28 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 



1830 was the era of the systematic infusion of the Eng- 

 lish 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, never- 

 theless, 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 VHI. 



STARTING POINT OF THIS DEGENERATION. 



As long as the post-coaches were flourishing and the 

 diligences crossing France in every direction, it was espe- 

 cially 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 com- 

 plete 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 em- 

 ploy quick-gaited horses, it became necessary to think of 

 rendering the race heavier, in order to replace the monop- 

 oly of the mail stages and diligences by another monop- 



