PART I. 



PIGEONS. 



The Advance of the Industry From the Fancy as Well as 

 Squab-Producing Birds. 



Several years ago the country had what was called a Pigeon 

 craze, and many thousands of people who knew nothing about 

 the business invested heavily and lost heavily. The result was 

 hundreds of thousands of birds were put on the market and 

 sold for whatever was offered. The market was flooded and the 

 business was looked upon as a farce. But thanks be to the men 

 who stood by the guns and had confidence that when the sur- 

 plus stock was exhausted the business would be on a staunch 

 basis. This proved to be the result, and to-day we have many 

 successful pigeon plants, and the product in the way of squabs 

 commands as steady and high a price as when the craze was on. 

 From a fancy point of view the growth of the business has been 

 different. Its growth was steady; new men went into the busi- 

 ness for sport and pleasure as well as for profit. Specialty clubs 

 doubled their membership; the exhibits at the shows increased, 

 and interest seemed to run as high as in poultry. Prices for 

 good show specimens commanded as high a figure as poultry. 

 The business advanced slowly but surely, and to-day Pigeons 

 are one of the leading features of our fall and winter exhibitions. 



History and Origin of the Different Varieties. 



Sir Isaac Newton said, "To myself I seem to have been as a 

 child playing on the seashore, while the immense ocean of truth 

 lay unexplored before me, and I have only gathered a few grains 

 of sand." 



How true this is when we compare it to the origin of the 

 different varieties of Pigeons, and all that can be learned con- 

 cerning the first pair is the scattered fragments from the works 



