I Love Plymouth Rock Chickens - Vintage Rooster Placemat

This elegant illustration of a Plymouth Rock Rooster is adapted from the 1896 book "Profits in Poultry: Useful and Ornamental Breeds." Plymouth Rocks were first bred in New England in the mid-19th Century. Often also called "Barred Rocks" or simply "Rocks," they are a hardy attractive breed and remain popular today in backyard flocks. The text in the book from which this illustration was taken reads in part: "The breed known as the Plymouth Rock is generally acknoweldged the best for useful purposes that has ever been bread in this country, and as especially adapted to our american climate markets and uses. As fowls for the farmer they are superior to other birds in many respects. They fill the requirements of the farm while maintaining their purity as a breed. They are good layers, sitters and mothers.