APPENDIX G 



327 



$9 TO $12 A DAY FROM SQUABS AND 

 EGGS, by J. E. Ross. In May, 1910 I pur- 

 chased thirteen pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock 

 Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab 

 Company, and as it is more than a year now 

 since I received them, I thought you would 

 like to know what they have been doing and 

 what I have been doing. 



The birds arrived on a Saturday afternoon, 

 and by Friday of the following week twelve 

 pairs were sitting on eggs, and they are still 

 at it. From the original thirteen pairs I have 

 raised one hundred pairs of the finest birds 

 that you would want to look at. I have not 

 lost any old birds, nor have I had any sickness 

 in the flock, nor been troubled with lice. 



Out of the thirteen pairs, nine pairs have 

 raised nine pairs of squabs from May, 1910 to 

 May, 1911, one pair eight pairs of squabs, and 

 three pairs eleven pairs of squabs in the same 

 time. My squabs weigh from twelve ounces 

 to seventeen ounces at four weeks old, the 

 majority of them weighing from fourteen to 

 fourteen and one-half ounces each. I sell my 

 squabs by the ounce, five cents an ounce, to 

 private trade. 



I feed a mixture of Canada peas, red wheat, 

 buckwheat, kaffir corn, whole round corn, 

 lentils, millet and hempseed. I use the self 

 feeder described in Rice's Manual. It costs 

 me six cents a month per bird to keep my 

 flock. 



I have many visitors who come to see my 

 Homers. They all say that they are the finest 

 they ever saw. 



I will tell you how I came to start in the 

 squab business. About three years ago I met 

 with an accident on the railroad where I was 

 employed, and it left me in such a condition 

 that I was unable to do any work without 

 sitting down to rest very often. I found it 

 very hard to get work where I could do that, 

 and as my small bank account v/as getting 

 smaller, I had to do something very soon. 

 A friend of mine told me of the squab business. 

 Iread Rice's Manual until I had it off by heart, 

 then I sent for the birds. I have never re- 

 gretted the day that I spent the thirty dollars 

 lor the Plymouth Rock Homers. I have sold 

 several pairs of breeders for four dollars a 

 pair, and have refused a number of sales at 

 that price, for they are worth that much to 

 me. 



As I went around in my Long Island town 

 selling my squabs, the people would ask me 

 for fresh eggs, so I decided to buy eggs and 

 sell them with my squabs. When I first 

 started with squabs I was not making a cent. 

 I am picking up from nine dollars to twelve 

 dollars a day now with my squabs and eggs. 

 At present I have more orders for squabs 

 than I can supply, and my place will not 

 accommodate another pen of birds. I am 

 looking for a larger place now, and if I can 

 get it I am going to put in two more pens of 

 Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and I am going 

 to get them from the Plymouth Rock Squab 

 Co., so you can expect to hear from me 

 again. 



LOOK OUT FOR SUBSTITUTION. Many 

 newspapers from. Maine to California have 

 poultry and pigeon columns of advertisers 

 selling breeding stock. We have noticed, and 

 no doubt our customers have, the freedom, 

 not to say license, with which " Plymouth 

 Rock " Homers and Cameaux are offered in 

 such columns. In nearly every city there are 

 some irresponsible hand-to-mouth dealers sell- 

 ing all breeds of pigeons, and every Homer and 

 Cameau they can get hold of is promptly 

 labelled or advertised as "Plymouth Rock" 

 and sold on the strength of the reputation our 

 birds have made. This substitution some- 

 times can be worked on a buyer who may be 

 afraid to send money by letter. We have 

 stopped a good deal of it with the help of 

 customers who have called our attention to 

 cases in their States. The use of our trade 

 mark, unless specifically authorized by license 

 from us, is illegal and we will be indebted to 

 friends who will point out to us cases of violation 

 as they see them. Imitation is the sincerest 

 flattery, it is true, and the fact that our pigeons 

 are the standard for comparison or for making 

 sales, in the different markets and advertising 

 mediums, is gratifj'ing, but competition of 

 that kind is unfair. We give only to customers 

 the right to sell their killed squabs as Plymouth 

 Rock squabs, no matter where they live, and 

 we want no better testimony than is printed 

 from month to month to prove that this trade 

 mark is worth money on the price of the squabs. 

 It is the right kind of an introduction to the 

 big squab buyers. Every week letters come 

 from somebody who has bought of our " agent " 

 and has some disappointment to record. We 

 have no agents anywhere. All trading with 

 us is done direct with our Melrose farm, or 

 Boston office, or it is not Plymouth Rock 

 business. 



WHAT TO DO WITH STRAY EGG, by 



W. E. Blakslee. Young birds are liable to lay 

 their first eggs anywhere, in a nest, on the 

 floor, and sometimes even you will find their 

 eggs out in the flying pen. They lay their 

 eggs, but many times a pair pays no more 

 attention to them. Many seem to think such 

 eggs are not fertile, but I find the chance is 

 that they are. Save them and put one in 

 each new nest of your other birds the day their 

 second egg is laid. This is your chance for 

 a few extra squabs. What if you do have 

 three in a nest? When you match up your 

 squabs you may need these extra ones that 

 you may get this way. Every squab saved 

 counts to the good. 



BIG HOMER INCREASE, by N. A. Huston. 



My stock of six pairs of Plymouth Rock 

 Extra Homers was bought in 1907, March 22. 

 I have about three hundred birds today, Jan- 

 uary 31, 1910. My intention now is to raise 

 as many squabs as I can for market. I made 

 an outlay of about $250 on my squabhouse 

 last spring, raising on three-foot posts, new 

 floors, etc. Expect to enlarge in another year 

 if nothing happens. 



