THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 285 



light was shed arid the situation rendered more 

 intelligible to those who really cared to know 

 the facts, by the publication, at about the same 

 period, of a stud book for the Boulonnais breed. 

 The organization of the Percheron Society of 

 France and the publication of a stud book for 

 the breed in that country has already done 

 much toward preserving its purity; and if it 

 shall continue to be honestly and carefully 

 managed, as I have every reason to think it has 

 been up to this time, it will afford a guarantee 

 as to purity of lineage which was sadly lacking 

 in the early days of the introduction of the 

 breed into this country. Most of the horses 

 bought by the early American importers from 

 dealers in the large cities of France have doubt- 

 less possessed a good share of Percheron blood, 

 but there was then no means of ascertaining 

 the facts. Our importers had to rely solely 

 upon their own eyes and the integrity of French 

 horse-dealers; and the dealers of Paris, Rouen, 

 Dieppe, and Havre were no more reliable and 

 scrupulous than the average horse-dealer in 

 other parts of the world. Those who went 

 direct to the district which was once known as 

 La Perche, now comprised in the Departments 

 of Eure et Loir, Loir et Cher, and Sarthe, where 

 Percheron horses have for generations been 

 bred in their purity, and where the fame of the 

 Percheron race is still guarded as a priceless 



