 the man in charge would keep as close a. 

 watch on the squab-raising pens as I keep 

 on the breeding stock and raising pens, 

 where I would give a dollar for every 

 louse found on the bodies of the birds. 



SET YOUR STANDARD HIGH. It is 



not merely the birds, it is the intelli- 

 gence and skill behind them. In buying 

 breeding stock, whether pigeons or poul- 

 try, of a man you are not buying simply 

 his birds but you buy his knowledge, skill 

 and experience. He has attained a cer- 

 tain standard which may be high or low, 

 as you can judge for yourself by reading 

 what he says, and knowing his record in 

 the business. All Homers and all Cameaux 

 are not by any means alike. The best 

 ones are furnished by the men of most 

 skill and intelligence, because they have 

 set their standard high and do business 

 accordingly. The man of no standing may 

 offer to sell you birds at half the price of 

 the man whose standing is high, and it almost 

 invariably happens that such birds indeed are 

 found to be worth about half price, because 

 the offering of them at a low price is a confes- 

 sion of the advertiser that he has not a high 

 standard and is not making his birds indis- 

 pensable, but is satisfied to take the trade of 

 people who want the cheapest they can buy, 

 and such people are satisfied with poor stock. 



I have seen something in the magazine 

 about high altitudes and dry climates. Up 

 in this part of Canada it is very dry and we 

 have to make our pigeons breed on the ground 

 so as to get the dampness, for the eggs will 

 dry out if they are up on the wall in nest- 

 boxes. So we do not put more than twenty 

 pairs of pigeons in a house twelve by twelve, 

 and we let them build nests on the ground. — 

 J. H. Smith, Saskatchewan. 



Question: Are pigeon wings salable? An- 

 swer: The wings of colored Homers are not 

 used to any extent on women's hats, but the 

 white wings are readily salable to wholesale 

 milliners. 



