THE PERCHEKON HORSE. 37 



Crossing by selection has numerous advocates, and from 

 all time, the best-informed, the most practical men, have 

 been unanimous in proclaiming that blood is only De- 

 served and improved by blood that is to say, by selection. 

 It is easy and not expensive, inasmuch as the necessary 

 subjects are always at hand ; it is natural, inasmuch as its 

 simplicity is apparent to every mind. And, if it does not 

 bring the rapid results' so pleasing to those too eager for 

 profit, it is, at least, always sure. For, without giving at 

 first exceptional results, it never fails in its effects, by 

 reason of the affinity existing between the different indi- 

 viduals, and by reason especially of their perfect conformity 

 with the climate and soil. In fact, this conformity is not 

 an indifferent matter, and it has been found by experience 

 that animals, noted upon their native soil for their sureness 

 in reproducing, and for the invariable transmission of their 

 qualities to their descendants, frequently fail in these re- 

 spects when imported into another country. Often, several 

 years roll by before they recover that equilibrium of health 

 and that tranquillity of animal functions, which permit 

 them to reproduce in a sure, equal, and fixed manner, 

 without which an improvement in the type cannot take 

 place. 



Selection has long been practiced in Perche, and it has 

 there produced for a long time the best results, which were 

 interfered with only by the importation from Picardy, 

 Caux, and Boulogne, of animals of inferior blood. 



Among the bovine species, we have curious examples 

 of the value of selection, especially those furnished in 

 Cotentin, where a breed exists the finest, best, and the most 

 sought after in France. Crossing with foreign blood, which 

 fashion, at one date or another, had wished to prescribe, 

 has always been forbidden as a crime in this country. 

 It is thus that the finest herds of La Manche, and especially 

 those of M. Mannoury of Canisy near Saint-L6 have been 

 formed. The success of this breeder began at Ebisey near 



