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THE

PERCHERON HORSE.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH

OP

CHARLES DU IIUYS,

AUTHOR OP THE "DICTIONARY OP THE PUKE RACE;" "TROTTERS;" "THE BOOK
OF THE RACES ;" " THE MERLERAULL ;" " THE HOKSE-BREEDER'S GUIDE ;" ETC.

NEW YORK:
I

ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY,
245 BROADWAY.

V-

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
ORANGE JUDD & CO.,

At the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New- York.

LOVEJOY, SOH & Co.,

ELECTBOTYPERS & STEEEOTTPKES,
15 Vandewater Street, N. Y.

-

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PRODUCTION, REARING, AND IMPROVEMENT OP THE PERCHERON HORSE 7

PART FIRST.
GREATNESS AND DECLINE or THE PERCHERONS.

CHAPTER I.— Glance at Perche 11

CHAPTER II.— Sketch of the Percheron Race 14

CHAPTER in.— Origin of the Percheron 17

CHAPTER IV.— Modifications of the Percheron Race 20

CHAPTER V.— His first Modification due to contact with the Brittany Race.. 21

CHAPTER VI.— Conditions under which they are bred 23

CHAPTER VII.— Causes of the Degeneracy of the Percheron Horse 26

CHAPTER VHI.— Starting Point of this Degeneration > 28

PART SECOND.

OF THE MEANS OF REGENERATING THE PERCHERON HORSE 32

CHAPTER I.— Regeneration of the Percheron Breed 33

CHAPTER II.— Regeneration of the Breed through itself or by Selection. . . .33

CHAPTER III.— Consangiiinity ,_ „ ^, . . tj ^^ „ ... .38

CHAPTER IV.— Ought the gray coat of the Percheron to be inflexibly main-
tained? 40

CHAPTER V.— Preserve pure, and without Mixture the three Types of the
Percheron Race — the Light Horse, the Draft-Horse, the

Intermediate Horse 44

CHAPTER VI.— Improvement of the Breed by means of Foreign Crossings.. .48

CHAPTER VII.— The Arab Cross 51

CHAPTER VHL— The English Cross 64

CHAPTER IX.— Improvement by means of the Stud-book 71

RECAPITULATION 75

PART THIRD.

INFORMATION TO STRANGERS WISHING TO BUY PERCHERON HORSES 81

CHAPTER I.— Food and Breeding 84

CHAPTER H.— Trade. Glance at the most celebrated Breeding Districts. . . 93

CHAPTER III.— Speed and Bottom of the Percheron Horse 95

CHAPTER IV.— Tests of Speed of the Percheron Horse 97

CHAPTER V.— Tests of Endurance of the Percheron Horse. . . 99

INDEX.

Arabian, The type horse 51

Good tempered 60

Crops imparts endurance 59

Qualities obtained from 75

Cross-breeds easy to raise 61-63

Disproportionately small legs. . .63

Labor at three years 61

Larger than their sires 62-68

Square trotters 50

Surest to turn out well 62

Stallions offer quick and sure

means of improvement 45

Breeders 13

Temptation to sell 8-22-27

Breeding Centers 92

Breeding In-and-in fixes character.. 18
Systematic. Opposition of the

Army 73

System of 46-62

Brittany Horse 21-27

Cattle, Charollaise breed 72

Cotentin breed 37

Maine breed 90

Percherou breed 89

Colts, Cost of rearing 23

Food of 23-85

Sale of at six months old 23-84

Sold to Beauce farmers . 24

Troubled with strangles 86

Weaning 85

Worked at fifteen months 23

" Cross-bred Horse." .54

Crossing; with the Thoroughbred 55

Eastern Blood imported 18

Stallions at Pin 20

Brought from the Crusades. .17-18
English and Danish Stallions at Pin.20

English Horses, Spurious 56

In the Crimea and Italy 54

Too nervous for draft 69

English Thoroughbred 39

Care required in rearing 61

Cross successful if used with

judgment 64

Discouraging results 68

Fractious and nervous 61

Introduced into France 28

Its Progeny heavy consumers 68

Possession tends to dissipation. . 9

The Horse of Fashion 9

Fairs, Improvement by means of 72

Forage Plants 13

Fillies, Treatment of 87

Horse Association of Perche 31

Improvement by foreign crossings.. .48

By Selection 33-37

By the Arab Cross 51

Means of 32

Preparation of land for 49

Preparation of a breed for 49-51

In-and-in breeding 38

Useful in establishing a family or

breed 39

Intelligence of an Arabian 58

Of "Lapin." 58

Interbreeding 3S

Land— thorough culture essential 13

Loads usual for English and French

horses 69

Mares, Care of Brood 23

Mares, Never sell good 34

" Natural Horse." 54

Norfolk Stallion, Description 55

Perche, Department of— Geography,
Topography, and Agricultural

character 11

Effects of soil and climate on

other animals 88

Horses exported annually from. 42
Introduction of foreign mares,

extensive since 1830 27

Loss of the best stock 27-29-30

Percheron Breeders' character 82

Percheron Horse, Arabian Origin.. . .17

Characteristics 7-15-22

Cared for by Women andChildren 8

Color ....40

Color — Gray the favorite 41

Color Non-essential 43

Coming in Fashion 45

Degeneracy 26-28

Demand for Export ^..79

Difficulty of finding horses free

from Foreign blood 28-30

Docility 8

Eftbrts to stop the exodus of good

stock 29

First among serviceable breeds.. 10

Feat of endurance 99

Food and Breeding 83

Freedom from Spavin, etc . . 8

Heavy Draft Type, how obtained.47

Height 14

List of exploits on the turf 97

Mares, little pastured 12

Modern modification of the breed20

" Omnibus Type," how obtained46

Prices realized by the farmers . . 23-

25-26-29

" Primitive Type." 52

Proof of an Ancient breed 19

Separation of the Sexes 16

Sold at Chartres 26

Speed and Bottom 95

Strength of the type 22

Three classes? ..15-44

"Primitive Horse." 53

Prizes, System of awards 34

Given for Size, and for trotting. .31

Recapitulation 75

Sheep, Percheron breed 90

Soil, Influence of 53

Stallions,Brittany and others, brought

into Perche 30

Not used before four years old. . .36
Quarter-blood Eng., preferable

to full-blood 76

Stud-book 35

Strangers, Information for 81

Stud-book,Improvement by means of 71

PREFACE.

The little volume which is now presented to the notice of
the lovers of the horse in America is a translation of the
work of a distinguished French author, who, holding a high
position of trust, made this as a report to the Government.
His views in some respects may be regarded as extreme,
but on the whole they are characterized by strong common
sense and are supported by a practical familiarity with all
the phases of his subject which should give them weight.

The Percheron horse no doubt stands first among the
draft breeds of the world. His value has been thorough-
ly tested in this country, and the fact is established
beyond a cavil that with careful breeding, and probably an
occasional renewal by the importation of fresh blood, the
Percheron maintains his superior characteristics, and im-
presses them upon his descendants of only one-quarter or
one-eighth blood to a very marked degree. The value of
fast trotters, their encouragement by Agricultural Societies,
and the enormous prices which have been paid for animals
valuable simply for their speed as trotters, has no doubt
had a tendency to direct the aims of horse breeders in a
wrong direction. The result is, from whatever cause it
comes, that the true horse-of-all-work has been neglected.
The Percheron, combining as he does a certain attractive-
5

VI PREFACE.

ness of style, very free action, considerable speed united
to power, with astonishing strength for his weight, and the
greatest kindness and docility, seems to offer to American
horse breeders an exceedingly useful animal, either to be
maintained distinct, or used for improving our stock of
both light and heavy draft-horses by crossings. The value
of this work, however, does not consist in its recommenda-
tion of this breed, or demonstration of its value in France,
but its bold discussions of the principles of breeding as ap-
plied to the improvement of the Percherons, and equally
applicable to that of other draft breeds, will doubtless
commend themselves to the careful consideration of
breeders.

Interest in the Percherons has increased greatly of late.
Several notable importations have been made, and excel-
lent representatives of this noble breed are to be found in
the Eastern, Western, and Middle States. The engrav-
ings which embellish this volume are portraits of animals
owned by Mr. W. T. Walters of Baltimore, Md., through
whose interest in this subject the Publishers were induced
to issue this translation of M. Huys work.

THE PEKCHEROI HOESE.

PRODUCTION, REARING, AND IMPROVEMENT OF
THE PERCHERON HORSE.

.... Facilis descensus Averno;
Sed revocare gradum?

Almost everything that has been written about the
horse may be reduced pretty much to, — complaining that
there does not exist a breed which unites, in an elevated
degree, high moral to physical qualities ; modestly seek-
ing, and teaching the means of obtaining such a breed.

It is reasonable that such sentiments should surprise us,
here in the heart of France, where, for a long time, a race
of horses has flourished which may be said to fill the re-
quirements proposed in every way.

The proof of this statement is easy : a hasty sketch of
the principal characters of the breed suffices to furnish it.

To no ordinary strength, to vigor which does not de-
generate, and to a conformation which does not exclude
elegance, it joins docility, mildness, patience, honesty,
great kindness, excellent health, and a hardy, elastic tem-
perament. Its movements are quick, spirited, and light. |
It exhibits great endurance, both when hard worked, and
when forced to maintain for a long time any of its natural
gaits, and it possesses the inestimable quality of moving
fast with heavy loads. It is particularly valuable for its
7

8 THE PEKCHEROtf HOESE.

astonishing precocity, and produces by its work, as a two-
year-old, more than the cost of its feed and keep. Indeed, it
loves, and shows a real aptness for labor, which is the lot of
alL It knows neither the whims of bad humor, nor nervous
excitement. It bears for man, the companion of its labors,
an innate confidence, and expresses to him a gentle famili-
arity, the fruit of an education for many generations in the
midst of his family. Women and children from whose
hands it is fed, can approach it without fear. In a word,
if I may dare speak thus, it is an honorable race. It has
that fine oriental gray coat, the best adapted of all to
withstand the burning rays of the sun in the midst of the
fields — a coat which pleases the eye, and which in the
darkness of the night allowed the postilion of former times
to see that he was not alone — that his friend was making
his way loyally before him. It is exempt, (a cause of
everlasting jealousy among the breeders of other races,)
always exempt from the hereditary bony defects of the
hock, and where it is raised, spavin, jardon, bone spavin,
periodical inflammation, and other dreaded infirmities, are
not known even by name.

This truly typical race would seem a myth did it not exist
in our midst. But every day we see, every day we handle
this treasure, — the munificent gift of Providence to this
favored region, to cause agriculture, that "nursing mother,"
to flourish, and with agriculture, peace and abundance.

I need not name this breed; every one from this in-
complete sketch has recognized the fine race of steady and
laborious horses, bred in the ancient province of Perche,
(so justly entitled Perche of good horses,) plowing in
long furrows the soil of Beauce, and thence spreading itself
over all France, where its qualities render it without a
rival for all the specialties of rapid draft.

Hence it is that all our provinces envy us the possession
of the race, and even foreign countries seek after it with
an eagerness amounting to a passion.

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 9

The breeder, — who is ordinarily a farmer, not suffi-
ciently rich to be beyond temptation, — finds himself with-
out strength, without resistance in presence of this urgent
demand. The finest types, not only of the males, but of
the females also,, are disappearing every day.

This, tending incessantly to deprive Perche of that in
which it is so superior, is so much more to be dreaded as
the question of filling up the vacancies and of saving this
race from a tendency to degeneration and from inevitable
destruction becomes the necessary corollary of such com-
mercial operations.

Entered upon this course, if Perche does not adopt, with-
out delay, salutary measures, if it does not make a vigor-
ous effort to place itself in a condition, either to resist the
tendency or to contribute to it in a well-maintained and
uniform manner, the breed is fated to a complete eclipse at
the moment even when the future belongs to it.

Indeed the future does belong to the Percheron horse, if
he can sustain himself in the first rank of the truly useful
races until the not far distant day when that era of
triumph will come. Every thing now seems to incline to
establish the truth of what, at first, appeared a paradox.

I am aware that, for the moment, the Percheron has, in
the class of fancy-horses, an antagonist that seemt to de-
rive formidable strength from the prestige belonging to
elegance. The English thoroughbred and its congeners are
in possession of the scepter of fashion and "bon-ton."
But this antagonism, more apparent than dangerous, on ac-
count of the elevated but rather limited spheres in which
it exists, will last but for a time, and will yield before rea-
son and the necessities of a difficult situation.

Our age, factitious to excess, is governed by the de-
mands and temptations of a luxury which is tending to
ruin the most solidly established families. It wildly suf-
fers patrimonies and fortunes to dwindle away under the
lead of a vain and noisy ostentation, without perceiving
1*

10 THE PERCHEEON HORSE.

that already they are decreasing and becoming less every
day, under the continued action of tlie laws. A change
will be brought about, and the effect of an inevitable reac-
tion will be a return towards sobriety and simplicity.

Recovering from the intoxication of ^ity luxury, the
best minds will, let us hope, recover their tone in the quiet
of the fields, and agriculture will regain its too long forgot-
ten rights. Tired out by allowing themselves to be eaten
up by that elegant guest called the fancy-horse, and by the
army of evil-doing satellites following in his train, men
will come back to the one which requires but little care,
and which returns good service, to the one which does not
object to work, the boon companion of every man desirous
of following nature's law, which is that of labor.

The value of the Percheron is more evident than ever.
It is this, among the serviceable races, which is called to
the greatest fortune ; for, of all the ordinary breeds, it is
the nearest to the blooded, in shape and qualities. His
usefulness causes him to be everywhere in demand. If
the railroads have driven him from the highway, they
claim him as an auxiliary in the centers of population and
at all their termini ; for he is eminently a trotter, remark-
able for the ability to move at a relatively rapid gait, and
excelling in the valuable faculty of rapid draft. Since the
post-coaches have ceased to use these horses, the omnibuses
of the large cities, and those communicating with the rail-
roads, require increasing numbers.

This leads us to seek for the means of improving the
Percheron race and of maintaining it in its original purity
and perfection in the land of its birth. But let us first
see what is the origin of this race, what country gave it
birth, and by what characters it is to be recognized.

We have, for this examination, borrowed largely of
those who have known and studied Perche intimately,
and hope to remain truthful in following them step by step.

PART I.

GREATNESS AND DECLINE OF THE PERCHERONS,

CHAPTER I.

GLANCE AT PERCHE.

The Department of Perche is too well known to need a
description here. We will limit ourselves to the remark
that this region, which has become so celebrated for its
fine race of horses, represents an ellipse of about 25 leagues
long by nearly 20 broad.

This ellipse is bounded on the north by Normandy ;
on the west, also by Normandy, and by Maine ; on the
east, by the portion of Beauce including Chartrain and
Dunois ; on the south, by the Vendomois — three portions
of the ancient Orleanais.

At the present time, enclosed in the center of the four
departments, Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, and
Sarthe, the territory of Perche comprises the following
divisions :

1st. — The district of Mortagne (department of Orne) ;

2nd. — The district of Nogent-le-Rotrou, and a portion
of those of Chartres, Dreux, and Chatlaudun (department
of Eure and Loir) ;

3rd. — All the western side of the district of Vendome
(department of Loir and Cher) ;
11

12 THE PERCHERON HOUSE.

4th. — The eastern portion of the districts of Mamers
and Saint Calais (department of Sarthe).

It is the summit region of the middle portion of the
vast plateau extending between the sea and the basins
of the Loire and the Seine. It is here that the rivers
Sarthe, Huisne, Eure, Loire, It on, Hoene, Braye, Avre,
Commanche, and Percheron Orne, take their source, spring-
ing up from the same plateau and crossing it on their way
to the Channel and the ocean.

The country is, in general, uneven and hilly, cut up in
every direction by small valleys watered by springs or
small brooks flowing into the rivers above named. All
these valleys, no matter of what extent, are natural
meadows, and the most of them rich and fertile. But
drainage could here be usefully applied everywhere, to rid
them of their surplus humidity, and to purge them of their
too abundant aquatic plants. The finest valley is that
watered by the Huisne, which is second to none in France
for length, extent, richness, and beauty of sites. Here are
situated Nogent-le-Rotrou, Conde, Regmalard, Boissy,
Corbon, Mauves, Pin-la-Garenne, Reveillon, etc., etc., — all
centers renowned for the beauty of their horses.

The land is generally clayey, lying upon a calcareous
subsoil of the secondary formation. Some portions are
silicious, the high and hilly points always so.

The Percheron country contains rather few meadows,
in proportion to the total surface of the soil, and to this
circumstance, probably, is due the superiority of its horses.
Here the rearing takes place in the stable and the brood-
mare is found under the hand of the breeder. The idea of
making use of her conies naturally to his mind. He works
and feeds her well. All the secret of his breeding lies in
these few words.

Here, for many years, agriculture has flourished ; arti-
ficial meadows are everywhere cultivated with success,

THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 13

and are necessary to produce the enormous quantity of
fodder consumed by the number of horses raised.

Among the plants for green and dry forage, clover first
and then fenugreek are the favorites of the Percheron
farmer. He uses plaster and marl with care, and would
tell you, should the opportunity offer, that it is through
system and superior cultivation that Perche has been able
hitherto to meet the large demands made upon her from
the commencement of the present century, particularly for
the last fifty years. He is, moreover, laborious and per-
severing. Disregarding the industrial arts, the glory of
other districts, his true vocation, his favorite occupation, is
cultivating the ground and raising horses, which he has
practised with zeal from the most remote period. Jn fact
cannot this be inferred, even from the example of his early
lords ? The Counts of Perche, those old Rotrous, triple
knights, had they not adopted as an emblem of their nobility
the stamp of their horses' feet ? . . . Not content with a
single chevron, they placed three upon their standards, to
signify both the superiority of their horses, and their in-
finite number. For in symbolical language (and none is
more so than that of heraldry,) the number three implies
infinity ; and the oval form of the eastern courser's foot, to
which the chevron is distinctly traced, was used in early
times as a sign of chivalry, replacing the ancient ring of
Rome. Hence comes, as a distinctive mark of nobility, the
large number of coats of arms with chevrons, among those
of the knights. The simple chevron was the desig-
nation of the noble, and the particular marks which often
accompanied the chevron served to recall some exploit,
some distinguished feat of arms, the nature of the tastes,
or the possessions of the warrior who bore this blazon.

Perche is very much cut up : the farms generally small ;
the fields, likewise small and mostly enclosed by hedges.
The temper of the Percheron breeder is invariably mild.
He knows all the importance of attention to the race which

14 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

he rears, and nevertheless, it must be confessed, that with
the exception of the mildness with which he treats it, he
has done next to nothing to ameliorate it or preserve it in
its beauty. Nature, time, and the climate, have done all.

Perche has a climate eminently favorable to horse-
breeding. Under its influence, the water is tonic and the
food nutritious, the air is pure, bracing, and drier than
that of Normandy. The sea is farther off, and its in-
fluence, in consequence, is less felt.

However, these can be but general attributes, for the
country varies in aspect according to the district. The
portion near Normandy, which is watered by the Sarthe, is
mnch the same as that province. The grasses are, however,
sparser, and especially do not have that extreme sweet-
ness and great tonic quality which distinguish those of the
environs of Courtomer and Merlerault, situated only a few
leagues from the limits of Perche.

On the side of Beauce, there are vast plains sometimes
undulating, and having much similarity to that province.

On the Maine side, the country gradually assumes the
characteristics of aspect and cultivation peculiar to it, so
that the transition between these two provinces is not an
abrupt change, but they blend like the tones of a picture.
Upon some points woods, ponds in the north-east, forage
and grain upon the remainder, are the chief features, and
are the sources of the revenues of the country.

CHAPTER H.

SKETCH OF THE PERCHERON RACE.

The height of the Percheron horse is generally 148 14 to 16
hands ; he is of a sanguine temperament, mixed in variable
proportions with the musculo-lymphatic ; his color is al-

THE PERCHERON HORSE. , 15

most always gray, and is, among the characteristic features,
that which first strikes the eye.

According to their predominence, these temperaments
constitute varieties which may be thus classed :

1st. — The light Percheron, in which the sanguine tem-
perament predominates ;

2nd. — The draft Percheron, in which the lymphatic
temperament is the most fully developed ;

3rd. — The type intermediary between these twro, par-
taking of the one by its lightness, and of the other by its
muscular force.

