ls AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



produced. As Mr. Upham has told us, most of the females of 

 the first cross were black and only a few were gray, or steel- 

 colored, to use Mr. Upham's term. Males that showed color 

 enough to give any character to their plumage were almost as 

 scarce. Mr. Upham's particular desire was to produce the steel- 

 colored females, as most of them seemed to come very dark and 

 even black. He, like others, soon realized that his task was to 

 produce males and females of the same shade of color. Even the 

 breeders of the present day have found that only by the most 

 persistent and painstaking efforts can this be accomplished, and 

 they have also the advantages accruing from the inheritance of 

 years of breeding for that particular character. 



Aside from such very fundamental qualities as size, shape, 

 health, vigor and the like, this requirement that males and 

 females should be of the same shade of color became predomi- 

 nant very early in the life of the breed and has remained so ; and 

 while that fact may have been lost sight of in comparatively 

 recent years, it is merely because of its correspondingly perfect 

 accomplishment. Failure to comply with this demand will at any 

 period before long result in agitation for its enforcement. 



"Males and females must match in the show pen" became the 

 slogan most often repeated very soon after the breeding of 

 Plymouth Rocks became general. Results came slowly at first 

 because the breeding of Dominique color was not understood. 

 To accomplish this most difficult task, breeders studied, experi- 

 mented, and observed. To accomplish this, systems then new 

 were discovered, among them, single matings, intermediate 

 matings, extreme matings, double and special matings. All these 

 systems of matings except the first, were thought out originally 

 and practiced primarily to produce both sexes of Plymouth 

 Rocks of the same shade. The application of these principles 

 to obtain other objects in Plymouth Rocks and to the breeding 

 of other breeds and varieties came about later. The great, all- 

 absorbing desire to match the color in male and female Plymouth 

 Rocks was the incentive which led to their discovery. 



The Ramsdell Strain. This was one of the earliest strains 

 and because of the time of its beginning and the source of 

 origin was more nearly contemporary with the Upham strain 

 than any of the other early strains. Also, because of its loca- 

 tion it was for a time more of a rival. The source of his stock- 

 was undoubtedly Spaulding, as Mr. Ramsdell writes " . . . . 

 which is situated about a mile from mv own. I was intimately 



