SECTION VII. 



CHAPTER I. 

 COLUMBIAN PLYMOUTH ROCKS 



ORIGIN AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT 



THIS and the Partridge Plymouth Rocks are the latest 

 among the Plymouth Rock varieties to receive Standard 

 recognition. By accepting the variety prefix "Columbian," 

 which up to that time applied only to the variety of Wyandottes 

 which carries the same color scheme as the Light Brahma, a 

 term was established that is now universally understood to be 

 applicable to all varieties of all breeds which, now or will here- 

 after, bear the color scheme of that old and much admired 

 Asiatic variety. The term Columbian had already been applied 

 to a variety of Wyandottes which made their first appearance in 

 1893, the year of the World's Fair at Chicago, known as the 

 Columbian Exposition, was in progress and from that fact the 

 term was, seemingly, appropriately applied to this, then a new 

 variety. 



The Incentive. The incentive back of the endeavor to effect 

 a creation of this kind in life is apparent to all who understand 

 poultry problems. It was but another attempt to transfer beauti- 

 ful plumage to a type that had already proven most useful. On 

 the one hand we have a color design best exemplified by the 

 Light Brahma fowl, the plumage of which is a wonderfully 

 effective and striking combination of black and white. All con- 

 cede its wonderful beauty which had held from the time of its 

 introduction, the admiration of poultry fanciers, breeders and the 

 public generally, yet it is a fowl which is adaptable to special 

 purposes under special conditions. It is the largest and most 

 magnificent of our recognized varieties, but it is known that the 

 larger the fowl, the longer the time required for maturity, all 

 conditions being the same. The variety did not, therefore, meet 

 the demands of some of its admirers in that it was not a variety 

 that was included, commonly, among the general-purpose breeds. 

 A general purpose fowl with the same color scheme was but the 



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