WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS 137 



bred fowl. His predecessor, as manager of this farm, had spent con- 

 siderably more than that in buying different specimens, and the pro- 

 prietor of the estate clamped down the lid and hired Frank Davey. 

 H,e bought into the Graves line and with the best blood available 

 started in to breed the best birds possible. His series of victories at 

 the Madison Square Garden show are part of the records of that 

 nationally important event. 



Upon the death of Harry Graves, the late Wm. Barry Owen pur- 

 chased the flock. He also bought the Greystone flock and hired Frank 

 Davey. His manager, Maurice Delano, was already breeding some 

 of the best White Rocks in the country and Owen Farms amalga- 

 mated three families of Graves' blood. Mr. Owen was a man of keen 

 perception, a man who saw opportunities clearly and who never lacked 

 that resourcefulness necessary to action. He built up a great breed- 

 ing establishment and added dignity and honor to the business of 

 breeding purebred poultry. 



White Rocks in the mid-west. From the first, the White Rock 

 made lasting friends in the west and leading fanciers vied with one 

 another in the breeding of this variety. The eastern fanciers did not 

 enjoy all the fun or gain all the prestige. The old cock, White 

 Prince, as bred by B. N. Pierce of Indianapolis, was none the less a 

 subject of comment among breeders than the famous cock, White- 

 Cloud, as bred by Fishers Island Farm, Fishers Island, New York. 



Grant M. Curtis has stated that the first stay-white White Plym- 

 outh Rock male that came to his notice, was a bird in the yards of 

 Rev. John Hughes, Table Grove, Illinois. This bird appeared about 

 1900. Prior to that time, and for some years afterwards, White Rock 

 males were inclined to show brassiness or straw color on the surface 

 of their backs, necks and wing bows. It was repeatedly stated that 

 because of the yellow pigment common to a yellow shanked and 

 golden-yellow skinned variety, brass would show in the white plumage 

 and it was doubtful if it could be completely eliminated. That the 

 theory was wrong has since been proved by the case of the White 

 Orpington, a variety that carries white skin and white shanks and in 

 whose plumage brassiness has been a most persistent fault. 



Curtis opened the eyes of breeders and stimulated them in their 

 endeavors to produce a pure white plumage that would not show 

 creaminess or tarnish and show brassiness, when he reported the 

 Hughes male and remarked: "If nature can make one such White 

 Plymouth Rock cock bird, she can make ten thousand." Hughes 

 ranks as one of the early improvers of the variety. He saw the faults 

 of the early birds and was frank to comment upon them. 



Recognition as a Standard variety. It was the mid-west that 

 accorded recognition to the White Plymouth Rocks as a distinct 

 variety. At a meeting of the American Poultry Association held in 

 Indianapolis, Jan. 25, 1888, three new white varieties with the same 

 breed characteristics, White Plymouth Rocks, White Dirigos and 



