CHAPTER VIII. 

 THE FRENCH STORY RESUMED. 



Before proceeding with an account of the great 

 expansion of Percheron breeding in America which 

 characterized the decade beginning with 1880 and 

 closing in 1890, let us return to France, and take 

 note of the further progress of events in the home 

 of the breed. 



We have already shown by copious extracts from 

 the national archives of France, preserved in Paris, 

 that beginning with about 1815 the government ex- 

 tended systematic support to the aspirations of the 

 breeders of Percherons through the medium of offi- 

 cial inspection of stallions offered for service, and a 

 system of subsidies paid out of the national treasury 

 to the owners of the approved horses, besides pur- 

 chasing and maintaining at the government stud at 

 Le Pin stallions regarded as specially valuable for 

 service in connection with the work in hand. This 

 resulted in the establishment of a type better suited 

 to agricultural uses than the ancient trotting and 

 diligence stock for which the district had for so long 

 been famous. 



Practical Promotive Work. — ^A royal ordinance of 

 Dec. 21, 1833, created in France several new govern- 

 ment stallion depots, and reorganized some of those 



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