The latter is the most numerous, but it has much de-
generated of late years ; and there is a tendency to its
disappearance since the post-coach service, which formed
it, has gradually given way to other means of conveyance.
It has style, although the head is rather large and long ;
nostrils well open and well dilated ; eye large and ex-
pressive ; forehead broad ; ear fine ; neck rather short,
but well filled out; whithers high; shoulder pretty long
and sloping; breast rather flat, but high and deep; a
well-rounded body ; back rather long ; the croup hori-
zontal and muscular; tail attached high ; short and strong
joints, and the tendon generally weak; a foot always
excellent, although rather flat in the low countries and
natural meadows ; a gray coat ; fine skin ; silky and abun-
dant mane. Such are the most general characteristics
of the old Percheron race. These are the points which
are still noticed upon what remain of some old horses,
preserved from the transformation which commenced long
ago ; for at the present moment everything is much
changed. Since the time of the foreign crossings, the foot
has become flatter, the head overcharged, the tendon still
weaker, the back longer, the shoulder has lost its direction,
and the croup has become shorter. The race has changed
suddenly to fill new wants which have unexpectedly
sprung up.

16 THE PEECHEEOX HOKSE.

Of course these different characters are modified by the
varieties upon which they are noticed, but the " ensemble "
presents a striking similarity.

The light Percheron, suited to harness, is found par-
ticularly in the Norman portion, in the district of Mor-
tagne, near Courtomer, Moulin s-la-Marche, Aigle, Mesle-
sur-Sarthe, and especially in the parishes of Mesniere, Bures,
and Champeaux-sur-Sarthe. This is easily accounted for, as
here is the best blood of France, near the region where
has been found the best Norman type. Here the soil,
temperature, and pasturage, are pretty near the same.

In going from Nogent-le-Rotrou to Montdoubleau, and
following the limits of Perche-Manceau, by Saint-Calais,
Vilvaye, Ferte-Bernard, Saint-Corme and Mamers, we
travel over the birth-place of the heavy draft-horse. Here
we meet with the heavy brood-mares.

In the center of Perche, at Mauves, Regmalard, Lougny,
Corbon, Courgeon, Reveillon, Villiers, and Saint-Langis,
nothing is bred ; the farmer brings up the horse colts of
Eperrais, Pin-la-Garenne, Coulimer, Saint-Quentin, Bure,
Pervercheres and the breeding parishes of the district of
Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Montdoubleau and Courtalin.

Horses of different sexes and ages are never mingled in
Perche; they are there separated with care. But it is not
exactly the same in respect to kinds.

The post-coach and the heavy-draft horse are there to
be met with upon the same ground. The post-coach horse
is, to be sure, bred a little everywhere ; his temperament
and the conditions in which he is placed, prepare him
for this specialty.

It is, as we see, at the two extremities of the ellipse
(especially where the pasture grounds are), that the mares
are found. In the center, at Mauves, Regmalard, Lougny,
etc., etc., the inhabitants turn their attention to bringing
up the colts.

THE PERCHEROIT HOESE. 17

CHAPTER III.

ORIGIN OF THE PERCHERON.

What, now, is the origin of the Percheron ? Some at-
tribute to him an Arabian ancestry ; others, less explicit
and without positively assigning to him so noble an origin,
hold him to be strongly impregnated with Arabian blood.
M. Eugene Perrault, one of the most extensive and skillful
dealers in fancy horses in all Europe, has frequently re-
marked to me that of all the various races of horses none
were so interesting to him as the admirable Percheron,
and that, judging from his appearance and qualities, he
was satisfied he was a genuine Arab, modified in form by
the climate and the rude services to which he had for
ages been subjected.

We cannot, however, find in history the written positive
proof that the Percheron is an Arab, but we believe it easy,
by fair historical deduction, to prove what he is in fact.

It is well known that after the defeat of the famous
Saracen chief Abderame by Charles Martel, on the plains
of Vouille, the magnificent cavalry of the foe fell into the
hands of the victors, since more than 300,000 infidels were
killed on that day, and the horses which they rode were,
like themselves, from the East. Upon a division of the
spoil a large number of these were assigned to the men
of La Perche, of Orleanais, and Normandy, who com-
posed the bulk of the French forces, and they must
necessarily have left in their progeny indelible traces of
their blood.

La Perche, like all Christian countries, furnished, as is
well known, her contingent of fighting men to the cru-
sades, and the chronicles cite several Counts of Bellesmer,
Mortagne, and Nogent, barons and gentlemen of that
province, who, with many of their vassals, made pilgrim-
ages to the Holy Land.

18 THE PEECHEEON HOESE.

The Abbe Fact, in a letter addressed to the Congress
of Mortagne, July 16, 1843, and in his great work upon
La Perche, cites in this connection a lord of Montdou-
bleau, Geifroy IV., and Rotrou, Count of La Perche, as
having brought back from Palestine several stallions,
which were put to mares, and the progeny most carefully
preserved. The small number of the sires, their incom-
parable beauty, and manifest superiority, must have led to
the in-and-in breeding so much deprecated by most
breeders ; but the qualities of the sires became indelibly
fixed upon their progeny.

The lord of Montdoubleau was, it is said, the most
zealous of the advocates and breeders of the new blood,
and, being the most zealous, was the most successful ; hence
it is that the Montdoubleau stock is to this day the best in
Perche. The Count Roger, of Bellesmer, imported both
Arabian and Spanish horses, as did Goroze, the lord of
Saint Cerney, Courville, and Course roult ; these are histor-
ical facts which have their importance. Like chronicles,
it is true, exist for other provinces — for Limousin, for Na-
varre, for Auvergne (the land of noble horses), also for
Brittany and Maine ; but in the latter not the least sign of
Eastern blood is perceptible. The fact is, the crusaders
from all the French provinces naturally brought back with
them more or less of the Eastern blood, which they had
learned to appreciate on the plains of Palestine — but the
truth is, it has not been preserved elsewhere ; and that we
in La Perche, after so many centuries, should be so for-
tunate as to be able to show the traces of it, should stimu-
late us to its careful preservation.

From the time of the Roman domination, the horse
in his oriental forms was not only valued by the Gauls,
but was particularly prized in Perche. In 1861 a subter-
ranean vault was discovered in the middle of a field, near
Jargeau (Loiret), upon the borders of Perche. It contain-
ed a statue of Bacchus, surrounded by bacchanals, with

THE PEECHERON HOESE. 19

which were found a horse, a stag, a boar, some fish, a grape
vine, and other native products of the country ; but the
horse was indubitably of the Arab form, which goes to
prove, either that at that remote period there were
Arabians in the country, or that the native local race from
which the portrait was taken resembled the Arabian.

These historical data, these inductions, incomplete as
they may be, lead to the belief that for antiquity the
Percheron yields to no other of our French races, and that
'the soil which has nourished and preserved it, must be
one of the best in France for horse breeding.

Under the feudal rule and inhabited by tenants ever at
war, Perche must always have been an equestrian country,
and the horse must have been there in every age the
companion of man. He must have been really a first
class necessity. In those times of continued war and
hostile surprises, what property was more movable and so
easily taken to a place of safety ? How glorious the pos-
session of such noble coursers, and like the Rotrous, to
own more than could be counted, as was proudly shown
by the heraldic chevrons upon their broad banners, dis-
played from the towers of Mortagne and Nogent !

But had the Percheron then, as a race, the character-
istics it now possesses ? This is not probable ; it must have
been lighter, but still possessing within itself the charac-
ter which it now presents. The essential point is to prove
that there was, at that period, a native race ; and if the ex-
traordinary life formerly led there — if the aspect of the
country, which must have been always fertile — if the
historical inductions do not prove it — the universal tradi-
tion of the whole country should not leave us in any
doubt in respect to the fact.

Let us, then, take no account of the silence of historians.
This silence is no proof of the non-existence of the Per-
cheron. Most of these writers were gentlemen of the

20 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

equestrian order ; they prized the saddle-horse, while they
ignored the equally useful breeds of all work.

CHAPTER IV.

MODIFICATIONS OF THE PERCHERON RACE.

The Percheron race comes from the Arab ; but it is use-
ful to know the causes which have separated it from the
primitive type. How has it been modified ? How has it
lost the Arabian character, in which it must have been at
first clothed ? A large number of the French races have
been even more profoundly modified, and have become
abject, miserable, puny, and misshapen. All equine races
have been changed by the effects of climate, by the ex-
tinction of the feudal system, and by the inauguration of
peaceful habits which have made an agricultural and
draft-horse of the horse primitively used for the saddle
and for war. The Percherons must have been especially
modified by contact with the breed of Brittany, where
their striking characteristics are now met with in a large
number of individuals.

However, it has been vigorously attempted to offset the
intrusion of the heavy horse by the continued use of the
Arabian horse. Indeed, we see, towards 1760, under the
administration of the Marquis of Brigges, manager of the
stud-stables of Pin, all the large number of fine Arabian,
Barb, and eastern stallions, that this establishment owned,
were put at the disposition of the Count of Mallart for
use at his mare-stables of Coesme, near Bellesme. The
arrival of the Danish and English stallions at the stud-
stables of Pin put an unfortunate end to the influence
of the Arab horse in Perche, and it will now be many a

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 21

long year before the eastern blood will be seen as before.
It is only towards 1820, still at the same chateau of
Coesme, with the grandsons of those old admirers of the
Arabians, that we find again two Arab horses from the
stud-stables of Pin, Godolphin and GalUpoli. These two
valuable stock-getters, both gray, again gave tone and ar-
dor to the Percheron race, and transformed definitely in-
to gray horses the stock of the entire country, which had,
it was said, become less uniform, and of all colors.

The Brittany horses have been strongly attracted to-
wards Perche by the immense outlet offered by the public
service, since the increase of the roads, to the Percherons.
Mixtures between the two races must have been frequent.
And when a good Brittany horse was there met with, he
must have been made use of, and the old native type has
gradually tended to disappear, and its traces become more
and more rare. This mixture of Percheron and Brittany
blood, too well marked to be questioned, arises from several
causes, which we will take up successively in review.

CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST MODIFICATION, DUE TO CONTACT WITH THE
BRITTANY RACE.

Perche is bounded, in its whole length, by the immense
plains of Beauce. On account of this position, it was al-
ways traversed by the post-coaches for Paris, and by
all the supplies that came from the West.

Being the intermediate point between the principal
home of the Brittany draft-horse and the immense markets
which Beauce and Paris offered, its territory was the
necessary stopping-place of everything that came from

22 THE PERCHEKON HOKSE.

the West. It has been for many years the rendezvous of
the draft races of the whole West.

Now, see in what an exceptional position this country
is placed. First and foremost, I do not hesitate to say
that there exists no French race which could have multi-
plied and preserved its original type under such unhappy
influences. We can but deplore the slight care taken in
preserving it pure and intact, and the want of judgment
in the delicate operation of crossing.

There has been no uniform and logical plan for improv-
ing as well as increasing it. To make the greatest possible
profit out of this hen with the golden eggs has been the
only aim.

When the post-coaches, wagon transportation, and the
public conveyances were organized and generalized ; when
every thing requiring the use of the horse had undergone
excessive development ; when the improvements of our
roads, the multiplicity of business transactions, and the
enormous internal traffic, required increased and rapid
locomotion, all eyes were turned towards Perche, and it
became necessary for her to satisfy the increased demand.

Let us see in what condition was the Percheron breeder
to satisfy all these demands. As for race, he possessed the
best. Strong, yet quick, it was that, of all others, which
contained the most blood. It owed this to the soil and
climate. It was the best to feed, the easiest to raise, and
the most favorably situated to be cheaply multiplied. And
with all this, it had at its door the best of known markets.

Wagons, diligences, and post-coaches, required horses
such as the Percheron cultivator loved to breed for himself.
Hence that sympathetic understanding which developed
itself more and more between the Percheron producer
and the consumer occupied in public transportation. And
the anxiety to meet the demand was one of the most active
causes of degeneration and of the drafts made upon this
and the neighboring breeds.

THE PERCHERON HORSE. . 23

CHAPTER VI.

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY ARE BRED.

We know how the sexes are divided in Perche ; one
section of the province produces, while another raises
what the other has produced. No matter what may be
the class to which she belongs, light or heavy, or partak-
ing of both, the mare is expected to breed every year. If
barren, she is sold, and this fault continuing, she passes
into public use. During her gestation she works constant-
ly. A few days of rest, before and after foaling, is the
only time lost. The remainder of the time her work pays
abundantly for her keep and the interest on her cost.

At the age of five or six months, the colt is abruptly
weaned and sold. Its price varies from five to six hundred
francs — sometimes more, but this is the exception — and so
far it has cost nothing.

Led into the interior upon the fertile meadows of
Mauves, Pin, Regmalard, Corbon, Lougny, Reveillon,
Courgeron, Saint- Langis, Villiers, Courgeoust, etc., etc., it
remains one year unproductive. In winter it is fed upon
hay, in the stable, and during the fine season turned into
the fields to graze. To sum up, it is rather poorly nour-
ished on bran, grass, and hay.

The reason is, it is as yet unproductive to its master, and
it feels the eflects. Wait a little ; its hardest time has gone
by, and work will soon soften its lot. It reaches, in this man-
ner, the age of 15 or 18 months. What has it cost for keep-
ing ? Very little. Estimate, about 80 or 100 francs. At this
age it is put to work. Naturally docile and in the hands
of a man always patient and mild, its training is generally
easy. Assigned to farm labor, it plows or draws a wagon.
Harnessed with four or five colts of its own age, together
they pull what would be an easy load for two good horses.

24 THE PERCHEKOX HOESE.

Put before two oxen, or joined to three of its companions,
it plows and is never overworked.

Now, it is better fed, and taken a great deal better care
of. Its " morale" improves, and its master seems to delight
in contemplating the progress and the development of its
qualities. Thus, in traveling through Perche, one involun-
tarily stops in the midst of the fields to see it work,
never tired of admiring the vigor it displays, and the
gentleness with which it is treated.

The bait is there. At the age of three the Beauce farmer
buys it to work his soft and light soil. For him, it must
be preserved intact, its development uninjured, nay en-
couraged.

Master, servants, large and small, all deeply imbued
with the love of the horse, unite in this work with ad-
mirable skill.

It has thus worked during one year, abundantly fed,
but receiving little or no grain. Doing enough light
work to pay for its keep, the master has received, besides
its manure, a heavy interest on the cost, as we will pres-
ently see.

This premature work, which would have been injurious
under a careless management, is, on the contrary, beneficial
when it is in the hands of a good master. This is so much
the general case, that the contrary is the exception. The
animal grows and becomes better developed in size and
strength.

Now, as we before observed, the Beauce fanner comes
to buy. He lives in a country of proverbial richness.
The work there is abundant, but the nature of the soil ren-
ders it extremely easy. The fields, very much divided,
and distant one from another, make a rapid gait indis-
pensable.

In Beauce, the horse cannot be replaced as a beast of
burden ; no matter how dear his keeping, his use is indis-
pensable ; the ox cannot be his competitor. But it is a

THE PERCHEROltf HORSE. 25

fact of the greatest importance to state, that it is to the
ox that the Perch eron horse owes a part of his celebrity.

As is well known, Beauce is the exceptional country for
cereals ; the horse and sheep are pretty much the only
animals which there produce a manure required by such
husbandry. Add to this the breadth of land under tillage,
and the extreme fertility of the soil, and the large number
of horses kept by the Beauce farmer will be accounted for.

At three years old, the Percheron dealer sells his horse
for 900 or 1,000 francs, and sometimes more, according to
his merit. But he does this only in order to buy other
colts; and the profit has been, in fact, sufficiently large to
warrant him in this. He has had against him only the
chances of mortality. These are small ; the race is tough
and hardy. Accidents are more to be dreaded, and these
sometimes occur. Living in the open air, in the company
of other animals, the young colt is a little exposed to the
influences of chance. But the fields are enclosed, the
master's eye is upon it, and, to sum up all, the large profit
covers every thing.

Reaching Beauce at three years old, he is subjected to
hard work. The work is easy enough, but there is
much of it. He must be quick, the breadth of land is
very extensive, and the work must be done. Sowing and
harvesting — these two words sum up the Beauceron agri-
culture. Otherwise expressed — plowing and hauling. As
regards the horse, all must be done promptly and quickly.

But if -he be hard worked, on the other hand, nothing is
denied him. He eats as much grain and hay as he pleases.
What difference does this make to the farmer ? Do not
his labor and his manure pay for his nourishment ? And,
moreover, how act otherwise ? As we have seen, nothing
can supply his place. Necessity has no law.

He lives in this way a year, with abundant food. Some-
times he succumbs ; the mortality is quite large in this
region. But the stock which remains after such a training
2

26 THE PEECHEEON HOESE.

offers many guaranties to the the dealer who buys it
to transfer, if they suit, to the express and omnibus com-
panies ; or if they belong to the draft race, to the con-
tractors, wagoners, and builders, of Paris. At five, he is
bought by the horse-dealer at the annual horse fair on St.
Andrew's Day in the town of Chartres. There he is
delivered, the farmer leading his horse upon the ground.
The prices vary from 1,000 to 1,400 francs. The profit is
small, sometimes nothing, the greatest gain being his
work, which cannot be dispensed with. The feeble have
perished ; the survivors owe their lives only to their robust
constitutions.

Before dedication to his final use, he has thus passed
through four hands ; all these have shared the risks of
his rearing. The most serious have been for the last
owner ; but he was also the wealthiest, and to him also
has he been the most useful

Thus, we see, the foal costs almost nothing, and his work
pays for his keep. Perfectly well fed, and exercised from
his tenderest age, the Percheron has always been the first
draft-horse in the world, and he would have constantly
improved, if his admirable qualities themselves had not led
to his degeneration.

CHAPTER VII.

CAUSES OF THE DEGENERACY OF THE PERCHERON HORSE.

The breeding of the Percheron horse has been so much
the more stimulated, in consequence of his situation, his
well-known qualities, and the favorable economical cir-
cumstances in which he is placed.

Was not everything in his favor ? Sure and increasing
sales and great facility in raising ?

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 27

In a word, Perche is not large ; the number of horses
that it can produce is limited, and not being able to answer
all the demands made upon it, competition stepped in.

At first, the finest types, the males especially, were sold.
Then, little by little, the traffic increasing, the finest fe-
males, in their turn, commenced to appear upon the market.

The interior of France and foreign countries, Prussia
especially, were anxious to possess them, the latter country,
in order to form a race of draft-horses, which it absolutely
needed, in consequence its own becoming too light.

It is the only race which has been accused, of no faults,
— simply because it has satisfied a real want and has been
able to satisfy it fully.

The sale of colts becoming greater and greater, and all
the farmers being interested in buying them to raise, Brit-
tany sent hers upon the markets. They made their ap-
pearance in Perche and in the fairs of Mortagne, Courtal-
in, etc., etc., taking their place there alongside the colts of
the country.

The breeding-mares being sought after, and in conse-
quence sold, it became necessary to replace them. Their
offspring sold too well not to think of increasing their
number. Hence the introduction, at first, of a large
number of Brittany mares, and afterwards of mares from
Caux, Picardy, etc., etc., approaching nearest, both as to
height and coat, to the race of the country.

If there had been among them only the Brittany mares,
I would but half complain: these are well bred; and
moreover, has not Perche contributed to the improvement
of the Brittany race by sending into their country such
famous stallions as JPomme, Bijou, and Tancrede f But the
mares from Picardy, from Caux and from Boulogne — the
scrofulous races of the North ! What can be said for them ?

This introduction is not of yesterday ; it is already of
long date. But it may be boldly advanced that it is only
since 1830 that it has been effected upon a very large scale.

28 THE PEECHEEON HOESE.

1830 was the era of the systematic infusion of the Eng-
lish pure-blood into our French half-blood races. Having
become, by this fact, less fit for service, they commenced
to lose their credit in the eyes of thinking men. The rich
ran after the English, while others wanted the German
horse, and this made the latter's fortune. The majority
addressed themselves to Perche, and thus obliged her to
multiply anew a stock already become insufficient.

In Upper Perche, that is to say, towards the Norman
part, in the district of Mortagne, the introduction, (we
are ignorant of its cause, — perhaps from the presence of
some good stallions,) was not so great ; but it did, never-
theless, take place, and its traces are discovered at every
step. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to
find there at the present moment, a Percheron completely
free from mixture of foreign blood.

CHAPTER VHI.

STARTING POINT OF THIS DEGENERATION.

