402 EFFECTS OF CLIMATE AND SOIL ON CONFORMATION. 



a great deal of nourishment, and are much more produc- 

 tive of coarseness and obesity, than energy and good 

 quahty" {A. Riguet). " Countries which are renowned for 

 the large size of their horses have soft and abundant her- 

 bage, which makes the animals so phlegmatic and lazy, 

 that they can be easily kept in their enclosures by narrow 

 drains and small fences" (Sanson). This well-known 

 authority tells us that the Boulonnais, which is the best 

 heavy draught horse in France, is a native of damp 

 districts which produce very succulent herbage. 



During all my travels I have never seen a natural 

 breed of heavy draught horses produced on dry soil. 

 The large majority of Russian horses are of the dry soil 

 type, the only exception being the Beetewk, which is a 

 heavy cart-horse that derives his name from the Beetewk 

 river, which flows past the Voronej village of Shukavka. 

 De Simonoff and De Moeder (Races Chevalines) tell us that 

 " this breed prospered as long as the provinces of Voronej 

 and Tambov possessed large and rich pastures ; but since 

 the greater part of these plains have become converted into 

 arable land, the Beetewks have diminished in size, and to 

 a great extent have lost their characteristic type, except 

 when these animals are bred in studs by very rich agri- 

 culturists." The conditions of climate, soil, and water 

 have made in Bretagne, as elsewhere, a fairly sharp line 

 of distinction between its breeds of horses. Thus, on the 

 fertile pastures near the seaside of that country, we find 

 the heavy cart horse ; on the plains of the interior, a 

 lighter animal ; ajid on the mountains, a pony. Like 

 Shires and Clydesdales, the Danish, Schleswig, Dutch, 

 Belgian, Rhenish-Prussian, Boulonnais, and Percheron 

 breeds of cart-horses all come from countries where the 

 pastures are luxuriant. 



" When we compare the coast of Britain with those 

 of the opposite continent, we find a striking similitude in 

 their geological formation, and in their animal and vege- 

 table productions. All along the British Channel, from 



