THE FRENCH GROUP. 157 



French draft horses in the National Register, 

 it may again be pointed out that the Percheron 

 and the Boulonnais are the only draft breeds 

 recognized by the French Government as pure. 

 The Ardennais are being improved mostly by 

 the use of heavy Belgian stallions and are re- 

 corded in the Belgian Draft Stud Book. The 

 Nivernais are being improved by the use of 

 Percheron stallions 'and the Bretonnais are a 

 mixture of everything under the sun. It is per- 

 fectly true that it is impossible invariably to 

 pick out pure-bred Percherons from horses of 

 mixed French Draft breeding, but on the other 

 hand it is not infrequently possible to do so. I 

 desire no controversy in this matter. These are 

 the facts. It only remains to say that whatever 

 the merits of the dispute originally were a colt 

 or filly will sell for more money if it is eligible 

 to record in the Percheron books than if it is 

 only eligible to record in the French Draft 

 book. 



Much misapprehension exists in this country, 

 and indubitably much misrepresentation has 

 been resorted to, in connection with the brands 

 often found under the names of horses imported 

 from France. Under the French law stallions 

 are " approved," which carries with it a sub- 

 sidy of money from the government; "author- 

 ized" which carries no subsidy, and "certified." 

 There are only two maladies for possession of 

 which approval, authorization or certification is 



