THE PERCHEKON HORSE. 33 



CHAPTER I. 



REGENERATION OF THE PERCHERON BREED. 



There are two ways of crossing applicable to any breed, 

 both of which have had their earnest partisans. .So much 

 clamor has been made about them, I think, only because 

 they have been simultaneously used and often mingled, and 

 the results have been deranged by their use. This might 

 have been avoided by commencing with the simplest and 

 continuing with the best. 



The first may be called the renewal of a breed within 

 itself, or interbreeding; the. second, improving by foreign 

 blood. We will pass them rapidly in review, trying to 

 reach in the results the solid basis of truth. 



CHAPTER II. 



REGENERATION OF THE BREED THROUGH ITSELF, OR 

 BY SELECTION. 



The first manner, also called selection, consists in mak- 

 ing, among the race itself, a rational, judicious choice of 

 the most perfect types ; those which are as free as possible 

 from the most prominent defects of the breed; those 

 which best recall the primitive type, if it possess the 

 superior qualities which it is required to reproduce ; those 

 which, healthy and vigorous, seem to have among them- 

 selves the most affinity. This choice ought to be severe 

 and rigorous, nor should we be discouraged by the small 

 number of the elect. 

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