As long as the post-coaches were flourishing and the
diligences crossing France in every direction, it was espe-
cially a horse fit for their uses that Perche devoted itself
to produce. But since these modes of transportation have
been modified, the race, with them, has undergone a com-
plete transformation. As this country only possessed, as
an outlet for the light part of its stock, the expresses,
omnibuses, and post-office services in the interior of Paris,
and later the private post teams, etc., etc., which only em-
ploy quick-gaited horses, it became necessary to think of
rendering the race heavier, in order to replace the monop-
oly of the mail stages and diligences by another monop-

THE PERCHEIION HORSE. 29

oly. Had it not before it the necessity of satisfying the
commercial wants — that is to say, the express cartage,
the heavy work of the contractors and builders of Paris,
and in the provinces, the services of the large towns, and
the express and other business connected with all rail-
roads ? The fear of losing this important market offered
to his qualities of speed, strength, and honesty, tempted
the breeder to infuse too suddenly the blood of the
heavy draft-horse. He might have accomplished this
more slowly and gradually, by means of a rational
coupling with the heaviest bodied native types ; but our
age, eager to enjoy, did not leave him the time. To an-
swer to these new wants, Perche opened wide its doors to
all the heavy mares that it could meet with. Many came
from Brittany, others from Picardy and Caux, and some
from Boulogne. During this time the ancient stallion of
the country, eagerly sought after by all those who wished
to create fine draft studs, passed into the interior and even
into foreign countries.

The success of the Percheron race was very great.
All the departments wished to acclimate it. The prices
of these stallions had increased so rapidly in a few years,
that they had tripled and quadrupled. Accordingly,
the possessors sold them. The administrative author-
ities, aided by the elite of the proprietors, endeavored,
however, to hinder this emigration. They formed a stud-
stable at Bonneval ; but this establishment was not com-
posed of types that were homogeneous and adapted to as-
sure a regular and continuous improvement. Prizes were
given at Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Illiers, and Ven-
dome. But an end was arrived at contrary to what was
desired. The prizes served as signs to the dealers. Perche
was visited to buy first-class horses. "What surer guaranty
than the prize? And then, how could the breeders
resist the prices of 3,000 and 4,000 francs, and even more,
offered the proprietor of a stallion ?

30 THE PEKCHEKON HORSE.

It will be objected that these stallions, before disappear-
ing, had already served ; I know this. But how served ?
They had served at two or three years, before their com-
plete development, and it was at the age at which they
would have been most useful, that they were withdrawn
from their district, and the same thing was true with the
best mares.

Several departments carried off great numbers; they
were sent everywhere. A great many proprietors bought
them. Thus disappeared, gradually, the flower of the
breeding-mares. The race was cut off in its prime. Perche
stretched its sails to the winds of the present without
thinking of the future !

Stallions of all kinds now came forward ; stallions from
Brittany, Picardy, Caux, and Boulogne. The heaviest were
preferred. The change was so rapid, that, to-day, in many
places, there does not remain the slightest trace of genu-
ine Percheron blood. It is a mixture which betrays it-
self to the eye by coarse forms, foreign to the original
type, and in the morale by a sensible loss of that generous
spirit, and of that indescribable something that we so
much admired. Perche would formerly have disowned
stock lacking the eastern character; still, their presence
is not without instruction. It gives the measure of the
great climatic qualities of this province, and proves what
it could have done with well-chosen animals.

Such is its force of assimilation, that after nourishing
some generations upon its soil, it is able to reform them,
and impart that sacred fire, and that build, which can only
come from the nourishment of its hills.

The department authorities, unwearied by the slight
success of their first attempts, renew their efforts, from
year to year, to oppose the progress of this degeneration,
and endeavor to combat it by the strongest measures.

The department of Eure and Loir, undeterred by the
costly and disastrous failure of the Bonneval breeding

THE PERCHEEON HOUSE. 31

stnd, continues still its patriotic work, and keeps up its en-
couragements, in the form of prizes to stallions and brood-
mares— encouragements to which Orne and Loir, and Cher,
appropriate annually considerable sums.

There was formed, some years ago, at Chateaudun, with
the most disinterested and patriotic design, a powerful as-
sociation of proprietors, known under the name of u The
Horse Association of Perche" having for its mission the
furnishing of good stallions to the farmers.

Trotting matches at Illiers, Courtalain, Vendome, Mont-
doubleau, and Mortagne, have been established ; but, with
all this, a success worthy of such eiforts has not yet been
obtained, on account of a lack of uniformity in the move-
ment.

Competition at the fairs gives but too often the specta-
cle of size being systematically encouraged; while trot-
ting, in consequence of the speed required, leads to the
employment of English cross-breds. Would this oper-
ation were well directed! But even then, would this
English blood be used in right proportions ? I doubt it.
When it is used, it is used too much ; for, this blood, if it
be not employed with extreme reserve, an extreme parsi-
mony, if I may so speak, results in injuring the honest
traits and the valuable quality of early maturity ; it
destroys, in fact, that precocity of the breed, which enables
it at an early age to pay for its feed by its labor. The
breeders are almost invariably small farmers, and they
cannot afford to lose the time necessary to mature fancy
horses ; they must have quick sales and quick returns.

PART II.

OP THE MEANS OF REGENERATING THE PERCHE-
RON HORSE.

Perche, in order to retain its best customers, and not
drop to a level with the common herd of horse-breeders,
must at once have recourse to systematic means of im-
provement. Her breeders have shown a deplorable alacrity
in the downward course, which has brought upon them
the depreciation in the value of their stock, of which they
begin to perceive the effects.

"Facilis descensus Averno ;
Sed revocnre gradum,
Hoc opus, hie labor est !"

Unanimity of will and unity of means are both neces-
sary to accomplish the ascent, and regain the position
which the breed has lost. Two measures present them-
selves as each essential in accomplishing this result. The
first step is to restore the disturbed equilibrium by a well-
planned and uninterrupted series of crosses, effected with-
in the breed. This would arrest the evil. The second
step should be, subsequently, to breed up by improving
crosses, practised with a wise and circumspect delibera-
tion. This would be making progress.

At the very outset, and continued parallel with this
course of breeding, a Stud-book should be instituted, in
order that all thus subjected to systematic improvement
should be brought together, and thus initiate a general
improvement of the breed. The development of these
ideas will furnish matter for the following chapters.
32

THE PERCHEKON HORSE. 33

CHAPTER I.

REGENERATION OF THE PERCHERON BREED.

There are two ways of crossing applicable to any breed,
both of which have had their earnest partisans. .So much
clamor has been made about them, I think, only because
they have been simultaneously used and often mingled, and
the results have been deranged by their use. This might
have been avoided by commencing with the simplest and
continuing with the best.

The first may be called the renewal of a breed within
itself, or interbreeding; the. second, improving by foreign
blood. We will pass them rapidly in review, trying to
reach in the results the solid basis of truth.

CHAPTER II.

REGENERATION OF THE BREED THROUGH ITSELF, OR
BY SELECTION.

The first manner, also called selection, consists in mak-
ing, among the race itself, a rational, judicious choice of
the most perfect types ; those which are as free as possible
from the most prominent defects of the breed; those
which best recall the primitive type, if it possess the
superior qualities which it is required to reproduce ; those
which, healthy and vigorous, seem to have among them-
selves the most affinity. This choice ought to be severe
and rigorous, nor should we be discouraged by the small
number of the elect.
2*

34 THE PEECHEEOIT HOESE.

From the issue of this first selection, make a similar
choice, and with them and their progeny march persevering-
ly in the same way, without ever looking to the right or to
the left — that is to say, without ever listening to advice
which would modify the work commenced, or to praises
which might induce the desire for too rapid results. To
proceed too fast is perhaps a still greater error than to
stop on the way, inasmuch as it often renders a retro-
grade movement obligatory and reduces to nothing the
results of several years of success.

It is indispensable that the selections from which a
good progeny is desired should be completely grown — that
is to say, the horses should be at least four years past,
and the mares fully three years old.

Sell, without remorse, to the trade the least successful
types, and most carefully keep the good. The horses, after
serving some campaigns in their adult age, can be sold
without inconvenience ; a few well-proved types are suf-
ficient for a district. But never part with the mares when
they are remarkable for their conformation, temper,
aptitude to work, and for their qualities as breeders.

Thus, in order to keep the breeders clear of tempta-
tions which are always dangerous, and as a good means of
guidance, prizes become a question of life or death for the
future of the race. It is, in fact, by means of prizes and
rewards, liberally distributed for the class of mares of
three to ten years inclusively, that they can be kept in the
region. It is by awarding the prize at three years, after
they have been covered, in paying at first but one-half
of the prize and the remainder only after they have foaled
and have been again covered, that they can be virtually
controlled. After ten years, as they no longer meet with
either a good or profitable sale, special encouragement
may cease. Moreover, the breeder who during eight years
has received in prizes a sum often superior to the money
value of his mare, and recognizing that he possesses in her

THE PERCHEKON HORSE. 35

a brood-mare of merit, will no longer commit the folly of
parting with her for a price which would be ridiculous.

There is such extreme delicacy in the manner of distribut-
ing these prizes, that I scarcely dare refer to it.

The members of the council-board, who have the ap-
propriation for the prizes, should have naturally and right-
fully the honor of awarding them. I would then wish,
that in each district (what I am about to say excludes the
public fairs, in which a jury, numerous, and consequently
never unanimous in opinion, opposes the execution of a
uniform idea), the council-board and the council of the
district, charged at the same time with, the establishment
of the Stud-book, of which I will speak in a separate
chapter, should be willing to accept this mission, which they
would perform with the aid of the inspector-general of
the Stud-stables. Each year, by their care, the mares of
a district would be scrupulously examined and classed for
the prize.

These premiums should be granted for eight years, to
the best three-year-old fillies, to which this distinction
would give the entrance upon the Stud-book. In the first
year of the establishment of this book, destined to contain
the genealogical documents relative to the celebrities of
the race, the mares above three years, which have been
found worthy to be inscribed, should be likewise given
prizes, and this same should be allowed them as a pension
up to the age of ten years.

These inducements should be annual, and kept up as
long as the prize-mare is kept as a breeder and in proper
condition, that is to say, sound of wind, and exempt from
the glanders. Other blemishes, the natural consequence
of work and age, might be tolerated.

Following the same system and conditions, similar
prizes should be awarded to stallions, without paying
attention to rewards which they may have received from
other quarters. But as the resources of which a depart-

36 THE PEKCHEEO^ HOESE.

ment disposes, augmented even by private contributions,
are not inexhaustible, it is urgent that the prizes, always
liberal and remunerative, being from two to four hundred
francs for mares, and from four to eight hundred francs
for stallions, should be accorded only to specimens of real
merit. Quality, when it effects the regeneration of a race,
is always preferable to quantity.

It is, especially, necessary to excite earnest breeders by
all possible means, to preserve or to buy remarkable
Percherons, presenting in their form and character the
type of the stallion. And, if the prizes of four to eight
hundred francs, of which we have just asked the institu-
tion, should not appear to the authorities of the depart-
ments a sufficient means to impart the necessary impulse
for the complete success of this measure, the departments
might themselves buy some remarkable types, and either
use them, themselves, in gratuitously serving the finest
mares, or in confiding them to good farmers, in whose
hands they would be given the prize and used almost for
nothing, as long as their health permitted them to be prof-
itably kept. After a certain number of years these stal-
lions might even become the property of their keepers, or
they might, from the beginning, be granted them at reduced
prices, with the obligation, on the one side, that they
should be used with judgment and preserved with care,
and on the other side, with the promise of a largely
remunerative prize. Love of gain has driven the peasant
to strip himself of everything he owned that was good ;
it now belongs to the authorities, by the incentive of gain,
to induce this same peasant to pursue a wiser course.

Oppose as much as possible the use of stallions before
fully four years old, and the fillies being put to breeding
before reaching their third year. This can only be attained
by giving the prize, in the class of fillies, to such as have
been served at the age of three years, by stallions of at
least four years old.

THE PERCHEKON HORSE. 37

Crossing by selection has numerous advocates, and from
all time, the best-informed, the most practical men, have
been unanimous in proclaiming that blood is only De-
served and improved by blood — that is to say, by selection.
It is easy and not expensive, inasmuch as the necessary
subjects are always at hand ; it is natural, inasmuch as its
simplicity is apparent to every mind. And, if it does not
bring the rapid results' so pleasing to those too eager for
profit, it is, at least, always sure. For, without giving at
first exceptional results, it never fails in its effects, by
reason of the affinity existing between the different indi-
viduals, and by reason especially of their perfect conformity
with the climate and soil. In fact, this conformity is not
an indifferent matter, and it has been found by experience
that animals, noted upon their native soil for their sureness
in reproducing, and for the invariable transmission of their
qualities to their descendants, frequently fail in these re-
spects when imported into another country. Often, several
years roll by before they recover that equilibrium of health
and that tranquillity of animal functions, which permit
them to reproduce in a sure, equal, and fixed manner,
without which an improvement in the type cannot take
place.

Selection has long been practiced in Perche, and it has
there produced for a long time the best results, which were
interfered with only by the importation from Picardy,
Caux, and Boulogne, of animals of inferior blood.

Among the bovine species, we have curious examples
of the value of selection, especially those furnished in
Cotentin, where a breed exists the finest, best, and the most
sought after in France. Crossing with foreign blood, which
fashion, at one date or another, had wished to prescribe,
has always been forbidden as a crime in this country.
It is thus that the finest herds of La Manche, and especially
those of M. Mannoury of Canisy near Saint-L6 have been
formed. The success of this breeder began at Ebisey near

38 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

Caen, where he commenced a few years ago and where
the stock can be easily examined.

A bull of the Cotentin race, the most perfect and best
bred that could be found, put to heifers of the same breed,
chosen among the finest types, was the starting point
officially recorded. Selection, operating upon this prog-
eny, as it had operated in the beginning, was continued
without intermission, and, by these means it has produced
a herd all the members of which are alike and constant-
ly transmitting identical qualities.

CHAPTER HI.

CONSANGUINITY.

Conjugal consanguinity has neither partisans nor friends.
The physiologist, physician, priest, and legislator, have al-
ways launched against it the same anathema. All, in
making war against it, knew that it was the surest method
of establishing a fixed and permanent race ; but, all, pre-
occupied in seeking a means of universal fusion, thought
they had found in the prohibition of this a leveler destined
to equalize everything.

It was feared that certain families would become too
individualized, too marked in their tendencies ; and all,
without acknowledging it, endeavored to close a way
which might lead to the engrossment of fortunes.

Close interbreeding, in the horse, has not the same politi-
cal inconveniences ; this is clearly apparent ; but with us,
the desire to legislate upon and regulate everything, re-
ducing nil to a common level, has prevailed. Equine con-
sanguinity has not, any more than the other, found favor.

One fact, however, strikes any one at the outset who has

THE PEECHEEON" HOESE. 39

studied the equine races, followed, step by stop, their
progeny, and made himself acquanted with their per-
formances. This fact is :

If a horse is remarkable over all others in one of the
three following ways : personal beauty, high qualities, or
Bareness of reproduction ; go back boldly to his origin,
and you will find yourself, at each step, face to face
with close interbreeding — that is to say, the reforming of a
race by means of itself, the result of great qualities in-
creased by drafts made at the source of a generous blood.

The thoroughbred race in England, which has been
formed but with a very limited number of primitive agents,
and which, consequently, soon became consanguine, has
anew, and at two distinct epochs, absorbed in every de-
gree and repeatedly the blood of two famous groups, rep-
resented, the first by Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian,
and Godolphin Arabian; the second, by Matchem, Herod^
and Eclipse. At the present moment, it maintains itself,
thanks to a universal consanguinity, and everything good
which exists, by going back inevitably to these sole pro-
genitors, now. forms but one and the same family. Mag-
nificent results have come from these alliances, and every
day it can be proved that this blood has not degenerated.

It is the same in all breeding countries, and it has been
shown, (for proofs see the journal "La vie d la campagne",
of the 30th November, 1863), that especially in Merlerault,
the nursery of the fine French breeds, everything excep-
tionally good which exists, or which has existed, is the re-
sult of consanguinity — that is, " in-and-in breeding."

The following is the conclusion of the author of this note :

These examples (the pedigrees of the best horses), col-
lected with care, will perhaps bring upon me the accusa-
tion of being a partisan of in-and-in breeding. In
principle, I condemn its absolute use ; but, within cer-
tain limits, I admit and advise it, especially in the com-
mencement, when it becomes a question of founding and

40 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

establishing a family designed to exercise a permanent in-
fluence upon the future improvement of a region. .

Uniting together vices of conformation, character, and
temperament, is rendering them indelible for ever. Uniting
quality, beauty, and aptitude, it is preserving the monopoly
of these in a single family.

Hence, I would like, when there appeared, on the turf
or elsewhere, one of those envied types of which nature is
generally so sparing, that judicious attempts, made with
patience, should fix the qualities so apt to disappear, and
collect, so to speak, all the sources whence they emanate.

The brothers, sisters, and collaterals, should be included,
but once only, in these crossings, which might even go
back, if it were still time, as far as the grandsires and
dams, on account of the resemblance noticed between
ancestors and their grandchildren.

Finally, the truly valuable and completely successful re-
sults of a family thus strengthened should be coupled ac-
cording to the rules of intelligent crossing to the equally
confirmed representatives of some other excellent family,
fit to form new offspring.

CHAPTER IV.

OUGHT THE GRAY COLOR OF THE PERCHERON TO BE
INFLEXIBLY MAINTAINED ?

Formerly I liked the gray horse very much, and have
more than once praised this color. But time has dissi-
pated my illusions.

Thus, while acknowledging my former preferences for
the gray horse over the horse of a different shade, I am
now very far from showing myself exclusive, and quar-

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 41

reling with the mass of enlightened persons who seem
desirous of adopting the dark colored coats. I only desire
one thing, and that is to save the Percheron race, and to
preserve to Perche its prosperity and its glory.

If I have liked the gray horse, it was from conviction,
and not to court those who saw no safety outside the
gray. But when the wisdom and the extreme intelligence
of masters of science, prefering a less showy color, de-
monstrated to me that Perche might find an era of new
glory and prosperity in changing the coat of its horse and
thus enlarging the circle of consumption, I bowed meek-
ly to their opinion. I liked the gray horse because I
thought that Providence had created it gray in order that
it might be able to withstand, during its work, the heat of
the sun, and not be prostrated under its rays. I liked it
gray, as the Arab likes his horse gray and his bournous
of a whitish color ; as the American planter likes his white
cotton suit and his panama ; as our soldier, in the field,
liked, under the African or Mexican sky, the havelock
which protected him against the rays of the burning
luminary. I liked it gray because it seemed to me to recall
more than any other the Arab, the primitive horse ; be-
cause Perche having always possessed gray horses, I
thought there was much more chance of finding, under
this coat, the type of the country ; because I had been
rocked to sleep to the tune of that old ballad of our
ancestors, celebrating Charles de Trie, the Percheron
Seigneur, going forth to combat the English at the battle

of Poitiers :

" On charger white
The sire of Trie
Against the foe
Has gone to war," etc. etc. ;

because, in a word, during my infancy, I had breathed the
dust of the old manuscripts making mention of the white
Percheron mares. I liked it gray, because, for the service
of the post-coaches and couriers, in their long stages, in the

42 THE PERCHEKON HORSE.

middle of the night, the gray horse appeared to me more
easy to guide than the horse of a dark color. Finally, it
has always seemed to me that this coat was more becom-
ing than any- other the powerful form of a vigorous
worker. Does not a good-looking, stalwart, and honest
peasant please you better — is he not infinitely more at
ease with the Gallic blouse covering his broad shoulders,
than under the dark folds of a fashionable coat, which
makes him appear awkward and abashed ?

But everything is much changed. The country has
no longer any special type in the midst of all this grny
amalgamated with Brittany, Picardy, and Caux, of which
the equine stock of Perche is now composed. If the
Percheron should cease to be bound by this law of gray,
if he should become of all shades, at the same time re-
maining good, and such as Perche knows how to make
him, he would cease to be dishonored by those everlasting
plagiarists, shamelessly calling themselves Percherons
because they happen to be gray and have travelled across
the Perche country. If he should become of all shades,
in preserving the qualities and movement which are a
feature of everything that the tonic grasses and the fine
and vivifying air of Perche produces, he would not be
reduced to the simple role of furnishing the 6,000 or 7,000
horses that the omnibuses and teamsters each year require,
plus the 600 or 700 typical ones that foreign countries de-
mand of Perche. He might, little by little, contribute to
the satisfaction of the half-fancy and to the wants of the
hunting and army equipages ; he might advantageously
replace the German horse, which we are obliged to employ
in want of a better. Post-coaches no longer existing,
there is no longer need of gray horses for the night in the
midst of the darkness of the highways. Steam machinery,
the indispensable substitute for the lack of human hands in
the country, being destined to execute, in part, the labors
of agriculture, the horse will be less employed there, and

THE PEECHEEON HORSE. 43

the one that will be called for, having fewer difficulties to
overcome, can be lighter, more distingue, faster, and
more fit for adaptation to the exigences of trade and
fashion. — Finally, Fashion wishing, positively, no more
gray horses, and the Perch eron finding no longer a suffi-
cient employment in the omnibuses, will soon find himself
in a tight place if he do not take a fresh start, and make
himself acceptable — if he do not conform to the ex-
actions of the age, and become more stylish and darker
colored.

