154 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



single mating system because their customers who are novices would 

 be able to use purchased birds to better advantage; but improvements 

 of both sexes by single mating requires a higher order of skill on the 

 part of the breeder than improvement in males on the one hand and 

 improvement in females on the other, as is the order when the double 

 mating system of breeding is employed. 



Mating 1 as outlined will not produce exhibition pullets but the 

 females will be valuable for cockerel breeding and the longer the line 

 is continued the more valuable will the pullets that are produced by 

 this line become as cockerel breeders. The males from mating 2 may 

 show some white flecking in breast and body but they are valuable 

 for use in siring high-class exhibition pullets. The pullets from 

 mating 2 will be even better penciled when they molt into hens than 

 they were as pullets. If as pullets their throats are light in color, 

 lacking penciling, the feathers in this section may be plucked and the 

 better colored adult crop of feathers will grow in. 



Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks at the New York State Fair, Sept., 

 1920, were the best seen in some years. The winning pullet was 

 nicely penciled and the males were quite sound in coloring. We 

 fancy that some Partridge Plymouth Rock blood has been used to 

 reinforce the Silver Penciled. There certainly can be no objection 

 to this. Years ago the Dark Brahma breeders went back to the 

 Partridge Cochin. 



