182 AMERICAN SQUAB CULTURE 



are to be paraffined, they should not be put in water to cool 

 until paraffined, as paraffin will not stick to wet feathers. 



After a little experience in this method, you will become famil- 

 iar with the necessary temperature to have the paraffin and 

 about the time it will take the paraffin to cool before it can be 

 peeled off the squab. 



When the paraffin begins to get too thick for use, set the 

 kettle back on the stove and heat it up a little, always taking 

 care not to get it too hot. A coal oil, alcohol, or gas burner 

 will furnish ample heat to melt the paraffin. Save the paraffin 

 with the feathers in it, after it is pulled off the squabs, for later 

 use; but before it is used a second time, heat and strain, so as 

 to get rid of the feathers. At least one-third of the time can be 

 saved in picking by the use of paraffin, and, as the operation is 

 simple, it is no trick to learn how, and easy to perform. 



SHIPPING DRESSED SQUABS 



I recently noticed an unsigned article in a magazine on ship- 

 ping dressed squabs, written by a Missouri squab raiser, and 

 he stated the proposition clearly and covered certain points 

 well. I will quote the letter, which is. as follows: 



"We received some letters from parties who are anxious to 

 give the squab industry a trial, but who say that they live in 

 small towns where there is no demand for squabs or that the 

 city market at their location is low. 



"These conditions are small factors, and can be easily handled. 

 In fact, we know of no industry where the matter of securing 

 the proper markets can be be so easily handled. We mean by 

 this that in most industries the near markets have to be de- 

 pended upon exclusively, as it would cost too much to ship 

 farther; and, also, the markets farther east, as a rule, do not 

 offer the western producers enough difference in other lines of 

 industries to make it profitable to ship in small quantities. This 

 is the case with poultry of all kinds. But take the squab indus- 

 try. A man with 200 pairs of pigeons will have six dozen of 

 squabs weekly to sell. These will weigh 60 to 70 pounds. 

 Properly boxed they will weigh about 80 pounds. The cost on 

 80-pound shipments from our plant to. New York City is $1.80, 

 or this would be 30 cents per dozen. 