It is settled, then, that he must put upon his "back a less
showy covering ; but he can only do this on condition
that he become, thanks to good crossings, more present-
able and have a more stylish air. And, really, what is
more ridiculous than a vulgar and common beast decked
out with the livery of the fancy and private horse !

Let us occupy ourselves, then, seriously in looking up
breeding stock of dark coats ; the time to do this appears
to me to have come. But where will we go to find
them ? Let us look about us and seek for this in Perche.

If you there find, under a dark coat, a fine Percheron,
possessing all the qualities and specialties of the race,
make haste, take him and color your horses. Sincerely,
I give you this advice. Still, as in the present state of
things, it is rare that the fine and the somber are met with
together among the working races, by reason of the
horror which has been professed, up to the present moment,
for everything not gray, the best expedient would be to
color the coat by means of fine, dark skin Arabs, or with
good, well-chosen Norfolks, a subject that we will treat
upon in the chapter of crossings. As to doing it other-
wise, it is not to be thought of, the elements not exist-
ing in Perche.

This, however, is only a minor matter. The essential
point is to unite the heavy to the distingue, weight to gait,
mildness to vigor, hardiness to energetic temperament,

44 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

steadiness and precocity ; in a word, to repeat myself for
the hundredth time, add a little more dash and style.
Correct the defects of conformation, the imperfections of
color, without weakening, without breaking up the harmony
of the admirable qualities which have made of the Per-
cheron the first horse of the age.

CHAPTER Y.

PRESERVE PURE, AND WITHOUT INTERMIXTURE, THE

THREE TYPES OF THE PERCHERON RACE— THE

LIGHT HORSE, THE DRAFT HORSE, THE

INTERMEDIATE HORSE.

We have spoken, in Chapter II, Part First, of the three
types which the Percheron race presents — the light horse,
the draft horse, and the intermediate or post horse. These
three breeds come of the soil and are the product of an-
cient crosses. There is reason for their existing and for
their marked peculiarities ; and reason requires, then, that
they should be preserved, and, in maintaining them always
in their proper functions, we obey, in that progressive
spirit which urges us to embellish everything. The first
is destined to become the post horse and horse for private
use, the surest and most agreeable- means of locomotion.
The second cannot be replaced for express carting, and for
the builders and contractors of Paris and other large
towns. To the third, the omnibuses always offer a steady
market. Consequently, it is important to keep them with-
out intermixture and to continue them uninterruptedly
each in its respective class. Hence in seeking to add
weight to a class it is necessary to avoid crossing it with

THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 45

a race superior in height, and different in conformation
and temperament.

The heaviest and strongest of a class, united among
themselves, will produce more surely the kind demanded
than a too precipitate crossing. Nothing is more risky
than crosses made without judgment. It is by them that
harmony of form is destroyed, and a degenerate mongrel
race is produced as the inevitable consequence, It is then
important, in the reunion of types, never to lose sight of
equality and similarity of conformation and qualities.
But, at the same time, it is necessary to march with the
age, study its tendencies, and be always ready to guide a
movement which otherwise might drag you in its wake.

We must not lose sight of the fact that the services re-
quired of the Percheron horse are not the same as former-
ly. The omnibus service, especially, which, scarcely ten
years ago, was considered the mildest, has, at present, be-
come the hardest, and the one which requires heavy
horses, uniting speed with strength.

On the other hand, as a consequence of the great
changes in the life and means of conveyance of the
wealthy, the Percheron race has been most prominently
brought forward. Almost all ranks of the upper classes
have now adopted the Percheron horse of the light kind
for their private uses, hunts and drives in the country.
The fondness for rapid traveling rendering these classes
more exacting than formerly, the necessity has arisen of
finding in Perche, specimens with weight and speed with
a light and stylish form. Accordingly, it becomes neces-
sary to find means of adding the greatest possible speed
to the other valuable characteristics of the Percheron
horse. To reach this result promptly, we should have re-
course to the Arabian stallion, and this, surely, would be
the quickest means. But as I do not find this Percheron
race, in its present state, sufficiently prepared for this al-
liance, and as I think that it still needs two or three gen-

46 THE PEECHEKON- HORSE.

erations of preparatory crossings with itself, it will be
necessary to commence, in order to attain this end, by
close interbreeding.

We should, at first, commence by exploring the Perche-
ron centers devoted exclusively to the rearing of mares,
and, in these places, we should particularly visit the local-
ities in which they have no great development as to
height. Here we would select a group of from fifteen to
twenty fillies, the best, the finest limbed, the most com-
pact, the fastest trotters, and having for an extreme max-
imum the height of lo1^ to 16 hands.

The same course should be pursued in the regions where
the colts are raised, and there choice should be made of
some light stallions, approaching, as much as possible, to
the mares in form and qualities.

All the best foals, then, should be in their turn subject-
ed to couplings conducted with the same care, and among
the third generation would be found types sufficiently con-
firmed, either as founders of a race among themselves, or
for crossing with the Arab, of which we will speak in the
following chapter.

If a little larger size be required, it would not be neces-
sary to have recourse to other types than those which I
have just indicated. Well-balanced horses favor every
modification. More tonic, substantial nourishment, and
more fertile meadows would increase the height and
weight, as well as the strength and spirit.

Do you desire omnibus horses? — You can obtain
them by selecting in the regions which best produce the
post-horse, the strongest types, the heaviest bodied, the
most favored as to height, and the fastest trotters. But
never yield any of these three points : weight, spirit, and
speed.

The animals the nearest alike in size and form should
then be coupled together, after the manner indicated
above, and when weight, spirit, and speed, are found with-

THE PEKCHEKON HOESE. 47

out failing in all the progeny, it will then be time, but not
till then, to add style. The Arabian stallion, whose ten-
dency, as we will see later, is to produce heavier and
stronger than himself, while at the same time imparting
his mark of supreme distinction, might then be introduced
to embellish and confirm our good results.

The heavy draft and the express wagon horses should
have weight : this is a sine qua non condition ; but it
would be a great mistake to confine ourselves exclusively
to mere size. They should possess powerful limbs and
muscles, joined to great spirit. This crossing, although
the easiest, would also present great dangers should we
be satisfied with weight alone ; we would soon arrive at
the mere lymphatic horse. It is, therefore, urgent, for the
breeds possessing requisite strength, to choose those
which are the most distingue, the most nervous, the
finest limbed, and the most spirited, and to avoid the
sluggish and lymphatic. These will be found in the ele-
vated and dry centers, where the food is plenty and nutri-
tious.

If Perche proper, Beauce, and the environs of Chateau-
dun, should not be capable of furnishing their complete
contingent in this specialty (as I believe they cannot,)
some good specimens could be met with among the
Percheron colts raised in the environs of Bernay and on
the plains of Sens.

This variety (the draft-horse) demands a great deal less
care in the choice of the dams and sires. It is infinitely
more elementary, since weight is principally sought after.
Still, it is well, even indispensable, to select individuals
short coupled and with good quarters, to hold out under
the enormous loads they are obliged to draw. The means
resorted to to accomplish this are judicious crosses, con-
stantly made with a well-determined and always identical
idea, tending to increase weight and strength, while pre-
serving spirit and vigor, abundant nourishment, and breed-

48 THE PEKCHERON HOUSE.

ing in those sections naturally most propitious to style and
size. Soon, Perche, placed in a situation without a rival
for the present, and, above all, for the future, might for-
ever avoid asking any thing of foreign crossings. For
though the choice of the stallion and the mare is so im-
portant in the production of the foal, the climate, the kind
of food, the agricultural habits, and, finally, the adaptation
of the region to horse breeding, are of a great deal more
importance in the development of the animal. It becomes,
then, somewhat difficult to indicate accurately to what
types, in such particular cases, the preference should be
awarded. The best are those which most nearly meet the
wants of the section.

CHAPTER VI.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREED BY MEANS OF FOREIGN
CROSSINGS.

However, if with strength acquired and faults correct-
ed, style is not attained, it may be sought after by judi-
cious crosses with well-chosen foreign types.

Two different breeds present themselves to us as means
of improving our stock by the introduction of foreign
blood : the Arabian, and the English, with its variations.
Starting from this point, let us study both and endeavor
to discover, by analogy, which one would best suit, or,
rather, which one is the least unfavorable to the purpose.

I will examine, one after another, these two methods in
detail, leaving to the cultivator, who is most interested in
the question, the choice of employing that which seems
to him the best and the most appropriate, taking into
view the fertility and the nature of his section. But I

THE PERCHERON HOUSE. 49

must, from the beginning, lay down as a principle that
Loth are more expensive than is interbreeding. A race
to become fit to receive a foreign cross, should be prepared
for it in advance, in order to shorten, as much as possible,
the distance existing between the breed so formed and
proved and that which we seek to create.

In fact, the foreign cross can do no good, unless the de-
sired qualities in the race upon which it is made are per-
manent, fixed, and characteristic.

Why not think also of increasing our resources by bet-
ter cultivation, by liberal feeding, by choosing, as I have
said above, among the race of the country, the most per-
fect types and those most likely to correct what is vicious
while they impart their own good qualities? Methods of
this kind, pursued for a long tjme and persistently, are
alone capable of preparing, without inconvenience, for a
foreign cross.

Drain your wet meadows, irrigate your hill-sides, fertil-
ize your soil by the use of improving manures, make pro-
ductive fields everywhere, create meadows, grow heavy
oats, enlarge your stables and make them clean, healthy
and airy. When you have done this, then, but not before,
you can cross your races with foreign blood, more delicate
than yours and accustomed to and requiring greater care
and attention.

I know that this slowly progressive manner does not
possess the sympathies of those who, at the commence-
ment, are restless at not having already reached the goal.
But it is sure and free from errors, whilst the other,
(France has but too many examples of this), after money
squandered and years wasted, reduces the breeder who
has recourse to it to a more miserable condition than that
from which he wished to escape.

Our furia francese, which renders us irresistible in
war, our fancy for new fashions, which gives birth to
those wonders which the world hails with ecstacy, and
3

50 TIIE PEKCHERON HOKSE.

our proverbial inconstancy, cause us almost always to go
astray in breeding. Fashion has no sooner praised horses
of such arid such a race, of this or that model, or such and
such a coat, than we must immediately produce the like,
without first ascertaining whether or no our race be pre-
pared for crossing with them. The result of such crosses
would be about as valuable as a discussion between a fish-
woman and an academician !

Nature, left to herself, is a thousand times more intel-
ligent than the man of systems. Are there ever found,
among the wild animals, among lions, tigers, stags, cham-
ois, etc., either spavins, tumors, periodical inflammations,
or any of those thousand infirmities with which our do-
mestic horse is afflicted? — And here is the reason: in
the rutting season, the possession of the females becomes
the incitement to bloody battles. It is always the strong-
est, the most vigorous, the bravest, the most venturesome,
and the best made stallion, which receives as a reward for
his victory, the submission and the admiring love of the
harem.

But I assume Perche prepared, by numerous and good
crossings of the race within itself, to try, with more sure-
ness, foreign crossings. Two principal types, as we have
just seen, are presented for this : the Arab type and the
English, which is itself derived from the Arab.

The foreign cross I only speak of with diffidence, be-
cause with it I enter unknown regions of inductions and
perhaps, alas! into ways of deception and ruin, if it is not
effected with the greatest prudence and judgment.

Foreign crossings, systematically effected from the north
to the south, and from the south to the north, have had
BufFon for their apostle, and, under the cloak of his genius,
and thanks to the authority of his word, they have reach-
ed everywhere. But how enumerate the evils brought
about by a school, whose disciples are still numerous,'
thanks to a perseverance irritated but not deterred by

THE PERCHEBON HORS^E. 51

failure ? These evils have been branded in large characters
on all our breeds, since that day when they became the
objects, not of constant and uniform care, but considered
as subjects of no consequence, upon which individuals
might experiment in order to test their theories, and set
themselves up as teachers.

Since then, we have no more types properly belonging
to distinct districts, but a confused assembly, combining
with rare qualities the defects of this or that cross and
twenty others more. Everywhere in turn, from one region
or another, were stallions employed of different typee and
races : those of the south transported to the north, and
those of the north to the south ; and that without prepa-
ration, and without attention to the differences of soil and
climate of the various regions. All these practices have
injured our breeds without successfully retaining their
own native qualities.

CHAPTER VH.

THE ARAB CROSSING.

I commence with the Arab crossing. Two motives
have induced me to follow this classification :

1st. The Arabian is the type horse, and the type should
be examined before its derivatives.

2nd. The Percheron shows a very great analogy, by his
coat, conformation, character of race, mild disposition,
and endurance, to the Arab, of which he seems to be the
son, notwithstanding certain differences, the result of
time, climate, and the region in which he is bred and in
which he lives.

I have said that the Percheron horse exhibits in com-

52 THE PERCHEKOH' HOKSE.

mon with the Arab numerous marks of a common parent-
age and relationship : these marks are very obvious. A
Percheron, a true Percheron, for some still exist, (as the
famous Toulouse of M. Cheradame, of Ecouche ; and the
renowned Jean-le-JBlanc of M. Miard, of Villers, near Sap,
in the department of the Orne, etc., etc.,) placed along-
side of an Arab, presents, notwithstanding his heavier
and grosser form, analogies with him so striking that we
are easily induced to believe them undoubted relations.

The Percheron of the primitive type has a gray coat
like the Arab ; and like him an abundant and silky mane,
a fine skin, and a large, prominent, and expressive eye; a
broad forehead, dilated nostrils, and a full and deep
chest, although, the girth, with him, as with the Arab, is
always lacking in fullness ; more bony and leaner limbs,
and less covered with hair than those of other draft-horse
families.

He has not, it is true, the fine haunch and fine form of
the shoulder, nor that swan-like neck which distinguishes
the Arab ; but it must not be forgotten that for ages he
has been employed for draft purposes, and these habits
have imparted to his bony frame an anatomical structure,
a combination of levers adapted to the work he is called
upon to perform. He has not, I again acknowledge,
such a fine skin as the Arab, nor his prettily rounded,
oval, and small foot; but we must remember the fact that
he lives under a cold climate, upon elevated plains, where
nature gives him for a covering a thicker skin and a
warmer coat, and that he has been for ages stepping upon
a moist, clayey soil.

In all that remains in him, we recognize a heavy Arab,
modified and remodeled by climate and peculiar circum-
stances. He has remained mild and laborious, like his
sire ; he is brought up, like him, in the midst of the family,
and, like him, he possesses in a very high degree the fac-
ulty of easy acclimation. He acquires this in the midst

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 53

of the numerous migrations he accomplishes in Perche, the
counterpart of those that the type horse makes upon the
sands of the desert. A final comparison, which has not,
as yet, been sufficiently noticed, is, that, like the Arab, he
has no need of being mutilated in order to be trained,
managed and kept without danger. In a word, the Perche-
ron, notwithstanding the ages which separate them, pres-
ents an affinity as close as possible with the primitive
horse, which is the Arab.

From this similarity of form and probable relationship,
comes the thought of new alliances. But in order to form
a more easy estimate of their effects, it will not be with-
out interest to classify the horses with reference to their
origin. This classification produces three very distinct
groups : the primitive horse, the natural horse, and the
compound horse.

The Primitive Horse, oriental in its origin, is the pure
Arabian horse ; no other is acknowledged.

During the time of the criiladers, as we have already
said in our first part, in consequence of wars and all kinds
of excursions, individuals of this race were spread over al-
most all parts of the globe. Although at first the prestige
which their superior merits deserved led to their being
bred in-and-in, these exiles were placed under different
latitudes, in different atmospheric and hygienic conditions,
which gradually modified their qualities and led to the de-
generacy of the race. And it became more or less degen-
erate in proportion as the soil upon which the colts were
foaled was colder, poorer, and more inhospitable ; for the
horse is as much, and more, the son of the soil upon which
he is foaled and reared as he is of his sire and dam. $

This fact has no need of proof. We see it every day
before our eyes in studying at home the changes that our
French breeds themselves undergo when transported from
one province to another. It might, however, be thought

54 THE PERCHEROU" HORSE.

that these new latitudes, these new regions, would differ
but little from those in which they lived.

The first change that the primitive horse undergoes,
from the difference of the regions into which he has been
transplanted, being due to nature itself, we call the
result the Natural Horse. — Here it is proper to remark
how wise nature always is. If it modify the primitive
horse for the worse, it modifies him, however, under condi-
tions better adapted to his wants. In rendering him more
puny, it renders him more temperate, and enables him to
live and to nourish himself upon the food that the locality
is able to furnish. Submitted to the trials and the fatigues
of war, and to all the miseries in its train, the natural
horse, badly built, ungainly and puny as he is, endures
fatigue almost as well as the primitive horse.

The Cross-bred Horse is, as his name indicates, the issue
of a sire and dam of different breeds. This crossing,
made with a view to improvement, may give, when judic-
ious, more elegant, better made, and finer-bodied progeny
and also quicker in their various gaits, but always requir-
ing, especially if derived from the English, exceptional
care, and so much the4more particular as they are of a more
distingue nature.

Abandoned to himself, deprived of blankets, shelter,
grooming, and oats, the cross-bred deteriorates early, and
in war perishes miserably, while the natural and the prim-
itive horse thrives in browsing upon the scantiest herbage.
On this score, our two campaigns of the Crimea and Italy
have furnished unquestionable proofs.

Such is the result chie.fly obtained with the too dis-
tingue English horse, even when delivered to the best
working mares. In the army, especially, is this point set-
tled ; they have there recognized and proved that the
worst subjects were always the issue of authors having
too much blood and too impressionable. No horses are
more apt than these to provoke and render ill humored,

THE PEECIIEEON HOESE. • 55

and, if I may so speak, ruin the temper of the men placed
over them.

When a working race is crossed with the English, it is in-
dispensable that the stallion should be well bred arid be but
a quarter blood, — a quarter at the utmost. And the man-
ner of balancing the blood is neither an indifferent thing
nor a thing to be neglected. We should be very careful
not to accept as such the product of a full-blooded or even
half-blooded stallion and a common mare, but should ratherr
take the product, ameliorated through generations, of
strong races that have been gradually perfected, such as,
for instance, certain Norfolk horses, certain roadsters and
trotters, of which old Jaggard was a type, and, of which
Performer, although not so marked, vaguely recalled the
memory.

Since I have mentioned the name of Norfolk, let me
say, that after the Arab race, of all the foreign ones,
the Norfolk trotter is the one which seems to me to offer
the greatest advantages in an alliance with the Perche-
ron. With both, good qualities and defects are diverse,
so that they can complete and correct each other by means
of a wisely combined and carefully studied connection.

The Norfolk horse has, it is true, an u'gly head, and his
eye is small and destitute of expression ; but his neck,
with good lines, starts well from his breast ; his shoulder
is fine and well-sloped ; his chest magnificent, and his girth
enormous; his loins broad, well-sustained and well-attach-
ed ; his haunches long, his croup horizontal*, his buttocks
well filled out and low ; and his limbs strong, but not quite
free enough from fat ; nor is his action always sufficiently
stylish, yet he has a quick and free gait.

Give to this horse a mare having a fine and expressive
head, lighted up with a large, intelligent, well-opened
eye; let her possess lean, elegant, and perfect limbs,
and, a hundred to one, you will get a valuable colt. But,
with the Norfolk, as with all others, there are degrees, and

56 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

if I cross the Channel in search of a stock horse, I should
wish him to possess the following qualities:

This stallion should be rather large, have thick and
strong limbs, chest fully developed, the girth as great as
possible, very heavy in the hind-quarters, buttocks descend-
ing well, forehead broad and open, and the eye large and
expressive. He should be always shorter in height than
the mares, but quite as broad, and, I repeat it, as short-
limbed as possible, on account of an invariable, innate ten-
dency of the English horse to height and thinness. He
should be neither cross, nor, above all, affected with that
nervous sensitiveness too common in the English breeds.
His action should be quick, well kept up, bold and square.
He should have, if possible, a decided and well-pronounced
color, either a dark bay or a chestnut. Breeding stock
of his get should be chosen under identical conditions,
and then they would be on a footing with him, although,
logically speaking, there would be always an inclination
to prefer the type to the sub-type.

