PLYMOl'TH ItOCK XV .1 \DARD AND BREED BOOK Ci., 



CHAPTER II. 



THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 



A popularity among the masses of poultry keepers that is as 

 wonderful as it is universal places the Plymouth Rock foremost, 

 and makes it preeminent as a breed in the poultry world. A 

 popularity -questioned by none and admitted by all is not the 

 result of a mere freak of public fancy. Growing steadily in 

 favor as these fowls have for over fifty years, this popularity 

 cannot be said to be the outcome of the prearranged plans or 

 systematic efforts of any man or body of men. It has its founda- 

 tion on merit, but it is not solely because these fowls are money 

 makers in the several phases of commercial traffic that they 

 enjoy the highest favors with all classes of poultrymen. Be- 

 cause the structure was well planned, and the improvements 

 well considered and judicious, these fowls are today profitable 

 as egg-producers, as broilers, as roasters, as the all-purpose fowls, 

 and for those who succeed in producing the best type and plum- 

 age, as fancy fowls. To these qualities must be added their 

 rugged constitutions, mild dispositions and their adaptability to 

 confinement and domestication. 



As fancy fowls their popularity is no doubt due to the 

 peculiarly regular and systematic markings or the pure colors of 

 their plumage, intensified by the difficulty in producing the same 

 to any degree approximating perfection. Failing to accomplish 

 this the breeder has always the market qualities to rely upon. 



All these things and more have contributed to the popularity 

 of the Plymouth Rocks, but acknowledged facts do not interest 

 us. Our interest seeks to discover the foundation of these quali- 

 ties, so fortunately combined ; what combinations of blood, what 

 conditions, what circumstances contributed to the development 

 of a fowl suited to all. The explanation is best given in the his- 

 tory of its ancestry. We shall see as we trace the development 

 of this fowl, the source of its rugged constitution, the reason for 

 the good laying qualities, and account, we hope, in a measure at 

 least, for the approaching perfection of plumage. 



The first real interest in pure-bred fowls in America, of which 

 we have any account, appeared in New England about the middle 

 of the last century. At that time all pure-bred fowls were either 

 of Asiatic or European origin. 



