SF 467 .P6 '{Copy 1 TOM MONEY W . ,,.S IS THE BOOK FOR WHICH YOU SENT THE REQUEST PUBUSHBD BY lymouth RockSguab Company MELROSE HIGHLANDS MASSACHUSETTS (HINDER Of THESOUAB INDUSTRYIN AMERICA ELMER C. RICE TREASURER PLYMOUTH RO^ FOUNDER OF THE SQUAB INDUSTRY IN AMERICA PYRIGHT 1916 BY PLYMOUTH ROCK, SQUAB .COMPANY THIS MAN SAW THE FAIRS IN 1915 ON SQUAB PROFITS I Like Farm Work Now That I Am Making Money by Breeding Plymouth Rock Homer and Garneau Squabs BY W. O. BUNCH WHEN I was twenty-two years old and was working for my father on the farm at very moderate wages, and was thinking of leaving the farm for something that would pay better, I happened to learn of the squab business by my father going to a town where a man had quite a pigeon business. He came home and told what he saw and heard and I became very much interested. This was in December, 1909. I looked over some magazines till I found an advertisement of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. I sent for the manual and after reading about everything I ordered six Carneaux. They pleased me so much that I forgot all about leaving the farm but wanted more pigeons. Then I sent to the Plymouth Rock Squab Company for six pairs of their best Homers. I still have the original six pairs and they have been doing good work all these five and one-half years. I was much pleased when the young began to hatch and grow. I kept the squabs the first year, or till May, 3911. Then I was able to sell one or two dozen squabs each week and that spring I built an addition of two units and filled it with young pigeons. Then next year I built another addition of four units which made this building eighty feet long and all filled with birds of my own raising except the few pairs of Homers and Carneaux that I started with. I kept on selling squabs and next year, 1913, I built another pigeon house" fifteen by sixty feet and kept young pigeons to fill this building except I sent to the Plymouth Rock Squab Company for fifty pairs of their best Homers and they sent me a nice bunch. Later I bought fifty pairs more of Homers. The next year I built another addition of forty feet which made this building fifteen by one hundred feet, and then I bought a few more Homers. I have sold some squabs to private trade, but this is too much bother as I am in the country some distance from the city so I prefer to kill all in one day, put them in a barrel with ice, and send them to a commission firm in Chicago, which is about one hundred miles west of my town. This year I have not put up any building, but in the spring of 1915 took a trip to California to see the expositions and let the pigeons pay all the expenses. It was an enjoyable trip, but I was glad to get back to Indiana, where I could take care of my pigeons again, and they have been doing good work, too, this summer. Since I am making a good thing with the birds I have no desire to leave the farm and try something else. Here are the figures as taken from my books which show the number of squabs sold each vear and the price received: 1911, 702 squabs $177.45; 1912, 1291 squabs $382.20; 1913, 2875 squabs $915.25; 1914, 5501 squabs $1,486.60; and this year till September 1, 4652 squabs $1264.90; and to-day, September 2, I sent 224 squabs to Chicago. All there is to it, is start with the right kind of stock and information. *tM$"fr?t"*«t"i"f"i"t'4"i' I Used to Be a Hired Man but Now I Work for Myself Breeding Plymouth Rock Squabs BY GEORGE CABALL I MANAGED a squab plant of 1500 birds, and seeing the great opening for another plant I decided to start myself. I did not have much capital, so had to start small. I bought seven pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux February 7, 1914, and have to date (August, 1915) 150 mated pairs and twelve odd cocks. On March 15, 1914, I bought twenty-five pairs of Homers, and have one hundred pairs and have sold $175 worth of squabs. With m,y. small flock I cannot supply the demand, so have to help me three^gi'Jties also having small flocks (whom I got to start), who serine all their output at $3 per dozen alive; and I still have been short on several occasions this summer. When I figure the little trouble my squabs have been compared with my chickens I say by all means squabs for me. The coops I have been using are made from piano boxes but I intend to put up a large house this fall. I have had not more than two sick birds all this year. When I was managing the squab plant of 1500 birds, I could see there was plenty of room for another. The people I worked for shipped most of their squabs to Chicago. With my present stock of 250 mated pairs I must say I have done beHer than I ever thought I would. I have been short on several occasions this summer, notwithstanding I am buying all the squabs the three neighbors can produce and can afford to pay them $3 per dozen alive. I have not sold a squab for less than $5 per dozen this year. I can pick twelve per hour, so have $2 or more profit on every dozen I buy. Two dollars per hour are good wages, but next year I hope to have a flock large enough to supply all my trade. I live near three of the best resorts in Michigan, namely, Ottawa Beach, Macatawa and Wankzoo, and not only had the business this summer but have the promise of a great many to take my squabs and eggs for the winter and will let me know when to send as soon as they get back to the cities. They say they never have tasted squabs with such a nice flavor and so plump and have always compli- mented me on the wav I clean them. t$»$i?f»»M^tM??t?r$tf$trj&? WHAT I DID IN FIVE YEARS WITH FOUR PAIRS (by J. W. M'.-rray^. The evidence in Rice's National Standard Squab Book convinced me that with good iudgment and plenty of sand there is money in the squab business. I bought four pairs of Homers to try my luck, December 14, 1908. I finished off a loft in my shop chamber to accommodate about thirty pairs and put them in. It did not take them long to commence housekeeping. I began to raise up the best squabs. At the end of the first year I had nine- teen pairs. The next year I increased my flock to fifty pairs. I converted the lower part of my shop into a pigeon loft, making one room in the front end to accommodate about fifty pairs, with an- other smaller room to place the young in, leaving the rest of the space for a grain room and small coops. At present (February, 1914) I have one hundred ten pairs. Lait year (1913) I sold $385.30 worth of squabs. I paid $200.90 for grain, leaving a bal- ance of $184.40. My whole plant, including yard, occupies a space of 20 by 28 feet. From the time I commenced until Decem- ber 17, 1913,1 sold 3313 squabs. GOOD FLORIDA MARKET (by William A . Beader). I bought three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers in April. After giving them three months' trial, I ordered three more pairs in July. I am more than pleased with them. I have given them a good try-out, as this has been a long, hot summer. They have bred fine. I have fiftv-nine pigeons in all (October 29). I am in the business to stay, as the market is Al here. I can sell more than I can raise at six dollars a dozen. In Miami, Florida, which is only twenty miles from this place, I have referred three of my friends to the business, and they have bought breeders. The claim that Homers will breed seven to nine pairs of squabs a year is more than safe. I have some that will breed twelve pairs a year at the rate they are going. I have had squabs that tipped the scales at one pound apiece at three weeks. I am an old chicken breeder so it was easy for me to learn the ways of the pigeon. SOUTH CAROLINA MARKETS BARE OF SQUABS (by Clif. XV. Jones). Three large hotels in my city claim they do not place squabs on the bills of fare because they have no way of getting them except to ship in from some other point. They can only get a few sometimes from local breeders for special occasions or special orders. Six or eight cafes never serve squabs because the meat markets do not handle them and no one has offered to supply them regularly. All of the hotels and cafes claim they would buy good squabs regu- larly if they could find some one to supply regularly, some one on whom they could depend. The city hospital uses some squabs bought locally. If necessary it sometimes sends to