But, at present, it is easy to be deceived, even in Eng-
land, in regard to the sto'ck of the country. There is less
risk in using, if he can be found, a good, heavy Anglo-
Norman horse, bred and reared under our eyes in Merle-
rault or on the plains of Alengon, than a spurious English
one, which is often none other than a forlorn hope of some
nameless region. In fact, from certain appearances, there
is reason to fear that persons from the other side of the
Channel visit the continent to do a smart thing, and pur-
chase heavy, lymphatic colts to bring up on some English
farm, and then resell them as Norfolk horses. What kind
of improvement is to be expected from such means?
We should always respect the will of nature, which allows
us to assist her in her course, but we should never violate
her laws.

Man vainly wishes to force nature with all these cross-
es, at which she takes exceptions. To all this so-called

THE PERCHERON HOUSE. 57

science she opposes her relentless logic ; these products
are an unnatural brood, which she refuses to acknowledge
as her own. She stops short, and, no matter how good
these results may appear in themselves, the error crops
out, and it is known by experience that they almost all
fail when put to the test of breeding.

But suppose every measure of prudence taken, even sup-
pose there has been no mistake, most of the produce re-
sulting from this first crossing will be, generally, lighter
built than their dams. However, among the number there
will be found some which, uniting weight to beauty, will
constitute good types with athletic and regular forms.
The latter only should be preserved, and these only can
be usefully employed, either among themselves or outside
of their own families, in the improvement of our stock.

At the second crossing, the imperfections observed at
the first will disappear in a great measure, and from the
third crossing, with constant care, unflinching attention,
and unwearied patience, the difficult problem will be
solved : size combined with vigor, hardiness of constitu-
tion with style, and weight with elegance.

If, on the contary, by wishing to make too quick prog-
ress, there should be too much difference between the
stallion and the mare, the resulting stock, although in ap-
pearance successful, will always prove bad breeders, giving
ungainly results, with blemishes which would never have
occurred in proceeding wisely, especially not in improv-
ing by means of the primitive horse, all of whose ancestors
are of the same race.

This latter crossing, that is, with the Arab, may some-
times give slower, but with it we are always sure to ob-
tain finally better results. Thus in making choice of the
best Percheron mares and crossing them with fine, but the
stoutest possible, Arabs, we would advance towards cer-
tain improvements, and at the end of a few generations,
we would be sure to find at each foaling season fine types,
3*

58 THE PEKCHEROI* HORSE.

combining with the strength and docility of the dams the
style, spirit, and intelligence, of the sires. For, it must not
be forgotten, work requires intelligent horses ; the more
they are gifted with this quality, the longer they last and
the more useful their services.

If the drunken driver of the Lyons Railroad, whose ad-
venture is known the world over, had not had for his work-
ing companion a brute as nobly intelligent as the old horse
Lapin, employed in hauling dirt carts, he would surely
have perished. The driver having fallen in a state of in-
toxication on the railroad, before a train descending a
grade, was on the point of being run over, when the horse,
seeing him in this perilous situation and at the risk of be-
ing himself crushed, seized him by the waist and lifted
him off the track. This deed, performed under the eyes
of several squads of workmen, was soon known over the
whole line, and won for Lapin the title of The (in'fralidi's
and workingmeri's) Adopted Son, a nobly gained title and
well-merited reward, if ever there was one.

In the legends of all times are to be found examples of
the intelligence of the oriental horse ; but I have never
heard quoted a single one in regard to the English thor-
oughbred, which seems only formed for pride, gluttony,
and brutality. As an example of the sagacity of the Arab,
I will limit myself to mentioning a fact witnessed by all
the officers of the school of Saumur. At this school there
was an old Arabian known to the whole army. One day,
a lady having her handkerchief scented with,- 1 know not
what perfume, passed in front of the veteran, caressing
and feeding him with dainties. From that time on, the
officer who accompanied the lady could never enter her
parlor, although the odor of the perfume was impercepti-
ble to all, but the horse, on his return, was aware of the
fact, and bore witness to it, each time, by neighing and by
a hundred expressions of pleasure.

The vigor and pluck of the oriental horse have passed

THE PEKCHEKON HOKSE. 59

into a proverb. There is not a soldier in our army who
cannot bear testimony to this.

The horses of the English cavalry almost all perished
in the Crimean war, whilst our Algerian horses almost all
returned. In the Italian war our Algerian horses bore
well the fatigues of the campaign, where the horses
springing from the English were decimated.

It appears impossible that these two proofs should have
no signification and should not teach a lesson. Ought it
not to be concluded from them that the war-horse, that is
the horse for endurance, should only be of Arab blood or
at least derived from the Arab ?

And are we not justified in believing that what has
taken place with the war-horse applies also to other
horses destined for continuous work ? Hence are we not
right in always preferring the Arab to the English stallion,
when it is a question of improving the different breeds
of work and draft-horses, as well as the war horse ?

The Arabian stallion would seem so much the more fit
for this use, as a long experience has proved that his get
upon our native mares are much heavier than himself;
they, at the same time, always transmitting a rich, unblem-
ished blood and a solid frame — qualities which are preserv-
ed indefinitely.

The Arab horse imparts, also, great endurance to his
progeny, and without going back as far as the turf, where
we see figuring on the top round of the ladder Arlequin^
Zephyr, Valencia, Corysandre the Lorraine, whose dam
was an Arabian of Deux-Ponts, Anthony, Eylau, lLasbas,
and Palmyre, let us be satisfied with citing in mass, all
the fine and spirited breeds of Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre,
Tarbes, and Auvergne, showing in every pore the pres-
ence of the Oriental blood.

It is also especially to be remarked, although the Arab
does not trot and only gallops, that all his get are quick,
square trotters. We can produce numberless examples

60 THE PERCHEEON HOUSE.

of this, although Arab blood has been infinitely less dis-
seminated than any other in our Northern districts.

We can cite the famous Eclipse of M. de JSTarbonne,
the no less famous Herminie of M. Forcinal, all the de-
scendants of Bacha, Asian and Gallipoli, which were
matchless, and the noble sons of Massoud, Eylau, and
JVbteur. But, as all these have a certain amount of Eng-
lish blood joined to the Arab, we shall be answered : — It
was the English blood that trotted and gave them their
winning points. — We will confine ourselves to citing only
the sons of Bedouin, all admirable trotters, though all
coming of poor Brittany mares, the ILerims, the Avisos,
and the Moggys, whose fine action invariably attracts the
attention of every one.

But the endurance possessed by the Arab in so eminent a
degree is not the only quality to be considered. It is also
the opinion of the best breeders that the race is good tem-
pered, docile, patient, of great precocity, and easily raised,
all of which qualities it invariably transmits to its get.

No steeple-chase horses have shown themselves more
intelligent than Pledge, Raphael, Senora, and above all
the immortal Franc-Picard, by whom the best riders
found themselves excelled in the art of measuring an ob-
stacle and mastering it skillfully ; also, these were deep in
the Arab blood. If Auricula, notwithstanding he was a
son of Baron, with his variable and peevish temper has
shown himself to be, when he chose, one of the best leap-
ers of our age, it is because through his dam he is of Arab
blood.

From all these considerations the Arabian seems greatly
preferable to the English horse, which exacts, moreover,
too much tact and skill on the part of man. The educa-
tion of the wagon driver is not yet sufficiently advanced
for him to be able to reap all the advantages claimed of
the working races. . The irritability of the English horse,
his impatience, and his nervousness, which are, doubtless,

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 61

of utility on the turf, are transmitted to all his descend-
ants, which for this very reason are less fit for work, less
governable, and more trying to the patience of the raw
and ignorant driver during protracted service.

All who have raised colts out of common mares by
Arabians are unanimous in opinion, and we have ourselves
proved it, that their get is generally even tempered, of a
mild, willing, and quiet disposition, easily and cheaply
reared, and fit for work at three years old, thus paying
for their keep.

It is quite the contrary with the colt of English blood.
He, by reason of his fractiousness, his nervous ardor, his
exacting nature, and his slow growth, requires a degree
of care and management which does not permit him to
render any essential service before the age of five .years.

It results from this that the Arabian progeny, even at
the first crossing, which is always the most difficult and
critical, pays for its nourishment from the age of three
years, whilst the English does not pay until he has reach-
ed five years, and this without counting the greater ex-
pense of his raising and the difficulty of finding men cap-
able of breaking and training him without accident and
bringing him safe to that quinquennial period.

Were their qualities the same, the Arabian would cost
much less to the breeder than the English horse. To the
former, then, should always be given the preference in
moderately rich countries where agriculture has not arriv-
ed at great perfection. Thus it was by means of the
Arabian that Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, the plains of
Tarbes and Auvergne, all countries neither very fertile nor
wealthy, have formed their unrivalled horses, the hardi-
ness of which suited the productions of the soil. These
being unsuited to the more delicate and less vigorous
English horse, its introduction was an injury to the native
stock. In our days, Limousin has been ruined by the in-
troduction of English blood, as formerly, in the district

62 THE PEBCHEEON HOESE.

of Tarbes, three important breeders, Messrs, de Gontaut,
de Bouillac, and de Montreal, ruined their studs with the
English cross.

The Arabian can be used without fear upon the undulat-
ing slopes of elevated hills, and upon thin stony lands
where agriculture is but little advanced; but the English
horse requires rich, well-cultivated meadows and grassy
valleys.

As regards form, the Arab cross is the surest. The sire
being, if I may so speak, siti generis, of a confirmed race,
and possessing for ages a like shape, his get always re-
semble him, no matter what may be the race, color, shape,
and derivation, of the dam. Only, in consequence of the
warmth and strength of his blood, the progeny is always
larger and heavier than the sire.

It is not so with the English horse. Made up, and not
having the same confirmed nature as the Arab, he has not
the same sureness in generating. Sometimes his get is
large and sometimes smalL His progeny may be spare
or may be stout. This comes from his ancestors being at
times of one height and at times of another, and often
resembling different types.

We have dwelt, perhaps, at too great length upon our
preference for the Arab cross ; it now remains to put it in
practice. The method to be pursued in making this cross
is simple.

Having an Arabian of pure race, the heaviest and finest
bodied that can be found, put him to the heaviest and
strongest short-limbed mares. Sell the male produce of this
cross, unless it has been a perfect success. Be less strict
with the fillies, reject a smaller number, and use the good
for breeding. As much as their conformation will permit,
and in order to fix the Arab blood in a deeper and more in-
delible manner, some choice specimens may be put either to
their sire himself, or to such of the half-brothers as should
have proved themselves the best. But beyond the first trial,

THE PEKCHEKON HOUSE. 63

consanguineous crossings should never again be contract-
ed, except under exceedingly rare circumstances, or under
great temptation. The dam of one of the most justly
celebrated horses of our times is the result of breeding
a stallion to his dam. From and after the second
generation, colts and fillies, provided their merit bad ren-
dered them worthy of being used as producers, might be
taken as types, and as a starting point of a solid and sure
improvement of the race of a country.

When, in consequence of age and numerous generations
of his own get growing up around him, the common sire
might be exposed to alliances with his grand-children, it
would become indispensable to transfer him to a distant
district by proceeding in the manner indicated above.

After such an infusion of warm blood many years might
elapse without the necessity of recurring again to Arabian
stock. But if it should be remarked that its distinctive
characteristics commenced to disappear from the breed,
and the action became less free and light, it should be
again resorted to immediately, following the same method
as before.

The light draft types at first obtained, might, according
to the districts in which. they are raised, be transformed
into the posting, omnibus, and even heavy draft types.
But all should be done with time and without haste nor even
wishing to depart from a wise and prudent moderation.

I cannot terminate this chapter without warning the
breeder against a peculiarity which hardly ever fails to strike
a person, who, for the first time, makes a trial of the Arab
cross, and which has even induced some to abandon this
method without reaping its fruits. I desire to speak of a
certain disproportion, more apparent than real, of the limbs
with the body. It is thus explained : The Arabian, born
and raised in a poor and barren country, is no sooner
transported to a more fertile region, than a certain fullness
of the body is an immediate consequence of this change.

64 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

His progeny, easily fattened, rapidly become corpulent.
It results from this, that although strongly limbed, they
appear, for a large body, to have but weak extremities.
But have patience ; oats will draw in and strengthen those
inflated flanks, and, after the second generation, the stom-
ach of the colt will enlarge on account of the food being
more abundant than concentrated, the fat will disappear,
and his compact and solid limbs will appear what they
really are.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ENGLISH CROSS.

English blood, infused with judgment, allies well with
the Percheron race, and we have met with perfectly suc-
cessful results in the midst of the disappointments which
have been the consequences of injudicious crossing. Too
often these crossings have been effected in violation of
common sense, without any attention to the distance which
separates the blood horse from the common, low-bred
Percheron mare, she having no affinity with him. But
these trials require science, wealth, and perseverance, and
are far from being within the reach of ordinary breeders.
Those who would succeed must possess the talent of
waiting, for unfortunately the rearing of the resulting
progeny is a burden. Their slow development renders
them but little fit for the labors to which the farmer is in
the habit of consigning his colts. Then, they cannot,
like the young Percheron, pass from hand to hand, and
thus they find themselves stripped of the only advantage
which renders the raising of the draft colts so profitable :
avoiding embarrassment and affording a prompt profit to

THE PEKCHERON HORSE. 65

all through whose hands they pass. In fact, it can easily
be conceived how favorably, at present, are these chances
of profit distributed among several hands. The capital
invested is soon returned; and thus this operation is with-
in the reach of all purses.

The issue of English blood, if judiciously managed, will
some day be finer than the unimproved Percheron. But,
although carefully looked after and abundantly fed, he
will remain puny during his early growth, and therefore
his account can only be closed at a distant date. By
whom, then, is he to be raised ? By the farmer rich in
ready money ? In every country such men are rare. By
the large landed proprietor ? But he is not a breeder, or
if he be, it is only of race-horses.

Some half-blood English stallions noted for strength and
weight, standing at Mesle-sur-Sarthe, Courtomer, and
Nogent-le-Rotrou, have produced fine coach and draft-
horses, but their number has always been rather limited,
and they have nearly all been raised without care, like
the half-blood colt simply at pasture ; consequently, the
profit accruing has been nothing, or nearly nothing, and
these have been able to add nothing useful in the way
of example and imitation.

On the contrary, in Lower Perche, commencing at
Nogent and extending as far as Yendome, the draft-horse,
properly speaking, is the only one that has been raised.
The wagon-horse is there only met with as an exception,
and the cultivator is far from being the worse off on this
account. Witness the prosperity of Montdoubleau, which
has become the first market of Europe; witness the
splendid and spirited trotting mares it produces every
year, and of which the Julles of M. Derre and the
Sarahs of M. Lamoureux are glorious specimens.

Perche has seen but twice, to our knowledge, good and
irrefutable results obtained from the English crossing with
her race — the first, with Sandy / the second, with

66 THE PEECHEEON HOESE.

ard. Sandy was a draft stallion, with a long and silky
mane, a perfectly white coat, and with a high and grace-
ful gait like that of an oriental horse; lean and strong
legs, a short head, dilated nostrils, and a large and intelli-
gent eye. Although foaled in England, this horse was ev-
idently not English ; he must have come of eastern blood,
as this is so often seen among our neighbors who success-
fully use the Arab blood in the formation of their draft
and hunting races.

As for Bayard, he was a son of a Percheron mare be-
longing to M. Yiel, of Chiffreville, near Argenton, one
of the finest and purest ever seen. This mare had been
bred to Idalis, a small and well-knit wagon-horse, son
of Don Quichotte, who descended from the thoroughbred
brood-mare Moina. Consequently, Bayard had in his
veins some of the best oriental blood, and it is to this cir-
cumstance that is attributed the vigor, gait, and beauty,
of all his progeny.

Perhaps the two stallions Beyvemito and Fandango,
which passed for Anglo-Percherons, and which have been
cited as types of draft-horse stallions, will be held up to
me as a refutation. Benvenuto, the stallion from Pin,
which has produced well in Perche, was not the son of
Eastham and a Percheron mare, as was said at the time
in order to have him accepted by the government, but was
really out of a Percheron mare by a Percheron stallion
coming from the neighborhood of Bellesme, and the de-
scendant of Arabian stallions which had been standing in
that district.

Fandango, the other crossed Percheron, uniformly a
successful stallion, had double cross, on -the sire's side, of
the blood of the Arabian Dagout, and his dam, whose
pedigree has also been explained to me, came likewise
from near Bellesme.

A Percheron stallion called Jean-le-Blanc, native of
Mauves, and sold about the year 1825 to a M. Yiard of

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 67

Villers, in Ouche, near Sap, (department of the Orne,) has
been the sole improving agent of the equine race in Ouche,
which, up to that time, was reduced to miserable small
horses without any stamp or value. Although heavy,
powerful, and, indeed, a shaft-horse, his gait and an inde-
scribable something pervading his whole body, recalled so
thoroughly the idea of the oriental family that one was
disposed to take him for an enlarged Arabian. This fact,
often related to us, excited our curiosity. We did not rest
until pressing inquiry upon inquiry, one after another,
we ascertained that his family had been crossed with a
stallion from the Pin stables, standing at the Chateau of
Coesmes, near Bellesme. And, what was this stallion?
The Arab G-aUipoli!

What can be inferred from these facts, if it be not that
the crossings which have best succeeded in Perche have
been those of the Arab, and that the English crosses have
only succeeded when tempered by contact with the Arab ?

But if the absolute want of stallions for improving the
breed be felt among the pure Percherons ; if it Be impos-
sible- to procure either good Arabs or heavy English,
freshly tempered with Arab blood; if important and
powerful considerations compel a recourse to the English
cross, the latter should only be accepted intelligently and
under good and wise conditions. Therefore we ask leave
to refer the reader particularly to what we have already
advanced in the preceding chapter upon the choice of an
English stallion.

In Brittany, in the department of Finisterre, we have
often heard it declared by quite a large number of breed-
ers, that for having wished to proceed too fast in that way,
they had, from the commencement, experienced number-
less disappointments, the second generation from the
English cross being always inferior to the first. From
stout sires and dams, who, from their general appearance
might be classed in the category of heavy-draft, there

68 THE PERCHEROtf HORSE.

daily came ungainly stock, thin, lanky, leggy, and without
weight in the hind-quarter, unattractive, of a difficult sale
when young, and proving a veritable misfortune to the
small farmer counting upon the sale of the colt to pay his
rent and having neither the place nor means to raise him.
This stock was, moreover, the object of another disap-
pointment quite as serious as the first ; rarely was a good
worker to be found among this burdensome race.

Is not this tall, lank, weak, — in a word this abortive
progeny, — issue of strong and hardy parents, a strange
and discouraging result ? " Oh ! why is this ? " exclaimed
the Brittany cultivators. There was a simple reason for
it, of which they had not learned the value. They pro-
ceeded with race-horse speed in the way of crossing, and
gave no oats. They were ignorant of the requirements
of the distingue, horse ; they did not know that in the
sire and dam, or at least in one of them, there was circulat-
ing more or less English blood, which produces strange
results in proportion as it leaves its native place and
reaches a- poor country or one of hard work, and in which
it no longer receives the prodigal care of its native land.

We have said that the Arab preserves indefinitely his
warm blood and constantly gives what he has not even
himself, — although this truth resembles a paradox, — that
is : a powerful appearance and a strong frame. It is not
the same with the English horse and his derivatives ; they
become thin and always degenerate. If their progeny be
not fed with oats without stint, — they require this, and are
heavy eaters, like everything which comes from the north,
— their blood grows poorer rapidly. In successive genera-
tions of these families, born in a dull and damp atmos-
phere scarcely ever visited by the sun, the legs become
lean and lanky. It is necessary to recur incessantly to
new drafts of English upon English, always expensive and
requiring additional care, without taking into account that
the result of too great an infusion of this peevish and

THE PERCHEROIS' HORSE. 69

often irascible blood would be to destroy the heavy-draft
race — a race that I would like to see preserved intact
alongside of the two others, though he be not quite
suited to a country as hilly as Perche. Pie might, doubt-
less, plow successfully the vast and smooth plains of
Beauce ; but this is not the lot of all. I look for him in
that busy country called Perche, where he must, without
rest or pity, with a shoulder free from all tenderness, drag
heavy vehicles to the tops of hills, and it will please me
to see the play of his haunches and limbs in descending
with these loads bravely and without flinching to the bot-
tom of the valleys.

