30 Barred and White Plymouth Rocks. 



appeared among the broods. These he considered of no value, 

 but Mr. Frost obtained the first pair, and these he bred together, 

 and though the task was anything but encouraging in the begin- 

 ning, subsequent efforts in the way of careful selection and 

 breeding developed all the excellent and grand qualities of their 

 progenitors, excepting color. 



We cannot blame a fancier of the new breeds (nor, for that 

 matter, of the old ones), who is chockrfuU of ardent enthusiasm, and 

 who expects to reap some precious fruit from his favorite breed, to 

 magnify their qualities and sing their praise far and near; but when 

 it comes to fulsome adulation, to overrating and to ranking them far 

 superior to their colored progenitors, it is saying what cannot now 

 nor never could be borne out by any scientific facts or research. 



We are impartial on all breeds, and endeavor to do justice to 

 all. We have, perhaps, written more on standard breeds than any 

 other writer in this country, and never bestowed praise on one at the 

 expense of the other. However, we are Willing and glad to concede 

 to the White Plymouth Rocks many advantages over their colored 

 cousins in the matter of mating and breeding; and these advantages 

 will be a great help to the young fancier, and also to those who are 

 contemplating embarking in the poultry business, who hereto- 

 fore dreaded breeding fancy fowls for sale and exhibition on account 

 of the manifest difficulties of judiciously mating them for such pur- 

 poses. 



It is claimed that the White Rocks breed truer to color than 

 any of the new white varieties. If " off " specimens appear, they 

 are generally Dominique in color, but even these are few and far 

 between, considering the short time since their coming among us. 

 If the White Rock is a " true sport," it is very apt to breed true to 

 color, on the scientific basis that there are no chemical coloring 

 properties in its composition; but if it is a "reversionary freak," it 

 will "throw forward as well as backward" for some time to come. 

 But as they have been carefully selected and bred for the past eight 

 years, there is every promise that they will breed as true to color as 

 any new-made breed. Apparently, there is a bright future for the 

 White Plymouth Rocks, though for a while some strains may dis- 

 appoint the breeder in the matter of purity of color; but we expect 

 they will do fairly well and come up at least to reasonable expecta- 

 tions, if not to our brightest and fondest hopes and desires, before 

 many years pass by. 



Like their excellent progenitors, the White Plymouth Rocks 



