Barred Plymouth Rocks — Characteristics. 7 



The great want in the eastern markets for a compact fowl 

 having close grained and yellow skin, clean legs, small bone, and 

 average from six to eight pounds, when dressed, brought out this 

 breed to public notice, as one eminently fitted to supply such 

 requirements. Besides size and weight, they have the additional 

 qualities of putting on good flesh kindly, laying a large number of 

 good sized eggs, rich in nutritive value, healthy, hardy, and able to 

 stand the wear and tear of ordinary life, whether in the fancier's 

 yard, in the farm runs, or in the squatter's range. 



Plymouth Rocks are not affected by a change of focation; they 

 have the ability to stand bad usage and the severe changes of 

 climate and seasons. They are good foragers for a large fowl, and 

 have the desirable quality of being self-reliant. They will bear 

 confinement well, and content themselves under varying conditions 

 and surroundings. They have a pleasing form, one that would strike 

 the ordinary observer with the idea of usefulness. They are a plain, 

 comely and honest looking fowl, one that seldom deceives its owner. 

 To many, they appear handsome, and handsome they really are, if 

 we judge them by their physical beauty and the eye of a true artist. 

 However, the majority of the American people emphatically pro- 

 nounce them handsome, and where, on this earth, can we find better 

 testimony ? 



The Plymouth Rocks, through all the rivalry and competition 

 consequent on their valued character, have been with a good show 

 of truth, aptly and appropriately called "the coming fowl," and 

 judging from the vast number of earnest, honest and practical people 

 in all walks of life that are breeding them for pleasure, for profit, or 

 for both, they must merit the appellation. 



Popularity at Home and Abroad — While new breeds are 

 "booming," the Plymouth Rocks are solidly engrafting themselves 

 in the affections of those that take utilitarian views regarding breeds. 

 Few of the tens of thousands who breed them find fault on the score 

 of utility. Those who were disappointed in getting show birds in 

 years passed, may have exchanged them for other breeds, but the 

 thousands of farmers, ruralists, cottagers and professional amateurs 

 that have bred them year after year, and those that have grown gray 

 in the business, gladly attest to their sterling worth. 



The general verdict of Plymouth Rock breeders can be encom- 

 passed in the words of a noted fancier and judge. "The Plymouth 

 Rock is, beyond all question, the best general purpose fowl of all the 

 breeds before the public. They have been before the public many 



