Supply of Horses adopted (o the Enrilish An?i>/. 
selves, the general insufficiency of the supply is complahied of, 
and an explanation found in the fact that the price of the horse 
has not risen in the same proportion as that of the bullock. 
On this point Count Roche Aymon wrote as follows in 1828 : 
"Before 1791, 400 or 500 francs was paid for a Limousin horse 
two and a-half years old, and a pair of oien were sold for Iroin 
300 to 400 francs. Nowadays these oxen are sold at I'rom 700 
to 800 francs each, and horses four or five years old sell for 400 
or 500 francs," and it is remarked that if these figures are not 
quite correct, yet their proportions are preserved in the returns of 
actual commerce. There is, therefore, more advantage in pro- 
ducing horned beasts than riding-horses. 
The insufhciency of the supply is no new complaint, since in 
the time of Colbert one hundred millions of pounds were ex- 
ported to pay for horses, and proportionally as much since that 
period. 
The deficiency is by no means equally distributed between the 
different classes required for the use of the army i for, whilst 
artillery horses and mules for draught, finding always a steady 
market, independent of the Government, for home use or even 
for export, are always in fair supply, without any special encou- 
ragement (and indeed in spite of the attempts made to foster other 
breeds exclusively) of riding-horses, — such as are required for 
light cavalry, there never is much choice. The French generally 
are not a riding and driving community like ourselves, therefore 
the number of saddle-horses there bred will chiefly depend on 
the encouragement given by the requirements of the army, and 
on the sufficiency of the price there paid to meet the average 
cost and risks of the breeder. Much stress is therefore now laid 
by some of their authorities on regulating the Government de- 
mand, and, if possible, announcing beforehand its probable 
extent. It has fluctuated from 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 in a year, 
to scarcely more than 2000 or 3000, and it is asked if the 
breeders have on hand and wish to sell 12,000 or 15,000 riding- 
horses in a year when the State, as we have seen, may only pur- 
chase 500 or 1000, what is to become of the others ? " The 
coach-contractor prefers for his work a Percheron horse at 1000 
francs to a saddle-horse (Merlonese) at 6000 francs, or a Breton 
horse at 500 francs to a Limousin at 10,000. Therefore, horses 
designed for the cavalry cannot be sold for other purposes without 
loss to the breeder. 
The guarantee of a steady rate of purchase— say of 7000, 8000, 
or 9000 — for the army, is, therefore, essential to the supply being 
forthcoming; and it is suggested that the existing establishments 
of horses had better be weeded occasionally, than th(; rate of pur- 
VOL. XXIV. U 
