ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 



comes up from the throats and hands of the 

 thousands. It was an importation of Perche- 

 rons from France, put on exhibition by the 

 white-haired old southerner, a pioneer, I think 

 perhaps it would be quite fair to say, the pio- 

 neer, in this line of importation ; in any event, 

 he was among the first to begin buying in 

 person on French soil. It would be impossible 

 to form any adequate estimate of the influence 

 of this importer's stock upon the native stock 

 of the region. These great draft-horses might 

 be supplemented from time to time by other 

 breeds having distinctive excellencies, but the 

 original blood introduced left a powerful im- 

 press. The initial work was all-important, too, 

 in educating the farmer to the possibihties 

 of strengthening his own stock. 



And so it has gone all along the lines of 

 animal life in the years of the New Earth, — 

 from the lordliest stallion to the most vocifer- 

 ous cockerel that ever proclaimed the blueness 

 of his blood in the midst of an admiring 

 harem, — a determined effort to improve the 

 domestic animal Hfe of America. So wide- 

 spread has been the interest during this period, 

 and so keen has been the rivalry, that no end of 



209 



