THE PERCHEROIS' HORSE. 69 



often irascible blood would be to destroy the heavy-draft 

 race a race that I would like to see preserved intact 

 alongside of the two others, though he be not quite 

 suited to a country as hilly as Perche. Pie might, doubt- 

 less, plow successfully the vast and smooth plains of 

 Beauce ; but this is not the lot of all. I look for him in 

 that busy country called Perche, where he must, without 

 rest or pity, with a shoulder free from all tenderness, drag 

 heavy vehicles to the tops of hills, and it will please me 

 to see the play of his haunches and limbs in descending 

 with these loads bravely and without flinching to the bot- 

 tom of the valleys. 



Do you expect, also, from a horse derived from English 

 blood that cool, restrained, and ever fresh energy, that 

 courageous patience of which the Percheron, every day, 

 gives an example in the omnibuses of the streets of Paris ? 

 Dragging at a trot heavy loads, the weight of which 

 frightens the imagination ; stopping short, both in ascend- 

 ing or descending ; starting off freely and always without 

 balking ; never sulking at his work or food, and fearing 

 neither heat nor cold : this is a specimen of Percheron 

 qualities. 



Do you expect from an unjudicious cross with English 

 blood a good, heavy draft-horse, a good shaft-horse, or 

 a true wagon-horse? No one has now any illusion on 

 this score. 



In London, a traction of only about 2,000 Ibs. is requir- 

 ed of a draft-horse. In Paris, the horses harnessed to the 

 heavy stone carts are required to drag as much as 5,000 

 Ibs. each, and often even more. 



What will dealers in heavy draft-horses do ? The trade 

 is already taxed to supply the demand. For long 

 experience has taught, and unjudicious crosses have 

 proved the English horse and his derivatives to be unfit 

 for this purpose, for they are too nervous and not suffi- 

 ciently staunch. Thus, the trade avoids them by instinct, 



