64 THE PERCHERON HORSE. 



His progeny, easily fattened, rapidly become corpulent. 

 It results from this, that although strongly limbed, they 

 appear, for a large body, to have but weak extremities. 

 But have patience ; oats will draw in and strengthen those 

 inflated flanks, and, after the second generation, the stom- 

 ach of the colt will enlarge on account of the food being 

 more abundant than concentrated, the fat will disappear, 

 and his compact and solid limbs will appear what they 

 really are. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE ENGLISH CROSS. 



English blood, infused with judgment, allies well with 

 the Percheron race, and we have met with perfectly suc- 

 cessful results in the midst of the disappointments which 

 have been the consequences of injudicious crossing. Too 

 often these crossings have been effected in violation of 

 common sense, without any attention to the distance which 

 separates the blood horse from the common, low-bred 

 Percheron mare, she having no affinity with him. But 

 these trials require science, wealth, and perseverance, and 

 are far from being within the reach of ordinary breeders. 

 Those who would succeed must possess the talent of 

 waiting, for unfortunately the rearing of the resulting 

 progeny is a burden. Their slow development renders 

 them but little fit for the labors to which the farmer is in 

 the habit of consigning his colts. Then, they cannot, 

 like the young Percheron, pass from hand to hand, and 

 thus they find themselves stripped of the only advantage 

 which renders the raising of the draft colts so profitable : 

 avoiding embarrassment and affording a prompt profit to 