Atlanta, one hundred and fifty miles. In my judgment there is no better busi- ness to engage in here than squab breeding. People are simply clamoring for some one to furnish the squabs regularly and place them at the markets. Any one could easily work up a nice trade selling direct to the consumers, hotels and the cafes as well as the hospital. / ICIA418308 •JAN -4 1916 ALL MY PAIRS BREED BECAUSE I HAVE THE RIGHT STOCK How I Ship Plymouth Rock Squabs 125 Miles to a City Hotel by Parcel Post BY R. L. PHILLIPS I HAVE bought for my start the extra Plymouth Rock Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. During the months of April, May, June and July (1915), I have been getting from thirty-three to forty-five squabs per month, or an aver- age of nearly forty. The forty pairs I have are all breeding and since last March the average number of nests in the house, con- taining eggs and squabs, has been forty-three. One pair raised seventeen squabs in 1914, besides three pairs of eggs I took from them to put under another pair I have that lay soft-shelled eggs. Regarding my methods: I follow the instructions contained in Rice's manual as closely as possible. The average cost of feed is $2.75 per hundred. They get peanuts once a day when I feed my own mixture and I find they give excellent results. During the fall and winter months I have local customers (South Carolina) who take all the squabs I can supply, but when spring and summer come they desert me in favor of frying chickens. Furthermore they pay me only $3.25 per dozen, dressed, and I began to think this too little for them. In order to dispose of the squabs which were accumulating, and at the same time secure a better price, I tried a scheme which worked well. I wrote to a prominent hotel located about 125 mi'es from this city, and told them in as few words as possible that I was a breeder of extra Ply- mouth Rock Homer pigeons whose squabs weighed from eight to ten pounds to the dozen; that I would snip via special delivery parcel post and that a shipment leaving here at 9.15 a. m., would be delivered to them by 2. .SO p.m., and that I guaranteed the squabs to arrive in first-class condition. I quoted them §4.25 per dozen delivered, and three days later received their order for four dozen, which is as many as my plant produces per month. I was able to fill only part of their order, but they were so pleased that the follow- ing week they sent another order for three dczen which I filled by calling on some local breeders for help. When three dozen are shipped to a point in the second zone the postage, including special delivery stamp, amounts to only fourteen cents per dozen. The squabs are kept on ice as near train time as possible, and then packed (without ice) in a pasteboard box heavily lined with news- papers. From the time they leave the refrigerator until delivered at destination is just about six hours, and as the hotel has never kicked they must arrive O.K. I therefore receive nearly one dollar per dozen more than I can get locally and at the same time dispone of the entire output to one customer. I might add that at the time I wrote this hotel I sent practically the same letter to two other hotels located in different cities, and received replies from both stating that they did not use squabs during the summer, but would be glad to take the matter up with me further in the fall. I am a firm believer in a straightforward letter, stating facts, as an advertising medium, and am confident that if I had a larger plant I could dispose of all the squabs to large hotels at much better prices than I can get locally. «ft«$ttt?ij??t?fi?!itfgrf$t>tntfff! I PREFER HOMERS, AFTER SEVEN YEARS' WORK (by J. B. Beckman). I am going to write and let you know a few things about the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and that is this: I wouldn't give them for all the other breeds. I now have six hun- dred pairs of A No. 1 Homer breeders and a hundred and fifty pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux, but give me the Homers. I am now receiving for eight-pound squabs $4.20, nine- pound squabs $4.90, ten-pound squabs $5.30, eleven-pound squabs $5.65, and twelve-pound squabs $6. I have had seven years' experience breeding squabs. I have a fine market in Chicago and get paid for my own grading. I ship to the Associated Squab Supply and Distributing Company. My Homer squabs run from nine pounds to twelve pounds to the dozen and I shipped last year $1,480 worth of squabs to one man; but this year I am receiving one dollar more on the dozen than I did last year this time. I am building a new house for six hundred more birds. WISCONSIN MARKET (by E. E. Merten). On seeing a mar- ketman, W. J. Fenelon of Waupun, I learned the following about the squab market. He can easily dispose of all he can get at the rate of five dollars to seven dollars a dozen, depending upon size and quality, which are generally not above a low average. He claims it is very seldom he can obtain many squabs in the winter, in the severe months. At present (April) he did not have any squabs, although he had calls for them and would like to obtain some. SOLD ALIVE IN BALTIMORE (by Oliver Cas'lewan). I feed only the best grain and find it pays. When I went to market my squabs I found the Baltimore market not well developed. I have now a market in Baltimore for $3 to $3.25 a dozen alive. HOW I WAS LED INTO SQUAB WORK BY $5.50 (by W. F. Wilkir.s). In the early part of 1912, while on a trip, I ran across a man who was raising squabs, and I asked him about them, and he told me that there was money in squab raising. I came home and never thought much about it until one day while at my work the idea of raising squabs came upon my mind insistently, and I said to myself. "I im going to buy a few pairs of Homers and try them." I purchased fifteen pairs from a man a few miles away in the country. I had a vacant horse stall in my yard, and put a floor in it and built a small wire cage on the outside. I fed and watered them twice daily for six months. I did not have much time to do more than that, on account of my other business. I found the increase came so fast that I had to have more room, so I bailt a new squabhouse. After the birds were in there six weeks, I had a nice lot of squabs on hand, and decided to try my lurk on the market. I shipped two dozen and when I got my returns I found they had sold for $5.50 a dozen. This looked so good to me that I decided to take a step forward. I built two more pens and bought eight pairs more from the same man, and I also ordered twenty-five pairs from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. It was no time after I put the birds in the new houses before they all went to work, and then I started in to ship squabs fast. I figured my feed bill and the money I received for my squabs, and I found that I had a nice profit. Since the first of March of this year, I have shipped 800 squabs and saved 100 pairs of breeders from 150 pairs of mated Homers. I think this is a very good record. I have four pens now containing 250 mated pairs of Homers and they are all working and I know every pair. I believe this business poorly conducted is a very poor business but properly managed is a good business. I want to say that any one that ever buys any Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company will never regret his money, for they are the best Homers I ever saw. The old darkey that works for me says that the Boston bird is some bird. I expect by next year to have 500 mated pairs. I know of no business I like any better than I do the squab business. I am a Virginia grower and shipper of cabbage, Irish and sweet potatoes. MARKETMEN DO N'T WRITE MANY LETTERS. Don't ex- pect busy marketmen to take half hours off to write letters to you. They get letters every day from skeptical piospects who want to know if it is really true that people eat squabs and if they will really buy a dozen squabs a week or so, and such letters go into the wastebasket where they belong as soon as opened. The market- men who advertise for squabs do not do so for the purpose of con- ducting a correspondence, but for the purpose of getting squabs and paying for them. If you realize that you are dealing with business men, and mean business