/'M .I/or'/'// /.'or/i HTA \n.\un AND RHKUD w><>/\ 7.. 



borhood and were much sought after, but had, as yet, no name. 

 A gentleman asked me what I called them. Not knowing that 

 any of the Bennetts were now in existence I had not seen any 

 of them for years I said, 'Plymouth Rocks.' The name passed 

 from one to another and they were soon generally known by 

 that name. Our opinion of the fowl is that when bred pure, as 

 it came from the hands of Mr. Spaulding, it has few equals and 

 no superiors. True, they will now and then throw a black chick, 

 resembling those we had twenty-five or thirty years since, but 

 we find they grow fewer each year and doubtless will soon dis- 

 appear altogether.". 



This article coincides in names and circumstances with Mr. 

 Upham's verbal account given the writer in the Summer of 1890, 

 except that Mr. Upham insisted that the black Asiatic was a 

 Black Cochin and not a Black Java. Both agree that a Java was 

 a large, black, smooth legged fowl, while it is well known that a 

 Cochin is and always was a feather legged fowl. 



Views of the Early Writers. F. H. Ayer in "The Plymouth 

 Rock," a pamphlet published in 1878, takes the Ramsdell view of 

 the Java-Cochin controversy in the following language : 



"'Who shall decide when doctors disagree? Whatever the 

 merits of the Upham-Ramsdell controversy may be, the question 

 of the rival claimants has long since settled in the minds of all 

 breeders, and a review of their statements is unnecessary. The 

 Plymouth Rock is a cross of Dominique and Java blood, and this 

 fact is of more importance in breeding than the name of the first 

 breeder." 



F. H. Corbin, in a pamphlet entitled "Plymouth Rocks," 

 1879, also accepts the Ramsdell view, or is inclined to. He 

 writes : 



"The Upham-Ramsdell controversy was conducted with both 

 vigor and bitterness. The conceded ability of these gentlemen, 

 together with their readiness of pen, only magnified the contest, 

 diffused a knowledge of the question among the poultry frater- 

 nity and caused others to take up the pen, both as principals and 

 advocates. After a time it began to be uncertain whether any 

 such breed ever existed, and, if there was any, where or from 

 whence it sprang. 



"Another question intensified the controversy. While all 

 were agreed as to the Plymouth Rock being a "cross" breed, 

 scarcely any two were agreed as to what the cross was. The 

 Black Java, Cochin, Dominique, Dunghill, Gray Chittagongs and 

 English Gray Dorkings were all named as entering into the 



