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 