yourself, kill your squabs, cool them, pack them in ice in a box and ship them to one of these mar- ketmen, sending an invoice by mail and putting a duplicate invoice inside the box in a stout envelope on top of the squabs. You will be paid for them at the rate of $3 to $6 a dozen. This will introduce you to the traffic and you will be told what to do by your consignee if you have made mistakes in shipping. Be sure you talk with your express agent and ship at the low rate as a "general special" with twenty-five per cent off the weight for ice and you will be sur- prised to see how cheaply the transrartation wiU figure to a distant city. Don't worry about your local market for squabs. Get into the habit of killing, packing and shipping regularly to the cities, where they are so anxious to get squabs that the firms there adver- tise continuously for them. IMPORTANT SQUAB SECRETS THERE is a very important secret given in our cloth-bound one dollar Manual. It is found on Page 231, with further explanatory text on Page 308. It tells bow to breed fifteen pairs of squabs from any one pair of pigeons in one year, hatching only the eggs of the largest birds. By this method a few pairs of the laigest Homers or the largest Carneaux may be built up rapidly to a fine flock. _ Instead of waiting for the pigeon to grow to the mature age of six months before accepting or reieeting it, the pigeon is judged in the egg, thus saving months of useless time, labor and expense. No small or otherwise undesirable breeders are raised at all. The poorer birds do the work of the better birds, and the better birds do DOUBLE WORK. Just how this is done is fully disclosed, so that anybody can follow it. It is a simple matter of no expense whatever, just expert knowledge apolied. This method is invaluable to anybody breeding pigeons, as it is applicable to any breed. Don't waste feed and time raising poor birds. Head them off in the egg. Be sure and read this in the Manual and follow it in the management of your flock, if you start small with the intention of breeding your own birds. You will have a valuable flock in record-breaking time. REMARKABLE SQUAB BREEDING BY AN INDTANA MAN Why It Pays to Start with Best Stock lbs. $3.25 to $o.50. Later (February 10, 1910). What better returns do squab raisers want for their investment in good breeding squabs than a good daily outlet for all they can raise, and a positive good return for money invested? There is an actual shortage at the following (wholesale) prices: ten pounds to dozen $6, nine pounds $5.50, eight pounds $5, seven pounds $4. The prospects are that these prices will be steady for some time to come." What the above classification of squabs means is fully explained in our Manual. By $6 per dozen, he means that he will pay $6 for twelve squabs (not twelve pairs of squabs) which weigh ten pounds or better. The above prices are not true of squabs bred from cheap stock. You have got to start with the big parent birds that we sell. *I We were the FIRST, the originators; our birds and methods made a new business of squab raising, and are widely and thoroughly copied. We have no agents — DEAL DIRECT WITH US. Both large and small plants are feeding peanuts with great success. The use of peanuts means more eggs, more squabs, fatter squabs. Don't buy Canada peas at present high prices when you can get pigeon peanuts of us so cheaply. Prompt shipments. No order filled for less than two bushels (one hundred pounds) . No charge for bags or cartage. Give these a trial and you will be a steady cus- tomer. Send your order directly to us. Look out for imitations, such as refuse from candy factories, etc., or blends. No checks taken in payment for peanuts unless ten cents is added for collection charges. PLYMOUTH ROCK HEALTH GRIT ONLY TWO DOLLARS FOR TWO HUNDRED (200) POUNDS. (Old price was $2 per 100.) Your pigeons need grit as well as oyster shell. You must have both for a good production of eggs and squabs. A flock of pigeons under any conditions and in any part of the country will do better when our Plymouth Rock Health Grit is fed. The squabs will be ready for market a few days earlier, they will be plumper, and both they and the old birds will be in rugged health, and will keep so. We keep this grit before our own pigeons constantly, and consume and sell more tons of it every year than of any grit in the market. It is used by practically every large squab breeder of our acquaintance. We recom- mend it in the highest terms, knowing in our own experience that it pays for itself many times over. Feed this grit liberally and your grain bill will be smaller. This grit at one cent a pound is certainly cheaper than grain at two to three cents a pound. The pigeons eat it freely and the grain is better assimilated. Result, more eggs, falter squabs and a healthy flock. Be sure you put OHM B AM in a stock of Plymouth Rock Health Grit If* ^gaT when you order your grain and keep it always on hand. Feed it fresh every day like grain. PRICE ONLY $2 for 200 POUNDS No order filled for less than two hundred pounds. It goes at a low freight rate, lower than grain. We sold this grit for .". period of ten years at $2 per hundred but by machine mixing on a large scale we are able now to cut the price in halves. Only $10 for half a ton and $20 for a ton. It is as good for hens as for pigeons. We have hundreds of letters like these from squab breeders: THIS GRIT MAKES GOOD HATCHES "I had several pairs of pigeons whose squabs died in the shell, after picking a small opening the size of my little finger. I failed to understand the cause. / read of Plymouth Rock Health Grit and sent for a trial order. After feeding this for several months I find the squabs hatching fine. Hereafter nothing but Plymouth Rock Health Grit for me." — Herman L. Schindler, Monroe, Wisconsin. PIGEONS FIGHT FOR PLYMOUTH ROCK HEALTH GRIT "Enclosed find two dollars, for which please send me your Plymouth Rock Health Grit. We used one bag of it and have been trying to use other grits since the bag was exhausted, but the birds will not eat them and the squabs have fallen off in weight to a great extent. As ..he birds would pile upon each other and fight for your Grit when the supply ran out and we refilled the feeders, I have come to the conclusion that it is the only grit to be used." — Frank Harris, 2118 York Street, Des Moines, Iowa. CAUTION: Do not feed to pigeons the cheap grits selling as low aa fifty cents a hundred and which are made generally simply of crushed granite or other rock. Such grits have no value for pigeons and the birds are indifferent to them. Plymouth Rock Health Grit is obtainable only of us; we have no agents. PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY, 196 Howard Street, Melrose, Massachusetts 31 FOR AMOUNTS UNDER ONE DOLLAR SEND U. S. TWO-CENT STAMPS Aluminum and Colored Bands for Marking Pigeons WE sell both aluminum bands and colored bands. There are two kinds of aluminum bands, seamless and open. The seamless are used mostly by the breeders of flying Homers and fancy pigeons because when once put on to young ones, the birds' legs grow so that it becomes impos- sible to remove the bands. The band (as it is dated with the year of hatch) is proof of the age of the bird, so if the breeder Is called upon by exhibition rules to show a pigeon one year old, or two years old, or to sell such a bird, he can do so. A seamless band can be removed from the leg of a pigeon only by cutting. It cannot be used to mark the sex, because it must be applied to the leg of the squab when the squab is from four to six days old. To place a seamless band on the leg of a squab of this age, proceed with the utmost care as illustrated in Figure One. If you are rough, hasty or careless you will ruin the delicate toes and leg of the squab. You positively cannot do this either on an old pigeon, or squab older than one week. If you try, you will injure or kill. We do not sell the seamless bands, but we sell the tub- ing and tools with which they are easily and cheaply made, as follows: FIGURE 1 ALUMINUM TUBING This tubing is the right size for Homers and the smaller breeds of fancy pigeons. We sell it in only one size, as the larger sizes are not called for in seamless band work. Price per foot, postage paid, nineteen cents. No