THE BELGIAN. 159 



gium not only from American buyers but from 

 the Germans as well and the latter seem to be 

 willing to spend more money for what they 

 want than our importing trade will stand. Ow- 

 ing to the efforts being made by the government 

 to encourage the improvement of the breed, the 

 keeping of a popular stallion is a most profita- 

 ble business and therefore there is comparative- 

 ly little incentive to sell for export. Not only 

 this, but when a stallion obtains government ap- 

 proval and subsidy he has to do a season of so 

 many mares before his owner can lay hands on 

 the money. This insures the retention of a good 

 stallion in the country for at least one season. 

 Moreover the subsidies are liberal and there- 

 fore prices are high. 



Importation of Belgian mares has not been 

 extensive owing to the high prices prevailing 

 for them. They are mostly in the hands of 

 farmers who own but a few at the most, and the 

 prices obtainable for their colts suggest to their 

 owners that it is unwise to part with them 

 unless handsome prices are forthcoming for 

 them. The breed is not numerically large, 

 and the high values have prevented our import- 

 ers bringing over as many mares as the trade 

 here would have absorbed if they could have 

 been obtained on a lower level. However, quite 

 an improvement is visible of late in this regard 

 this season, and the breeding of Belgians in the 

 United States is therefore likely to be placed on 



