APPENDIX G 



339 



SQUAB SUPPLY FALLS SHORT OF 

 DEMAND * by Burton T. Beach, Epicures are 

 coming to think that , squab on toast is as , 

 appetizing as quail on toast, provided the bird 

 is bred scientifically, killed at the right moment 

 and properly kept in the larder. 



Squab meat is one of the few forms of food 

 the supply of which falls absolutely short of the 

 demajid in the United States. Scores of ban- 

 quets given last winter in New York, Chicago, 

 Philadelphia and Boston were arranged with- 

 out squabs in the menus for the sole reason that 

 it was not possible to get enough to go around. 



"My chef," said the proprietorof the famous 

 Manhattan hotel, "tried to gather eight hun- 

 dred squabs for a dinner in February. The 

 committee insisted that we get them. After 

 searching the markets and squab farms and 

 cold storage houtses all we could find was five 

 hundred, and we had to cut out squabs. Very 

 likely . there will be a similar shortage next 

 wintCT. And it will be a genuine shortage, not 

 an artificial one." 



The first solid food given to Mayor Gaynor 

 after the shooting was squab. Medical men 

 are more and more inclined to prescribe squab 

 in the dietary of invalids, especially children. 

 One of the most nourishing fluids is the juice 

 of the squab killed when about able to leave 

 its nest voluntarily. 



Six years ago the business had a boom, but 

 the boom soon collapsed. In 1907 there was a 

 vigorous revivor improvement has been con- 

 tinuous. 



On Long Island, near New York, the Misses 

 Bohannan, after five years of unremitting 

 attention, have built up an excellently organized 

 plant, wjth improved modem appliances, and 

 are exploiting a flock of four thousand birds, 

 soon to be erflarged by half as many more. 



One who never had met them save at a social 

 function in Manhattan or in their parlor at 

 Knollside Farm would not suspect that they 

 knew any more about pigeons than could be 

 learned from books or an inspection of rare 

 columbidse at the zoological gardens or a visit 

 to the Basilica of St. Mark's, in Venice, where 

 the pigeons are a whirling wonder. 



Confronted suddenly with the necessity of 

 making parental capital yield at, least four 

 times what it would yield if deposited in savings 

 banks or invested in securities, they decided 

 to try squab farming as likely to bring a better 

 return than the New York market for poultry. 

 While there are plants larger than theirs de- 

 voted to raising breeding birds," these young 

 women have the satisfaction of owning one 

 of the largest devoted exclusively to raising 

 squabs for food. 



Question: I have my nestboxes numbered 

 Mid know what each pair does. In the even- 

 ing I transfer the records to a book, and thus 

 Imow from week to week where I stand. I 

 give the birds quite a lot of bookkeeping. 

 Answer: It is easy to do too much record 

 keeping. The record should be kept either 

 'on the nestboxes or at the' back of each pen, 

 and in a card index kept handy in the squab- 



house. Do not make memoranda which later 

 you have to transfer. Write it only once, for 

 keejJs. Do the record-keeping in the squab- 

 house, otherwise one is Hable to spend as much 

 time over his records as over his pigeons, 

 which is a poor use of time. Evening work, 

 if any is done, should be devoted to writing 

 letters and postal cards, advertising matters, 

 etc., pushing sales. The marketing is quite 

 as important as the raising, that is, intelligent 

 marketing which gives the breeder a fair share 

 of the money which the consumer pays. 



A BIG SQUAB SHIPPER, by E. L. Kauff- 

 man. Please send me the Association member- 

 ship button. I think your ideas are all right. 

 Push the price and urge more squabs eaten, as 

 all squab raisers and shippers want that. 

 The last year I shipped over one hundred 

 thousand squabs to the New York market. 

 We seem to have a fine country for squab- 

 raising, and I hope it may come to be one of 

 the great things. Wish you good success. 



This is not an uncommon experience: " Be- 

 fore I commenced to correspond with you I 

 bought five pairs of Homers of a dealer iiear 

 home and I got eight cocks and two hens, and 

 he will not exchange back so I can mate mine 

 up. Now, I am about ready to get the ones I 

 had written you about, special offer No. 2, and 

 I would like to get also six of the No. 1 hens 

 to mate with the six odd cocks I have. If 

 you can fill the order in this way I will send 

 the money as soon as I hear from you." — H. W. 

 Nims, Minnesota. 



I entered my five pairs of pigeons, each pair 

 of solid red Cameaux, white Maltese, white 

 Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, blue checker 

 Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and blue 

 checker Swiss Mondaines, at Seymour, Colum- 

 bus and Franklin Poultry Shows (Indiana) 

 and captured all fifteen first premiums, or 

 five first premiums at each show. Our judges 

 said that my birds cannot be beaten. Don't 

 you think it is a good record to win fifteen 

 straight first premiums? — George S. Beyer, 

 Indiana. 



The pigeons which I bought from you a 

 little more than a year ago (six pairs Plymouth 

 Rock White Homers and six pairs Plymouth ' 

 Rock No. 1 Homers) are certainly fine, and 

 I now (June 27) have nearly three hundred 

 birds and they are splendid pigeons, I have 

 at present two pairs that have three fine 

 squabs each and also one pair sitting on four 

 eggs. I haven't been trying to dispose of any 

 ' as yet, but in a month or two I am going to be 

 in a position to sell quite a lot of squabs. — 

 E. G. Davidson, Illinois. 



The three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers 

 I bought in March, 1910, multiplied so fast 

 that up to November inclusive, I raised thirty- 

 four squabs, and every one of these weighed 

 one pound apiece alive when four weeks old. — 

 John N. Moeller, Connecticut. 



♦Copyrigiifc, 1910, by the New York Heiald Co. All rights reserved. 



