120 
ia 25, 1908,...... .$4.00 and $5.00 a dozen 
‘eb. 8, 1908......... 4.00 and 5.00 a dozen 
Mar. 2, 1908. .: . 3.50 and 5.00 a dozen 
Mar. 21, 1908... .. 3.00 and 4,00 a dozen 
Apr. 11, 1.08 .. 4,00 and 4.50 a dozen 
ay 9,1908......... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen 
une 6, 1908.. . 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen 
uly 3, 1908...... 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen 
uly 18, 1908. 3.50 and 4,00 a dozen 
90 an 
(This edition of this Manual went to press 
in August, 1908. If you write us in 1909 or 
later for Boston quotations we will give them 
to you by letter.) 
Sometimes different newspapers published 
in the same city will give varying quotations 
for squabs, as it depends largely on the 
reporter who writes them. For example, 
in the Boston Globe for Feb. 8, 1908, squabs 
were quoted at $4 and $5 a dozen. In the 
Boston Herald of that same day is the follow- 
ing quotation: ‘‘Squabs are high at $5 and 
$6 a dozen.” On March 14, 1908, the Boston 
Globe quoted squabs at $3.50 and $4 a 
dozen, while the Boston Herald quoted them 
at $5 and $6 a dozen. t 
In every large city are published trade 
bulletins known as ‘“‘Price Current,’ ‘‘Boston 
Prices,’’ ‘‘Market Bulletin,’ ‘Smith & Jones 
Price Current,’’ etc. In some large cities 
one printer will furnish a great many middle- 
men with the same printed sheet, putting 
at the head of each the name of a dealer or 
firm. The prices given in these trade sheets 
are never the true prices, but are what these 
middiemen would like to pay to get the farm 
products quoted. This is quite an important 
subject to farm people but we do not remem- 
ber ever having seen the attention of poultry 
and produce raisers called to this matter 
before. For example, these price current 
sheets in New York will quote squabs at 
$2.50 a dozen when the leading squab buyers 
in that city, such as Messrs. Silz, McLaughlin, 
and Knapp & Van Nostrand are paying 
from $4 to $6 a dozen to squab breeders and 
reselling to their New York retail trade at 
$5 to $8 a dozen. These trade sheets and 
the trade columns in the daily newspapers 
(which are supplied with quotations by the 
dealers) not only quote squabs at prices 
which they would like to pay, but poultry 
and everything in the nature of farm produce. 
Their object, of course, is to get farm produce 
as cheap as they can. If a producer objects 
to the small price they offer him, they will 
send him their printed price quotation sheet 
and write, ‘““You will find the market prices 
enclosed.” The peter not only of squabs 
but of all kinds of farm produce should inform 
himself of the true market and the only way 
to do so is to go into that market by letter, 
telephone or in person and offer to BUY, 
not to sell. en you have found out, for 
example, that the dealer wants $6 a dozen 
for squabs which he has for sale, you can go 
to that man with your squabs and get $4 a 
dozen. Don’t let him take more than his 
fair share of the profits, Some of the poultry 
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 
and produce buyers are not reliable. The 
Rural New Yorker is a farm paper which 
keeps its readers posted on unreliable and 
irresponsible middlemen in New York State. 
Assure yourself that the man or firm which 
is going to buy your squabs is not only 
prepared to pay you good prices but is able 
to give you cash returns promptly. 
The best way to sell squabs is direct to the 
private trade at about double what the 
middlemen pay. customer of ours in 
Illinois who is a printer gets at the private 
trade by the use of a handsome circular 
giving photographs of, squabs and telling 
what they are, prices, etc. He circularizes 
the rich residents and also sends out the 
circular in seply to newspaper advertise- 
ments. His plan works well and gets him 
the top prices. We have told many of our 
customers of the plan and we tell it again 
here so that you may get up such a circular 
if you wish and go after the private trade. 
t will be noticed, in the above table of 
prices, that although the supply of squabs 
has greatly increased during the past five 
years, the demand for squabs created by 
our advertising has more than kept pace 
with it. Prices at this writing (1908) are as 
nigh or higher than we have ever known 
them. ’ 
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. Not a few 
breeders raise squabs by the hundred and 
are successful in every detail of the manage- 
ment of their plant except selling the product. 
Some beginners seem to think they will be 
perfectly helpless without the co-operation 
of some dealer. 
It is a shame to raise fine squabs and 
then sell them to some commission man or 
other dealer who immediately resells them, 
in most cases for double what he pays you for 
them. It is the steady practice of the dealers 
in Chicago, for instance, to pay from $2 to 
$3 per dozen and resell them for $3 to $6 per 
dozen. If you don’t believe this is true, 
drop your role of a squab seller and go into 
these markets to buy and you will see how 
much profit is being made off your goods. 
The squab dealers and commission men 
do not advertise for customers.- The squabs 
are just as salable in your hands as in theirs. 
Many people would prefer to buy of the 
producer, being surer of a fresher and more 
satisfactory product. 
If you are producing squabs, by all means 
sell them to the consumer and get the price 
which the middleman is getting. It is 
essential, however, if you are going to do this, 
that you make it known in some way that 
you have goodsquabsto sell. Think of the 
rich people, the well-to-do people, the good 
diners around you or nearest you, and figure 
out for yourself a way of getting to them 
the information that you are selling something 
which they want and will buy steadily. 
Perhaps a neatly printed circular sent by 
mail will do it. Or an advertisement in the 
