Perche

“ Here we meet with the heavy brood-mares.
In the center of Perche, at Mauves, Regmalard, Lougny, Corbon, Courgeon, Reveillon, Villiers, and Saint-Langis, nothing is bred; the farmer brings up the horse colts of Eperrais, Pin-la-Garenne, Coulimer, Saint-Quentin, Buré, Pervercheres and the breeding parishes of the district of Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Montdoubleau and Courtalain.
Horses of different sexes and ages are never mingled in Perche; they are there separated with care. ”

“ The temper of the Percheron breeder is invariably mild. He knows all the importance of attention to the race which [Pg 14] he rears, and nevertheless, it must be confessed, that with the exception of the mildness with which he treats it, he has done next to nothing to ameliorate it or preserve it in its beauty. Nature, time, and the climate, have done all.
Perche has a climate eminently favorable to horse-breeding. Under its influence, the water is tonic and the food nutritious, the air is pure, bracing, and drier than that of Normandy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If he should become of all shades, in preserving the qualities and movement which are a feature of everything that the tonic grasses and the fine and vivifying air of Perche produces, he would not be reduced to the simple role of furnishing the 6,000 or 7,000 horses that the omnibuses and teamsters each year require, plus the 600 or 700 typical ones that foreign countries demand of Perche. ”

“ If Perche proper, Beauce, and the environs of Chateaudun, should not be capable of furnishing their complete contingent in this specialty (as I believe they cannot,) some good specimens could be met with among the Percheron colts raised in the environs of Bernay and on the plains of Sens.
This variety (the draft-horse) demands a great deal less care in the choice of the dams and sires. It is infinitely more elementary, since weight is principally sought after. ”

“ It is, then, the recapitulation of this method and management which should be presented to the stranger desirous of raising the Percheron horse. I will tell him what the cultivator of this country does, and in doing like him, provided he make the attempt in a high, healthy district, a district with a sharp air and one often refreshed by winds, presenting some analogy to the rugged hills and the excellent grassy valleys of Perche, no doubt he will arrive at magnificent results. Several suppositions may be presented to the consideration of the stranger wishing to raise Percheron horses. ”

“ Selection has long been practiced in Perche, and it has there produced for a long time the best results, which were interfered with only by the importation from Picardy, Caux, and Boulogne, of animals of inferior blood.
Among the bovine species, we have curious examples of the value of selection, especially those furnished in Cotentin, where a breed exists the finest, best, and the most sought after in France. Crossing with foreign blood, which fashion, at one date or another, had wished to prescribe, has always been forbidden as a crime in this country. ”

“ The true Perches (Percina) have two distinct dorsal fins, with the membrane which connects the rays semi-transparent and nearly colourless. The pectorals and ventrals are obtuse, or somewhat rounded; the former contain each five soft rays; the latter are placed beneath the pectorals. The form of the body is oblong; the scales are comparatively large; the mouth is wide, and furnished with short and small teeth much crowded, without any larger pointed teeth, resembling canines, at the sides. ”

“ The simple chevron was the designation of the noble, and the particular marks which often accompanied the chevron served to recall some exploit, some distinguished feat of arms, the nature of the tastes, or the possessions of the warrior who bore this blazon.
Perche is very much cut up: the farms generally small ”

“ On the other hand, as a consequence of the great changes in the life and means of conveyance of the wealthy, the Percheron race has been most prominently brought forward. Almost all ranks of the upper classes have now adopted the Percheron horse of the light kind for their private uses, hunts and drives in the country. The fondness for rapid traveling rendering these classes more exacting than formerly, the necessity has arisen of finding in Perche, specimens with weight and speed with a light and stylish form. ”

“ They made their appearance in Perche and in the fairs of Mortagne, Courtalain, etc., etc., taking their place there alongside the colts of the country.
The breeding-mares being sought after, and in consequence sold, it became necessary to replace them. Their offspring sold too well not to think of increasing their number. Hence the introduction, at first, of a large number of Brittany mares, and afterwards of mares from Caux, Picardy, etc., etc., approaching nearest, both as to height and coat, to the race of the country. ”

“ The trade of the whole of France, and the numerous and intelligent amateurs from abroad, visit them carefully, beating the country and searching it in all its farthest corners. Still, notwithstanding the purchases there made, the fairs are not wanting in numerous and good animals. We will, like these strangers, run over the best breeding places.
As an equine country, “Perche, the land of good horses,” is divided into three very distinct districts.
That in which the colts are foaled—stocked exclusively with mares and fillies;
The district in which the male colts are weaned and raised ”

“ 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 town is the seat of a sub-prefecture and of a tribunal of first instance, and is a celebrated market for horses of the Perche breed. Mortagne, once capital of the Perche, dates from the 10th century. ”

