308 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



with the United States Bureau of Animal Industry, who has 

 access to most of the manuscript on Columbian Plymouth Rocks, 

 writes : 



"To no one individual is due all the credit, as it is a conceded 

 fact that several fanciers, and not any one particular breeder, 

 took part in the origin and early development of the variety. 

 However, to Mr. F. M. Clemans, Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and Mr. 

 George H. Sweet, East Aurora, New York, is due the honor of 

 taking the first steps with this object in view, Mr. Clemans 

 making the first cross in 1902 and Mr. Sweet about two years 

 later. These two earnest fanciers were the pioneers, although 

 several other breeders did as much or even more perhaps in per- 

 fecting and introducing the variety to the public. 



The Mr. F. M. Clemans of Mechanicsburg, Ohio, mentioned 

 in the above, is said to have been the first to create this variety 

 and the first to advertise them. Another^ of the early breeders 

 claims that the honor of originating the Columbian Plymouth 

 Rocks belongs to several who actually originated this variety 

 by crosses of their own selection. These selections have been 

 previously named in this article. 



THE EARLY STRAINS 



Light Plymouth Rocks. Mr. Clemans, however, positively 

 asserts that he was the first to make the crosses that proved to 

 be the foundation of this variety ; and these crosses antedate 

 any others that were made with the same object in view, and, 

 in justice to him, it must be said that no one seems to claim a 

 definite date prior to that of Mr. Clemans' first cross. You will 

 note that Mr. Clemans did not call them by their present name, 

 but combined the names of the original parents as well as the 

 blood. We quote from an article of Mr. Clemans' as follows : 



"As the date of my original crosses takes precedence of all 

 others, I can fairly claim to be the originator of Columbian 

 Plymouth Rocks. This honor is practically accorded to me by 

 the latest authoritative work on The Plymouth Rocks, published 

 in 1911. It is true that other breeders by independent crosses 

 later formed other strains (and I have no desire to detract from 

 them), but my crosses of 1902 antedate all others. Mr. Sweet, 

 practically the only rival for the honor, did not begin his work 

 until 1905. I was also the first to introduce the breed. This was 



