APPENDIX G 



393 



I FEED A GREAT DEAL OF SWISS 

 CHARD, by Hugh Steele. The market here 

 (Kansas) is not very good yet, but is improving. 

 I think a few good marketmen would make it 

 the equal of any, as with all the large cities 

 surrounding us, and very strict game laws 

 being made, the demand is sure to come very 

 fast. Our grain market is rather high: wheat 

 ninety cents, corn eighty cents, kaffir $1.50 

 per hundred. Canada peas cost about $2 per 

 bushel here and hemp sixteen pounds for $1. 

 I feed a great deal of Swiss chard, which seems 

 to be relished very much. A small bed will 

 supply a large flock, as it is a very rank grower. 



GOOD SQUAB DEMAITO AROUND 

 PITTSBURG, by James G. Bennett. It costs 

 me about $1.40 here (Pennsylvania) to feed a 

 pair of breeding pigeons that raise from eight 

 to ten pairs of squabs a year. That is the cost 

 with good feed. Do not ever feed old or musty 

 grain. In their free state, pigeons can select 

 a variety of grain and seeds, but when they 

 are kept in flying pens, they must, of course, take 

 what they aie given. While you may have 

 seeming success for a time feeding only cracked 

 com and wheat or any other two grains selected, 

 yet a long continued feeding of such invariably 

 fails to produce as many or as good squabs as 

 when a properly balanced ration is provided. 

 Always have oyster-shell and the best of grit 

 before them, and I find it very healthful to mix 

 a little air-slaked lime and Venetian red with 

 their grit. The lime sweetens their crops and 

 helps the same as oyster-shell in producing eggs. 

 I find kerosene oil and turpentine in equal parts 

 good for canker, two or three drops to a dose. 

 There is a fine outlet for squabs in this section, 

 Pittsburg being the main market. In fact all 

 along the three rivers here there is a good sale 

 for squabs, as there are so many hotels and 

 clubhouses. The supply cannot more than 

 half meet the demand. The price paid by the 

 wholesalers in Pittsburg is $5.25 a dozen for 

 twelve-pounds-to-the-dozen squabs. 



ONE BOY'S WORK, by Roland Ralph. 



There is not a very good squab market in 

 Richmond, Va., but I can make two hundred 

 pairs pay me a good profit. I have made 

 twelve hundred dollars clear profit out of three 

 chicken incubators, twenty-two turkeys and 

 a small root beer plant on two acres of ground, 

 which father gave me, and I worked only after 

 school and vacation time. 



I am situated near the city of Chicago, and I 

 think I have a golden opportunity facing me. 

 Upon having a personal interview with a stew- 

 ard of a certain hotel in Chicago, I was informed 

 that squabs were as high as $7.50 per dozen this 

 summer. The commission merchants were 

 paying $3.50 last week.— W. G. Puis, Illinois. 



I bought thirteen pairs of Plymouth Rock 

 Homers, part of them a Uttle over a year ago, 

 and the others will be two years this fall. I now 

 (June. 1910) have 250 all told.— R- C. Brenmer, 

 Illinois. 



HOMERS BREED BETTER IN DARK- 

 ENED PEN, by Richard L. Fishburne. I have 

 found by experience that my breeders do better 

 work in a loft slightly darkened. My build- 

 ings face south, are 10x15x10 feet, with a 

 fly about the same size for each pen. Around 

 the fly I have planted sunflowers and sweet 

 peas which add to the attractiveness of the 

 place, at the same time affording shade for 

 the birds, keep dampness from the fly and loft 

 and give me a quantity of feed. Once each 

 week my lofts are scraped and sprayed with 

 a ten per cent solution of creolin, and air-slaked 

 lime scattered on the floors. A few applica- 

 tions of this solution will soon saturate the 

 wood and positively prevent any lice in the 

 lofts. About once or twice a week in the sum- 

 mer I use a small quantity of creolin in the 

 bath water and in spraying any birds or squabs 

 that are near, spray without injury or frighten- 

 ing them. 



The reason Plymouth Rock Homers are so 

 popular is that the squabs they produce are 

 good enough for any market. In many hands, 

 skilful in feeding and selection, they do the 

 work of more expensive breeds costing three 

 times as much, and more. We have a letter 

 dated August 23 from a customer in Connecti- 

 cut, John N. Moeller by name, stating: *' I 

 intend to purchase a piece of property and erect 

 a large plant and buy stock of you as soon as I 

 find a satisfactory place to sell squabs in large 

 lots, and regularly. As already stated in 

 previous correspondence, I have raised twenty 

 squabs from three pairs since March 12, 1910, 

 and every one weighed one pound alive at jour 

 weeks of age." Mr. Moeller does not say that 

 some weigh a pound apiece, or that the average 

 weight of his squabs is one pound. He states 

 that every one weighed one pound. This is 

 twelve poTtnds to the dozen. The sales of Ply- 

 mouth Rock Homers are many times more than 

 all other pigeons combined. 



As we have before written, always remem- 

 ber that prices of pigeons mean nothing with- 

 out service. We throw out twenty-five per 

 cent of all our pigeons, sending them in as culls 

 to market, where we get only the eating price. 

 We don't put them into shipments and expect 

 the customer to throw them out. Moreover, 

 we don't keep our best pieeons. Every bird 

 on our farm is for sale. Anybody who calls 

 there and fancies a bird can take it away with 

 him in a coop and we're glad to see it go. 



My present squab plant consists of 300 pairs 

 Homers, and a few larger breeders, but no Car- 

 neaiix. I have been visiting various squab 

 plants in the country, and know what a good 

 Carneau is supposed to look like. Most ot 

 the Carneaux that I have seen do not come up 

 to what I call good Carneaux. The best that 

 I have set my eyes on so far are those owned by 

 M. C. Martin, and he told me that they were 

 from you. Enclosed you will find a bank draft 

 for which please send me the eleven pairs of 

 Carneaux under the conditions stated. — J. E. 

 Unruh, Kansas. 



