APPENDIX G 



389 



HOW A MARYLAND WOMAN COOKS 

 SQUABS, by Mrs. Clara M. Hodson. I 



recently furnished the squabs and recipe for 

 preparing them for a spring luncheon. I 

 cannot always fill my orders for fresh birds. 

 Here are two of my squab recipes : 



Grandma's Pigeon Pie. 



When I was a little girl, I went from the city 

 every summer to visit my grandparents, living 

 on a large farm on a beautiful river in Mary- 

 land. There was an old mill on this place of 

 the Dutch type of wind gristmills. It had 

 gone to decay and become a rookery or pigeon 

 loft. I would cUmb up and gather the young 

 squabs in a basket and take them to my grand- 

 mother, and then we would anxiously await 

 dinner. This is the way she made it: After 

 the bird had been shorn of feathers and drawn, 

 it was split down the back with a sharp knife 

 and pressed flat, or cut in half, as many pre- 

 ferred half a bird, and it serves better. Placing 

 the birds in a large stewing kettle, she covered 

 them with water, cut up a very small onion, 

 and a tablespoonful of minced parsley. This 

 she added with salt, and a tiny piece of red 

 pepper pod, to the cooking birds, about ten 

 or fifteen minutes cooking. 



Having made a nice pastry, she lined a large 

 round baking pan with it, and put in the birds 

 and stock. Adding a large lump of butter, half 

 a cup of flour for thickening, and a cupful of 

 rich milk or cream, she would cover the whole 

 with fine pastry, touching here and there with a 

 little butter, and bake until it was a golden 

 brown, serving very hot at the midday dinner 

 with fresh vegetables and plenty of fruit. 

 About it there are pleasant memories. 



Roast Squab with Peas. 



Select medium-sized, fat squabs, draw and 

 wash thoroughly, cleansing the mouth and bill 

 carefully. Tuck the head under the left wing, 

 bending wings close to the sides of the birds. 

 Make an incision in which to tuck the legs, 

 after cutting off the feet. Stuff the birds with 

 minced celery (or minced celery and bread- 

 crumbs), salt and pepper birds and rub with 

 butter and a little flour. Place them in a 

 shallow baking pan with just enough water to 

 keep them from burning, and roast about 

 twenty minutes in a hot oven, frequently bast- 

 ing with the juices drawn from the birds. Serve 

 whole or individual plates with a garnish of 

 water cress and two tablespoonfuls of sifted 

 or very small peas. Celery gives the flavor of 

 the canvasback duck to the squab, and the 

 whole makes a very acceptable spring luncheon. 



Question : Please tell me the proper propor- 

 tion of grain to feed my pigeons, so as to obtain 

 the largest squabs. My squabs although they 

 have been as large as a pound apiece when 

 four weeks old, now scarcely weigh half of that. 

 An^er: The feed has a great deal to do with 

 the weight of the squabs. If yo^lr squabs are 

 running light, you should cut down your 

 wheat and feed more com, Canada peas and 

 bread crumbs, all of which are fattening. 



HOW I STARTED A BOYS' PIGEON 

 CLUB, by Reuben Brigham. Knowing how 

 much pigeons have meant to me, I have been 

 always glad to help other boys to learn to care 

 for them and stick to them. About a year ago, 

 the pigeon craze struck the boys in this Mary- 

 land neighborhood, and I helped organize the 

 Sandy Spring Pigeon Club with thirteen charter 

 members, all being boys under twenty-one 

 excepting myself. Our object was "to encour- 

 age the keeping of pigeons in this neighbor- 

 hood and to promote the more inteUigent and 

 profitable care of those already in our posses- 

 sion." We agreed to meet every other Friday 

 night and to admit only bona fide pigeon 

 keepers. Strangely enough, after the first en- 

 thusiasm waned, the attendance and interest 

 continued and it is rare that more than one or 

 two members are absent. Minutes are read, 

 short papers are written and delivered, and pig- 

 eon papers subscribed to and studied. 



MUSLIN WINDOWS FOR ME, NO GLASS, 

 by W. E. Blakslee. Last fall we put up on our 



new mountain site a building for our Plymouth 

 Rock squab breeders, two hundred feet long, 

 twenty-four feet wide, with a four-foot wide 

 alleyway lengthwise in the center. Over this 

 alleyway the whole length of the building is a 

 lantern, with windows in its sides. All the doors 

 for the pens are only frames. The ones on the 

 alleyway are covered with wire. The outside 

 ones opening into the flying yards are covered 

 with muslin. The windows in the lantern are 

 also frames covered with muslin. At each end 

 of the alleyway is a tight-boarded door swing 

 ing out for winter use, and a wired frame door 

 swinging in for summer use. The way the 

 doors and windows are arranged makes sure 

 of no direct circulation across the nestboxec. 

 There are no drafts from the use of muslin, but 

 we do plan not to have any direct line of circula- 

 tion across the nests. Our building is on posts 

 six feet above the ground. The floor is double 

 boarded with paper between. This gives a 

 thorough ventilation underneath and the whole 

 building is perfectly free from any ground 

 dampness whatever. 



Just two years ago I bought four pairs of 

 Plymouth Rock Homers and ten pairs of Ply- 

 mouth Rock Carneaux. I have thirty-five 

 pairs of Homers (sold all the rest for squabs) 

 and four hundred Carneaux — sold seventy- 

 three. So you can see that for a beginner I 

 have done fairly well. I never have sold a 

 squab for less than twenty-five cents, and never 

 had enough of them to supply my neighbors. 

 I have just bought five acres and hope to build 

 up a good business. Will want more birds 

 before the first of the year. — W. C. Barrett, 

 California. 



Have some cards printed with " Eat Squabs 

 and Stay Young " on them. Send these to all 

 the women in town who are financially able 

 to eat such; and explain in brief why squabs 

 are the best meat. Be sure that you have an 

 extra supply on hand when you do this. 



