PLYMOUTH HOCK STANDARD ANI> HRllKl) HOOK 101 



"I also procured a fine, light-colored cockerel of what was 

 then known as Ramsdell's strain. I mated these males with 

 specimens bred from my first purchase. The result presented 

 quite a diversity in form, color and markings. Proper selections 

 and matings made speedy improvement, for the breed was in a 

 formative state, and like clay in the hands of the potter. 



"Still the shape was not entirely satisfactory. Mr. Drake's 

 principle in breeding them, if I interpreted it correctly, was to 

 produce hens of Cochin form and cock of Brahma form, thus 

 perpetuating a disparity in shape between the sexes, which did 

 not commend itself to my judgment. To overcome this tendency 

 in his strain, I procured some of the 'Essex Co.' strain, which 

 was bred so successfully by Mr. Mark Pitman, and by the in- 

 troduction of this last factor to my already improved form, I 

 have solved the problem of shape and size of the Plymouth 

 Rock to my own satisfaction, and their growing popularity, I 

 think, warrants me in believing to the satisfaction also of the host 

 of admirers of this very valuable breed." 



The Essex County Strain. This was originated by Mark Pit- 

 man of Salem, Mass., who had been for several years well known 

 for his interest and achievements in the poultry world. The 

 same Mark Pitman, who so quickly recognized the possibilities 

 of the new variety that he purchased one of the trios and turned 

 it over to C. Carol Loring, heretofore mentioned, who was very 

 much interested in poultry and who has remained so all his 

 life, took up the breeding of the new fowls, the merits of which 

 he was one of the first among experienced breeders to acknowl- 

 edge. From the very beginning he began to develop a strain, 

 the individuals of which conformed to certain well-defined ideas 

 of the originator which were somewhat advanced for those days. 

 Mr. Pitman did not look at the plumage of the Barred Ply- 

 mouth Rock as a unit. In other words, he saw more than a gray 

 fowl or a gray chicken. He analyzed the plumage of each 

 feather and studied carefully the effects of different shades of 

 both the light and dark bars, for he early found that a Ply- 

 mouth Rock needed bars to be attractive. He soon decided that 

 as far as he was concerned those birds that showed the greatest 

 contrast between the light and dark bars were the most hand- 

 some birds. Less importance was attached to the "blue" haze, 

 that the plumage of many specimens displayed in certain light 

 reflections and which so many breeders laid so much stress upon 

 and some do even to this day, by Mr. Pitman than to clear and 



