20 "A LITTLE JOURNEY 



I didn't mean to let the good Editor of the R. P. J. take 

 up quite so many pages but as he has said some things that 

 wouldn't look very good coming direct from me y I guess I 

 won't object. 



Origin of Anconas 



I AM well aware of the fact that breeders of other poultry refer to the 

 mottled Ancona, in derision, as "the old speckled hen." I am not going 

 to stop to defend the "old speckled hen" although there is enough senti- 

 ment connected with her so that one could write a book on that subject. I 

 gathered her eggs when I was a youngster and probably you did too 

 "holding back" several dozen on Grandma along about Easter-time! 



But if Anconas are speckled or mottled, which is the right word to use 

 it is because they have been this way for many, many decades back in sunny 

 Italy, from which country they originally came. 



We are informed that in their own country, and in the province and city 

 of Ancona, Italy, they are considered superior to other breeds as producers 

 of eggs, in beauty and for the quality of meat. An examination of all avail- 

 ble records gives no basis for the supposition that Anconas are a patched up, 

 manufactured strain. On the other hand, there are plenty of facts in poultry 

 history to carry out my emphatic contention that Anconas were a separately 

 defined breed of poultry twenty years before our own Civil War started. 



The first record we have of this remarkable breed, of course, comes from 

 Ancona, which is a large maritime town of Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, 134 

 miles northeast of Rome. It is noted for its fine harbor adapted for building 

 and repairing ships. It is said to have the finest marble arch in the world. 

 Last, but not least, it is noted as being the original home of this great and 

 noble breed of fowls. About half a decade before this town became a part of 

 the Italian kingdom, Anconas were first introduced into England, in the year 

 1852, where they have gained great prominence. In about 1890 they were 

 imported into America. They have made wonderful progress against the 

 strong competition of other breeds. 



It is indeed interesting to thumb through the pages of old Histories and 

 Poultry Books. Those, for example, which were published about the time 

 the Anconas first came into prominence are of especial interest to me. 



Anconas, said the "experts", would never make good. They would never 

 become popular. It was claimed that there was no standard; that in Italy 

 the birds were of a dozen different colors; that some were pure black, others 

 black and white, other with every known shade of brown and tan mixed in 