order filled for less than one foot. STEEL ROD This is the exact diameter of the inside of the tubing and is placed within when the band is being stamped to prevent the band from collapsing under the hammer. Price, postage paid, five cents. STEEL FIGURES These are used to number the band. They have all the figures from 1 to 9 inclusive, and 0, so that any number may be stamped. (For figure 6, use the 9 upside down, or vice versa. These sets do not have both a 6 and a 9. The one die serves for both.) Price of steel figures (in a round wood box) postage paid, one dollar. HACKSAW To saw the band off the tubing use a hacksaw. postage paid, twenty-seven cents. Price, HOW TO USE THE TOOLS The process of making a seamless band will be understood by study of the following pictures: FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3 FIGURE 4 To finish a band made out of tubing, use a small file to re- move the rough burrs and smooth the edges. An open band may be made from a seamless band. Many who buy the tubing do not know how to do this. Simply hold the seamless band in a pair of pincers (see Figure Four) and with the hacksaw cut across and through the band, close to the stamped figure. The result is a band which can be opened with the fingers and put around the leg either of a sauab or old pigeon, being closed flush with the fingers as soon as you have it around the leg of the bird. Make the saw-cut close to the stamped figures so as not to weaken the band. ^ For description and prices of the popular color bands see page 34 of this catalogue. BAND OUTFIT By the use of a band outfit, it is possible to make your own seamless bands at the cost of three or four for a cent, whereas if purchased ready made they will cost you two cents apiece. We have sold thousands of band outfits consisting of the set OUTFIT FOR MAKING BANDS CHEAPLY Showing aluminum tubing, steel rod, set of steel figures and hacksaw. of steel figures, steel rod, hacksaw, two feet of aluminum tubing. The two feet o f tubing will make ninety-six bands. The outfit will last a lifetime and will pay for itself in first lot of bands. Price $1.50 if shipped by express or freight with other goods. Price, postage paid, $1.70. BAND FLATS OR BLANKS We have a large sale of the flat pieces of aluminum, already cut V shape, from ^hich open bands are made. When you get them you may number them and letter them to suit yourself and then form them around the wood rod which we send. We sell these blanks put up in packages of thirty, with wood rod, for ten cents, postage paid. Price for six- ty, postage paid, twenty cents. Price for 120, postage paid, forty i cents, and so on, three for a cent, wood rod with every package. This is the cheapest way to buy aluminum bands, provided you are willing to do a little work yourself forming them. The resulting band is neat and strong. These pictures show how to form the bands from the blanks: HOW TO MAKE A V-SHAPED ALUMINUM BAND FIRST, stamp the desired number (using steel die and hammer) on the end of the blank. Do not stamp in the centre of the blank for if you do you will weaken the metal so that it may crack there when you bend it. The band should be on a flatiron or stovelid when stamped. SECOND, take the wood rod in one hand and with the fingers of the other hand pinch the blank into a circle around the rod. THIRD, pound the V-shaped edges into close contact lightly with a tack hammer. FOURTH, open band with fingers and place around leg of pigeon and close band. The steel figure dies are the same as used in making the seamless dies from tubing. Price per set, in wood box, postage paid, one dollar. These band blanks, also the V-shaped open bands (see top of next pa?e) which we sell are the correct size both for Homers and Carneaux. In ordering band blanks or bands, send United States two-cent stamps for amounts under one dollar. 32 FOR AMOUNTS UNDER ONE DOLLAR SEND U. S. TWO-CENT STAMPS V-SHAPED OPEN BANDS These are the most popular of all aluminum bands. They are made out of flat aluminum ribbon and after being num- bered, or initialed, or both, are formed into a circle around a wood rod with the fingers and a hammer. They are heavy enough so that they will stay all right on the legs of the birds. They can be applied either to squabs or old pigeons. The edges are rounded so as not to chafe tne legs. We can furnish these either unnumbered or numbered. Price, un- numbered, postage paid, half a cent each, two for a cent, fifty cents a hundred. No order filled for less than one dozen. Price, numbered, postage paid, one cent each, one dollar a hundred. No order filled for less than one dozen. These are first-class bands, made by hand. We do not sell lettered bands. If you wish to letter your bands with one initial, or with your three initials, we will supply the steel letters for twenty -three cents each, postage paid, so that you may letter either the bands you buy of us. or those you make. When ordering, specify plainly the letter or letters wished. Squabs are generally banded with these V-shaped aluminum bands when they are from three weeks to four weeks old. A guess is made at the sex, the band being put on either right or left leg. When the youngster is four to five months old, it will disclose its sex by its actions. If the bird is a cock, and the band happens to be on the right leg, leave the band where it is. If a hen, and band is oa right leg. catch the bird and transfer band to left leg. Always band cocks on right legs and hens on left legs. You know each bird by the number on its band. Place this number at the top of a thrje-by-five card, or at the top of a page in an account book, and keep a record of what the bird does. See next page for description and prices of COLORED BANDS. $l#t#t#$l&t$Jl£!t£lt$jt£j$ Demand for Quality Has Drawn Plymouth Rock Pigeons Into Every Section of This Continent ANYBODY with gumption can make a success breeding squabs provided he starts with pigeons bought of us, and sells under our trademark where and how we in- struct in special letters when he is ready with the squabs. We have sold stock in every State and Territory of the United States, in every province of Canada (including the cold sections), in Alaska, Brazil, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Bahamas, the Hawai- ian Islands and several European countries. We have refused several orders from New Zealand and Australia, because we guarantee safe delivery, and do not care to run the risk of too long a railroad journey and sea voyage. Wherever we under- take to ship, we pledge ourselves to get the birds there safely. This expertness in shipping did not come to us without a struggle. Before we showed how, shipments of pigeons in quantities across the continent were unknown. We ship in expensive baskets (which are returned to us empty) and each basket is skilfully rigged for its purpose. The instructions to express messengers as to feed and water are printed on a board attached to the basket. (See Manual.) There is hardly an express messenger in the United States who has not handled our shipments in his car at some time. The Boston agents of the interstate express companies have taken a great deal of Interest in our pigeon business and for first-class testimonials as to the magnitude of our trade, our responsibility and integrity we refer to the head men of these organizations, also to any American mercantile agency, bank or first-class publishing house. Just a word further about our responsibility. Not a share of our $100,000 stock is for sale. We are making the business pay, and you do the same, when you buy our birds and follow our instructions. We have ample capital and do a cash busi- ness exclusively, — and have no debts whatever. Everything we buy is paid for the same day we get the goods, all bills being discounted, and this practice we have followed ever since we have been in business (with the exception of the first eiimt months). Our pigeons thrive in any section, a fact which is not sur- prising, for common pigeons are seen in a wild state all over the earth. In places where there are cold winters, like Canada, the pigeons seem to do as well as in New England. Our Florida customers send us reports similar to those we get from California. In Texas, our customers erect a light, open, thor- oughly