Do you expect, also, from a horse derived from English
blood that cool, restrained, and ever fresh energy, that
courageous patience of which the Percheron, every day,
gives an example in the omnibuses of the streets of Paris ?
Dragging at a trot heavy loads, the weight of which
frightens the imagination ; stopping short, both in ascend-
ing or descending ; starting off freely and always without
balking ; never sulking at his work or food, and fearing
neither heat nor cold : this is a specimen of Percheron
qualities.

Do you expect from an unjudicious cross with English
blood a good, heavy draft-horse, a good shaft-horse, or
a true wagon-horse? No one has now any illusion on
this score.

In London, a traction of only about 2,000 Ibs. is requir-
ed of a draft-horse. In Paris, the horses harnessed to the
heavy stone carts are required to drag as much as 5,000
Ibs. each, and often even more.

What will dealers in heavy draft-horses do ? The trade
is already taxed to supply the demand. For long
experience has taught, and unjudicious crosses have
proved the English horse and his derivatives to be unfit
for this purpose, for they are too nervous and not suffi-
ciently staunch. Thus, the trade avoids them by instinct,

70 THE PEECHEEOX HOESE.

and by instinct avoids every thing resembling them.
And, on the other hand, it seizes hold of and clings eagerly
to every indication that can serve it as a sign or mark —
every thing that can guide it in the search for what it
likes, and every thing that can guard against its opposite.

Hence, it repels and proscribes the dark-colored coats
without examination and reflection, because they are con-
sidered the colors of the English horse ; it accepts the
grays with confidence, because with them it perceives the
absence of the dreaded blood, and in them it has found
that which satisfies all its wants. Would we have arrived
at this point if we had been prudent, and had the cross-
breeding been better understood ?

Finally, what is there at the end of this negative pole
and this positive pole ? There is the Percheron on whom
has devolved, and will devolve for a long time yet, the
rude and killing mission of executing the feats of strength
exacted of him by modern civilization. The profits in sup-
plying the demand, accrue, and will accrue for a long time
to the producer.

Thus so long as machinery does not replace the horse in
the traction of heavy carriages, so long as the necessity
for hard labor remains, requiring strength, intelligence,
endurance, and willingness, so long to the Percheron alone
will be reserved the dangerous honor of being the great
draft power, and the price of this matchless agent will in-
crease in proportion to the growing impossibility of find-
ing his substitute.

It is now the time, while crossing the active and trot-
ting breeds with the Arab or with the well-chosen English
horse, to carefully preserve the heavy draft-horse, and, by
means of persevering and judicious crossing, retain for
him his marked superiority.

These crossings, which I will sum up in concluding, may
find a powerful aid in the creation of a Stud-book of th<?
Percherou breed.

THE PEECIIERON HORSE. 71

CHAPTER IX.

IMPROVEMENT BY MEANS OF THE STUD-BOOK.

The Percheron breed is old enough, is propagated with
sufficient uniformity, and presents sufficiently marked typi-
cal qualities to authorize us in claiming, in favor of its
members, the characteristics and the title of a separate
and distinct breed. Consequently, a Stud-book, recording
its pedigrees, would not be out of place. This book
would have the effect of concentrating the efforts of all
the breeders, giving them a definite direction, and at the
same time it would designate stallions foreign to the race,
and which, up to the present time, have been presented
with impunity as Percherons.

England exhibits a curious example of the influence of
the Stud-book in the improvement of a breed. The equine
and bovine races of that country, before the establishment
of the Stud and Herd-books, were but rudimental.

The small number of colts of the Royal mares by East-
ern stallions would have been lost had they not been
classed together in families in a special book.

The discovery of the value of the bull HubbacJc would
have been to no purpose had his descendants not been
classified by themselves in an authentic manner.

For it is especially, and only, in the reproduction by
family that a breed is formed. Consanguinity alone can
form, in the beginning, a bond of cohesion and connection
among the descendants of the primitive families. By it,
alone, they acquire that great similarity of shape and
adaptation to particular ends, that great ancestral power,
which they transmit to their posterity, and which, even in
a commercial point of view, gives them a superior value.

If it be permitted me for this purpose to select an ex-
ample within our reach among the bovine races, I would

72 THE PERCHEMXN" HORSE.

say that, in Nivernais the celebrated Charollaise breed of
cattle, only a few years ago, was diffuse, without uniform-
ity, and without commercial value. The idea of classify-
ing it by means of a Herd-book was no sooner put in
practice than good crossings, being all made with system,
no longer lost their significance. The breed has visibly
improved, and, at present, it has acquired a value which
gives it a rank immediately after the Cotentin.

The Stud-book might be established, as we -have indi-
cated above, by inscribing therein all the stallions and
mares which had received prizes for years back, continu-
ing this operation for a dozen years to come, and adding
therein also the animals which had not taken prizes or had
not been shown in the fairs, but which public attention
had classed among the number of types valuable on ac-
count of the beauty and sureness of their reproduction.

Parallel to the mode of improvement which I have
already shown, (Chapter 1st, Part Second), and which has
as its agents the members of the Council-boards and the
district members of each canton, there might be formed,
as a means of embracing all, a great annual Department
Fair, to be held alternately in the best towns of Perche at
the time of the fairs which attract the most people ; in
Orne, at Mortagne and Alen9on ; at Chartres, Nogent-le-
Kotrou, and Chateaudun, for Eure and Loir ; at Yendome
and Montdoubleau for the department of Loir and Cher.
The departments of the Cote-d'Or, Nievre, and Youne,
which possess the best Percheron stallions, might likewise
enter into the association of the Percheron Stud-book, for
which they have all the elements.

This book would give increased value to the breed, as
is easily understood, for it is the surest of all the means
of improvement and perpetuation of valuable qualities.
It would drive off, forever, the defective stallions, and
those corrupted with hereditary blemishes, as well as those
coming from tainted families, which, I feel sure, would be

THE PERCHEROX HOUSE. 73

refused a record in its pages. The prices of colts would
likewise gain by this measure, the effect being a powerful
impulse given to breeding. But it would be necessary to
be very careful about ever admitting any foreign blood, in
order that the recorded herds might accumulate more and
more an ancestral force.

The Stud-book would offer still another advantage, that
of permitting us to find again the good types, should
Perche some day, in consequence of bad crossings, or from
want of judgment, deviate from the true way. In fact,
desire of gaining too much and of enjoying too fast at
present tempts every body into innovations. Our age, so
eager to enjoy, and so quick in all enterprises, has no longer
the patience to wait for the improvements that time and
study can alone confirm and solidly establish. It wants
things off-hand, and for this it is often satisfied with adul-
terated products ; hence, these injudicious crossings ; hence,
this mania for mixing together without discernment — a
mania which threatens to destroy our valuable national
breeds.

In the midst of all this, the opposition of the army, of
the government stud-stables, and of the trade in heavy
horses, bring forth new complications. The army, neither
occupied in breeding nor raising, and naturally remaining
beyond the consequences it causes, encourages these cross-
ings, obtaining thereby, more rapidly, the horses it needs.
But how many of the horses bred by these means are not
only unfit for army service, but also unfit for any service !
Indeed, with a blood stallion and a common mare, if at
the first crossing, among the thin-flanked, imperfect ones,
there happen to be a passable horse, good, and with a cer-
tain degree of style, ordinarily all progress ends there.
For, by the use of the latter as a reproducer, an animal
ungainly and without value will most certainly be the
result, except by chance. The races of the south affiliate
with the Arab, and those of the north with the English ;
4

74 THE PERCHERON HORSE.

bnt the English, by the infusion of his blood, destroys
the race of the south. This mode of crossing tends, then,
to cause our old French races to disappear.

At the government studs, with elevated views, and with
a disinterestedness to which all delight in rendering full
justice and homage, they constantly encourage the crossings
in which they see the realization of their views. They offer
rewards, the most powerful of all incentives — giving but
very modest prizes to the heavy horses, proscribing the
light coats, and reserving their encouragement for the
light horses of dark colors.

As for the trade, it adopts but slightly the views of the
ai-my and the government stables, and it gives its money
to what has remained outside of these impulses.

With the Stud-book we will be able, without giving
offence, to satisfy the army, the stud-stables, and the trade
— the army and the stud-stables, which want the light,
stylish, dark-skinned horse ; the trade — omnibuses, con-
sumption of the large cities, and agriculture — which require
weight, vir^or, action, honesty, docility, and endurance.

The Stud-book will furnish the means of finding types
fit for all services. But the breeders will divide them-
selves into two opposite parties. Those who wish the
dark-skinned, light horse, will breed him on the uplands
and in the more barren districts. The others, in the rich,
fertile, and abundant meadows, with a more nutritious
food, will apply themselves to the opposite type.

Each will work in his own sphere ; the profits, losses,
successes, and failures, will soon be summed up, and
will soon become, on both sides, the object of minute com-
parisons. If the light horse produce the most profit, his
empire will soon extend over the domain of the heavy one.

But if, on the day of reaction, it be recognized that this
crossing is incapable of ever making a good omnibus, a
good shaft, or a good team horse; if the crossed breed
be set aside for the primitive horse ; and if it come about

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 75

that the Percheron of pure race is better paid for, the
fashion will soon return to him. There will the utility of
the Stud-book be felt, for it will be by means of the fam-
ilies preserved authentically pure, in the cantons which
had chosen them, that it will alone become possible to re-
mold a race, compromised in a moment of hasty judg-
ment, and render it plentiful upon the market.

It would suffice to bring together these types, and en-
courage the start in order to reestablish Perche in all her

O

glory. They might even, in the end, bring back to a
good condition the lanky race that a better system, a more
abundant nourishment, and more appropriate classification,
would be called on to restore to its primitive form. Some
generations would suffice to restore to it that homoge-
neousness that it formerly possessed, when the post-service
required of it its vigorous and swift mail-coach horses.

In summing up, the Stud-book seems to me a useful
agent in a triple point of view, namely : in the preserva-
tion, perfection, and restoration of the Percheron breed.

RECAPITULATION.

Preserve the Percheron race as pure as possible from
all mixture not perfectly homogeneous ; respect all its va-
rieties due to the districts where they have been bred and
raised ; improve by crossing the best types of the country,
and in such a manner as to correct defects, while preserv-
ing intact qualities and character.

If it be necessary to give more style to the action, and
more richness to the blood, ask these qualities of the Arab,
which has the privilege of imparting style and tone, while
preserving weight, hardihood, vigor, and docility. The
Arabian is kind, intelligent, reliable, laborious, and easily
kept.

76 THE PERCHEEON HORSE.

If, in obedience to urgent considerations, and in the ab-
sence of oriental horses, it becomes necessary to have re-
course to English blood, choose quarter-bred stallions —
at the most half-bred — but of an ancient" race, and well-
confirmed, with a well-opened and expressive eye, fine ac-
tion, high spirit, and especially a total absence of irrita-
bility, and with all the appearances of honesty and apti-
tude for work.

For the innate defects of the English, generally impres-
sible, susceptible, and unintelligent, cannot be too carefully
guarded against. Delicate, a great eater, and requiring
great care, he must, if honest, be well worked ; if not, he
pays ill his cost, and robs the hand which nourishes him.
He should always be selected from a working family, and
be himself a free worker. He who wishes to embark in
horse-breeding will avoid more than one shoal by observ-
ing these simple considerations.

The delicate English horse, fond of his manger, bearing
but little continuous and monotonous work, requiring of
those that have charge of him tact, mildness, and an ad-
vanced equestrian education, is the horse of the rich man,
and the man of pleasure, of the lover of the turf and chase,
and of the wealthy farmer, who looks more to the beauty
of his stock than to the quantity of its work.

The Arabian, sober, energetic, and laborious, is the horse
for the small proprietor, the soldier, and the laborer. He
is the wealth of the poorer and less improved countries.

The draft-horse is only suited to the farmer, and his size
should be adapted not only to the district in which he is
to be used, but also to the standard of cultivation of the
country, and to the means of the person requiring his
services. He may be improved, may be a trotter, and
may be more stylish, but should always be adapted to the
means of the breeder, and to the richness of the country.
A large and fine animal would only vegetate in the hands
of a person whose land is scarcely sufficient to support his

THE FERCHERON HORSE. 77

family. He should only be owned by the wealthy fanner.
And, on the other side, the latter should never raise his
eyes to the blood horse, which should be left to those who
have been a long time accustomed to the risks inseparable
from his breeding and training.

A final word will make my thoughts better understood.

I desire to speak of the financial question, which is
every thing in breeding and in agriculture. The best and
the only manner of considering this is to compare the
breeder at the start, at the beginning of his career, and
when his career is ended, to verify the results. This opera-
tion is nothing short of a settlement of accounts.

In my travels I became acquainted with two neighbor-
ing districts. One was rich, fertile, and productive, emi-
nently suited to breeding superior fancy horses. But
they were poorly raised therein ; the farmers disdained
rearing horses suited to the soil, and the horses they did
breed, already bad from the very start, were raised in idle-
ness, and poorly fed, on account of their earning nothing.
The other district was poor, and the soil produced only
what could be wrested from it by force. However, by
dint of labor, agriculture nourished. The horse, chosen with
care, suited the country, worked well, and all prospered.

The fancy struck me, to compare the settlements of
estates in these two districts, and here are the results of
this examination :

In the first district, the breeders all commenced and en-
tered upon their career with capital. Notwithstanding
this, 18 out of 20 died over head and ears in debt.

In the second, they were almost all former servants or
farm hands, possessing only their savings, with which to
establish themselves. In spite of these difficult begin-
nings, 17 out of 20 left fortunes to their children, who, the
reverse of the children of the former, were early accustom-
ed to labor and to a regular life. It is useless to say that
in these examples I always excepted the cases where

78 THE PERCHEEON HOESE.

trade, to carry on its business, sheltered itself under the
cloak of the breeder ; for this does not constitute breed-
ing any more than the trade in bread-stuffs carried on in
a farm-house constitutes agriculture.

Finally I would call the attention of the Percheron farmer
to two suggestions. Suppose the supply of horses from
the departments of Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher,
Eure and Sarthe, and from the district of Mortagne,
now amounting to about sixty thousand head, should
outrun the demand of the omnibuses and wagons ; the
remedy for this would be to aim at greater style and
beauty, at the same time preserving the qualities required
by the omnibuses and express companies. We would
thus create another outlet for our stock, through the de-
mands of the dealers in fancy horses, and the consumption
of the army, and bring the Percheron race very near to
perfection.

No disappointment need be feared in crossing the Per-
cheron with a foreign stallion, either a heavy Arabian, a
strong, well-bred Merlerault, or a dark colored Norfolk,
on the express condition that this stallion should be select-
ed with care, and be of the best stock of his breed. The
Arabian can be placed everywhere, both on poor land and
in the hilly districts ; where the progeny of the other
stallions would not thrive, his will succeed well. The get
of the Merlerault, and of the English horses especially, re-
quire the most fertile and the best cultivated districts.

If the results of these crossings, male or female, be suc-
cessful, they may be well employed in breeding, and, after
some generations, in the districts where breeding is carried
on with care, they may become the starting point of a
choice stock. Commencing with the qualities of good
and substantial post-horses, the Percheron could be elevat-
ed to the dignity of the carriage-horse, and in other less
fertile localities to staunch and compact hunters.

Those showing no improvement, (too many of which

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 79

are met with) would find a market open to them in the
trade, among the moderately rich, and in the army,
especially in the artillery. The males, when castrated
at an early age, would be more acceptable to the trade,
and, while ceasing to dishonor the privileged class and
the class destined for reproduction, could be used for
numerous purposes. For the gray horse the outlets are
necessarily more limited. When the omnibuses and
teamsters have taken their complement of 6,000 or 7,000
horses, and when the foreigner has gathered up his 600 or
700 choice specimens, there no longer remains a sufficient
demand for the second-rate stock.

As there now exist neither diligences, couriers, mail
nor post-coaches, for which the gray Percheron was for-
merly required for the night road service, there is no longer
any imperious reason for preserving his old coat ; hence-
forth he may be bay or dark colored. And, provided he
becomes so by the aid of a dark-coated Arabian, or a heavy,
well-bred Merlerault, or by a fine specimen of a Norfolk,
the type of his race, I see therein no inconvenience.

When steam machines, to supply the hands which are
wanting, will plow our fields and perform the hardest
work, we will have no longer to regret that our Percheron
laborers have not the gray color which possessed the
property of turning the scorching rays of the sun. One
of our greatest writers, one of our lights in equestrian
science, has, however, written :

" The use of stallions of mixed blood, borrowed from
foreign races, left but regrets in Perche. It has pro-
duced vices of disposition and blemishes which did not
belong to the Percheron horse, and has given him in ex-
change no good quality. It has disturbed the structure
of the progeny without any gain in form or endurance."

Notwithstanding all my respect for this high authority,
let me be allowed to ask him if he has ever seen the
progeny, too rare it is true, of some well-chosen stallions

80 THE PERCHEEON HOUSE.

in close affinity to Percheron blood, called G-aUipoli,
Sandy, and Bayard? Never did finer results gratify the
pride of a breeder, never did trotters drag heavy diligences
with more power and ease, and never did sons transmit
more faithfully to their descendants the image and charac-
ters of their ancestors. Doubtless he was only shown the
numerous and heterogeneous progeny of even the best full-
blooded stallions Sylvio, Eylau, JReveller, and others by
Percheron mares — crossings so surprising in their absence
of affinity that I am still astonished that the thought of
them ever entered a reasonable mind.

When in the absence of stallions of our own, such as
we wish, I advise the use of foreign ones, I do not give
this counsel blindly, but, select the types appearing to me
the best adapted to the purpose, and instead of proceeding
with giant strides I would pursue the work with a patient
and prudent slowness.

PAKT III.

INFORMATION TO STRANGERS WISHING TO BUY
PERCHERON HORSES.

Although I consider Perche an exceptional country for
the production of good horses, I attribute to its air, to its
water, and to the nutritiveness of its grasses, the admirable
qualities of the animals bred therein. I am convinced that
the excellent care, the wise management, exempt alike
from pampering indulgence and from the harsh treatment
which irritate the disposition, and from which the good
teacher never departs in his intercourse with his pupils,
contribute a great deal to the success of the result. Start-
ing from this point, I think I can assert that with care
and this identical management, horses can be elsewhere
produced that Perche would not disown. It is, then, the
recapitulation of this method and management which
should be presented to the stranger desirous of raising
the Percheron horse. I will tell him what the cultivator
of this country does, and in doing like him, provided he
make the attempt in a high, healthy district, a district
with a sharp air and one often refreshed by winds, present-
ing some analogy to the rugged hills and the excellent
grassy valleys of Perche, no doubt he will arrive at magnif-
icent results. Several suppositions may be presented to
the consideration of the stranger wishing to raise Perche-
ron horses. Either he should buy in Perche a mare in
81 4*

82 THE PEKCHEEON HOUSE.

foal, or purchase four or five months' old colts, which he
wishes to wean in his own country, or his purchases will
be made of yearlings, or, finally, he will carry with him
full-grown males and females, or only one or the other
sex for the purpose of breeding.

Each one of these suppositions can be determined by the
practical knowledge of breeding, and by the study of the
methods practised in Perche, and may suggest as many
chapters. But, before undertaking anything, I will ask this
amateur if he really loves the horse, and if he admits the
qualities needed in the Perch erou. breeder. If he answers
in the affirmative, I will enter upon the subject. If, on
the contrary, he be not sure of himself and of the agents
that he is to employ, I might as well throw aside my pen
and not write another word.

The disposition of the Percheron breeder towards his
horses is that of a never-changing mildness ; and this is
why his horse is so gentle and so docile. The Percheron
loves his horse, but not with an affection resembling that
hearty passion, that sudden blaze of regard, too explosive
to last long, of certain amateurs ; he loves the horse with
an hereditary love, a family love, if I may so express it,
and the horse, on his side, loves him hereditarily. The
women and children have generally the care of the horse
while the men are in the fields. Hence the even and ami-
able temper of the horses raised under this system. The
Percheron cultivator possesses, above all, great patience
and a supreme control over himself, indispensable qualities
in training young colts, which, if treated with harsh-
ness would soon lose their heads, and become infallibly
nervously timid if subjected to violence and impatience.
Here lies the secret of good training and the art of uniting
in the horse a cool and calm temper with a decided
character. He is laborious and loves to stir the soil ; hence
his practice of early working the colts, which renders
them laborious and honest. But, as he is, above all, in-

THE PERCHERON HOUSE. 83

telligent and loves in a rational way, he only requires of
them work in proportion to their strength, and gives them
good nourishment. This management, uniting work
and good food, is an admirable means of giving strength,
health, and a good constitution. Finally, the Percheron
inhabits a broken country, where he must constantly
ascend and descend. This circumstance is most favorable
in giving strength and suppleness to his shoulders,
haunches, and hoofs, which, by turns, work and rest in this
unparalleled district.

