EVOLUTION FROM WITHIN 105 



Through many generations during various periods 

 of the Percheron 's history the same old families 

 have been engaged in producing colts in this won- 

 derful nursery of good horses. The names of . some 

 of those who have contributed largely to the making 

 of Percheron progress will be mentioned in a subse- 

 quent chapter. The specially rapid maturing quali- 

 ties of the Percheron, and the extraordinary plas- 

 ticity of the breed have served these persistent breed- 

 ers admirably in their eminently successful effort to 

 produce larger horses. All this has been brought 

 about under the stimulating influence of foreign gold 

 by a rigorous selection of the breeding materials, 

 rational working of the brood mares, and liberal 

 feeding of the young stock with suitable grain and 

 forage. 



This, then, is a fair account of the original evolu- 

 tion of the modem type in France, so far as can be 

 ascertained by an exhaustive examination of all 

 available records pertaining to it. The famous stal- 

 lions appearing in the first volume of the Percheron 

 Stud Book of France were undoubtedly the direct 

 descendants of the government-approved stallions 

 listed in the foregoing pages. It will be observed 

 that the long record so carefully examined at the 

 expense of much time and labor yields the name 

 of but one stallion in service during this period 

 described as a "Boulonnais," and he was not owned 

 by a Percheron farmer but belonged to the govern- 

 ment. The Perche was increasing the weight of 

 its own horses by free recourse to the services of the 



