102 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



well-defined bars, such as sharply contrasting colors develop. 

 Though he did not neglect other qualities, as he was too keen 

 and too experienced a fancier for that, Mr. Pitman probably did 

 make a greater effort to produce attractive plumage than any 

 breeder who was contemporary with him. 



In this undertaking we assume Mr. Pitman was successful 

 because the strain soon became known as one that was very 

 strong in color. From which fact we learn that the early breed- 

 ers had not become able to distinguish between color and barring 

 or to understand just how it was that the individual specimens 

 of the Essex County strain, as it was known then, excelled in 

 color. 



Mr. Pitman secured his stock by purchase from two persons. 

 One was a Mr. Lord, who had secured a trio of Mr. Upham 

 through O. M. Ives of Salem. Mr. Lord bred from one of the 

 two females only. From Mr. Lord, Mr. Pitman secured five 

 pullets and a cockerel. Another pullet was procured from Mr. 

 Loring. This was from the two bought of Mr. Upham. All the 

 Pitman birds were then of the Upham strain. To these birds 

 Mr. Pitman pays the following tribute : ''Had not the pair which 

 Mr. Lord bred from been so nice, or had not the five pullets I 

 secured from him been so excellent, undoubtedly I would not 

 have obtained the uniformity in my flock that I did." In making 

 this remark Mr. Pitman clearly shows that he understood prin- 

 ciples of selection and line breeding, so much relied upon at the 

 present time and supposed to be a step in advance of the ordi- 

 nary breeder even of the present day. Of the Upham pair which 

 Lord bred from he had, years afterward, a keen recollection. 

 The birds he praised enthusiastically. The cockerel, in partic- 

 ular, left a picture in his mind that age did not fade nor time 

 erase. 



Mr. Pitman had undoubtedly had more experience in breed- 

 ing, judging and handling high class fancy poultry than any of 

 the breeders of Plymouth Rocks up to that time and long after- 

 wards. It is to be regretted that circumstances compelled him to 

 dispose of his flock, though fortunately it fell into the best of 

 hands. It is the writer's recollection that it was a contract for 

 lighting, at or during the Philadelphia Centennial, that compelled 

 him to sojourn for a year in that city. For this reason he felt 

 compelled to dispose of his flock which then, in 1876, came into 

 the hands of Mr. I. K. Felch, of Natick, Massachusetts, recently 

 deceased, and who is often referred to as one of the foremost 