This portrait is not only applicable to the large proprie-
tors and to the farmers, but to all the Percheron popu-
lation. There is not a man in this district who has not
been a working man, who has not raised, trained, and
driven colts, and who, even in his tenderest age, when he
could walk and hold a little whip, has not lived among
the horses and played between their legs. It requires no
searching here to find a man acquainted with the horse, a
good farm hand ; the first face you meet with is that of
an intelligent agent, and a trustworthy one in the difficult
art of training colts.

If you have such men at your disposal, undertake boldly
your task ; but if the proper men are wanting, forbear,
for you will arrive at nothing satisfactory.

CHAPTER I.

FOOD AND BREEDING.

The stallion, in the districts inhabited by mares, is, with
some rare exceptions, a " rover," — that is to say, he visits
the farms at stated periods. His standing season lasts six
months, from January to July, and he generally returns

84 THE PERCHEROX HORSE.

four times to the same place. The foal is dropped, ordi-
narily, very early, and always in the stable, where it con-
stantly remains until weaning time. The dam goes to
work every day, and leaves its foal each morning, to see it
again only in the middle of the day, and at night. Green
clover, or other green forage, is fed, to keep up her sup-
ply of milk.

At six months the colt is weaned. If it be a filly, it re-
mains in the canton where it was foaled, to be put to
breeding when it reaches the proper age. If it be a horse
colt, it is sold to the farmers of the raising districts, of
which we will speak in the chapter devoted to the trade.

The stock of these districts is recruited from two
sources, the southern region principally, (in the vicinity
of Montdoubieau and Chateaudun,) on account of the
great reputation of its mares. The cultivator desirous
of rearing good colts traverses these districts as early as
the month of June, and makes his choice of colts from
under the dams, and out of herds of established reputation.
This manner of selecting stock to raise is the most logical,
as also the most expensive. It is much in favor with the
farmer carrying on a large business, in the neighborhood
of Mauves and Regmalard. Some cultivators of the other
cantons follow his example; but not so rich as he, they
have but the second choice.

The second source, and the most abundant, is the pur-
chase of gang colts — that is to say, those which, in Perch e,
have not been sold during the summer ; but principally
those from the neighborhood of Coulie, to the north-west
of Maus, and those of Lower Maine. They are brought,
entirely weaned, to the fairs of Perche about the end of
autumn. St. Andrew's fair at Mortagne offers a curious
specimen of this operation. The farmers select from
the gangs. The origin, in this case, is no longer of any
account ; there is neither sire nor dam to weigh down the
scales ; the merit is all exterior — of the individual. If this

THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 85

way of buying be not so dear, it is likewise not so sure,
unless the purchaser be acquainted with honest dealers,
accustomed to bring in only good colts. x

There is but little trouble taken in weaning the colts.
This passage from one period of life to another, always
so serious with thoroughbred colts, takes place quite sim-
ply with the future field laborers. They wean themselves
in the trip from their birthplace to their new destination.
The farmers in the neighborhood of Kogmalard, who
ordinarily buy them very young, give a little cow's milk
on their arrival, to strengthen them, and to serve as a
transition ; but even this method is far from universal.

The colts, when they come upon the farms, are put live
or six together, pell-mell, into an indifferently ventilated
stable, which receives its light through a lattice door.
Their nourishment consists of a very thin mush, made of
barley flour and bran, frequently renewed. The solid
portion of their food is composed of dry clover and hay,
with which their cribs are regularly filled.

Some farmers feed aftermath, which is sweeter; but as
this is apt to load the stomach, in order to render it more
easily digested, it is mixed with oat-straw.

It is very rare that these colts, changed from one district
to another, often making long stages, and exposed to the in-
clemencies of the weather, are not attacked with strangles.
Many raisers at this period have the pernicious habit of
giving them some kind of grain, in order to warm them up,
and cause them to throw oif the disease. But this food
has the fault of thickening the blood too much, and ex-
poses them to numerous ailments.

This diet is continued until the spring, at which time
the colts are given green fodder in the stable. Later,
they are turned into the clover fields after the first cut, or
into the meadows after they are mowed.

At eighteen months they commence their apprentice-
ship ; passing their -necks through the collar, they are har-

86 THE PEKCHEKOX HORSE.

nessed to plows or wagons with horses already broken,
although of an age at which, in many countries, ^their
equals are as yet ignorant of all labor. The food, com-
posed of clover principally, hay, millet straw, corn salad,
(Feticus,) and cracked rye, baked in loaves, becomes
from this time forth, a little more nourishing. They also
commence to eat oats, but as yet, sparingly. This is not
given them pure, but with the chaff — that is to say, it is
not winnowed. The quantity of this food used by day
is not less than 1|- to If gallons, yielding not much more
than ^ of a gallon of oats. On the other hand, the meal
and the mush are increased, to give them body and strength.
At thirty months old they are still kept upon this food,
in the midst of all the farm work, which they daily per-
form (with, however, a great deal of moderation), and in
dragging very light burdens ; for, truly, it is but a train-
ing, to confirm the hereditary mildness of their character,
and to teach them, little by little, to become willing and
fearless.

In the meanwhile the dealer, who roams constantly
about among the farms, arrives. He buys and resells im-
mediately to the farmers of Little Perche and Thimerais.
More stimulating feed is given them, in consequence of
more constant and harder work. This life lasts a year,
and is terminated by the passage into Beauce, or the Char-
tres country, where their work is again increased. With
the work the feed increases, and this combination leads to
the perfection of the horse.

It is at this time that the horses, having attained their
maturity, and the maximum of their strength, are bought
for Paris, whither they are called by relentless labor, which
they are enabled to endure by their unconquerable will,
great muscular force, energy, and courage.

" This mode of training," to borrow the words of a
noted breeder, " represents^ the division of labor, which
gives such happy results in the manufactories, and its ad-

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 87

vantages cannot be well appreciated, except by those
who, having raised horses, know what embarrassment .an
assemblage of colts of all sizes and ages produces. Un-
fortunately it would be very difficult to introduce this
excellent custom elsewhere, which has probably existed
for ages in Perche without the knowledge of its source."

The colts destined for breeding are generally devoted to
.this purpose at the age of two years, and continue, on
an average, until they have attained the age of four. I
speak of Little Perche, for in Great Perche, since the
foundation of the Equestrian Society, the seat of which is
at- Chateaudun, and which extends its action to quite a
distance, the covering is done by adult stallions. At four,
they are sold either to Paris, or to foreigners, should their
merit render them worthy of such a choice.

This total emigration of the male colts at the age of
six months, renders it very difficult to procure good stal-
lions of this breed. From Great Perche they are scattered
among the trade, often before the age of a sure selection.
When they are sought after in Perche, they are no longer
to be found ; they must then be followed and hunted up
on the Beauce farms, and this pursuit is extremely difficult.
It, however, offers greater chances of success than the
Chartres market, where the greatest number of mature
Percheron horses are to be found.

As for the fillies, their experience is the same as that of
the colts, with this single difference that their life is
exempt from migration. They are raised in the region
in which they are foaled. They work from a very early
period, bear two or three colts, and then disappear,
like the males, in the vortex of consumption. For,
beyond some exceptional cases and remarkable pro-
ductions, it is rare that they grow old upon the farm.
The farmer, in order to lose nothing of their value, sencs
them off at the age of five, six, and seven years. It would
be a happy thing, as we have already said, if sufficient in-

88 THE PEKCHEKON HOBSE.

dncements in the way of prizes could be offered to retain
the fine breeding mares upon the soil, and put an end to
this custom, so inimical to progress.

The farmers who have pasture grounds, as in the en-
virons of Regmalard, make use of them, for raising their
colts, as is done in Merlerault and in the Auge Valley.
Instead of letting them loose in the fields, they are sent
to pasture.

The hay of the valleys is good, but insufficient for the
supply of the farms ; the deficit is made up by the use of
artificial fodders, in which clover enters for three-quarters ;
the remainder is composed of fenugreek, lucern, and some
roots. Millet, or barley and oat straw are also given
as food, and in certain cantons they are stacked in alter-
nate layers with the meadow grass, in order to give them
the odor and fragrance of hay — an ingenious method of
making an unattractive food acceptable.

The stables, although much better than formerly, in the
good old times of the race, still leave a great deal to be
desired. They are not furnished with stalls, but the
horses are tied alongside of one anojther without any
separation. But such is the gentleness of character of
this breed that an accident was never heard of.

The whole of the management which we have just de-
scribed has a marked tendency towards constantly en-
larging the horse at the expense of his nervous system.

This diet, completely out of place in a mild, grain pro-
ducing country, has reason for existing in Perche, and the
Percheron cultivator knows too well what he does in em-
ploying it, not to have understood this. The climate and
the products of Perche, the air and the water, affect too
exclusively the nervous system not to require being con-
stantly combatted.

For this I desire to take an example in the whole animal
kingdom stocking this country. Everybody to-day well
knows the influence of climate upon animals. No one

THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 89

now any longer doubts that it is to the sharp and healthy
air of the Percheron country, to its elevated hills, and to
its atmosphere constantly renewed by the powerful ven-
tilators of its valleys and forests, that this country owes
the eminent qualities of its fine race of horses, which has
won for it the right of displaying this significant title :
" Perche, the land of good horses." Everything surround-
ing us inclines us to adopt this opinion. The domestic
animals brought here are transformed in a short time by
the contact of the air breathed and the nourishment
furnished. The marked types of the Billot and Creve-
coeur fowls are no sooner brought here than at the first
generation a total change is effected in their looks. From
the second generation it is difficult to recognize them in
the thin, lean, and nervously formed fowl, with a wild
look, and always ready to take wing.

The bovine race of Perche is also far inferior to the im-
proved race. It is the opposite of the kind prized nowa-
days, the race which is mild, lymphatic, and short-legged,
always inclined to fat, and having in its bony frame only
just enough to serve it for its locomotion, forming a
quadrilateral of flesh, mounted on four small legs, a rump
bending with its haunches, a broad, smooth back, and a
low brisket. Its horns, which are seemingly useless in a
country from which man has driven out the wild beasts,
fall overlapping one another, like a useless ornament, upon
the head.

Such is not the Percheron breed of cattle ; on the con-
trary it is dry and bony, of a nervous temperament, long
legs, angular haunches, contracted chest, lank thigh,and thin
neck, with a long, thin head. Two long horns of a greenish-
white stand up in the air, always threatening as in a savage
country, infested with dangerous animals. An expressive
word designates them fully : a cattle dealer will tell you
they are "staggy" and will pass on without bestowing upon
them a glance. They are hardly fit for quick fattening,

90 THE PEECHEEON HOESE.

and are recognized without trouble by their color, which
in terms of the trade is said to be " a little weak" and by
their skin, which is dry and harsh. The dealers appro-
priately express their condition by " no good points"
The bulls, especially, are tough, with big horns, bony limbs,
large joints, an ugly head, and the whole difficult to fatten,
which well entitles them to the full application of the
epithet " boorish beasts" invented to express animals of
inferior quality.

It is in vain that Maine, the district which joins it, hns
given to Perche its race of cattle ; they have degenerated,
have become taller, Linker, less easy to fatten, and have pre-
served no trace of the fine head and the good fore-quarters
that are to be found in Maine. In vain has Normandy pour-
ed out a generous blood. The Norman type hardly
appears ; it is degenerated and entirely loses the agree-
able color, fine head, good limbs, white horns, and other
good points.

For several years, the fashion of crossing with the
Cotentin race has become universal, and continues to make
rapid progress. From the second generation, nevertheless,
there remains almost nothing in the conformation and in
the quality of the stock to show the cross. It is only by
dint of always crossing with the Cotentin that Perche has
been able to make for itself her present passable stock.

The sheep, sufficiently delicate for the table, are small,
and form a degenerate and nameless mixture of the breeds
of Maine, Caux, and Trennes, crossed for several years
back with the Merino. They present the same conditions
as the horned animals. Like them, they are difficult to
fatten and are not lymphatic, notwithstanding the fre-
quent importations of the heavier and fleshier breeds.

Such predispositions can only come from the soil, and
the constant sway of the nervous over the lymphatic
system produces all the qualities of the Percheron horse.
This is why tradition has painted such a seductive picture

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 91

of his construction and qualities. This is why the old in-
habitants, who had seen that fine breed before its degen-
eration, speak of it with so much warmth. This is why,
notwithstanding the incredible crossings, it has withstood
such mixtures. And this is why it is always energetic, in
spite of the diluted nourishment without tonic properties
which is given it, and which would be enough to bastardize
a race with characteristics less fixed and permanent.

Let us, however, beware of utterly condemning the
management of the breeders, and let us not entangle,
with an imprudent hand, the threads of his traditions.
The horse is his sole fortune, and in the raising of this aid
of his agricultural labors, he gains to-day his livelihood.
Ilis management has a fixed end to which he always tends
with an incredible perseverance, and that is to increase
the size of his horses without prejudice to their good
qualities.

Now that the country is covered with excellent roads
and highways ; that railways have accustomed us to great
speed ; that diligences and mail-coaches are forever gone ;
that the stylish carriage horse, the hunter, and the half-
blood, have reached great perfection, the role of the Per-
cherou is completely changed. He is no longer the hunter,
the saddle-horse, nor the motive power of heavy wagons
over new and broken roads ; he remains exclusively both
the quick and mettlesome draft-horse, and the heavy
burden and express wagon horse. He must possess superior
strength, speed, docility, temper, and honesty, and a com-
plete absence of irritability. It is for this reason that
after having listened to enthusiastic advisers, and allowed
himself to be led astray by men too eager to enjoy the
result of their ideas, he to-day is no longer to be cajoled
by the solicitations of the amateurs of foreign blood.
The Percheron cultivator does not wish even a single
drop of it, and exerts himself exclusively in producing
heavy horses. Encouraged in this way by the dealers of

92 THE PEKCHERON HORSE.

all countries, paying excessively high prices for the big
and heavy Perclieron horse, while leaving upon his hands,
without the offer of a farthing, the horse in which a few
drops of "blood" can be perceived, he has spread his sails
and stretched them boldly to catch the breeze of the day.

We shall carefully avoid following the example of
numerous famous doctors, the display of our little bundle
of receipts. Let it be, however, permitted us to touch
again slightly upon the question in expressing the fear
that, should he not take care, the breeder of heavy horses
will in the end render them too heavy and weighty.
Stallions having a small touch of blood, well applied, and
sufficiently latent not to excite mistrust, having action,
good limbs, strong loins, and deep chest, are indispensable
for warming up the Perclieron blood and giving it tone.
Look at Sandy, and afterwards at Collin, Bayard, and
some others whose influence was immense. Their progeny,
magnificent in every respect, did not show too much blood
in their exterior, but revealed it vigorously by action and
high spirit. The crosses which have best succeeded with
the Percheron are undoubtedly, as shown by numerous
examples, those derived themselves from an oriental cross.
This fact, which clearly proves that the Percheron race
has a great affinity with the race of the desert, should not
be neglected in foreign alliances.

As for the English alliances, these have not given as
yet all the results promised ; but from this nothing must
be inferred against new trials. Too much blood had con-
stantly been used, and consequently the end was missed
by wishing to proceed too rapidly.

Little blood, at first, but blood well chosen, from the
Norfolk race, blood patiently infused into Percheron veins,
is the means of triumphing over old prejudices and open-
ing to this count ry an extensive and successful future.

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 93

CHAPTER H.

TRADE. — GLANCE AT THE MOST CELEBRATED BREEDING
PLACES.

The good horses are generally bought upon the farms,
and among these the dealers are constantly roaming. The
trade of the whole of France, and the numerous and in-
telligent amateurs from abroad, visit them carefully, beat-
ing the country and searching it in all its farthest corners.
Still, notwithstanding the purchases there made, the fairs
are not wanting in numerous and good animals. We will,
like these strangers, run over the best breeding places.

As an equine country, " Perche, the land of good
horses," is divided into three very distinct districts.

That in which the colts are foaled — stocked exclusively
with mares and fillies ;

The district in which the male colts are weaned and
raised ;

And that in which they are brought to perfection — a
privilege which it shares with Beauce and the Chartres
country which it bounds.

All the territory north, west, and south, of the district
of Mortagne (Orne) comprising the cantons of Moulins,
Bazoche, Pervencheres, Bellesme, Theil, and part of Noce,
possesses breeding mares as well as fillies. In Sarthe,
the canton of Montmirail; those of Montdoubleau and
Droue in Loir-and-Cher ; those of Alluye, Bazoche, Cloyes,
Authon, Brou, and Nogent-le-Rotrou, in Eure-and-Loir, are
likewise centers where only fillies and breeding mares are
to be met with. Courtalain, on the south border, is also
celebrated for this specialty.

The raising of male-colts occupies all the east, center,
and north of the district of Mortagne — that is to say, the
cantons of Mortagne, Tourouvre, Lougny, Regmalard,

94 THE PERCHEROtf HOESE.

and part of Noce. This division, however, is not always
distinctly marked upon the borders. The parishes upon
the confines of each district, such as Bazoches, Cour-
geoust, Pin, Saint-Ouen, Noce, Berdluis, etc., have farms
stocked exclusively with fillies, whilst others possess only
stallion colts.

The region for the mares is itself divided into two can-
tons : that of the north and that of the south. The
southern is the most renowned, inasmuch as its mares
pass for having retained the characters of the old Per-
cheron race more closely. It comprises the cantons outside
the district of Mortagne. Montdoubleau is the capital.

The northern, enclosed in the district of Mortagne,
counts three very distinct varieties, namely :

The pure Percheron races in the south, and in the can-
ton of Bazoches ; in the west, in the parishes which
border on Mesle-sur-Sarthe, mares possessing in various
degrees some of English blood, got from the government
stud of Mesle-sur-Sarthe, which is composed exclusively
of thoroughbred stallions ; the canton of Moulins, in the
north, nourishes another high-spirited variety, endowed
with excellent action, but deficient in height. According-
ly it is more valued for furnishing good horses for service
than for furnishing ameliorating types.

The best centers for stallion colts are: Regmalard,
which is, if I may so say, the principal place for good
stallions ; Mauves, which furnished, thirty years ago, the
famous stallion Jean-le-Blanc, of M. Miard. For fillies,
Villers-en-Ouche, which stocked this country with magnif-
icent Percheron mares ; Verrieres, Corbon, Comblot,
Courgeou, Loisail, Re veil Ion and Villiers.

As for the rest of Perche, it supplies Beauce and the
Chartres country, on account of the great similarity
existing between them. A country of transition, it buys
colts to plow the fields, keeps them only a year, and sells
them grown to the cultivators of Beauce, to be sent to

THE PEKCHEEON HORSE. 95

Paris after a sojourn of a year or so upon their farms.
The environs of Courville — Chateauneuf, Brezolles, La
Loupe, Champroud, Thiron, Pontgouin, Verneuil, etc. —
are celebrated for the taste of its farmers for fine horses.
Illiers, which formerly possessed this specialty, has occu-
pied itself for several years in weaning colts.

CHAPTER III.

SPEED AND BOTTOM OF THE PERCHERON HORSE.

We have said that one of the distinctive qualities of
the Percheron horse, and one which has won for him uni-
versal esteem, was fast trotting while drawing a heavy
load. It would be, however, an error to suppose that this
faculty of fast trotting puts him on a level with the blood-
horse. The latter draws little, it is true ; but he has a
long stride, and, as regards mere speed, he beats the
Percheron out and out. For the presence upon the turf
of such horses as Decidee and Sarah, who have trotted
against blood-horses of the first order, sometimes honora-
bly beaten and more often victorious, the presence, I say,
of such horses, is but a happy and rare exception.

The specialty of the Percheron, quick draft, has then
its limits, and it is these limits that I wish to make known
by means of numerous examples collected with care.

What the Percheron has done in the diligences, mail
and post-coaches is known to everybody ; and it is useless
to repeat it. From one relay to another, never dragging
less than two, and more often three thousand pounds, in
hot weather and cold, and over hilly, difficult roads, he
made his three leagues to the hour easily, and sometimes

96 THE PEECHEEON HOESE.

four; but this was the " ne plus ultra " beyond which it
was not reasonable to go.

What he does in the omnibuses, the world that visits
Paiis realizes and admires. And this is one of the principal
attractions of the Percheron horse to the intelligent
stranger.

It now only remains for us to follow him upon the turf
and sum up the time made in the trots won by him.

