CHAPTER I.
FOOD AND BREEDING.
The stallion, in the districts inhabited by mares, is, with some rare exceptions, a “rover,”—that is to say, he visits the farms at stated periods. His standing season lasts six months, from January to July, and he generally returns four times to the same place. The foal is dropped, ordinarily, very early, and always in the stable, where it constantly remains until weaning time. The dam goes to work every day, and leaves its foal each morning, to see it again only in the middle of the day, and at night. Green clover, or other green forage, is fed, to keep up her supply of milk.
At six months the colt is weaned. If it be a filly, it remains in the canton where it was foaled, to be put to breeding when it reaches the proper age. If it be a horse colt, it is sold to the farmers of the raising districts, of which we will speak in the chapter devoted to the trade.
The stock of these districts is recruited from two sources, the southern region principally, (in the vicinity of Montdoubleau and Chateaudun,) on account of the great reputation of its mares. The cultivator desirous of rearing good colts traverses these districts as early as the month of June, and makes his choice of colts from under the dams, and out of herds of established reputation. This manner of selecting stock to raise is the most logical, as also the most expensive. It is much in favor with the farmer carrying on a large business, in the neighborhood of Mauves and Regmalard. Some cultivators of the other cantons follow his example; but not so rich as he, they have but the second choice.
The second source, and the most abundant, is the purchase of gang colts—that is to say, those which, in Perche, have not been sold during the summer; but principally those from the neighborhood of Coulie, to the north-west of Maus, and those of Lower Maine. They are brought, entirely weaned, to the fairs of Perche about the end of autumn. St. Andrew’s fair at Mortagne offers a curious specimen of this operation. The farmers select from the gangs. The origin, in this case, is no longer of any account; there is neither sire nor dam to weigh down the scales; the merit is all exterior—of the individual. If this way of buying be not so dear, it is likewise not so sure, unless the purchaser be acquainted with honest dealers, accustomed to bring in only good colts.
There is but little trouble taken in weaning the colts. This passage from one period of life to another, always so serious with thoroughbred colts, takes place quite simply with the future field laborers. They wean themselves in the trip from their birthplace to their new destination. The farmers in the neighborhood of Regmalard, who ordinarily buy them very young, give a little cow’s milk on their arrival, to strengthen them, and to serve as a transition; but even this method is far from universal.
The colts, when they come upon the farms, are put five or six together, pell-mell, into an indifferently ventilated stable, which receives its light through a lattice door. Their nourishment consists of a very thin mush, made of barley flour and bran, frequently renewed. The solid portion of their food is composed of dry clover and hay, with which their cribs are regularly filled.
Some farmers feed aftermath, which is sweeter; but as this is apt to load the stomach, in order to render it more easily digested, it is mixed with oat-straw.
It is very rare that these colts, changed from one district to another, often making long stages, and exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, are not attacked with strangles. Many raisers at this period have the pernicious habit of giving them some kind of grain, in order to warm them up, and cause them to throw off the disease. But this food has the fault of thickening the blood too much, and exposes them to numerous ailments.
This diet is continued until the spring, at which time the colts are given green fodder in the stable. Later, they are turned into the clover fields after the first cut, or into the meadows after they are mowed.
At eighteen months they commence their apprenticeship; passing their necks through the collar, they are harnessed to plows or wagons with horses already broken, although of an age at which, in many countries, their equals are as yet ignorant of all labor. The food, composed of clover principally, hay, millet straw, corn salad, (Feticus,) and cracked rye, baked in loaves, becomes from this time forth, a little more nourishing. They also commence to eat oats, but as yet, sparingly. This is not given them pure, but with the chaff—that is to say, it is not winnowed. The quantity of this food used by day is not less than to 1½ to 1¾ gallons, yielding not much more than ⅓ of a gallon of oats. On the other hand, the meal and the mush are increased, to give them body and strength. At thirty months old they are still kept upon this food, in the midst of all the farm work, which they daily perform (with, however, a great deal of moderation), and in dragging very light burdens; for, truly, it is but a training, to confirm the hereditary mildness of their character, and to teach them, little by little, to become willing and fearless.
In the meanwhile the dealer, who roams constantly about among the farms, arrives. He buys and resells immediately to the farmers of Little Perche and Thimerais. More stimulating feed is given them, in consequence of more constant and harder work. This life lasts a year, and is terminated by the passage into Beauce, or the Chartres country, where their work is again increased. With the work the feed increases, and this combination leads to the perfection of the horse.
It is at this time that the horses, having attained their maturity, and the maximum of their strength, are bought for Paris, whither they are called by relentless labor, which they are enabled to endure by their unconquerable will, great muscular force, energy, and courage.
