194 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
obtain of the same strain to impress type, as (having introduced so much fresh blood) you can generally 
breed back so far with safety, but go no further towards in-breeding ; and, never mind how tempted, if 
breeding Rocks, even though new blood may have been quite lately introduced, never put brothers and 
sisters together to breed from. 
" Dorking blood has been tried as a top cross in a few instances, but owing to the very great difference 
in shape of the two breeds, and the difficulty experienced in " breeding out " the white leg of the Dorking, 
this out-cross cannot be recommended. 
" Taking recent importations, and the visits of good Judges to the Home Shows, and their reports as a 
guide, it is certain that Rocks of late years have sadly deteriorated in England, and as a breed are not in it 
with the birds bred in that country some ten years back, and are also far behind most American strains in 
all-round excellence. This falling-off can be traced, without any shadow of doubt, to experimenting with an 
out-cross in an altogether wrong direction — viz., the admixture of Mediterranean blood. Times almost 
without number, it has been found, that the Mediterranean breeds, will not nick with Rocks, and leave results, 
that can in any way be deemed satisfactory, from a Rock breeder's point of view. This cross is evidently 
too decided, both sides possessing little in common in their economy, and the retrogrades bred from it are 
so incompetent to produce anything approaching true Rock type, even after several generations of the most 
careful breeding, that birds, showing the slightest traces of Mediterranean blood, should be strictly ostracised, 
as it is useless and hopeless to attempt to breed good Rocks from such specimens. 
" English breeders were some few years ago, almost crazy on the subject of heavy dark markings on the 
Barred variety, and to produce these darker, took the extreme risk of introducing Minorca blood, and for 
Whites used the Leghorn cross ; the results have been birds with a lot of permanent white in ear-lobes, high, 
big, squirrel tails, sloping backs and breasts, beefsteak combs, and narrow bodies, and, in fact, anything and 
everything altogether contrary to what constitutes a good Rock. 
" Having given my experience and ideas on out-crossing, in finishing the subject, I would warn breeders 
to keep their hens and pullets safe from the danger of even an accidental or temporary crossing with any 
male of an undesirable breed, for the reason that I believe the Saturation theory is just as applicable to 
Fowls as it is a proven fact with regard to dogs and cattle. Once allow a foreign cock to get among the 
pullets you intend to breed from, say only for a day, and in all probability you will find when these pullets 
are mated up for the season (though, perhaps, weeks or months have elapsed) that their chickens, or a large 
proportion of them, will show unmistakable proofs that the one accidental top-cross of foreign blood 
has left its sure impression. This is one of the strongest arguments in favour of the principle of 
' One man one breed but my main contention, in support of it, is, that unless a man's business is Poultry 
keeping alone, no man (in this country of keen competition in all trades and professions) can possibly afford 
the time to study more than one breed at a time as it should be studied, by which I mean that the knowledge 
he wins should be ground into him by years of close observation and practical experience in the breeding pen, 
and if he attempts to give the time necessary to study and develop properly several breeds, and attend to his 
business too, at the same time, well, the Poultry or the business, one or the other, will sooner or later ' go 
bung,' sure. 
" Some authorities tender all sorts of advice on mating for colour in the Barred variety, even going so far 
as to recommend a 'special blend' for producing the correct coloured cockerels, and another blend for 
pullet-breeding ; but, with all due respect, I must state that such are decidedly mistaken notions, and if a 
beginner starts breeding Barred Rocks on these double-barrelled lines —one pen for cockerels and another 
for pullets, he will soon find himself hopelessly bushed. I am not ashamed nor afraid to admit that I 
have been ' through the mill ' myself, and that my knowledge of right and wrong in this matter had to be 
bought by pretty bitter experience. Before I owned a bird I very early got a good idea of true Rock type, 
and right at the start was fortunate in securing big birds of splendid type ; and, as I always had a horror of 
anything showing signs of Mediterranean blood, and kept off such entirely from the first, I consequently 
had not much difficulty with type. But my early efforts were very disappointing as regards colour. 
