244 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



eight or ten others, were turned out at free range n the farm 

 and for three years were bred under these conditions. The poor- 

 est of those produced each year were culled out and sold to mar- 

 ket, until finally there were ten or twelve females and one male 

 that were good enough in shape to be called Plymouth Rocks. 

 The females were beautifully penciled and had backs and tails 

 that were typical of the Plymouth Rocks. This flock and their 

 offspring were sold to James Forsyth of Oswego, New York, 

 and by him to Mr. F. E. Corey of Ossining, New York. 



Another strain of Silver-Penciled Plymouth Rocks was made 

 by the mingling of Dark Brahmas, Silver-Grey Dorkings and 

 Mottled Javas. It was asserted at this time that this was the 

 only true strain of Penciled Plymouth Rocks, but just why any 

 one should claim that a mixture of this kind had or could pro- 

 duce true Plymouth Rock is far from clear. The claim is made 

 ridiculous by the fact that the strain created in this way used 

 some of the original Elmwood stock in its make-up, as many of 

 the Penciled Plymouth Rocks from Elmwood Farm went to 

 breeders of the Brahma-Dorking-Java strain. 



The best of all the Silver-Penciled Plymouth Rocks can be 

 traced to the Dark Brahma females supplied by Newton Adams. 

 Many of the best females of this variety now have very much 

 the same shape as the Brahma female ancestors. The hens used 

 were rich in color, beautifully penciled and fairly close feathered. 

 Indeed, as compared with the Light Brahmas of today they were 

 closely feathered. The question of egg production and the size 

 of the egg produced has been used as proof for or against the 

 quality of the fowls. The originals of this variety that were 

 sold from Elmwood Farm to James Forsyth were of good size; 

 they had fairly good Plymouth Rock shape ; they had good color 

 and markings ; they were prolific layers ; and their eggs averaged 

 more than two ounces each. (T. F. McG.) 