“This mode of training,” to borrow the words of a noted breeder, “represents the division of labor, which gives such happy results in the manufactories, and its advantages cannot be well appreciated, except by those who, having raised horses, know what embarrassment an assemblage of colts of all sizes and ages produces. Unfortunately it would be very difficult to introduce this excellent custom elsewhere, which has probably existed for ages in Perche without the knowledge of its source.”
The colts destined for breeding are generally devoted to this purpose at the age of two years, and continue, on an average, until they have attained the age of four. I speak of Little Perche, for in Great Perche, since the foundation of the Equestrian Society, the seat of which is at Chateaudun, and which extends its action to quite a distance, the covering is done by adult stallions. At four, they are sold either to Paris, or to foreigners, should their merit render them worthy of such a choice.
This total emigration of the male colts at the age of six months, renders it very difficult to procure good stallions of this breed. From Great Perche they are scattered among the trade, often before the age of a sure selection. When they are sought after in Perche, they are no longer to be found; they must then be followed and hunted up on the Beauce farms, and this pursuit is extremely difficult. It, however, offers greater chances of success than the Chartres market, where the greatest number of mature Percheron horses are to be found.
As for the fillies, their experience is the same as that of the colts, with this single difference that their life is exempt from migration. They are raised in the region in which they are foaled. They work from a very early period, bear two or three colts, and then disappear, like the males, in the vortex of consumption. For, beyond some exceptional cases and remarkable productions, it is rare that they grow old upon the farm. The farmer, in order to lose nothing of their value, sends them off at the age of five, six, and seven years. It would be a happy thing, as we have already said, if sufficient inducements in the way of prizes could be offered to retain the fine breeding mares upon the soil, and put an end to this custom, so inimical to progress.
The farmers who have pasture grounds, as in the environs of Regmalard, make use of them for raising their colts, as is done in Merlerault and in the Auge Valley. Instead of letting them loose in the fields, they are sent to pasture.
The hay of the valleys is good, but insufficient for the supply of the farms; the deficit is made up by the use of artificial fodders, in which clover enters for three-quarters; the remainder is composed of fenugreek, lucern, and some roots. Millet, or barley and oat straw are also given as food, and in certain cantons they are stacked in alternate layers with the meadow grass, in order to give them the odor and fragrance of hay—an ingenious method of making an unattractive food acceptable.
The stables, although much better than formerly, in the good old times of the race, still leave a great deal to be desired. They are not furnished with stalls, but the horses are tied alongside of one another without any separation. But such is the gentleness of character of this breed that an accident was never heard of.
The whole of the management which we have just described has a marked tendency towards constantly enlarging the horse at the expense of his nervous system.
This diet, completely out of place in a mild, grain producing country, has reason for existing in Perche, and the Percheron cultivator knows too well what he does in employing it, not to have understood this. The climate and the products of Perche, the air and the water, affect too exclusively the nervous system not to require being constantly combatted.
For this I desire to take an example in the whole animal kingdom stocking this country. Everybody to-day well knows the influence of climate upon animals. No one now any longer doubts that it is to the sharp and healthy air of the Percheron country, to its elevated hills, and to its atmosphere constantly renewed by the powerful ventilators of its valleys and forests, that this country owes the eminent qualities of its fine race of horses, which has won for it the right of displaying this significant title: “Perche, the land of good horses.” Everything surrounding us inclines us to adopt this opinion. The domestic animals brought here are transformed in a short time by the contact of the air breathed and the nourishment furnished. The marked types of the Billot and Crêvecœur fowls are no sooner brought here than at the first generation a total change is effected in their looks. From the second generation it is difficult to recognize them in the thin, lean, and nervously formed fowl, with a wild look, and always ready to take wing.
The bovine race of Perche is also far inferior to the improved race. It is the opposite of the kind prized nowadays, the race which is mild, lymphatic, and short-legged, always inclined to fat, and having in its bony frame only just enough to serve it for its locomotion, forming a quadrilateral of flesh, mounted on four small legs, a rump bending with its haunches, a broad, smooth back, and a low brisket. Its horns, which are seemingly useless in a country from which man has driven out the wild beasts, fall overlapping one another, like a useless ornament, upon the head.
