242 



THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



called the 'John Macomber' or the 'Tripp' fowls." — Thus wrote Capt. 

 B. E. Tripp, son of Wm. Tripp, in a letter, January 17, 1900, which 

 was published by the Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 1901. 



Wm. Tripp's original stock of red fowls came from crossing red 

 Malay Games and reddish-colored Shanghais. The surplus cockerels 

 of this stock were introduced into a number of the farm flocks. 

 However, every conceivable sort of crossing was resorted to as time 

 passed on. Brown Leghorns and Cornish Indian Games were later 

 employed, and it has been said with a considerable measure of truth, 

 that every great breed that became known in America found its way 

 into the flocks of the Rhode Island farmers. 



It was about 1895 that the red stock of the district began to attract 

 the attention of breeders. Dr. B. N. Aldrich who lived at Fall River, 

 Massachusetts, made frequent trips into the district. Red chickens 

 were to be found in such vast numbers that they provided a wide 

 field for selection. Numbers always afford selection, and Dr. Aldrich, 

 who was an experienced fancier, went through the flocks seeking out 

 those birds that measured well up to the Standard he had in mind. 



From 1900 to 1910, the breed made rapid progress. It came out 

 of obscurity about 1900, and by the end of the decade had not only 

 been taken up by many poultrymen throughout New England, but 



its popularity stretched 

 westward to the Pacific 

 Coast. 



It was the intrinsic 

 merit of the fowl that 

 won for it its popular- 

 ity. At the outset the 

 Red had to prove its 

 worth. Not since the 

 advent of the Barred 

 Plymouth Rock had a 

 new breed been pre- 

 sented to the public 

 that was more emphat- 

 ically and persistently 

 decried as a mongrel of 

 the barnyards. While 

 the champions of Rhode 

 Island Reds were bat- 

 tling for their favorites, 

 and the birds them- 

 selves were overcoming 

 prejudice by the force 

 of their utility quali- 



Single Comb Rhode Island Red Pullet. A first prize 

 winner at Boston. Owned by Owen Farms, Mass. 



