16 POULTRY BREEDING 
mentioned in “The New England Farmer” under date of 
Nov. 24, 1849, in a report of a Boston poultry show held 
Nov. 15 and 16 of that year. The reporter evidently had 
a very poor opinion of the new breed, as he dismissed it 
in these words: ‘This is a new variety, recently formed 
at Plymouth, and which has gained an early, and we 
think, a short-lived fame, unless their intrinsic properties 
excel their appearance. But few of this race were shown 
and some of them were very good in appearance.” 
The next mention of a breed of fowls called Plymouth 
Rock was about twenty years later, when the “Poultry 
Bulletin” of New York mentioned them, so it appears 
that the prophecy of the Boston reporter was well- 
founded. It is probable that about 1870 several Ameri- 
can poultry breeders brought out a Dominique-colored 
fowl calling it Plymouth Rock. As nearly as can be 
learned the breed as we now have it was originated from 
a mixture of Dominiques, Black Spanish, White Cochin, 
Buff Cochin, Black Java and a breed now lost, known as 
the White Birmingham fowls. 
It became immensely popular after its second introduc- 
tion and immediately was taken up and improvement be- 
gan. As a figwl for farmers it occupies a leading place, 
although itis to breed to Standard requirements. 
The hems are quite good layers and the chicks mature at 
an early age; mature cocks weigh 914 pounds and mature 
hens weigh 71% pounds. 
The White Plymouth Rock was introduced by a Mr. 
Frost of Maine, about 1880. The mixed lineage of the 
original variety caused it to throw white and black chicks 
and those of mixed colors, and there is no doubt that 
White Plymouth Rocks originated from sports of the 
original barred variety. 
