210 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



imagine an incident that could better attest the hold that the 

 Plymouth Rock breed had on the poultry-keeping public at that 

 time, and has had since, than this radically practical demon- 

 stration. This incident alone enables us to understand that this 

 high regard in which the name Plymouth Rock has been held 

 probably accounts for the fact that we have six varieties instead 

 of one only. Indeed, it may be said that the intrinsic worth of a 

 good name and of a popularity richly deserved has, perhaps, 

 never been so forcefully presented in poultry circles as by this 

 incident at the Providence, Rhode Island Show in 1890. 



The Fall River Strain. According to Mr. Buffington, the 

 Fall River strain was created by crossing Rhode Island Reds and 

 White Plymouth Rocks, and by the breeding of such single comb 

 Rhode Island Reds as were buff or nearly buff in color and ap- 

 proached a satisfactory Plymouth Rock type. 



Mr. Daniel Shove of Fall River, who was working along 

 much the same lines' as Mr. Buffington and Dr. Aldrich, wrote 

 of the origin of the Buff Plymouth Rock under date of October 

 9, 1917, that "It was along about the year 1888 that the late 

 William Penn Shepard, R. G. Buffington, Dr. N. B. Aldrich and 

 the writer first began to go to Westport, Massachusetts, and pick 

 up a few of the above birds ; the single combs we called Buff 

 Rocks, the rose combs, Buff Wyandottes. The writer from 1889 

 to 1895 kept the Wyandottes (buff), and exhibited quite a few 

 at Philadelphia in 1893, and at that time they were coming very 

 good and the demand for them was also good. I had always 

 bought most of the above of a Mr. Tripp, of Central Village, 

 Westport, and by the way, this was not the Rhode Island Red 

 founder at all ; he was another man farther over by the same 

 name, as the name Tripp at that time was quite common." 



It is probable that many early Buff Plymouth Rocks were 

 bred by crossing White Plymouth Rocks with Buff Cochins and 

 that true Rock type, together with fairly good color for the 

 times, was afterwards developed by careful selection. It is very 

 unlikely that all those interested in Buff Rocks would let escape 

 the very apparent opportunity to obtain buff color by crossing 

 some variety that possessed Plymouth Rock type with the Buff 

 Cochin, which is known to be the source of all our best buff 

 color. 



The Joslin Strain. In the decade between 1890 and 1900, 

 several strains were prominent. One of these strains was de- 



