122 
x 
birds are extremely useful. We earnestly 
advise country physicians with a*wide ter- 
ritory to cover to look into this matter 
and communicate with us. It will be money 
in their pockets. 
DEMAND IN COLORADO. We have had 
the same experience with the Western trade 
as the following writer in the Western Poultry 
World, of course excepting Calitornia, which 
is one of the best eee markets in the 
country. What he says is conservative and 
sensible and bears out what we have always 
maintained, that’ wherever there are men 
and women who are good eaters, there squabs 
will be eaten. If you live in a town where 
a squab never was seen, but where there are 
people who set a good table, to them you 
certainly can sell squabs: 
“Having been asked by your editor to 
write an article on pigeons or squab raising 
and also having said I would, I commence 
by stating a few facts which I have gained 
from both practical experience and inquiries 
from Eastern breeders. In the first place, 
I want to say that little is known of this 
industry in the West, and in fact it has not 
been known in the East until about ten years 
ago, when they began to take it up about 
the same as the Western people are doing 
now. Many got discouraged at finding it 
was not a get-rich-quick scheme. 
“I am constantly having letters from 
different parts of the country asking me 
if squab raising pays, and saying that from 
inquiries they have made at meat markets 
and of commission merchants, they are told 
that there is no demand for them. Of course 
there is not at the present time, for if there 
was they could not get them. No man can 
sell what he has not got. I once went to a 
gentleman and told him my plan of starting 
a squab farm, and he in turn went to his 
market man and asked him what he thought 
of it, and he said I was either lazy or crazy. 
Now’ this man knew absolutely nothing of 
squabs, and never had any in his store, and, 
consequently, never had any calls for them. 
I dare say that if one were to go to every 
market in the city they would tell you the 
same thing, and nine out of every ten people 
would tell you they had never eaten a squab 
in their lives; still I have people—come 
tight to my door—who come a good distance 
out of their way-and want to buy squabs of 
me. The reason hotels and restaurants do 
not continually have them on their bill of fare 
is because they cannot be supplied at all 
times. Today thev can get perhaps a dozen 
and tomorrow, if they wish any, they cannot 
get them, and even then they are obliged to 
take common squabs and not Homers. As 
to the demand, I want to sav right here, that 
I know one concern that will contract to take 
400 dozen a week at good, fair prices. Two 
parties that I know of right here in this city 
are constantly in receipt of letters from hotels 
and clubs in Denver wanting to buy squabs. 
NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 
In the East, where there are ten squab farms 
to one in the West, the prices are higher than 
here. It is because of the demand.”’ 
ELEGANT PROFIT. The following is from 
Vick’s Magazine, an article on squab raising 
by a practical breeder: 
“Of recent years the demand for the 
toothsome squab has been so great that the 
supply does not come up to the demand. 
here years ago they were used only for 
invalids, now they are on the bill of fare in 
almost all restaurants and hotels. They 
command good prices at all seasons and an 
elegant profit is derived from them by the 
raisers. It used to be that pigeons could not 
thrive when housed up, but now the former 
obstacles have been overcome and better 
success is made where they are confined than 
where they have their freedom. 
“The squab business if conducted properly 
will bring in a large percentage of profit 
considering the first capital invested? Only 
a few hundred dollars are required to start 
where such a sum would be nothing to com- 
mence in such a business as stock keeping, 
etc., and yet with a few hundred pairs of 
pigeons any one with a little judgment can 
make a living for himself and family. Many 
farmers’ sons could make nice yearly incomes 
by stocking a part of their barn (not used 
for anything else) with pigeons. The risks are 
not so great as with chickens, but the birds 
must be attended to and not neglected. 
“With chickens one must not only feed 
the old, but must also give the little ones 
their meals, but not so with pigeon breeding. 
You feed the old birds, and they feed their 
young. One person can feed a thousand 
pairs of birds in about a quarter hour, the 
rest is left for the old ones to do. The little 
‘birds are fed from pre-digested food from 
the crops of their parents, who by a sort of 
pumping force the food into the squab’s 
mouths. It takes no longer time for a person 
to feed a lot of birds with young than it does 
without young. 
“After the squabs are four to five weeks old 
they are ready for market. It costs but one 
and one-half cents per pair for feeding birds 
a week and their young also, so with the 
prices received for the squabs, which is forty 
cents per pair in summer to eighty cents per 
pair in the winter, one can imagine the 
percentage of profit. 
“Squabs of the largest size demand the 
highest ma~ket prices, so it pays to commence 
right by buying only good large stock. The 
amount of labor required is almost nothing, 
in fact unless very large numbers are kept, 
one will have only a few hours’ work daily. 
The writer has nearly 2,000, and it takes only 
fifteen minutes to feed and half an hour to 
give fresh water. Of course it takes a dav 
or two a week for killing young ones, and a 
day or two each month for cleaning buildings, 
then the work is about done. me person 
can attend 1,000 pairs nicely and have ample 
