The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-01-25
FIXED CHARACTERISTICS IN POULTRY

In the course of my experience as a
poultry fancier, says Miller Purvis in
the Poultry Monthly, many things
have come under notice that have
never been satisfactorily explained.
These things I, at first passed by,
thinking them some of those things
"that no fellar could find out" After
a year or two found this to be q very
unsatisfactory way to get rid of diff
culties, and as these unsettled points
came up, 1 got into the fashion Of in.
vestigating them, and 1 found the
study of poultry, in all its phases, one
of the most Interesting ones in all the
circle of the sciences. There may be
some who will claim that it is an art
which may be learned from obserya-
tion, but it is much more than this; it
is science that comprehends within
its limits the most profound secrets of
nature, and until the fancier breeds
with his mental eye fixed remote gem
erations, progress will be slow. The
true fancier should be an enthusiast,
who is not satisfied with doing as
others do, merely because Others do
thus and so. He should know enough
Of biology to understand something of
the possibilities of change that lie dor.
mant in every organized being. He
should go back in the history of poul-
try until, in knowing what has been
accomplished by skill ard patient en-
deavor, he is encouraged to expect a
still greater movement, until the ul-
innate limit is reached and perfection
is attained.
Fanciers do not pay enough atten-
ton to heredity. and the tendency to
reuert to the type of some ancestor
more or less remote. By studying this
tendency. We gain an insight into the
origins of varieties that heretofore have
been matters upon which authorities
disagreed upon hope of reconciliation.
l have observed certain characteristics
suoh as the persistency of the Cuckoo
or Dominique color; the certainty
with which Hamburg cross was
known by a rose. comb: the ease with
which the white face of the Spanish
breeds could be preserved in cross-bred
fowls, etc.
Assuming it to be a fact that the
Cuckoo color is almost certain to ap-
pear when one of the parents only is of
that color, and that the rose comb of
tue Hamburgs is distinguishing sign
of Hamburg ancestry. 1 formulated
theory like this: If Wyandotte
cock is put with Plymouth hens, the
chicks from this mating would he
Plymouth Rock as to color, and have
rose combs. A mating of this kind
was made. and the result justified the
conclusions upon which the theory
was based. said the hens were
Plymouth Rocks, which is true
but they were the result of an expert
ment. When the White Plymouth
Rocks were first introduced, I was
among the first to say in public that /
believed them to be cross breed, and
/ had never changed my mind. That
the A. P. Association agrees in this is
proved by their allowing the Dirigos
to be called White Plymouth Rocks.
My reasons for thinking the White
Plymouth Rocks a cross breed were
the fact of the persistency with which
the Dominique color produces itself,
and that L have never known a single
white spot in thousands of Plymouth
Rocks and knew of at least two fail
ures to breed white by selection. Some
white Plymouth Rocks from eggs pro-
cured from very reliable source, pro-
duced chicks. some of which had
white ear-lObes aud one hen in partic-
ular, whose comb grew up and fell
over to one side as gracefully as that of
a White Leghorn. That they are
cross-breed does not iDjure them in
the least, and, as they now breed with
tolerable constancy, they have taken
a firm hold on the affections of the
people, and it is right that they should
be recognized. AS it happened I got
only pullets from the setting of eggs
referred to above. and not desiring to
breed them for fancy purposes, 1 put
them with barred Plymouth Rock
cock, and every one of the chicks came
barred. 1t was one of these
barred chicks, half White and half
Barred Plymouth Rocks, that / bred
to the WyandOtte cock, producing the
Rose-comb Plymouth Rocks 1 now
have. A cockerel from this cross
breed has been saved. and next year
will be bred to a pen of Plymouth
Rocks, and l confidently expect the
chicks will have rose-combs.