ventilated structure, because a tight house, such as is used in northern latitudes, would be unhealthful. In places like the northwestern part of the United States, where there is a wet and a dry season, the pigeons readily adapt themselves to the climate conditions, same as all feathered creatures in those localities. In Consideration of Your Buying Birds of Us, We Give You the Right to Use Our Trade Mark Plymouth Rock When Marketing Your Killed Squabs BY a line of advertising which started in 1900 and has increased in volume every year since, we have made the Plymouth Rock brand of squabs known in all sections and our trade-mark of two squabs in the nest is familiar every- where. By this advertising we have made it easy — and are making it easier every year— for our customers to sell their squabs. When pigeons are bought of us we also give, at no extra charge, the right to sell the squabs as Plymouth Rock squabs, and this right belongs legally to those who buy their breeding stock of us. Be sure you start with this great advantage. Our advertising in the magazines leads people to eat squabs who have not the time or the place or inclination to raise them and it is this advertising, nothing else, which is boosting the prices of squabs year after year. Be sure you take advantage of this Plymouth Rock market by buying your breeding stock of us. Our ordinary small advertisement in a first-class publication costs us, one insertion, from $25 to $50. Multiply this by the large number of publications in which we are constantly ad- vertising and you can form some idea of the tremendous force of publicity which is at work day and night to sell the Ply- mouth Rock squabs. If you are looking for business and want tc take advantage of such advertising, get aboard. You will find it easier to push well-advertised goods. It is important for you to get your squabs into the markets right. S3 FOR AMOUNTS UNDER $1.00 SEND U. S. TWO-CENT STAMPS 'Z2ZZS&' f: ~x Double-Number Color Leg Bands Are the Most for Your Money, Outsell All Others and Are in Universal Use Wherever Pigeons Are Bred THE most popular band for pigeons and squabs is the double- number color leg band. (See illustration above.) These bands are in universal use everywhere pigeons are kept and are preferred to all others because of their great practical value and long-wearing qualities. Inbreeding is positively prevented by their use and the operator controls his pigeons in a sure and accurate manner possible with no other system. The idea of two numbers on a legband in duplicate, so that no matter how the bird stands, the eye of the observer will see one of the numbers, was the inven- tion of Elmer C. Rice. The double-number band is made in twelve colors as follows: Black figures on white, red, cherry, pink, brick, blue, light blue, green, light green, yellow, light yellow and gray backgrounds. They tell the full story to the breeder, showing the number itself. Big, bold figures. The numbers run from one to sixty, because more than sixty pairs of breeding pigeons are not kept in one pen. PRICES (Postage Paid) 6 pairs, any numbers or colors $0.25 12 pairs, any numbers or colors 50 25 pairs, any numbers or colors 1 .00 50 pairs, any numbers or colors 1 .50 100 pairs, any numbers or colors 3.00 500 pairs, any numbers or colors 13.50 1000 pairs, any numbers or colors 25 .00 Sample for two-cent stamp. Be sure when ordering to specify that you wish the double-number band, and tell us what numbers and colors you wish. Note that the numbers run to sixty only. The bands are mailed flat. Roll them around a pencil or wood rod before applying. ^^•^•^•^{•rHM? No Fancy Talk About Squabs in Our Books— We Give You the Plain, Clear Reasons Why, of Long, Hard Experience, and Back Them Up With Evidence That Convinces SINCE writing the Manual, the National Standard Squab Book, and circulating it, I receive many letters from all parts of the country. My work in the squab industry has developed it to some extent but the possibilities are not even dreamed. There is no limit to the demands for squabs among ninety millions of people, a constantly increasing population and a constant decrease in the supply of game. The problem is to tell the people about squabs effectively. The rest follows. As food they are more than welcome. It costs now (19 '6) from 75 cents to $1.50 a year to feed a pair of breeding pigeons which produce from seven pairs to nine pairs of squabs a year, depending on the location of the Bquab breeder. Different men say things in different ways, or not always in the same language, but there is no man raising squabs successfully today who departs in any essential particular from my book. It is amusing to note at times In the current periodicals little disputes over minor points. For example, a squab breeder in an Eastern State will explain In detail that it costs him from $1 to $1.25 a year to feed a pair of breeders. Then a man in the West will come forward with a showing of how it cost him only fifty cents a year a pair to feed his birds. And they will have it back and forth, with others joining in. All the while, it seems to be forgotten that the Eastern-State man is on a small railroad branch hundreds of miles out of the way of traffic, and not selling the manure, while the Westerner is right in the wheat and corn fields where he may be raising his own grain, and grain costs one-third less than the other man pays, and frequently one-half. Some breeders may be buying grain in carload lots with intelligence, others are going out with a hand basket and buying it in paper bags. There is a wide range for intelligence and skill in buying pigeon feed, some breeders producing squabs at half the cost of others in the same county. I have noted that business concerns which tell the simple truth and back it up get the trade which is desirable and which lasts and is profitable. That has been our experience. I have tried to tell the truth about squabs. For instance, in an edition of this free booklet which went out for four years, I stated the important matter of production of a pair of breeding birds to be five pairs of squabs per year. A test to which the United States Government has called attention resulted in seven and one-half pairs of squabs per pair of breeders annually. There are some breeders who claim to get eight or ten pairs of squabs yearly from each pair of breeders and we have done this also. To be conservative and fair I put the statement in the Manual seven to nine pairs of squabs annually from each pair of breeders. Not only in this but in every particular it is my object to under- state rather than exaggerate. This has worked out during the past ten years well, for customers write in constantly that they find the practice to be even better than the statement of facts in my books. I am painting no fancy pictures about squabs. It has been my experience, in handling over one hundred thousand customers, that people who fail with squabs or poultry fail because they are lacking in business ability and do not know how to sell their product. Such take any price offered, knowing neither the cost of production nor what they must sell for to keep in business. They would fail at any task requiring salesmanship. ELMER C. RICE Treasurer Plymouth Rock Squab Co. 196 Howard Street, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 34 FREE ADVICE IF YOU SEND A STAMPED ENVELOPE Please Write on One Side of Your Sheet of Paper Number the Questions Which You Ask and Enclose a Stamped Envelope and WE receive from three hundred to six hundred letters daily (some days more) all the year round on topics connected with our business. The work of handling this corre- spondence is done in a systematic manner. For anybody who needs advice on squab matters, special letters are dictated, mostly by Mr. Rice. Ask us your questions and we will answer them fully, correctly and promptly. Correspondents will favor themselves as well as us by observing the following: Write on one side only of your sheet of paper. Use a large sheet about eight by eleven inches, the usual business size. If you use more than one sheet, number your sheets plainly. Please do not send us any closely-written, criss-crossed sheets (the way a girl usually writes a love-letter). Please be brief. It