434 
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
of the accounts given by its breeders and producers. So completely had the old Plymouth Rock 
disappeared that, in the first poultry journal ever published in America, The New York Poultry 
Bulletin , no notice whatever is taken of any fowl under that name during the first two years of its 
issue. The first authentic account we were able to obtain of the modern Plymouth Rock came to 
us in answer to a special inquiry, in a letter from Mr. W. Simpson, Jun., of West Farms, N.Y., 
dated August 12, 1871. In this letter he says of them, “If bred with care they will make a fine 
variety. They are an improved Dominique , being just like them except in comb and size ; they 
have a single comb and are larger, as they have a touch of Asiatic in them.” He adds, “ They do 
not breed very straight yet.” In another letter, dated April 26, 1873, enclosing the American 
corrected “Standard of Excellence” for the variety, the same gentleman added the following 
particulars, first premising that the “ already printed Standard is very incorrect, particularly in 
colour of plumage and tail.” He then proceeds as follows : — 
“ After a little careful breeding I think the Plymouth Rock will be a grand fowl, and second 
to none for all purposes. As yet they do not breed quite true always, and their eggs are all colours 
and sizes. They are handsome, good sitters, and good for table, and I intend myself to stick to 
them and try and get them right. They were produced from single-combed Dominiques crossed 
with Asiatics. Dominique fowls are the same in colour, and are a useful variety ; but twenty 
years ago, when the Shanghaes made their appearance, these took their place in the estimation of 
the public, and the Dominiques were much neglected by fanciers, so that they do not breed any 
straighter now than the Plymouth Rocks.” 
We have made inquiries of other American sources ; and while some affirm the Cochin, and 
others the Black Java, cross to have been employed, every correspondent without exception states 
that one of the parents was the Dominique fowl. Our own strong opinion is, that the Dominique 
and also the Asiatic races being very common in America, many cases of crossing have occurred, 
and that thus the same fowl — half Asiatic and half Dominique — has probably been produced in 
various quarters, and not in any one alone ; but however this may be, the facts of Dr. Bennett’s 
birds being extinct, and that the modern fowl was originally a half-bred Dominique, are absolutely 
certain. It is nearly as certain that the Black Java was one of the components. 
Previous to former editions of this work only one or two importations of Plymouth Rocks had 
reached this country, the first, from the Mr. W. Simpson above quoted, taking honours at Birming- 
ham in 1872 in the Variety class. Since that time several have been made, sufficient to produce 
a strong stock ; and at most large shows at the present time the Rocks are some of the largest and 
most popular classes, those at the Crystal Palace Show in 1889 comprising 164 entries. For this 
popularity there are substantial reasons, in the good all-round qualities of the fowl. The plumage 
is a plain and useful homespun which looks well in almost any circumstances ; the laying is rather 
above the average, and the hen sits well, without getting broody so often as to be troublesome, 
once a year sufficing her. It is as a table-fowl, however, that it comes out strongest. The meat is 
not of what would be considered in England first-rate quality, such as that of Game, or Houdan, or 
Dorking ; but is very good and juicy, with plenty of it in the good parts (provided a good model is 
selected). The strongest point, however, is that hardly any fowl equals it in early growth, except, 
perhaps, various Houdan and Dorking crosses. Some experiments made in Canada on the 
Government Experimental Farm in 1888, in which Rocks, Wyandottes, Cochins, and Houdans 
were compared, with different systems of feeding, showed the Rocks to be much the heaviest fowls 
at all ages. 
The breed is very hardy, with one rather singular exception. Mr. Simpson wrote us privately 
in our very earliest correspondence about these birds in 1873, that they were then “ very subject to 
