120 



NATIONAL STANDARD SQUAB BOOK 



Jan. 25. 1908 $4.00 and $5.00 a dozen 



Feb. 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, 1908 4.00 and 4.50 a dozen 



May 9, 1908 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen 



Tune 6, 1908 3.00 and 3.50 a dozen 



July 3. 1908 3.00 and 4.00 a dozen 



July 18, 1908 3.50 and 4.00 a dozen 



(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. 



In every large city .are published trade 

 bulletins Imown 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 

 middlemen 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.McLaughiin, 

 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 coltunns 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 producer not only of squabs 

 biit 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. When 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 



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 promiJtly. 



.The best way to sell squabs is direct to the 

 private trade at about double what the 

 middlemen pay. A 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 reply 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. 



It 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 

 high 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 ihem, 

 in most cases for double what he pays you for 

 them. It is the steady practice of tiie 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 beUeve 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 yotu 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 good squabs to 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 ia the 



