14 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



altogether new field for the Percheron, although not many 

 of the breed have been brought into the South or into 

 Canada, where the British breeds seem to be in more 

 favor. Wilcox (Farm Animals) has stated that there 

 are 30,000 registered Percheron horses in the United 

 States, which is a larger number than any other draft breed. 



7. Organizations and records. In France, the inter- 

 ests of this breed are in the hands of Societe Hippique 

 Percheronne. It was organized in 1883, and in that 

 year published its first stud-book. The Percheron Society 

 of America has published sixteen volumes of the Percheron 

 Stud-book of America, the first two volumes, however, hav- 

 ing been published by the Percheron-Norman Horse 

 Association. One hundred and eight thousand regis- 

 trations have been made. The Percheron Registry Com- 

 pany has published three stud-books. 



There have been many dissensions among the importers 

 and breeders of French draft horses, leading to the forma- 

 tion of several societies and stud-books. It becomes 

 necessary to discuss these, not because of any desire to 

 state which were right or which were wrong, but solely 

 for the purpose of explaining the status of the societies 

 and stud-books at present representing the breed. 



The first importations of draft horses from France to 

 America we.re almost universally called Normans. There 

 was no apparent reason for the name, for none of them 

 came from Normandy. This name at that time was 

 intended to embrace all the breeds of draft horses in 

 France. Those importers bringing horses from La 

 Perche considered the horses from that district the typical 

 draft horses of France. The French government had 

 not at that time established the Percheron stud-book (its 

 publication was begun in 1883), consequently there was 



