SUPPLEMENT 125 
“A man named Maraud complained to M. 
Brunet, Police Commissary for one of the 
districts on the south side of the Seine, that 
he had been robbed of six valuable carrier 
pigeons and said that one of his friends had 
seen them at the house of another man. 
“The magistrate went to the place indicated 
and there saw some birds. ‘How did you 
come by them?’ he asked of the man. ‘Oh, 
I bought them months ago.’ was the zen 
“*Well, bring them to my office,’ said Mr. 
Brunet. There he had a wax seal attached 
to each bird’s leg and the birds liberated. 
“They flew back to Maraud’s house and 
an hour later the thief was on his way to 
the police depot in the black maria.”’ 
SQUAB INDUSTRY’S GREAT GROWTH. 
Address Delivered Before the New Jersey 
State Board of Agriculture. Years ago when 
poultry and egg production was being first 
advocated extensively, there were many 
fears expressed that the business would be 
overdone, that chickens and eggs would come 
to be common. and low priced, and the fear 
that there would be no money in the business 
no doubt kept many out of it. Nevertheless, 
more and more have gone into poultry and 
eggs year after year, and millions of dollars’ 
worth of both are marketed yearly. Whole 
communities, like Petaluma, California, are 
given up to poultry and eggs. Eggs got as 
high as sixty cents a dozen in the large cities 
the past winter (1904). 
Some people not informed as to squabs 
think that if many go into squab raising the 
prices are going to drop until there is no 
profit in the business. On the contrary, 
prices for squabs have been increasing every 
year here in the East, and they are going to 
increase in the West in the years to come. 
Consumers who have read our advertising 
all over the country are eating squabs who 
never ate them before, and the effect of our 
advertising on the general squab market 
everywhere has been to boost prices. Well- 
to-do people who are led to get into the habit 
of having squabs on their tables keep on 
ordering them, and tell others, and thus the 
arket grows. 
mae ef tae Homer breeders we have sold 
during the years we have been in business 
were concentrated in one plant, we could sell 
the entire squab output of that one plant to 
any one of a hundred commission men in one 
of the large cities. : 
New etsy is doing well with squabs. 
Other States, notably California, lowa, 
Wisconsin, Michigan and Massachusetts are 
producing a great many, Just what is being 
accomplished in New Jersey comes as a 
surprise to people who look upon this business 
as something new and untried. At_ the 
annual meeting of the New Jersey State 
Board of Agriculture in January, 1904, an 
address was given by Mr.G.L. Gillingham on 
squab raising, in the course of which he said: 
“The production of squabs for the markets 
of our larze cities is an industry that is reach- 
ing considerable proportions in this State. 
And, although it is growing yearly, yet the 
prices seem to be advancing; showing that 
there is an unlimited demand. 
“The great scarcity of game all over our 
country compels the keepers of first-class 
hotels and restaurants to look for something 
to take its place, and at the same time be sure 
of a supply at allseasons of the year. There- 
fore they have hit upon the aia to fill this 
void, and now when one calls for quail on 
toast, or order of a similar nature, it will 
very often be found that the quail was raised 
in a pigeon loft, and is much younger, more 
tender and juicy than the quail would have 
been, could it have been secured. 
“This is a business that can be carried on 
in connection with poultry raising, and is one 
that may be conducted upon village lots 
by women and young persons, if need be, and 
by those whose other business takes their 
attention during the middle portions of the 
day, as the labor connected with it is not 
heavy. It is particularly adapted to women 
who wish to add something to their income. 
In fact, women are more apt to succeed in 
it than most men, as it requires close atten- 
tion to the little things, as it is the many 
little things that go to make up the final 
profits at the end; as women are generally 
muvre patient and thorough with small details 
they will be more successful. 
“The extent to which this business is 
conducted in some parts of our State may 
be shown by stating that in one town in 
Burlington County of about 3000 inhabitants, 
the purchase of one dealer the past year was 
56,582 squabs, for which he paid $16,400; 
while another dealer bought perhaps a little 
over half as many more, bringing the aggre- 
gate to 86,000 squabs, for which the people 
of that town received nearly $25,000; while 
another single grower in the same county 
shipped from his own lofts between 13,000 
and 14,000 birds. 
“The cost of feed and care for a working loft 
of pigeons. is about $1 per pair per year 
(manure not sold), Some put it much lower, 
but at the present prices of feed, if proper care 
is, given, we should not figure much_ lower 
than $1. A good pair of birds will produce 
from seven to ten pair of squabs per year; 
generally an average of not over eight pair. 
The prices have ranged the past year from 
25 cents for the poorest, to as high as 75, 
80 and 90 cents for the best. Putting the 
number raised at the lowest (seven pairs) 
and the average price at 40 cents, we have 
$2.80 for the $1 invested yearly after the first 
cost of investment for buildings, etc., which 
need not be expensive, according to the taste 
and means of the builder and the amount of 
capital he wishes to put into it. The houses 
should always be placed where the drainage 
is good, preferably upon a dry knoll, facing 
the south or southeast. Some paying lofts 
have been made by fitting up unused wagon- 
