THE PERCHERON HOUSE. 57 



science she opposes her relentless logic ; these products 

 are an unnatural brood, which she refuses to acknowledge 

 as her own. She stops short, and, no matter how good 

 these results may appear in themselves, the error crops 

 out, and it is known by experience that they almost all 

 fail when put to the test of breeding. 



But suppose every measure of prudence taken, even sup- 

 pose there has been no mistake, most of the produce re- 

 sulting from this first crossing will be, generally, lighter 

 built than their dams. However, among the number there 

 will be found some which, uniting weight to beauty, will 

 constitute good types with athletic and regular forms. 

 The latter only should be preserved, and these only can 

 be usefully employed, either among themselves or outside 

 of their own families, in the improvement of our stock. 



At the second crossing, the imperfections observed at 

 the first will disappear in a great measure, and from the 

 third crossing, with constant care, unflinching attention, 

 and unwearied patience, the difficult problem will be 

 solved : size combined with vigor, hardiness of constitu- 

 tion with style, and weight with elegance. 



If, on the contary, by wishing to make too quick prog- 

 ress, there should be too much difference between the 

 stallion and the mare, the resulting stock, although in ap- 

 pearance successful, will always prove bad breeders, giving 

 ungainly results, with blemishes which would never have 

 occurred in proceeding wisely, especially not in improv- 

 ing by means of the primitive horse, all of whose ancestors 

 are of the same race. 



This latter crossing, that is, with the Arab, may some- 

 times give slower, but with it we are always sure to ob- 

 tain finally better results. Thus in making choice of the 

 best Percheron mares and crossing them with fine, but the 

 stoutest possible, Arabs, we would advance towards cer- 

 tain improvements, and at the end of a few generations, 

 we would be sure to find at each foaling season fine types, 

 3* 