The courses, for some time frequented by him, are those
of Illiers, Courtalain, Montdoubleau, and Mortagne ; and
here he is always to be found. It is, also, indispensable to
notice, in order to be strictly impartial, that these tracks,
except the new one at Mortagne, finished two years ago,
were only plowed fields, hard in dry weather, but cut up
like a peat-bog in wet times ; that the track of Mor-
tagne, as is well known, is placed on a steep side-hill, and
joins to the above defect the one of offering three steep
inclines, up and down, like the roof of a house, within a
distance of 3,000 feet. The horses which had done the
best elsewhere failed on this track, and took a long time
to make the distance. It is to this circumstance that is to
be attributed the low average time, but it is this also
which shows us the courage of the Percheron. When a
colt of thirty months (and of these there were a number)
had bravely accomplished his task and had gone two or
three times around this killing track, it could be boldly
predicted that there was in him the making of a staunch
and valuable horse. To all this let us add, that either un-
der saddle or in harness, the Percheron is almost always
placed in an unfavorable situation. Mounted, he is put
into the hands of a youth, ardent, without experience, and
without calculation, who pushes him without discretion in
the beginning, and is totally ignorant of the jockey's art.
Harnessed, he is covered with heavy and inconvenient
gear, and he drags either a big, heavy-running wagon,
or a poor, low traveling-tilbury.

THE PERCHERON HOUSE. 97

The following list shows the result of 196 trotting
matches, officially reported upon the turf, and two trials
to prove bottom, likewise certified with care, and will give
an average of what the Percheron is capable of doing
either upon rugged, cut-up, or hilly tracks, or upon the
highways of a densely populated district.

CHAPTER IV.

SPEED OF THE PEKCHERON HORSE.

MOUNTED PERCHERONS.
1J MILES 29 RESULTS.

The best two are those of Julie, at Montdoubleau, in
1864, time 3 minutes 50 seconds ; and of Godius, at the
same place, in 1857, time 3 minutes 58 seconds.

The poorest two results are those of Vidocq, at Mor-
tagne, 1865, time 7 minutes 37 seconds ; and of Lansque-
net, same place, in 1861, time 7 minutes 48 seconds.

The average time of 29 recorded trials is about 4 min-
utes 12tjr seconds.

If MILES 31 RESULTS.

The best two are those of Vaillante, at Mortagne, in
1864, time 4 minutes 38 seconds ; and of Julie, at Mont-
doubleau, in 1864, time 6 minutes 14 seconds.

The poorest two are those of Mouche, at Mortagne, in
1855, time 9 minutes 18 seconds ; and of Biche, at Mor-
tagne, in 1855, time 8 minutes 30 seconds.

The average time of 31 trials is about 6 minutes 40
seconds'.
5

98 THE PEECHEEON HOESE.
2 MILES 40 EESTTLTS.

The best two are those of Cocotte, at Illiers, in 1861,
time 6 minutes 5^- seconds ; and of Sarah, at the same
place, in 1865, time 6 minutes 2 seconds.

The poorest two are those of JBalzane, at Illiers, in
1859, time 9 minutes 40 seconds ; and of Remind, at the
same place, in 1850, time 10 minutes 30 seconds.

The average time of 40 trials is about 7 minutes 20
seconds.

2£ MILES 65 EESULTS.

The best two are those of Sarah, at Langou, in 1865,
time 7 minutes 35 seconds ; and of the same at Mortagne,
in 1865, time 7 minutes 40 seconds.

The poorest two are those of Marmotte, at Mortagne,
in 1865, time 13 minutes 26 seconds; and of Julie, at
Court alain, in 1863, time 11 minutes 30 seconds.

The average time of 65 trials is about 9 minutes 15
seconds.

21 miles were made at Illiers, by Bichette, in 1860, in 12
minutes 15 seconds.

2| miles at the same place were made three times, and
gave an average of 11 minutes 25 seconds.

3 f miles at the same place were made by Champion, in
1857, in 12 minutes.

HAENESSED PEECHEEOFS.

J of a mile was trotted to harness in 1855, at Bethune,
by Grise, in 4 minutes 2 seconds.

1£ miles were made at Mortagne, in 1856, by Battrape-,
in 5 minutes 4 seconds.

THE PERCHERON HORSE. 99

2 MILES 8 RESULTS.

The best two are those of Achille, at Uliers, in 1865,
time 7 minutes 17 seconds ; and of Julie, at Illiers, in
1863, time 7 minutes 40^ seconds.

The poorest two are those of Championnet, at Illiers,
1858, time 7 minutes 53 seconds ; and of Bichette, at Il-
liers, in 1849, time 8 minutes 13 seconds.

The average of eight trials is about 7 minutes 36 sec-
onds.

2£ MILES 14 RESULTS.

The best two are those of Vigoreux, at Illiers, in 1851,
time 8 minutes 30 seconds ; and of Bibi, at Mortagne, in
1865, time 9 minutes 54 seconds.

The poorest two are those of Bichette, at Courtalain,
in 1860, time 11 minutes 30 seconds ; and of Artagnan,
at Mortagne, in 1850, time 11 minutes 55 seconds.

2§ MILES LOADED.

Two trials were made at Rouen, by Decidee :
The first time in 1864, drawing 386 pounds, 2f miles in
9 minutes 21 seconds; the second time, in 1865, drawing
408 pounds the same distance, 10 minutes 49 seconds.

CHAPTER V.

ENDURANCE OF THE PERCHERON HORSE.

A gray mare bred by M. Beaulavoris, at Almenesches,
(Orne), in 1845, belonging to M. Montreuil, horse dealer
at Alen9on, performed the following match : — Harnessed
to a. traveling-tilbury, she started from Bernay at the
same time as the mail courier from Rouen to Bordeaux,

100 THE PEKCHER<m HOUSE.

and arrived before it at Alen9on, having made 55| miles
over a hilly and difficult road, in 4 hours and 24 minutes.

This mare is still living, and now belongs to M. Buis-
son, hotel keeper at the sign of the White Horse, at Lees,
(Orne), where she still draws the omnibus plying between
the railroad station and the hotel.

A gray mare 7 years old, belonging to M. Consturier,
of Fleury-sur-Andelle, (Eure), in 1864, harnessed to a til-
bury, travelled 58 miles and back on two consecutive
days, going at a trot and without being touched with the
whip. This was over the road from Lyons-la-Foret from
Pont Audemer, and back, a difficult and hilly way. The
following time was made : The first day the distance was
trotted in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 35 seconds; the second
day, in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 30 seconds. The 13f last
miles were made in one hour, although at about the 41st
mile the mare was obliged to pass her stable to finish the
distance.

GARDENING FOR PROFIT,

* In the Market and Family Grarden,
BY PETER HENDERSON.

This is the first work on Market Gardening ever published in this
country. Its author is well known as a market gardener of eighteen
years' successful experience. In this work he has recorded thia
experience, and given, without reservation, the methods necessary
to the profitable culture of the commercial or

It is a work for which there has long been a demand, and one
which will commend itself, not only to those who grow vegetables
for sale, but to the cultivator of the

FAMILY GARDEN,

to whom it presents methods quite different from the old ones gen-
erally practiced. It is an ORIGINAL AND PURELY AMERICAN work, and
not made up, as books on gardening too often are, by quotations
from foreign authors.

Every thing is made perfectly plain, and the subject treated in all
its details, from the selection of the soil to preparing the products
for market.

CONTENTS.

Men fitted for the Business of Gardening.

The Amount of Capital Required, and

"Working De'orce per Acre.

Fronts of Market Gardening.

Location, Situation, and Laying Out.

Boils, Drainage, and Preparation.

Manures, Implements.

Uses and Management of Cold Frames.

Formation and Management of Hot-beds.

Forcing Pits or Green-houses.

Seeds and Seed Raising.

How, When, and Where to Sow Seeds.

Transplanting, Insects.

Packing of Vegetables for Shipping.

Preservation of Vegetables in "Winter.

Vegetables, their Varieties and Cultivation.

Tn the last chapter, the most valuable kinds are described, and
the culture proper to each is given in detail.

Sent post-paid, price $I.5O.
ORANGE JUDD & CO., 245 Broadway,

NEW AND BEAUTIFUL 'WOBK.

BY

JOSIAH HOOPES, Westchester, Pa,

INCLUDING

Propagation, Cultivation, Description of Varieties, and
their Adaptability to Different Situations.

THIS is a long-needed work, as in it the present state of our knowledge
upon the cone-bearing plants, or Coniferse of the botanist, is posted up. Mr.
Hoopes is one of those persons rarely met with — a practical cultivator, and a
man of science at the same time. While his work gives us all the Coniferae
arranged in the classification of the botanist, it at the same time treats of the
experience, not only of the author, but of American cultivators generally,
\rith this large and important family of plants.

Evergreens play so interesting a part, not only in ornamental planting, but
in what may be termed economical planting, (i. e. hedges, screens, wind-
breaks, etc.,) that we are sure a work which treats of their propagation and
culture, describes in both popular and scientific language the many species,
and, what is of not the least importance, gives a list of the tender and un-
reliable ones, will be warmly welcomed by every lover of these beautiful
trees.

Mr. Hoopes brings to his work a perfect enthusiasm for his subject, and
is as free to condemn a plant as if he were not a nurseryman. All the latest
novelties from Japan, the Northwest, etc., are noticed, and their success or
failure, both in this country and in England, is recorded.

The work is abundantly illustrated with most carefully executed engrav-
ings, for the greater part from living specimens.

We must commend the conscientious care the author has shown in striving
to arrive at the proper names ; and doubtless much of the confusion that at
present exists in respect to names among both dealers and growew, will be
corrected now that they have a standard work to refer to.

Not the least interesting portion of the book is an account of the principal
collections of evergreens in the country.

The work contains 435 pages, 12mo, on fine paper.

Sent post-paid. Price, $3.00.

ORANGE JUDD & CO.,

245 Broadway, New-York City.

VALUABLE AND BEAUTIFUL WORK.

HAKRIS'

Insects Injurious to Vegetation.

BT THE LATE

THADDEUS WILLIAM HARRIS, M.D.

A New Edition, enlarged and improved, with additions from tho author1!
manuscripts and original notes.
Illustrated by engravings drawn from nature under the supervision of

-A.OASSIZ.

Edited by CHARLES L. FLINT,
Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture.

CHAPTER I.

I NTRODUCTION.— Insects Defined— Brain and Nerves— Air-Pipes and Breath-
ing-Holes — Heart and Blood — Metamorphoses or Transformations —
Classification ; Orders and Groups.

CHAPTER II.

COLEOPTERA.— Beetles— Scarabseians— Ground-Beetles— Tree-Beetles— Cock-
chafers — Flower, Stag, Spring, Timber, Capricorn, Leaf-mining, and Tor-
toise Beetles— Chrysomelians— Can tharides.

CHAPTER III.

ORTHOPTERA.— Earwigs — Cockroaches-- Soothsayers— Walking-sticks or
Spectres— Mole, Field, Climbing, and Wingless Crickets— Grasshoppers-
Katydid— Locusts.

CHAPTER IV.

HEMIPTERA.— Bugs— Squash-Bug— Clinch-Bug— Plant Bugs— Harvest Flies—
Tree-Hoppers— Vine-Hoppers— Plant-Lice— American Blight— Bark-Lice.

CHAPTER V.

LEPI DOPTERA.— Caterpillars —Butterflies — Skippers —Hawk-Moths— ^Ege-
rians or Boring Caterpillars— Moths— Cut-Worms— Span- Worms— Leaf-
Boilers— Fruit, Bee, Corn, Clothes, and Feather-Winged Moths.

CHAPTER VI.

HYMENOPTERA.— Stingers and Piercers— Saw-Flies and Slugs— Elm, Fir,
and Vine Saw-Fly — Rose-Bush and Pear-Tree Slugs— Horn-Tailed
Wood-Wasps— Gall-Flies—Barley Insect and Joint Worm.

CHAPTER VII.

DIPTERA —Gnats and Flies— Maggots and their Transformations— Gall
Gnats— Hessian, Wheat, and Radish Flies— Two-Winged Gall-Flies, an<*
Fruit-Flies.
KPPEN DIX.— The Army Worm.

Published in two beautiful editions ;• one plain, with steel engravings, 8vo,
extra cloth, $4 ; the other in extra cloth, beveled boards, red edges, engrav-
ings colored with great accuracy, $6.
iSent post-paid on receipt of price,

ORANGE JUDD & CO.,

245 Broadway, New- York City

DARWIN'S NEW WORK.

THE "VARIATION

ANIMALS AND PLANTS

UNDER DOMESTICATION.

BY

ETC.

AUTHORIZED EDITION.

PROFESSOR ASA GRAY.

I3ST

This work treats of the variations in onr domestic animals and cultivated
plants, discussing the circumstances that influence these variations, inherit-
ance of peculiarities, results of in-and-in breeding, crossing, etc.

It is one of the most remarkable books of the present day, presenting an
array of facts that show the most extraordinary amount of observation and
•esearch. All the domestic animals, from horses and cattle to canary-birds and
noney-bees, are discussed, as well as onr leading culinary and other plants,
making it a work of the greatest interest.

Its importance to agriculturists, breeders, scientific men, and the general
reader will be seen by its scope as indicated in the following partial enumera-
tion of its contents : PIGS, CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS ; DOGS AND CATS, HORSES
AND ASSES ; DOMESTIC RABBITS ; DOMESTIC PIGEONS ; FOWLS, DUCKS, GEESE,
PEACOCK, TURKEY, GUINEA FOWL, CANARY-BIRD, GOLD-FISH ; HIVE-BEES ;
SILK-MOTHS. CULTIVATED PLANTS ; CEREAL AND CULINARY PLANTS ; FRUITS,
ORNAMENTAL TREES, FLOWERS, BUD VARIATION. INHERITANCE, REVERSION
OR ATAVISM, CROSSING. ON THE GOOD EFFECTS OF CROSSING, AND ON THE
EVIL EFFECTS OF CLOSE INTERBREEDING. SELECTION. CAUSES OF VARIABII,-
ITY, LAWS OF VARIATION, ETC., ETC.

J*nblisJied In Two Volumes of nearly 11OO pages.

SENT POST-PAID, ......................................... PRICE, $6.00.

ORANGE JUDD & CO.,

245 Broadway, New -York City

AMERICAN POMOLOGY

APPLES.;

X>oct. JOHN

POMOLOQICAL SOCIETY; VICE-PRESIDENT AMERICAN POMOLOGTOAl
SOCIETY.

393 IIJLVSTRATIONS.

This volume has about 750 pages, the first 375 of which are de
voted to the discussion of the general subjects of propagation, nur-
sery culture, selection and planting, cultivation of orchards, care of
fruit, insects, and the like ; the remainder is occupied with descrip-
tions of apples. With the richness of material at hand, the trouble
was to decide what to leave out. It will be found that while the
old and standard varieties are not neglected, the new and promising
sorts, especially those of the South and West, have prominence.
A list of selections for different localities by eminent orchardists is
a valuable portion of the volume, while the Analytical Index or
Catalogue Raisonne, as the French would say, is the most extended
American fruit list ever published, and gives evidence of a tearful
amount of labor.

CONTENTS,

Chapter I.— INTRODUCTORY.

Chapter II — HISTORY OP THE APPLE.

Chapter III.— PROPAGATION.

Buds and Cuttings— Grafting— Budding— The Nurnery.
Chapter IV.— DWARFING.
Chapter V.— DISEASES.

Chapter VI— THE SITE FOR AN ORCHARD.
Chapter VII.— PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR AN ORCHARD.
Chapter VIII.— SELECTION AND PLANTING.
Chapter IX — CULTURE, Etc.
Chapter X.— PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING.
Chapter XI.— THINNING.

Chapter XII.— RIPENING AND PRESERVING FRUITS.
Chapter XIII and XIV.— INSECTS.
Chapter XV.— CHARACTERS OF FRUITS AND THEIR

VALUE— TERMS USED.
Chapter XVI.— CLASSIFICATION.

Necessity for— Basis of— Characters— Shape— Its Res*

larity— Flavor— Color— Their several Values, etc. De-

scription of Apples.

Chapter XVII.— FRUIT LISTS — CATALOGUE AND INDEX OF
FRUITS.

Sent Post-Paid. Price $3.00,

OBANGE JTJDD & CO., 245 Broadway, New-York.

THE AMERICAN

FOR 1868.

A. "Year-Book
Wanted by Everybody.

This volume is now ready, and contains much of interest to
every agriculturist. Besides the general record of agricultural
progress, it has a valuable article on

Factory Dairy Practice,

By GARDNER B. WEEKS, Esq., Secretary of the American Dairy-
men's Association, in which he discusses the reasons for the best
practice and the most approved apparatus, buildings, etc., fully il-
lustrated, and is equally interesting to the practical dairyman and
to thd novice.

Sewers and Earth-Closets

In their relations to Agriculture, by Col. GEO. E. WAKING, Jr.
Winter Wheat,

Describing, with engravings, new and valuable varieties by JOSEPH
HARRIS and JOHN JOHNSTON ; an article upon

Scythes and Cradles,

By JOHN W. DOUGLAS, (fully illustrated ;) also articles on Horse-
Breaking and on Bitting Colts, by SAM'L F. HEADLT, Esq., (il-
lustrated ;) on Recent Progress in Agricultural Science, by Prof
S. W. JOHNSON ; on Commercial Fertilizers, Veterinary Medicine
and Jurisprudence, Progress of Invention Affecting Agriculture,
Valuable Tables for Farmers and others, etc.

It is intended that the work shall be practical, excellent in the
beauty of its illustrations, and in its adaptation to the wants of
American Farmers, superior to anything of the kind heretofore
published.

In its general features it is like the Agricultural Annual for 1867,
containing an Almanac and Calendar, and there will be added a
list of dealers in Agricultural Implements, Seeds, etc. Sent port-
paid. Price, fancy paper covers, 50 cts. ; cloth, 75 cts.

" ORANGE JTTDD & CO.,

245 Broadway, New-York.

THE AMERICAN

FOR 1868.

_A_ Year-Book

FOR EVERY HOME:.

The second number of this serial is now ready. It contains a
popular record of horticultural progress during the past year,
besides valuable articles from

EMINENT HORTICULTUEISTS.

Among those who contributed to its pages are

HON. MARSHALL P. WILDEK,
PETER HENDERSON,
THOMAS MEEHAN,
JOSIAH HOOPES,
WM S. CARPENTER,
GEORGE W. CAMPBELL,
DOCTOR VAN KEUREN,

DOCTOR JOHN A. WARDER,
S. B. PARSONS,
JAS. J. H. GREGORY,
GEORGE SUCH,
ANDREW S. FULLER,
JOHN SAUL,
JAMES VICK,

and other well-known pomological and floricultural writers.

The engravings, which have been prepared expressly for the
work, are numerous, and make it the

MOST BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED

work of its Kind ever published in this or any other country. It
contains Tables, Lists of Nurserymen, Seedsmen, and Florists, and
other useful matters of reference. Sent post-paid. Price, fancy
paper covers, 50 cts ; cloth, 75 cts.

ORANGE JTJDD & CO.,

245 Broadway, New-York

[Established In 1342.]

^A Good, Cheap, and very Valuable Paper for
Every Man, Woman and Child,

IN CITY, VILLAGE and COUNTRY,

THE

AMERICA! AGRICULTURIST,

FOR THE

FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD,

Including a Special Department of Interesting and

Instructive Reading for CHILDREN and YOUTH.

The Agriculturist is a large periodical of Thirty-hoo pages, quarto, not octavo,
beautifully printed, and filled with plain, practical, reliable, original matter, includ-
ing hundreds of beautiful and instructive Engravings In every annual volume.

It contains each month a Calendar of Operations to be performed on the Farm,
la the Orchard and Garden, in and around the Dwelling, etc.

The thousands of hints and suggestions given In every volume are prepared by prac-
tical, intelligent working men, who know what they talk and writs about. The
articles are thoroughly edited, and every way reliable.

The Household Department Is valuable to every Housekeeper, affording
very many useful hints and directions calculated to lighten and facilitate in-door work.

The Department for Children and Yonth, is prepared with special care
not only to amuse, but also to inculcate knowledge and sound moral principles.

Terms.— The circulation of the American Agriculturist, (about 15O,OOO) is BO
large that It can be furnished at the low price of $1.50 a year ; four copies, one year, for
$5; ten copies, one year, for $12; twenty or more copies, one year. $1 each; single
copies, 15 cents each. An extra copy to the one furnishing a club of tea or twenty.

TRY IT ^

ORANGE JUDD & CO.,
Publishers & Proprietors,

No. 245 Broadway, New- York City/

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