WATER AND FEED 55 
losing the order for breeding stock either of the woman in 
Santa Cruz or of the gentleman in Cleveland, but we wrote to 
both that they ought not to go into the squab-raising business 
if they were to be dependent on us for grain, that it was too 
far to send and that if they would look jaround home they 
could get what they wanted. 
Here in New England we feed to pigeons cracked corn, red 
wheat, hemp-seed, Canada peas, kaffir corn, — the foregoing 
as a rule, and sometimes, when cheap, buckwheat, millet and 
barley. 
It was formerly thought that whole corn was not a good 
food for pigeons, on the theory that the old pigeons would eat 
the large kernels and then, perhaps, feed them to squabs, 
choking them. In practice, not one case in one hundred like 
that will be found: Whole corn is much relished by pigeons. 
They will eat it before they will eat anything else, except 
hempseed, and there is no danger in using it. In many 
sections of the country, we find, good cracked corn is not so 
easy to procure as good whole corn. The grain dealers take 
their poor whole corn, sometimes, and work it over into 
cracked corn. Gvod whole corn speaks for itself and when 
you buy it there is no doubt about it. 
All the time people write to us and say they never heard of 
red wheat. More write and say they don’t know what kaffir 
corn is. Others are puzzled by hemp-seed, they have never 
seen any. That is surprising to us here in New England, but 
no doubt we would be just as surprised if we were in our 
customers’ places. 
Let us see if we cannot level up the whole country on this 
question of feed for pigeons. As a rule, we say, feed the 
grains which are nearest you. This country hasits corn belt, 
its wheat belt, its section where millet is raised. Buckwheat 
is plentiful in another section. For your leading grain, 
your staple, feed corn. The point to remember is to feed a 
variety of grains. Keep this word variety in your mind all 
the time in dealing with your pigeons. Their appetites do 
not grow keen on a monotonous diet, they will not lay the 
eggs they should, and their health will not be good on it. 
Vary the diet. 
In order to find out what grains are convenient to you, go to 
your nearest grain dealer or country general store. The 
