310 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



"It is true that there is some Wyandotte blood in all good 

 strains, but it was combined with the Brahma and Rock blood 

 and produced quite a different fowl from the modern 'sport.' 

 The true Rock type of the breed is 'a thing of beauty.' Its popu- 

 larity is perfectly assured. The demand for good specimens will 

 be on a rising scale for years to come. Already I have sold ex- 

 ceptionally fine male birds as high as $100.00. While this is a 

 phenomenal price for a new breed it will be greatly exceeded for 

 choice specimens in the future, just as it has been in the older 

 breeds." 



The above is printed to indicate the conditions at the time. 

 These statements show clearly and convincingly that there was 

 a tendency to use Wyandotte sports, which was perhaps legiti- 

 mate, if used judiciously and not over practiced because type 

 must then be destroyed. That this expediency was practiced to 

 the detriment of the breed as a breed for a time, there can be no 

 doubt. There was, however, the usual reaction against an unwise 

 practice. The advertisements of the leading breeders of the 

 early period just following their admission to Standard clearly 

 bring out the disrepute in which strains that showed the effects 

 of a Wyandotte cross were held. The breeders of Columbian 

 Wyandottes had for a short period reaped a harvest on their 

 single-comb sports that was quite remunerative, perhaps as much 

 so as on the specimens that came true to lineage. The writer 

 once heard a prominent breeder of Columbian Wyandottes de- 

 clare, upon being asked as to the future of the Columbian 

 Plymouth Rocks, that the only purpose of that variety was to 

 absorb the single-comb Wyandotte sports at a price. That 

 profitable period, as pointed out, was passed when Columbian 

 Plymouth Rocks became as well established as their older rivals. 



The Royal Strain. The Mr. Green referred to in a preceding 

 paragraph was one of the very first breeders and gives the fol- 

 lowing account of how his strain, afterwards called the "Royal," 

 was built up from the original cross of Light Brahma and 

 Plymouth Rocks. It is the plan for a foundation to which refer- 

 ence was made in Mr. Green's own language, written into this 

 copy as "feasible, even if perplexing" ; namely, of adhering to 

 the straight cross of Light Brahma and White Plymouth Rock, 

 as the following account clearly relates : 



