90 AMEKICAX J'Ori/l'/fY ASSOCIATION 



Such, then, is the parentage of the two component races that 

 were successfully amalgamated to create a third race, which 

 proved to be epoch-making, for by its creation poultry culture 

 ceased to be the one-feature possibility that it had always been 

 and became at once a full and well-rounded enterprise with com- 

 mercial and economic possibilities. In other words, the poultry- 

 men had found their Rosetta stone, the poultry business its Foun- 

 tain of Eternal Youth. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF THE NEW BREED 



The reception that these fowls were accorded was startling. 

 Entered and exhibited as a novelty at the most they became the 

 chief attraction of the show. Other exhibits were little more 

 than noticed. The idea of an American fowl appealed to the 

 rank and file of American poultrymen. An introduction to poul- 

 trydom was all that was necessary to establish the position of 

 Plymouth Rocks among American poultrymen. The long looked 

 for dual purpose fowl, occupying the middle ground between 

 the slowly maturing and heavy Asiatic and early maturing but 

 light Mediterraneans, had arrived and the warmth of their wel- 

 come exceeded in degree the eagerness with which a fowl that 

 would excel in egg producing and flesh producing qualities had 

 been sought. 



The experts examined them minutely and discussed their 

 merits and demerits most profoundly. They prophesied futures 

 according, to their individual views. That their views differed 

 widely would not excite amusement even in this day after years 

 of popular approval. They, in part, undoubtedly deserved the 

 epitaph bestowed upon them by one noted authority, who pro- 

 nounced them d d mongrels, which appellation needs but a 

 slight alteration to become "The Great American Mongrel," by 

 which unique and expressive title they soon became known. The 

 opinion implied by the term applied at the time by the one expert 

 was not that of all, however. Mark Pitman, for many years one 

 of the most experienced and appreciative of poultry fanciers, 

 thought so much of them that he purchased one of the trios ex- 

 hibited for his patron, C. Carol Loring, of Boston and Dedham, 

 Massachusetts, who, like Mr. Pitman, was for a lifetime an 

 ardent admirer of beautiful fowls of many breeds and varieties. 

 One, too, was sold to Captain Evans of Manchester, New Hamp- 



