THE PERCHERON HORSE. 79 



are met with) would find a market open to them in the 

 trade, among the moderately rich, and in the army, 

 especially in the artillery. The males, when castrated 

 at an early age, would be more acceptable to the trade, 

 and, while ceasing to dishonor the privileged class and 

 the class destined for reproduction, could be used for 

 numerous purposes. For the gray horse the outlets are 

 necessarily more limited. When the omnibuses and 

 teamsters have taken their complement of 6,000 or 7,000 

 horses, and when the foreigner has gathered up his 600 or 

 700 choice specimens, there no longer remains a sufficient 

 demand for the second-rate stock. 



As there now exist neither diligences, couriers, mail 

 nor post-coaches, for which the gray Percheron was for- 

 merly required for the night road service, there is no longer 

 any imperious reason for preserving his old coat ; hence- 

 forth he may be bay or dark colored. And, provided he 

 becomes so by the aid of a dark-coated Arabian, or a heavy, 

 well-bred Merlerault, or by a fine specimen of a Norfolk, 

 the type of his race, I see therein no inconvenience. 



When steam machines, to supply the hands which are 

 wanting, will plow our fields and perform the hardest 

 work, we will have no longer to regret that our Percheron 

 laborers have not the gray color which possessed the 

 property of turning the scorching rays of the sun. One 

 of our greatest writers, one of our lights in equestrian 

 science, has, however, written : 



" The use of stallions of mixed blood, borrowed from 

 foreign races, left but regrets in Perche. It has pro- 

 duced vices of disposition and blemishes which did not 

 belong to the Percheron horse, and has given him in ex- 

 change no good quality. It has disturbed the structure 

 of the progeny without any gain in form or endurance." 



Notwithstanding all my respect for this high authority, 

 let me be allowed to ask him if he has ever seen the 

 progeny, too rare it is true, of some well-chosen stallions 