you ask a series of questions, number them and keep a copy so that we can reply by number without repeating. We can read all kinds of handwriting, but the full name of the writer should be signed plainly at the end of the letter, together with the mail address, in detail and the name of the State spelled out in full. Most writers in signing Md. (for Maryland) make it look like Ind. (for Indiana). The same confusion results in a dozen other States, such as Cal. or Col., Miss, or Mass., N. Y. or N. J., etc Blind letters and those with defective addresses are not answered the same day we get them, but are turned over to a clerk to be deciphered, it sometimes being necessary to write to the postmaster whose postmark appears on the envelope, but in the cases of cities and large towns that method cannot be employed, and no further attention can be given to the letter. Always enclose a stamped aad addressed envelope. We are always glad to hear squab news from all parts of the country. Tell us something new and interesting about squabs and the squab markets, volume and prices, etc., where you live. Send us some real news which you yourself have learned. *+**&»tf^'&fih*t"*«l t * Get Higher Prices for Squabs — Join the National Squab Breeders' Association THIS association was formed in 1900 and before the close of the year obtained eight thousand members, constituting the largest pigeon organization in the world. It costs nothing to join and there are no initiation fees or annual dues. If you are breeding squabs or pigeons for market or for recreation, send in your name and get a button and wear it. To secure a button, send «fl Send for this 1916 membership button. ten cents (either a dime or United States two-cent stamps) to the National Squab Breeders' Association, 220 Purchase Street, Boston, Mass., saying that you are a member of the association and want a button. If you are not yet a member, say that you wish to join. Your name then will be enrolled and a button mailed you. The button is not cheap celluloid or enamel, but is made of solid copper alloy, bronze, with a dark finish like the familiar G. A. R. button. (It is not a brass button.) The buttons of the Spanish War Veterans and other organizations are of the same type and are delivered on deposit of at least twenty-five cents and generally one dollar. Our button is as good as it is possible for a bronze button to be made. Wear the button and talk up the association among your fellow pigeon men and others interested in squabs. Get them to join. The objects are - To profit financially by refusing to sell squabs at less than a profit. To encourage the eating of better squabs and more of them. To find out the best places to buy grain. To learn how and where to sell squabs as well as how to rai?e them. To unite as squab and pigeon breeders, not to fight each other, but to help, in any way that comes up. To boost, and not to knock. To use the influence of what is now the largest pigeon organization in the world, on any topic, or in any work that may come up, in the broadest and best way, for the good of all. To get acquainted with and understand each other, so that when button wearers get together they can clasp hands in good fellowship. Watch the magazine from month to month for bulletins of progress. Red stickers like this cut now ready for members, price twelve cents per hundred prepaid. These have made a big hit and we are mailing thousands. Use them to ornament top of letterhead or corner of envelope or on flap of envelope, or on bill- heads, etc. H"i'+ T il'»fc"it' ? iM ,r t"! ?T J^ HOW I GOT WISE TO TRUE SQUAB PRICES (by Gerald R. Wood). Herein Spokane I never sell squabs for less than $4.20 per dozen, and more often it is forty cents apiece; in the winter I hold out for forty-five cents each, and get it, too. I had to cut out selling my squabs to the merchants here right from the start. I took two dozen nice squabs to town one day and after running around considerably had to sell them finally for $2.40 per dozen. I might have gone on doing that and become disgusted like a good many others, only while I was waiting for my money, and the squabs had not even been taken off the counter, a customer approached and asked for squabs. A clerk stepped up and asked forty cents each for my squabs. The customer, evidently a chef from some hotel, took the bunch. I got $4.80 for my work of feeding, raising, picking and marketing. The storekeeper got $4.80 clear profit for allowing the squabs to be in his store about ten minutes. I went out of there a sadder but wiser man. I am now working for myself, not for commission men. HOW FATHER LANDED THE HIGH MARKET (by Purssell O' Neal ). I am breeding a small flock of Carneaux to get some good foundation stock for a squab plant. A year ago we moved to Cali- fornia from Oklahoma City, where we had a nice flock of Plymouth Rock Homers. We remodeled an old barn, built a large fly for them and they soon began to produce squabs. When we had bred them to about one hundred, my father began to look for a market. The first place he went to was a small restaurant. The buyer offered fifteen cents each for them, and when he was told that he could not have them for less than twenty-five cents each he laughed and said, "You will never get twenty-five cents for a squab in Oklahoma City." The next stop was at the Skirvin Hotel, one of the largest in the city. The steward inquired the price and my father replied, "I will not agree to f urnih you squabs at this price, but just to show you what my squabs are like I will sell you a dozen at thirty cents each ($3.60 per dozen)." The steward said he would take them and that we could bring him all we could possibly spare. There were several squab breeders in the city and a few miles out in the country, and my father made a business of buying their live squabs and selling them to the hotel along with our own. We frequently sold them severai dozen a week but as we could not supply them enough, they were compelled to have squabs shipped in from the large cities. One night we car- ried them a large basket of squabs and they informed us that they could not use them as they had just received a large shipment from St. Louis. Well, we never had tried to sell to private families but the next morning my father made a house-to-house canvass and in a few minutes had disposed of them all. We soon had several regular customers on our list and as they proved more profitable than the hotel we sold to private trade altogether. WARNING Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux and Plymouth Rock squabs are the best advertised pigeons in the world and are famous everywhere for their size and breeding. This has led unprincipled dealers to offer pigeons to the unwise and unsuspecting as "Plymouth Rock." Such pigeons are merely culls such as we sell ourselves for twenty-five cents a pair to market to be killed. Beware of dealers using our trade mark Plymouth Rock illegally and offering such stock at 75 cents to $2.00 a pair, or what- ever they can get, and telling- any kind of a story to push the sale. Such parties have no financial rating, their so-called guarantees are worthless and nothing but hu- miliation and failure will follow the purchase of such stock for breeding purposes. Such flocks are mostly cock pigeons which do no breeding- but only quarrel and eat. 35 TO SELL SQUABS TELL PEOPLE FACTS ABOUT THEM I KNOW IT "After experimenting with pigeons five years I have settled finally on the Homer as being the best all-round utility bird. At this writing I have seven pens of pigeons. I have three pens of Homers, all foundation stock Plymouth Rock stock. I find the market in this section is strong for squabs that weigh about eight to ten pounds to the dozen with a limited sale for squabs that run larger. The large consumers will consider only such squabs. They never buy anything larger. " — Qeorge Klarmann. "I handle the squabs of a good many other people here and notice that those that have Plymouth Rock Squab Company stock are always sending me the best " — Stefan Schwarz. Significant talk, written by Messrs. Klarmann and Schwarz, two secretaries of the Pacific Utility Pigeon Association. What is true of California is true of every State and every City on the North American Continent. See