JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
XX. — A French Haras and Horse Fair} By Earl Cathcart. 
The Haras, or National Stud, at Lamballe, C6tes-du-Nord, Brit- 
tany, is a fine typical study, embracing as it does, within a stud 
of some 200 stallions, types of nearly all the horses of France. 
Lamballe is a Haras of the first rank, though not actually one of 
the largest, yet, situated as it is in the midst of a well-defined 
horse-breeding country, where the various influences, tastes, and 
races can be conveniently considered, it affords a most complete 
and interesting study. 
Though a member of the Societe des Agriculteurs de France, 
and armed with an introduction from the distinguished President, 
I could not obtain admission to the Haras without a special 
authorisation from the Minister of Agriculture. The only ex- 
planation of this strange difficulty that I could get was, there 
had been a row somewhere — the newspaper press took it up — ■ 
it was about some admission to a Haras, the Directeur there 
was a General — "ei on est tomhe sur le General — toujours la poli- 
tique ! " and hence, as regards foreigners, the general order of 
exclusion. My visit in the summer of 1887 was rendered doubly 
pleasant and agreeable by the instructive society in which it was 
made ; I was accompanied by my friends General Julian Hall 
and the Comte de Carcaradec, a Breton of the Bretons. Both 
my friends are devoted to the noble animal the horse, and the 
' My information is derived from observation and conversation and some 
general reading, but I liave had especially before me two books : Ze C/ieval, 
par Eug. Lemichel, veterinaire en premier (15runos, Paris), .Srd edit., a 
sort of textbook for the army and the military school of Saint-Cyr ; and Lcs 
Cheraux de Trait Fran(iais, par Eug. Gayot, formerly Inspector-General- 
Director of Haras (Librairie de la Maison Rustique, Paris, 1887). M. Gayot 
has also published, according to the Bictlonnaire Univcrsel, a statistical atlas 
of the horse produce of France, and M. Richard (du Cantal) has written Annalvs 
deg Haras. 
VOL. XXV.— S. 3. C C 
