CHAPTER VI. 



BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 



The First ISarred riyiuouth Rocks — Early constructive breeders — 

 Early history enh\cned by controversy — Influence of the American 

 Dominique — Barring- comes lighter in the male than the female — First 

 instructions on breeding — A new generation of breeders — Influence 

 and success of Hawkins, Bradley, Latham, Wells and Thompson — 

 Pedigrees of the Ringlets— Mating Barred Plymouth Rocks for color 

 — Double mating — How to start. 



The first so-called Plymouth Rock fowl was originated by Dr. 

 John C. Bennett of Plymouth, Mass., about 1849. It proved to be a 

 somewhat superior layer than the large .'\siatics and it reached ma- 

 turity somewhat earlier. This new fowl of Dr. Bennett's carried 

 Shanghai, Malay, Dorking and Game blood; and the specimens lacked 

 distinctive breed character and were, in other words, purely cross- 

 breds. The males carried considerable red in their hackles and sad- 

 dles, many of the pullets had green colored shanks and nearly half of 

 them were five toed. It was then that John Giles, one of the early 

 American fanciers, wrote: "Could you not cross so as to have one 

 distinct color of leg and plumage?" Although Mr. Giles proceeded 

 to breed the new Plymouth Rock fowl, and set for himself a Stan- 

 dard of "dark color, dark legs and four toes only," the cross at last 

 became extinct or was absorbed into the common stock of the coun- 

 try, and there is no further record of it. 



First Barred Plymouth Rocks. For a time no Plymouth Rocks 

 existed; but the shadow that had passed had been given a name which 

 endured, and when D. A. Upham of Wilsonville, Conn., exhibited at 

 Worcester, Mass., in March, 1869, a trio of fowls that were in color 

 bluish gray, crossed by darker bars, giving what would today be 

 called an indistinct barring to their plumage — they were christened 

 "Improved Plymouth Rocks." They were the first fowls of the name 

 to become thoroughly established as to size, shape and color mark- 

 ings. They were the American fanciers' first great creation; and 

 their good qualities have been handed on and commended to each 

 succeeding year. As tradition has carried in her hand the story of 

 that little granite bowlder, Plymouth Rock, on which the Pilgrims 

 stepped as they came ashore in wild New England four centuries ago, 

 tradition hands on down the prestige of the Plymouth Rock, good as 

 the Puritan fathers, strong as the Puritan hearts, productive as was 

 virgin New England. 



Upham had secured in the fall of 1866 a trio of birds from a 

 farmer by the name of Spaulding, who lived near Putnam. Conn., 



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