PROFITABLE EGG FARMING. 
active, nervous temperament and good size for 
which the family is well-known. 
Speaking of their naturally good qualities, 
Brown’s “ Pleasureable Poultry Keeping ” says: 
“The Minorca has, during the past fifteen 
years, won a very prominent position, and tak¬ 
ing the number and weight of eggs, it is 
probably the most prolific fowl we have. It 
lays large, white-shelled eggs, and hens of this 
variety in their first year often average 170 
and 180 eggs.” 
In addition to the number and size of Black 
Minorca eggs they are to be credited with 
beginning to lay at a very early age, and 
continue to be profitable layers for a longer 
period of time than almost any other bird of which 
we have knowledge. They are excellent forag¬ 
ers, strong and active, always on the alert for 
any natural advantages that come within their 
reach, and having little tendency to lay on 
fat, the food they consume gives profitable 
returns in the form of eggs. 
The white skin, somewhat marred by the 
black pin feathers and black legs, is a handicap 
from the market poultry standpoint, but the 
flesh is of an excellent flavor, deliciously tender 
in the younger birds, and with such a consider¬ 
ably larger amount of flesh than is found in the 
Leghorn it is, as we stated, a matter of a surprise 
that the Black Minorca is not more generally 
utilized as an egg-farm breed. 
The Plymouth Rocks. 
(Barred, White and Buff.) 
STANDARD WEIGHTS: 
Cock.lbs. Hen. 7\ lbs. 
Cockerel.8 lbs. Pullet .6^ lbs. 
The Plymouth Rocks are pre-eminently an all¬ 
purpose breed. They are not only great layers 
of good sized brown eggs, but they take high 
rank as meat producers also. For egg-farm pur¬ 
poses it would be difficult to name a breed com¬ 
bining great laying ability with meat producing 
qualities in so high a degree, and they are a 
most satisfying bird in every sense of the 
word. The Plymouth Rock is a “ made ” breed, 
and originated in a cross of an American Domi¬ 
nique cock on black Java hens. The “ Cuckoo ” 
marking of the original Plymouth Rock was 
received from the Dominique male, and the 
size, station, single comb, etc., from the dam. 
It is practically certain that the blood of other 
breeds has now and then been introduced into 
the Plymouth Rocks, which has given them 
size, type, greater uniformity of plumage and 
the desirable yellow beak and legs. Their re¬ 
markable hardiness is one of their strongest 
claims to popular favor; being an American 
breed, accustomed for many generations to 
the extremely changeable and trying New 
England climate, and being thoroughly accli¬ 
mated, they would be placed among the very 
first for hardiness and vitality. Writing of 
them nearly twenty years ago, the American 
Poultry Yard said: “ The perennial popularity 
of the Plymouth Rock is something wonder¬ 
ful to those who do not know its real merits, 
but to those Avho do, to those who know that 
it is hardy, healthy, vigorous, prolific, 
excellent for the table and thoroughly adapted 
to the requirements of an American market 
and an American climate, there is nothing 
wonderful at all.” 
The Barred Plymouth Rocks. 
The Barred Plymouth Rocks, the original of 
the several varieties of Rocks, are the most 
popular and most widely bred variety of fowls 
in the world today. They enjoy the distinction 
of being the first breed of domestic fowls pro¬ 
duced in America, and their eminently practical 
qualities have won for them and their sterling 
merits have held a place in the very front rank 
of popular favor; they are noted for being bred 
by a greater number of persons and in greater 
numbers than any other one variety of fowls. 
“The Barred Plymouth Rocks commend 
themselves to the lovers of useful breeds. Of 
all our domestic fowls, this breed stands the 
highest for general purposes. They almost vie 
with the Asiatics in size, the Leghorns in egg 
production, the Dorkings in quality of flesh, and 
the Dominiques in hardiness and adaptation to 
climatic changes. They combine more useful 
qualities than any other breed known to us, and 
fill the void between the size and weight of the 
Asiatics and the European fowls.” 
Mr. E. B. Thompson, of Amenia, N. Y., a well- 
known Plymouth Rock expert, writes of the 
Barred variety: “The Plymouth Rock is a pro¬ 
duct of American skill and breeding, and there 
is no other variety we can put on the markets 
of the world with so much pride, and none other 
is received at our shows by foreign fanciers with 
so much favor. They have taken their place at 
the front without need of booming, and today 
stand acknowledged without an equal, as the 
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