THE PLYMOUTH ROCK-HISTORY- FARM POULTRY 1889

Much is being written just now about ''All purpose fowls, ''by which comprehensive term is meant fowls which shall combine, as nearly as possible, the great laying qualities of the Leghorn, Hamburg and Minorca families with the flesh-producing qualities of the Asiatics;and it is highly probable that in the Plymouth Rock is found a fowl more nearly combining the two qualities than in any other one breed, so that it is safe to say that the Plymouth Rock is the all-purpose fowl. While not quite so prolific as the Leghorns, Hamburgs and Minorcas, still they are prolific layers of good-sized, brown-coloured eggs;and while when brought back to block, they are not quite so plump and heavy as a fat Cochin or Brahma, they are plump,well-flavoured poultry of a rich yellow color, and the meat is very fine flavoured.As chicks for broilers, they are great favourites, showing a goodly proportion of breast meat and not overmuchlegs and bones, although the dark spots left by the pin feathers somewhat detract from a desired richness of color of skin.Another good point is the comparatively early laying maturity of the pullets, they not infrequently commencing to lay at five to five and a half months old.Cases have been known of Plymouth Rock pullets hatched in February or March for ''spring chickens'', commencing to lay at four months. Mr .Rudd had some such on his farm at Brighton, last year, and one of those enterprising birds stole a nest and actually brought off a promising family of chickens about the  day that she was six months old. This, however, illustrates the natural instinct for reproducing the species at the proper season, namely, spring and summer, rather than the normal laying tendencies   of the breed.
   According to the little book, ''The Plymouth Rocks, How To Mate, Rear and Judge Them,''by H.H.Stoddard, Hartford ,Conn.., it is conceded that the breed is the result, of a cross between the old-fashioned Dominique-the native American fowl--on Black Java hens;but who originated the cross is a matter of dispute, and will probably never be cleared up.Mr Stoddard says, ''It is enough for the breeder to know that the union of the hawk color and the black was effected, and few will care for purposeless search beyond Drake or Ramsdell or Upham. We are all looking forward and not backward, and were the entire past of this breed --save the knowledge of what cross was--blotted out, breeders would be no way troubled to manage their stock as successfully as ever.''
  The name ,''Plymouth Rocks, '' belonged to a previous breed which was obtained by crossing a Cochin China cock on a hen which was her-self a cross of three different breeds, the Great Malay, Fawn-colored Dorkings and the Wild India Fowl. ''In shape, these Old Line Rocks were rather triangular--a probable, souvenir of the Cochin blood-with a slight leaning towards the squareness of the Dorking, from which they inherited also a frequent fifth toe. From the Cochin they took leg feathering;and from the mixed blood of the several parent stock, plumage of diverse colors laid on in a helter skelter manner that was unique but hardly aesthetcally correct. Spite of all these defects  of one sort and another, the breed was well liked and had many adherents.It is very likely that while the admixture of so many uncultivated and strong bloods brought out a mixed and unsightly coat, they induced also an extrordinary amount of hardiness and fertility.''However, this old breed ran out entirely, or became merged into a  great many mongrel breeds, and became extinct; so that the Rocks, as we know them , found the name awaiting them and adopted it ''as the title best  suited to their solid merits.''
   Mr Stoddard says,'' The Plymouth Rock is a satisfying bird in almost every sense.Look at a flock of these birds at a distance, and you can scarce distinguish the males, at first sight; but examine closer and the eye soon learns that  the first-class Plymouth Rock male is as truly in all points the head of the house as in the case of his more gaudily -plumed brethren , the Games or Hamburgs. Give us good males, and the task of producing noble specimens is a comparitively easy one.''
   Again, in considering the question of ''Exercise'' he says, ''there is enough blood of the lazy Asiatics in the Rocks to make considerable tendency toward the development of internal fat and fatty degeneracy of constitution, hence the importance of securing exercise . As flight is forbidden to them , and limited ranges preclude roaming and the consequent exercise, our domestic fowls have, of neccessity, to be provided for in some other way.
  When they are confined within narrow limits, and have no room  or chance to exercise themselves , they should be provided the means of scratching. To do this advantageously bury your grain beneath  some dry rubbish,coal ashes, leaves, road dust or chaff,so that they will be compelled to use their feet in searching for the kernels. This agreeable and perfectly natural exercise gives warmth to the body, promotes digestion, and stimulates the secretions.
  Give your fowls all the exercise they will take.It stirs up the blood, keeps down internal fattening, and counteracts all tendencies to laziness, lousiness, and the consequent diseases which follow in their train. Compel them to'be up and doing,' and you will find a marked difference in the looks, health and fertility of your fowls.''
   It is probable that the hardiness of the Plymouth Rocks is one of their strongest claims to popular favor. Being an American breed, and accustomed for many generations to our extremely changeable weather, they are thoroughly acclimated in the fullest sense of the word,and would be placed among the very first breeds for hardiness and vitality.
  This means a great deal.We all know how horses from the West (for instance ) have to be treated tenderly and nursed for a while after being brought here, until they have become acclimated, and sometimes their hardiness and vitality are impaired. Not so with our Rocks. They have become so firmly established in hardiness they do well in any climate and in Europe (England, France and Germany) as well as far away Australia they hold their own with the best and show very little, if any, impairment of vitality by the change.
  Mr. Stoddard says, ''It is a great point in favor of the Plymouth Rocks that we can truly commend them to all breeders as first-class winter layers. Any breed will, of course, lay in winter if kept in the tropical climate of a green-house ,but the Plymouth Rock hen needs no such special advantage to prove herself a good winter layer. With the ordinary conditions of house and runs which no poultryman would think of denying his stock, she fairly contests the place which the Asiatis have so long held in the popular mind.''
   A sitters and mothers they rank with the best, being somewhat less pugnacious than the Asiatics, but sufficiently so for every reasonable demand, one fault being a desire to scratch  over everything within reach; and it sometimes tries the patience of the housewife to see the water basin flying within a few minutes of having refilled it. The Rocks are probably more widely distributed and more generally popular than any other one breed, and the reason is not far to seek. Their many good qualities coupled with few defects make them a satisfying fowl.I ounce asked the largest breeder of Plymouth Rocks in the world why he boomed Wyandottes so largely and didn't (at the time ) boom Plymouth Rocks.He replied''Because the Rocks are so well known and so generally popular they don't need any booming.'' I asked him, ''Are the Wyandottes better than the Plymouth Rocks?'' ''No , sir '' he answered, ''there is no better fowl in the world than the Plymouth Rocks!''and his eye kindled with enthusiasm as he spoke.At a farmers' meeting last winter Mr. W.H.Rudd was asked which breed of fowls he considered the best. He evaded the question at first, but on being pressed for an answer, he replied, ''I keep Plymouth Rocks and nothing else!''
   The American Poultry Yard says, ''The perennial popularity of the Plymouth Rock is something wonderful to those who do not know its real merits, but to those who 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.''
   And Mr Stoddard says,''Give any birds kind and sensible care, and adrquate results wiil follow, but with the same advantages the Plymouth Rock will make for itself a record that few breeds can equal and none excell.''
  




A cut of SWEEPSTAKES 1ST , winner of the first prize as a cockerel at the world's fair in 1885, and is said to be the highest scoring cockerel ever exhibited accompanys this article(however the book is to big to copy so I have put with this article a dead ringer printers block that I have, perhaps of the same bird but at a younger stage, spurs slightly smaller.
The ckl mentioned was said to be sold for $150.00-the highest price ever paid for a single bird..