Such is not the Percheron breed of cattle; on the contrary it is dry and bony, of a nervous temperament, long legs, angular haunches, contracted chest, lank thigh, and thin neck, with a long, thin head. Two long horns of a greenish-white stand up in the air, always threatening as in a savage country, infested with dangerous animals. An expressive word designates them fully: a cattle dealer will tell you they are “staggy,” and will pass on without bestowing upon them a glance. They are hardly fit for quick fattening, and are recognized without trouble by their color, which in terms of the trade is said to be “a little weak,” and by their skin, which is dry and harsh. The dealers appropriately express their condition by “no good points.” The bulls, especially, are tough, with big horns, bony limbs, large joints, an ugly head, and the whole difficult to fatten, which well entitles them to the full application of the epithet “boorish beasts,” invented to express animals of inferior quality.
It is in vain that Maine, the district which joins it, has given to Perche its race of cattle; they have degenerated, have become taller, lanker, less easy to fatten, and have preserved no trace of the fine head and the good fore-quarters that are to be found in Maine. In vain has Normandy poured out a generous blood. The Norman type hardly appears; it is degenerated and entirely loses the agreeable color, fine head, good limbs, white horns, and other good points.
For several years, the fashion of crossing with the Cotentin race has become universal, and continues to make rapid progress. From the second generation, nevertheless, there remains almost nothing in the conformation and in the quality of the stock to show the cross. It is only by dint of always crossing with the Cotentin that Perche has been able to make for itself her present passable stock.
The sheep, sufficiently delicate for the table, are small, and form a degenerate and nameless mixture of the breeds of Maine, Caux, and Trennes, crossed for several years back with the Merino. They present the same conditions as the horned animals. Like them, they are difficult to fatten and are not lymphatic, notwithstanding the frequent importations of the heavier and fleshier breeds.
Such predispositions can only come from the soil, and the constant sway of the nervous over the lymphatic system produces all the qualities of the Percheron horse. This is why tradition has painted such a seductive picture of his construction and qualities. This is why the old inhabitants, who had seen that fine breed before its degeneration, speak of it with so much warmth. This is why, notwithstanding the incredible crossings, it has withstood such mixtures. And this is why it is always energetic, in spite of the diluted nourishment without tonic properties which is given it, and which would be enough to bastardize a race with characteristics less fixed and permanent.
Let us, however, beware of utterly condemning the management of the breeders, and let us not entangle, with an imprudent hand, the threads of his traditions. The horse is his sole fortune, and in the raising of this aid of his agricultural labors, he gains to-day his livelihood. His management has a fixed end to which he always tends with an incredible perseverance, and that is to increase the size of his horses without prejudice to their good qualities.
Now that the country is covered with excellent roads and highways; that railways have accustomed us to great speed; that diligences and mail-coaches are forever gone; that the stylish carriage horse, the hunter, and the half-blood, have reached great perfection, the role of the Percheron is completely changed. He is no longer the hunter, the saddle-horse, nor the motive power of heavy wagons over new and broken roads; he remains exclusively both the quick and mettlesome draft-horse, and the heavy burden and express wagon horse. He must possess superior strength, speed, docility, temper, and honesty, and a complete absence of irritability. It is for this reason that after having listened to enthusiastic advisers, and allowed himself to be led astray by men too eager to enjoy the result of their ideas, he to-day is no longer to be cajoled by the solicitations of the amateurs of foreign blood. The Percheron cultivator does not wish even a single drop of it, and exerts himself exclusively in producing heavy horses. Encouraged in this way by the dealers of all countries, paying excessively high prices for the big and heavy Percheron horse, while leaving upon his hands, without the offer of a farthing, the horse in which a few drops of “blood” can be perceived, he has spread his sails and stretched them boldly to catch the breeze of the day.
We shall carefully avoid following the example of numerous famous doctors, the display of our little bundle of receipts. Let it be, however, permitted us to touch again slightly upon the question in expressing the fear that, should he not take care, the breeder of heavy horses will in the end render them too heavy and weighty. Stallions having a small touch of blood, well applied, and sufficiently latent not to excite mistrust, having action, good limbs, strong loins, and deep chest, are indispensable for warming up the Percheron blood and giving it tone. Look at Sandy, and afterwards at Collin, Bayard, and some others whose influence was immense. Their progeny, magnificent in every respect, did not show too much blood in their exterior, but revealed it vigorously by action and high spirit. The crosses which have best succeeded with the Percheron are undoubtedly, as shown by numerous examples, those derived themselves from an oriental cross. This fact, which clearly proves that the Percheron race has a great affinity with the race of the desert, should not be neglected in foreign alliances.
As for the English alliances, these have not given as yet all the results promised; but from this nothing must be inferred against new trials. Too much blood had constantly been used, and consequently the end was missed by wishing to proceed too rapidly.
Little blood, at first, but blood well chosen, from the Norfolk race, blood patiently infused into Percheron veins, is the means of triumphing over old prejudices and opening to this country an extensive and successful future.
KATE.—MARE.