100 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



reader, if you like, with Light Brahmas and White Cochins, 

 not exactly as Mr. Spaulding produced his strain, but very simi- 

 larly, as it is still a cross of Hawk-colored fowl and Asiatic. 

 From this fact, that his stock gave excellent satisfaction, cer- 

 tainly as far as we can learn, it is fair to assume that it must 

 have progressed beyond the stage of a first cross, otherwise it 

 would have been unreliable in other hands. This does not seem 

 to have been the case. Besides Mr. Oilman, William Haywood 

 bred the Drake strain for a number of years with good results, 

 and is said to have been a better and more careful breeder than 

 the originator of the strain. Not many years ago, a number of 

 breeders who remembered the Drake stock could be found and 

 some of them had this blood in their stock. They describe the 

 Drake birds as very large, very dark, and very much inclined 

 to feathers or stubs on their shanks and toes. 



Despite this affliction, Mr. Drake was quite successful in 

 building up a strain of Plymouth Rock that was both meritorious 

 and popular. Had he not been entirely dependent upon the poul- 

 try business for support, besides being afflicted with delicate 

 health, his success would undoubtedly have been even more 

 marked. 



The Oilman Strain. From an early circular, distributed by 

 Mr. Oilman, we quote the following, which will give a very clear 

 idea of the status of Plymouth Rocks at that time: 



"My first purchase of these fowls, Plymouth Rocks, was based 

 on fancy alone. I saw them and they pleased me at once, and 

 I bought and bred them beside my Dominiques and Hamburgs. 



"As a breed they were comparatively unknown, although 

 Mr. Upham had exhibited specimens at the exhibition of the N. 

 E. Poultry Club, at Worcester, a year or two before. 



"I could learn nothing of the pedigree of my first purchase, 

 whether Drake or Upham or neither, but by reason of their good 

 behavior, they soon became the favorites of my poultry yards 

 and I disposed of all others and made them a specialty. 



"In 1872 I bought a fine pair of my own selection of Mr. 

 Drake, paying him $20.00, a high price at that time. I. regis- 

 tered the male bird in the Poultry World Pedigree Record as 

 'Champion/ 854. 



