PREFACE. 



My thanks are due to Edward A. Samuels, Esq., for the beautiful 

 chromo-lithograph of his Plymouth Rock fowls. This breed is 

 essentially American in its origin, and it is rapidly growing in 

 popularity, promising at no distant date to become the favorite 

 breed for general utility for the farmer. Among the essentials 

 requisite in a good and profitable breed of poultry in this country 

 are the following : — 



Hardiness ; early maturity, and the development of a large and 

 full breast, thus affording an abundance of "white meat" as a 

 table fowl ; good laying qualities, and good setting and motherly 

 instincts in the female bird. 



In respect to hardiness, the "Plymouth Rocks" are almost 

 unequalled ; they are early fledgers, the chicks being full feathered 

 when Brahma chicks hatched in the same brood are running about 

 almost naked. This trait in the " Plymouth Rocks " places them 

 among the most desirable breeds for early hatchings. 



The greatest profit in poultry-raising comes from the birds that 

 are large and heavy enough for " broilers " by the middle of 

 June ; early hatched chickens of the ordinary kinds receive many 

 checks and pull-backs from exposure to inclement weather and cold 

 storms ; breeds having a large infusion of Asiatic blood are 

 especially liable to these mishaps, because of their callowness, their 

 nakedness between the down and feather periods. I have known 

 of many instances of whole broods of well-grown Brahma chickens 

 receiving chills in many storms, and dying, when, had they had a 

 coating of feathers heavy enough to repel the rain and cold, they 

 would have suffered no serious mishap. 



The "Plymouth Rock" chick feathers at a very early stage of 

 its existence, and while its more tender and less lucky neighbors are 

 suffering from cold and dampness, it runs about in severe weather 

 bright and active, and suffers nothing from a cold, late spring. 



The matured " Plymouth Rock" fowl is unequalled for hardiness ; 

 it is thickly feathered, closely built, very full bodied, and is alto- 

 gether a model New England fowl. 



