MANUAL ON POULTRY. 23 



It will be seen that in four of the five instances, black birds were 

 crossed upon white, or light-colored ones, with similar results, after 

 top-crossing with the Dominique. 



The Plymouth Rock cock is a showy bird ; beak and legs yellow, 

 plumage bluish-gray, each feather having a penciling of darker 

 color across it, comb, ear-lobes, face and wattles all red, comb small, 

 single and erect. Red or white feathers are not admissible in either 

 cock or hen. 



The hen is marked like the cock, except that the plumage is 

 darker in color. 



This is, at present, the most popular combination breed for eggs 

 and table use. 



The cross of the Plymouth Rock cock on the common hen pro- 

 duces a marked improvement upon the latter. The chicks are 

 hardy and mature early. It is far more profitable, however,, to 

 breed the Plymouth Rocks pure, since after stock to start with are 

 procured they cost no more than the grades of common fowls, 

 while the sale of eggs and stock birds is very profitable at the 

 prices which now prevail. 



BARN YARD FOWLS. 



The great bulk of the fowls cultivated in Georgia belong to no 

 particular breed, though traces of improved breeds may be seen in 

 many of them as the effect of crosses of some of the thorough- 

 breds. 



Indeed, grades of superior quality are often found among the 

 poultry sent to our markets. 



Crosses of the cocks of the Asiatics, or those of other large 

 breeds, upon the common dung-hill hens produce superior table 

 fowls. The chicks are har.dy and mature rapidly. 



The continued use of the thoroughbred cocks will build up a 

 yard of fine fowls, but if the grade cocks are used rapid deteriora- 

 tion takes place, the tendency being, in accordance with natural 

 laws, to revert to the primitive inferior type. The present thor- 

 oughbred types of poultry are triumphs of the skill of breeders, 

 just as are the Short horn cattle and the Berkshire pigs of the 

 present day, and constant, careful selection is necessary to sustain 

 the breeds in their purity, and to counteract the natural tendency 

 to revert to the original type. 



