Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-26
BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS

There is no variety of poultry more
valuable to the poultry farmer, both
for marketing purposes and family use,
than the barred Plymouth Rocks. AS
a prolific layer, a heavy fowl for the
market, and the least troublesome of
them all, the Plymouth class has them
all beaten. Someone is responsible for
the scarehead, Dollars in Poultry"
that has appeared in advertisements
far and near to attract the get-rich
quick tourist with little ready money
to the poultry farming business here
abouts, but no more aptly may 1t be
said about any variety of the house
hold bird than the Rocks.
Plymouth Rocks never came from
Plymouth, and it has not been the
writer's privilege to meet any of the
chicks who could trace their lineage
back to the vicinity of the fowl who
came over in the Mayflower, but they
are an inter-bred variety brought from
the fanciers of England and developed
in this country into fowl that weighs
twice as much as his English cousins,
and knows the moulting season only in
its modest limits.
The best hens for setting are of the
Rock variety. They are the most faith
full during incubation and are better
able TO protect their small following
than the majority of the barnyard col
lection. The Plymouth cockerel was
the Chantecler of Rostand, ard when
you give Tom his bran mash tonight
remember you are privileged to feed
one of the real chandeliers, and be fit
tingly humble in the service. Rostand
could have chosen no more fitting sub
ject for the intellectual cock than the
gray-mottled denizen of the barnyard.
He certainly must be a fancier.
Faults? Yes, a few. The Rock Is
more liable to take the roup than any
other of your feathery tribe. He pos
sesses a strong constitution, however,
and rarely needs the beef tea applica-
tion or a red pepper tonic prescribed In
just such cases. The roup is his only
disease, and as this is the least danger
GUS of all chicken ailments, there is a
blessing In the cloud.
A barred Rock will never mingle with
the other inhabitants of the poultry
farm. He Is clannish, in other words,
and will go far to be among his own.
In England 1t is said the original of his
tribe came from far Inverness, so 1t is
possible that his strong clannish in
stincts arise from his Scottish coat of
arms and noble lineage. Did you ever
dream that your working hen that
layed the record amount of the season
could trace descent back farther than
any other of your miscellaneous collec-
tion? Did you ever dream that your
faithful old mamma hen was perhaps
the heir to some Scottish throne in
some ruin of a Scottish farmyard?
Perhaps not, but in the belief of great
many, the original roosting place of the
original Plymouth Rocks was the stone
of Scone the George lately used as
resting place while he swore to his de-
fense of the faith. Ancestry will tell"
tits in the blood" Hereditary in
stinct," you hear it about Tom, Dick
and Harry; why not then about your
favorite and petted barred Rocks?
There will never be a pedestal high
enough for poultry fanciers and market
breeders to place their favorite Ply.
month, or barred Rock cockerel and
hen. They are the king and queen of
the barnyard, and as such are entitled
to the homage they receive.