APPENDIX G 



407 



and sorghum seed in a Jencks* self-feeder, and 

 every night and morning we fed in an open 

 troxigh one quart of cracked peanuts. The 

 birds were in excellent condition, and the squabs 

 were fully up to those that were in the other 

 twenty-four pens that had been fed a large 

 per cent of Canada peas and other costly grains. 



After this test we commenced feedmg all 

 our birds a mixture similar to the above, which 

 gave results equally as gjratifying as were 

 obtained from the more costly grains. We 

 find, however, that the feeding of the peanuts 

 in a separate trough is an unnecessary trouble, 

 and recently we have been mixing the peanuts 

 with the other grains. The mixture is as 

 follows, and we guar^itee it will produce 

 squabs equally as heavy, if not heavier, than 

 those produced with the more costly grains. 

 The grains proportioned as follows will give 

 best results: 200 pounds kaf&r com, 100 poimds 

 good red wheat, 100 pounds good, sound cracked 

 com, and 75 to 100 pounds cracked peanuts. 

 The kaffir com costs us S2 per 100 pounds, 

 wheat $1.50, cracked com $1.65, and the pea- 

 nuts at present $1.80 per bushel. At these 

 figures this mixture can be made for $2 per 100 

 pounds. Of course, in localities where grains 

 can be secured for less than kaffir com, wheat, 

 and cracked com, it would be advisable to 

 feed them instead. Always adapt your feeding 

 to the grains that are to be had at the lowest 

 prices in your tovy^. In most every section of 

 th6 United States certain grains can be secured 

 to mix with peanuts that will make an excellent 

 feed which will not cost more than $2 per 100 

 poimds. 



On September 18 we shipped north fourteen 

 and one-half dozen Plymouth Rock Homer 

 sqiikbs which were the first we have shipped 

 that had been fed on peanuts from the start. 

 They were nearer one size than any lot we have 

 ever shipped, nice large white ones, and I 

 think will bring better prices than any we have 

 shipped this year. Just two days previous to 

 this we shipped from these same nouses five 

 dozen Plymouth Rock Homer squabs that 

 weighed ten pounds to the dozen. 



PEANUTS HAVE OVER 40 PER CENT 

 PROTEIN, by Edward E. Evans. Until squab 

 and pigeon breeders leam what constitutes 

 food value, until they learn why the American 

 farmer pays $25 per ton for one kind of feed 

 and $45 per ton for another kind, there is no 

 use to talk or write about peas, cowpeas or 

 soys. The general idea seems to be that bulk 

 as compared with price is all there is to the feed 

 question. When your people leam that on the 

 basis of absolute food value a bushel of peas is 

 worth two and one-half bushels of wheat, they 

 will begin to know something about squab 

 production on a paying basis. 



Red wheat is today two and one-half to 

 three times as expensive as peas, while weed 

 seeds and wild grass seeds (the seeds of fox- 

 tail, pigeon grass and bamyard grass^ are not 

 any better. The money that it takes today to 

 buy eleven feed units of kaflfir corn, will pay for 

 twenty-eight xmits if expended in peas. I 



notice that a great number of so-called " bal- 

 anced ration ' feeds, composed of a mixture 

 of grains, hemp, millet and weed seeds, are 

 being sold all over the country, in direct viola- 

 tion of the Pure Food act. No such mixture 

 contains to exceed twelve per cent protein and 

 most of them contain much less. The only 

 way to balance a pigeon ration is by the use of 

 legume seeds, «.«., Canada peas, soy beans, 

 vetches, cowpeas, horse beans or peanuts. 

 Later. ^ Do not misinterpret the statement I 

 made in my previous letter regarding mixtures 

 of grain. The Pure Food act does not stipu- 

 late that such a mixture shall contain a certain 

 specified amount of protein, nor did I state that 

 it did. My complaint was that a great many 

 mixtures of grains and seeds were being offered 

 on the market as "balanced rations," which 

 they certainly are not. A mixture of cereal 

 grains and seeds such as millet, hemp and wild 

 seed, no matter how many different species or 

 vMieties, cannot under the act be called a 

 " balanced ration," for the reason that the 

 above-mentioned seeds and cereals contain only 

 from 10 to 12J^ per cent of protein. . A " bal- 

 smced ration ' ' for pigeons can be obtained only 

 through the use of legume seeds, such as peas, 

 cowpeas, soy beans, vetches, etc., all of which 

 contain from twenty-five to forty-two per cent 

 protein. I notice that a breeder in Virginia 

 obtains good results from the use of peanuts. 

 This success could not be rightly attributed to 

 the large percentage of oil contained therein. 

 As you are doubtless aware, vegetable fats and 

 oils, in other words, carbon, do not produce 

 growth in any animal body, but furnish energy 

 or motion, and some portion of it is stored up 

 as fat. Peanuts are of such great value to squab 

 raisers because they contain more than forty per 

 cent actual protein and are the richest in that 

 substance of any material produced on American 

 farms. This exemplifies the statement made 

 in my previous letter, that American pigeon and 

 squab breeders have much to leam of feeding 

 values as compared with bulk, and until they 

 leam this they can never buy feed intelligently 

 nor use it profitably. 



I HAVE FOUND THE REAL REMEDY 

 FOR LICE, by George S. Terry. It was not 



until my fourth year in the squab business that 

 I had any trouble with lice. I woke uj) one 

 fine June morning to find four hundred pairs of 

 my best birds affected. I consulted authorities 

 who informed me that lice were usually due to 

 filth and poor management in the loft and that 

 the best cure yras prevention. This was poor 

 consolation and useless advice. As a matter of 

 fact I had always given my birds the best of 

 care. I never yet have failed to make at least 

 two dollars per pair per year net profit from my 

 birds. Considering that I have had no private 

 trade and always sold to commission men, I 

 do not think my results show poor management 

 in the loft. But the lice were there and the 

 birds began to show it. I wrote for advice to 

 friends. I visited neighboring and distant 

 lofts. I was variously advised but no one 

 seemed to have a real knowledge of just how 