in our printed matter the letters from squab marketmen everywhere telling the same impressive fact. Do you wonder why our sales steadily increase? Raise the squabs to which the markets are accustomed, the salable squabs, the fast-produced squabs, the profitable squabs. >Jn|»«J"i«Jti4n4Mj»^^»J»tJ» What Customers Who Have Bred Squabs from Our Birds Say— "Squabs Ten to Twelve Pounds to the Dozen" -"More Than Satisfied "-"Surpassing All Expectations"—" Know How to Ship" WE have letters from customers by the thousand, telling of remarkable success with out birds. To give you an idea of what these letters contain, we print here a few extracts. (For the letters in full, see printed matter accompanying the Manual.) BIG SQUABS " My first shipment of squabs will be made April 11. So far my squabs have averaged ten and one-quarter, ten and one-half and eleven and one-half pounds to the dozen." OVER TWELVE POUNDS TO THE DOZEN " I weighed two squabs from your birds and they weighed just two pounds, two ounces." MORE THAN A POUND APffiCE " I find your statements in your squab book are conservative in all things. The squabs I have taken at three or four weeks have weighed from thirteen to seventeen ounces apiece. After an ex- perience of two months with your birds I am more than satisfied." SIX DOLLARS A DOZEN " I have some fine birds I have raised from your birds I bought a year ago last May. I am getting six dollars per dozen for my squabs now and can't get them fast enough. I have lost one bird since I started over one year ago." KNOW HOW TO SHIP " The expressman paid your firm a high compliment by calling our attention to the sack of grain and the water-dish. He said, 'These people seem to understand their business and are very care- ful of their birds. Why, we have had birds come in here half starved and looking just awful.' Those were his exact words. I thought them pretty good from a man who handles so many." HIGH QUALITY " I wrote you the first of the week for price of fifty pairs of Homers ready for hatching. The Homers I bought from you two years ago are doing finely, also those I hatched from them. They are very large and handsome. Shipped some dressed squabs last week to New York and they returned five dollars per dozen, which proves the quality of the goods." BEST IN BOSTON MARKET " The birds I have purchased from you are the cream of the flock. I have been selling the squabs at the Boston hotels for thirty-five cents apiece the year round, and Nathan Robbins at the Quincy Market was glad to take them at $3.50 per dozen. I have saved a few young birds, some of the very finest." GREAT BREEDERS " I wish to state that from the two dozen pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers I got from you in November, 1908, I now, January 16, 1910, have over four hundred birds, and the flock is still increas- ing and I hope to have a thousand by the end of this year." CANADA TRADE By S. Gilbert I would like you to publish this letter or any part of it. I think it would be of use to shippers in the States to customers in Canada. I sent to one advertiser for some pigeons and he sent them nicely crated, but no invoice, just a letter saying that he had shipped them. Consequently I had to pay duty as well as expressage. I wrote to him asking him to send me an invoice, as by so doing I could get the return of the duty charge. He sent me an ordering letter, which was of no use. Some time after that I sent to another advertiser for one hundred pounds wild seeds, $1.50; freight, duty and customs brokers' charges brought it to another $1.50, making $3. Again no invoice. Before taking the bag out of bond I wrote to the advertiser telling him I would have double duty to pay if he did not send me an invoice — would he kindly do so? He answered me by sending me the bill of lading. No use. Now, how is trade to be encouraged between the two countries, when business is done like that? The customs brokers said to me: "I would not do busi- ness with a man who would not send me an invoice." I then bought birds of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. They sent me two certified invoices, one for the broker and one for the customer and I never had any trouble, and no duty charged. Why is it that if you want birds or anything in the pigeon line, the Plymouth Rock Squab Company is the only company that we in Canada can depend upon, to have them reach us without trouble? 36 THIS PAGE MAY BE DETACHED AND USED FOR ORDER BLANK Name , „ „ Number and Street City or Town State. Date „ PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY Howard Street, Melrose Highlands, Mass. Gentlemen: My name and address are written on the above lines. Enclosed find $ in post-office or express money order, bank draft or check (United States two-cent stamps for amounts less than one dollar), and send me the following: READ THIS AND SEE HOW FAST PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS BREED SQUABS OUR BIG FARM'S BEST MONEY-MAKER BY F. I. ARMSTRONG IT has been eighteen months since I entered the squab breeding business and I have had very good success. I have now 150 pairs of Homers and have sold 1036 squabs, all from a start of thirty-five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. The squabs have netted me thirty cents apiece, sold to commission men. I figure that if I had not sold squabs I would now have at least five hundred mated pairs. The Chicago market has held up well the past sum- mer (1913). I am now receiving $3.75 to $5.50 a dozen. For a couple of months they were $3 to $4 a dozen. My pigeons are paying better than the two-hundred-acre farm we have accord- ing to the amount invested. To give you an illustration. We have been offered two hundred dollars an acre for the land and last year the rent amounted to fifteen hundred dollars. Figure the interest on the money at five per cent and you will see it is not paying very big. From one hundred and fifty pairs of pigeons, valued at three hundred dollars, I sold three hundred dollars' worth of squabs in eleven months. Expenses were one hundred and fifty dollars, which leaves a profit of one hundred dollars and fifty dollars on a three hundred dollar investment. Some dif- ference between this and the farm. Of course last year was a bad year here (Illinois), and another thing about the farm is you always know that the money invested in it is safe and that you are sure of something. I had a man who owns a threshing outfit tell me that I should have to raise some squabs to pay for the house I built. I answered him by saying that it would not take as long for me to pay for the house raising squabs as it would take him to pay for his threshing outfit, which he uses about one month in a year. I believe any one can make a success in raising squabs if he is not aftaid of work. If one can make money with them, there is no reason why others cannot. Buy foundation stock of a reliable dealer. Do not look too much at the price you have to pay. Use the same amount of head work that you do muscle, and your chances to win out are about ten to one in your favor. $H&t&t£jl£n&ti3t$H£n£j&«JJ HOW WE BRED 800 PAIRS FROM 25 IN VERMONT BY E. E. WYGANT AND RAY E. BROWN IN April, 1909, we bought twenty-five pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers irom the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, Boston. When the birds arrived, we placed them in a box stall, built a small pen on the outside, and did not pay any atten- tion to them except to water and feed for over three months, when we found we had to prepare other pens for the young, which were coming very fast. In fact, every pair shipped us were all raising squabs at this time. They came so fast that we put up a building 128 feet long, eighteen feet wide and twelve feet high. At this writing (June 3) two years later, it is filled with three hun- dred mated pairs all breeding, besides ten pens in the large barn No. 1 with four hundred mated pairs. I can see where I made a mistake when starting and that was that I should have bought about five hundred pairs and saved the time we have taken to breed. For since last August, when we began to sell squabs, we have been compelled to refuse orders owing to our wish to breed to one thousand pairs. We have made a point not to sell any squabs