In the second, they were almost all former servants or farm hands,
possessing only their savings, with which to establish themselves. In
spite of these difficult beginnings, 17 out of 20 left fortunes to
their children, who, the reverse of the children of the former, were
early accustomed to labor and to a regular life. It is useless to say
that in these examples I always excepted the cases where trade, to
carry on its business, sheltered itself under the cloak of the breeder;
for this does not constitute breeding any more than the trade in
bread-stuffs carried on in a farm-house constitutes agriculture.
Finally I would call the attention of the Percheron farmer to two
suggestions. Suppose the supply of horses from the departments of Orne,
Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, Eure and Sarthe, and from the district of
Mortagne, now amounting to about sixty thousand head, should outrun the
demand of the omnibuses and wagons; the remedy for this would be to aim
at greater style and beauty, at the same time preserving the qualities
required by the omnibuses and express companies. We would thus create
another outlet for our stock, through the demands of the dealers in
fancy horses, and the consumption of the army, and bring the Percheron
race very near to perfection.
No disappointment need be feared in crossing the Percheron with
a foreign stallion, either a heavy Arabian, a strong, well-bred
Merlerault, or a dark colored Norfolk, on the express condition that
this stallion should be selected with care, and be of the best stock of
his breed. The Arabian can be placed everywhere, both on poor land and
in the hilly districts; where the progeny of the other stallions would
not thrive, his will succeed well. The get of the Merlerault, and of
the English horses especially, require the most fertile and the best
cultivated districts.
If the results of these crossings, male or female, be successful, they
may be well employed in breeding, and, after some generations, in the
districts where breeding is carried on with care, they may become the
starting point of a choice stock. Commencing with the qualities of good
and substantial post-horses, the Percheron could be elevated to the
dignity of the carriage-horse, and in other less fertile localities to
staunch and compact hunters.
Those showing no improvement, (too many of which are met with) would
find a market open to them in the trade, among the moderately rich, and
in the army, especially in the artillery. The males, when castrated
at an early age, would be more acceptable to the trade, and, while
ceasing to dishonor the privileged class and the class destined for
reproduction, could be used for numerous purposes. For the gray horse
the outlets are necessarily more limited. When the omnibuses and
teamsters have taken their complement of 6,000 or 7,000 horses, and
when the foreigner has gathered up his 600 or 700 choice specimens,
there no longer remains a sufficient demand for the second-rate stock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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