EVOLUTION FROM WITHIN 85 



It will be shown in the following pages that the 

 splendid work of the French government in giving 

 bonuses or prizes to approved stallions of the Per- 

 cheron breed dates simultaneously from about 1820 

 in the Departments of Eure-et-Loir ( Arrondissement 

 of Nogent), Orne (Arrondissement of Mortagne), and 

 Loir-et-Cher (Arrondissement of Vendome) — the 

 very cradle of the Percheron breed. Later, the De- 

 partment of La Sarthe entered upon the same good 

 work. We have already shown that the beginning of 

 Percheron breeding at the Royal Haras du Pin com- 

 menced about the same time. We quote now exclu- 

 sively from the original documents (manuscripts) 

 in the National Archives at Paris, covering the for- 

 mative period of the modern Percheron. 



First Approved StaJlions Near Nogent. — The first 

 three approved stallions in the Nogent district were 

 Superb, Le Curieux, and Le Percheron. Superb be- 

 longed to M. Debray, Margon, just outside of No- 

 gent. He was a dapple-gray, and was approved on 

 the 14th of August, 1820. His bonus was fixed at 

 300 francs a year, and he was considered the best 

 stallion at that time. In 1822 he served 42 mares, 

 from which 29 foals were born. In 1823 he had 58 

 mares. Five of the mares were described as "Per- 

 cheron-Norman, ' ' the others were ' ' Percherons. ' ' 



Le Curieux was owned by M. Chevet, Coudray. 

 He obtained first prize as an approved stallion in 

 1821. He was four years old, and is described as a 

 "'Percheron suitable for draft purposes," dapple- 

 gray, with a light-colored head; he was got by a 