less than $6 a dozen dressed, and guarantee every squab to weigh three quarters of a pound, dressed, or no sale. We are careful not to kill any birds if under the above weight. We have supplied ban- quets and hotels at the above price and in doing so we show a com- mon pigeon by the side of a Homer, which settles all arguments at once. We feed entirely according to the directions in Elmer Rice's one-dollar Manual and have had no trouble in keeping all the birds in fine condition. The main point, in our estimation, is to have clean coops, fresh wat^r at all times, and see that every bird is given enough to eat. If these instructions are lived up to at all times, there is no reason why anybody should not make a success of rais- ing squabs. Make up your mind what variety of pigeons you want, how many you want, and remember the best is what you want. There are a great many varieties suitable for squab raising. We prefer the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, which we find come up to all the requirements called for by the squab demand. There are some varieties which breed larger squabs than the Homer, but G good, plump. Homer squab will satisfy the appetite of most any common person; but in spite of this fact there are squab eaters like bargain seekers, — regardless of quality they want everything to look big for their money, so for the benefit of such customers we have put in a poultry business for the purpose of supplying some- thing big, such as ten-to-twelve-pound roasters, turkeys, etc. Ninety per cent of our squab customers are perfectly satisfied with our Homer squabs. Five of the ten per cent left have no kick, and the remaining five per cent could not be satisfied with any squab, regardless of size, so we fill their orders with poultry. Re- gardless of the variety you start with, it is quality you want, not quantity. Buy your foundation stock from a reliable breeder. Tell him what you want and pay his price. Don't think the price too high considering quality, as he knows the value of the birds he is quoting you prices on much better than you, and bantering over prices with a reliable breeder is only a waste of time. Also remember that saving money buying cheap stock birds is not saving, only wasting. The successful squab raiser should study the Xalional Standard Squab Book, and take advantage of some of the many good hints from men who know from experience. t£j r£j Cjj & & i&j t& t# & t£n£! t& SUBURBAN SQUAB RAISING IN THE SOUTH (by W. G. McDavid). One day, a year ago, I came across a little pamphlet entitled " How to make Money with Squabs," and at once my old love for pigeons was rekindled. In a few days I sent an order for twenty-fcur pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and supplies, and at once began the construction of a one-unit house to put them in when they should be received. The birds arrived on Tuesday, May 21, and the following Sunday, much to my surprise, I found nineteen nests in the house. After looking at a number of places I decided to purchase a five-acre tract situated three and one-half miles north of the city and only a little over one-fourth of a mile from the trolley line. Securing possession of this property, I commenced the construction of my future home and the necessary outbuildings to carry out my scheme. Thus was " Hillcrest " launched. On August 1 , 1912, 1 took possession, having previously had my pigeon house moved out from town. After my squabs are killed and plucked they are plumped in ice water over night, each one is then wrapped in paraffin paper and enclosed in a pasteboard carton holding one pair. The carton is then wrapped in paraffin gaper and sealed with a " Hillcrest, guaranteed " sticker seal. I ave been unable to supply the demand for squabs at sixty cents a pair. Chickens and pigeons are so far an entirety satisfactory combination and I feel reasonably sure that fruit and berries will blend well with them and help swell the revenue. GREAT OPPORTUNITY IN FLORIDA. The Florida winter trade gets its squabs from New York. Our colony of squab breeders in that State, numerous as they are, and breeding in the aggregate thousands of pairs of pigeons, are not a flea-bite on the Florida demand. The Flagler hotels along the East Coast must have squabs. Where do they get them? The answer is, that every December Heineman Bros, are given a single order for three thousand dozen to four thousand dozen of squabs by one man, and that enormous quantity is accordingly shipped to Jacksonville by the Clyde line steamships and put into storage. During the following three months, which are the Florida winter season, they are shipped as called for to the Flagler resorts from St. Augustine to Nassau, the bulk of them going to the two big hotels at Palm Beach, the Royal Poinciana and the Breakers. These forty thousand to fifty thousand squabs are eaten by visitors from the North. It is a traffic of such enormous magnitude as to be entirely out of the reach of the squab raisers of the South, at their present number, and it will take twenty-five years at its present rate of development for the squab industry in the Southern States to cope with this Florida demand. 38 THESE COUPONS MAY BE USED WHEN SENDING ORDER How to Send Money The coupons in the second column on this page may be used in ordering, if de- sired. (If you do not wish to cut into this book, write an ordinary letter telling how much money you are sending and what you want for it.) Amounts up to one dollar may be re- mitted in United States two-cent stamps, provided they are in sheets (not detached). One-cent United States stamps will be accepted if necessary to make the proper amount. Stamps of larger denomination and stamps of Canada or other foreign countries cannot be used by us, and will not be taken. Amounts of one dollar or more should be sent us in the form of a post-office money order (obtainable of any post- master), or an express money order (ob- tainable of any express agent), or a bank draft (obtainable of any banker). Per- sonal checks, if sent, should be for ten cents additional to pay the charge which our bank makes for collecting the money from your bank. Do not send us any copper, nickel or silver coins, as they may be lost. Buy two-cent stamps with them. If you send paper money, go to your postmaster, pay him ten cents and have your letter regis- tered, which insures you against loss. If you are sending money for birds, please go to your express agent and buy an express money order. This gives you an opportunity to get better acquainted with him, and tell him you are going to have some live pigeons come, and that you would appreciate whatever attention he gives them, and quick delivery. If you are on or near a telephone line, ask him to notify you when the birds are put off the train. (We notify you by mail a day ahead of the time of shipment.) If you live in a town whose name is dup- licated in your State, be sure and give the name of your county. For example, in California, there are three towns named Lake View, in three different counties, and it is impossible for us to write letters or ship goods to a customer in either town unless we take two weeks to find out in which county he lives. There are many such duplications in America. We send either the goods ordered, or a receipt for the money you send, or both goods and receipt, the same day we re- ceive your money, so you are bound to hear from us in quick time. Trading with us is as satisfactory as if we were next door to you; we will treat you courteously, in a fair and liberal manner. We are responsible and have built up our large trade by giving the best service in pigeons, pigeon supplies, and pigeon correspon- dence, and giving it quick. PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB CO. Melrose Highlands, MASSACHUSETTS. ELMER C. RICE, Treasurer and Manager FILL OUT. CUT OUT. AND MAIL COUPON 1NO. l RICE'S MANUAL, $1.00 PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY, Melrose Highlands, Mass. Gentlemen: Enclosed find One Dollar in post-office or express money order or bank draft, for which mail me one copy of your latest Manual, the National Standard Squab Book, by Elmer C . Rice. My name and full address are as follows : Name Number Town or city State (in full) Street County S1S^