The Percheron horse

by Charles Du Hays

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 Chateaudun (department of Eure and Loir);

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

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, Iton, Höene, Braye, Avre, Commanche, and Percheron Orne, take their source, springing 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, Condé, 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 comes 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; artificial meadows are everywhere cultivated with success, 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 persevering. 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. In 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 infinite 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 designation 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 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 influence, 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 much the same as that province. The grasses are, however, sparser, and especially do not have that extreme sweetness 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 II.
SKETCH OF THE PERCHERON RACE.

The height of the Percheron horse is generally 14¾ to 16 hands; he is of a sanguine temperament, mixed in variable proportions with the musculo-lymphatic; his color is almost 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 temperament predominates;

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

3rd.—The type intermediary between these two, partaking of the one by its lightness, and of the other by its muscular force.

The latter is the most numerous, but it has much degenerated 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 expressive; 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 horizontal 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 abundant 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.

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 particularly in the Norman portion, in the district of Mortagne, near Courtomer, Moulins-la-Marche, Aigle, Mesle-sur-Sarthe, and especially in the parishes of Mesnière, 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, Ferté-Bernard, Saint-Corme and Mamers, we travel over the birthplace 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, Buré, Pervercheres and the breeding parishes of the district of Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Montdoubleau and Courtalain.

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.

CHAPTER III.
ORIGIN OF THE PERCHERON.

What, now, is the origin of the Percheron? Some attribute 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 remarked 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 composed 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 crusades, and the chronicles cite several Counts of Bellesmer, Mortagne, and Nogent, barons and gentlemen of that province, who, with many of their vassals, made pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

The Abbe Faet, 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 Montdoubleau, Geffroy 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 incomparable 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 Courseroult; these are historical facts which have their importance. Like chronicles, it is true, exist for other provinces—for Limousin, for Navarre, 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 fortunate as to be able to show the traces of it, should stimulate 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 subterranean vault was discovered in the middle of a field, near Jargeau (Loiret), upon the borders of Perche. It contained a statue of Bacchus, surrounded by bacchanals, with 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 possession 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, displayed from the towers of Mortagne and Nogent!

But had the Percheron then, as a race, the characteristics it now possesses? This is not probable; it must have been lighter, but still possessing within itself the character which it now presents. The essential point is to prove that there was, at that period, a native race; and if the extraordinary 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 tradition 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 Percheron. Most of these writers were gentlemen of the 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 useful 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 extinction 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 Cóèsme, 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 long year before the eastern blood will be seen as before. It is only towards 1820, still at the same chateau of Cóèsme, 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 Gallipoli. These two valuable stock-getters, both gray, again gave tone and ardor to the Percheron race, and transformed definitely into 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 towards 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 always 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 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 multiplied 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 improving 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.

ALENE.—MARE.

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 partaking 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 constantly. 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, Courgeon, 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 nourished on bran, grass, and hay.

The reason is, it is as yet unproductive to its master, and it feels the effects. Wait a little; its hardest time has gone by, and work will soon soften its lot. It reaches, in this manner, the age of 15 or 18 months. What has it cost for keeping? 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. 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 involuntarily 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 encouraged.

Master, servants, large and small, all deeply imbued with the love of the horse, unite in this work with admirable 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 presently 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 farmer comes to buy. He lives in a country of proverbial richness. The work there is abundant, but the nature of the soil renders it extremely easy. The fields, very much divided, and distant one from another, make a rapid gait indispensable.

In Beauce, the horse cannot be replaced as a beast of burden; no matter how dear his keeping, his use is indispensable; the ox cannot be his competitor. But it is a fact of the greatest importance to state, that it is to the ox that the Percheron 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 agriculture. 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. Sometimes he succumbs; the mortality is quite large in this region. But the stock which remains after such a training offers many guaranties to the dealer who buys it to transfer, if they suit, to the express and omnibus companies; or if they belong to the draft race, to the contractors, 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 circumstances in which he is placed.

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

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 females, 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, Brittany sent hers upon the markets. They made their appearance in Perche and in the fairs of Mortagne, Courtalain, etc., etc., taking their place there alongside the colts of the country.

The breeding-mares being sought after, and in consequence 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 Pomme, Bijou, and Tancrede? 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. 1830 was the era of the systematic infusion of the English 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, nevertheless, 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 VIII.
STARTING POINT OF THIS DEGENERATION.

As long as the post-coaches were flourishing and the diligences crossing France in every direction, it was especially 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 complete 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 employ quick-gaited horses, it became necessary to think of rendering the race heavier, in order to replace the monopoly of the mail stages and diligences by another monopoly. 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 railroads? 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 answer 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 authorities, aided by the élite of the proprietors, endeavored, however, to hinder this emigration. They formed a stud-stable at Bonneval; but this establishment was not composed of types that were homogeneous and adapted to assure a regular and continuous improvement. Prizes were given at Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Illiers, and Vendôme. 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?

It will be objected that these stallions, before disappearing, had already served; I know this. But how served? They had served at two or three years, before their complete 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 genuine Percheron blood. It is a mixture which betrays itself 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 stud, continues still its patriotic work, and keeps up its encouragements, 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 association of proprietors, known under the name of “The Horse Association of Perche,” having for its mission the furnishing of good stallions to the farmers.

Trotting matches at Illiers, Courtalain, Vendôme, Montdoubleau, and Mortagne, have been established; but, with all this, a success worthy of such efforts has not yet been obtained, on account of a lack of uniformity in the movement.

Competition at the fairs gives but too often the spectacle of size being systematically encouraged; while trotting, in consequence of the speed required, leads to the employment of English cross-breds. Would this operation 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 parsimony, 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.