CHAPTEIR I 



Orpington Origin 



Authentic History of the Origin of Black. Whit.. Buff. Spangled and Jubilee Orpingtons-Black Orpington 



First Produced and txhib.ted in America in 1890-Claims of Other Originators in Producing Buff 



and White Orpingtons-History of the Different English Strains of the Three Standard 



and the Eight Non-Standard Varieties of Orpingtons 



J. 11. Drwensledt 



IWENTY years ago Orpingtons were exhib- 

 ited in America for the first time, the Single 

 Comb Black Orpington being the original 

 variety shown. It was the first of a dis- 

 tinctly new breed of fowl originated in 1886 

 by William Cook of Orpington, County of 

 Kent, England, whence Orpingtons take 

 their name. Being "English, you know," it 

 took .American poultry breeders some years to become 

 interested and enthusiastic over Orpingtons. Objections 

 to fowls with black 

 legs and white skin 

 were lodged against 

 Black Orpingtons and 

 later the white or 

 pink legs and white 

 skin of Buff and 

 White Orpingtons 

 was considered a ser- 

 ious market handicap, 

 as American markets 

 demanded yellow- 

 skinned and yellow- 

 legged poultry. So 

 the doom of the 

 Orpingtons was pre- 

 dicted before breed- 

 ers on this side of 

 the Atlantic became 

 acquainted with the 

 good qualities of this 

 new English race of 

 fowl, or realized that 

 a master hand at pro- 

 moting and advertis- 

 ing new breeds was 

 at work in England, 

 Australia and Amer- 

 ica, boosting the breed 

 he originated, by lav- 

 ish use of printer's ink 

 which included much 

 free advertising for 



himself-^for the originator was a clever writer on poultry 

 topics, as well as a very shrewd breeder and dealer. The 

 superior qualities of his Orpingtons were "laid on with a 

 thick brush," the defects he kept in the background. The 

 result of all these persistent and insistent claims of su- 

 periority over all other breeds is that Orpingtons are 

 today the most popular fowl in England and have made 

 such rapid strides toward popularity in this country, 

 notably in White Orpingtons, that they have become dan- 

 gerous rivals of the American Plymouth Rocks, Wyan- 

 dottes, Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns. The originator, 



THE LATE 

 Originator of the 



William Cook, died in 1904, at a time when Orpingtons 

 were beginning to boom rapidly, thanks to the late and 

 lamented Mr. Cook and the hustling and able efforts of 

 Wallace P. Willett of East Orange, N. J., editor and 

 publisher of "The Orpington." This was before the day 

 of Owen Farms, Ernest Kellerstrass and other "big guns" 

 of the Orpington fancy of today, Charles Vass, Dr. Paul 

 Kyle, Wallace P. Willett, Frank W. Gaylor and William 

 Davis being the pioneers in the early Bufif Orpington 

 days; but when Mr. Cook appeared at the Madison Square 



Garden, New York, 

 in 1903 with a great 

 string of English 

 Orpingtons and re- 

 ceived fulsome press 

 notices in the daily 

 papers of his exhib- 

 its, arranged in a 

 clever manner at one 

 end of the big show 

 arena, the real Orp- 

 ington boom in the 

 United States and 

 Canada was launched, 

 As an advance agent, 

 William Cook was in 

 a class by himself; as 

 a salesman he was a 

 star, the prices real- 

 ized by him for Orp- 

 ingtons at that mem- 

 orable show being 

 exceedingly high. The 

 purchasers were men 

 of wealth, as a rule, 

 who realized that 

 aside from the fancy 

 end, it would be a 

 good business invest- 

 ment as well. A study 

 of the comparative 

 growth in popularity 

 of Orpingtons in D. 

 E. Hale's article on another page of this book, will justify 

 the judgment of these shrewd fanciers who bought at that 

 time. 



Orpingtons First Exhibited in America in 1890 



Single Comb Black Orpingtons were first exhibited at 

 the show of the Massachusetts Poultry Association, held 

 in Boston in 1890. Single Comb Buff Orpingtons were 

 first exhibited at the Madison Square Garden Show, New 

 York, in 1899, twelve single entries and one pen being the 

 total. In 1901 the entries increased to nineteen single and 



WM. COOK, 

 Orpington Fowl 