“ Thus Adam de Perseigne, an ecclesiastic, writes to the Countess du Perche to advise her how to live in a Christian manner; he counsels her to abstain from playing games of chance and chess, not to take pleasure in the indecent farces of actors, and to be moderate in dress. ”

“ The Percheron shows a very great analogy, by his coat, conformation, character of race, mild disposition, and endurance, to the Arab, of which he seems to be the son, notwithstanding certain differences, the result of time, climate, and the region in which he is bred and in which he lives. ”

“ Indeed, we see, towards 1760, under the administration of the Marquis of Brigges, manager of the stud-stables of Pin, all the large number of fine Arabian, Barb, and eastern stallions, that this establishment owned, were put at the disposition of the Count of Mallart for use at his mare-stables of Cóèsme, near Bellesme. The arrival of the Danish and English stallions at the stud-stables of Pin put an unfortunate end to the influence of the Arab horse in Perche, and it will now be many a [Pg 21] long year before the eastern blood will be seen as before. ”

“ When more than one row of perches is required they should be ranged obliquely—that is, one above and behind the other; by which arrangement each perch forms a step to the next higher one, and an equal convenience in descending, and the birds do not void their dung over each other. ”

“ IMPROVEMENT BY MEANS OF THE STUD-BOOK.
The Percheron breed is old enough, is propagated with sufficient uniformity, and presents sufficiently marked typical qualities to authorize us in claiming, in favor of its members, the characteristics and the title of a separate and distinct breed. Consequently, a Stud-book, recording its pedigrees, would not be out of place. ”

“ The perches should therefore not be more than eighteen inches from the ground, unless the breed is very small and light. Perches are also generally made too small and round. When they are too small in proportion to the size of the birds, they are apt to cause the breast-bone of heavy fowls to grow crooked, which is a great defect, and very unsightly in a table-fowl. ”

“ The most familiar example of the rule in operation is the well-known habit of birds of surrendering their perches to new-comers. When individual A flies to a perch occupied by individual B the latter almost invariably gives way without demur. The particular perch is of no value to the occupier, but a whole body may be a matter of life or death. ”

“ The Percheron, combining as he does a certain attractiveness [Pg 6] of style, very free action, considerable speed united to power, with astonishing strength for his weight, and the greatest kindness and docility, seems to offer to American horse breeders an exceedingly useful animal, either to be maintained distinct, or used for improving our stock of both light and heavy draft-horses by crossings. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Percheron horse no doubt stands first among the draft breeds of the world. His value has been thoroughly tested in this country, and the fact is established beyond a cavil that with careful breeding, and probably an occasional renewal by the importation of fresh blood, the Percheron maintains his superior characteristics, and impresses them upon his descendants of only one-quarter or one-eighth blood to a very marked degree. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In successive generations of these families, born in a dull and damp atmosphere scarcely ever visited by the sun, the legs become lean and lanky. It is necessary to recur incessantly to new drafts of English upon English, always expensive and requiring additional care, without taking into account that the result of too great an infusion of this peevish and [Pg 69] often irascible blood would be to destroy the heavy-draft race—a race that I would like to see preserved intact alongside of the two others, though he be not quite suited to a country as hilly as Perche. ”

“ Lucioperca.—Teeth in villiform bands, those in the jaws with additional canines; palatine bones toothed. Two dorsal fins—the first with from twelve to fourteen, the anal fin with two spines. Præoperculum serrated; scales small.
The “Pike-Perches” are inhabitants of many lakes and rivers of the temperate northern zone. The European species is confined to the eastern two-thirds of the continent, and one of the most esteemed freshwater fishes; it attains to a length of three or four feet, and to a weight of from 25 to 30 lbs. ”

“ It is not of much use to the angler as it seldom exceeds 3 oz. in weight. It takes small worms, maggots and similar baits greedily, and is often a nuisance when the angler is expecting better fish. Allied to the perches is the pike-perch, of which two species are of some importance to the angler, one the wall-eye of eastern America (Stizostedion vitreum) and the other the zander of Central Europe (Sandrus lucioperca) . The last especially is a fine fighter, occasionally reaching a weight of 20 ℔. It is usually caught by spinning, but will take live-baits, worms and other things of that nature. ”

“ The Common Perch, Perca flavescens, which name describes well the gleaming, golden reflections of its scales as it is drawn out of the water, its red gills standing out in vain in the thin element, is one of the handsomest and most regularly formed of our fishes, and at such a moment as this reminds us of the fish in the picture, which wished to be restored to its native element until it had grown larger; and indeed most of this species that are caught are not half grown. ”

“ The Perch is a bold, biting fish, and carries his teeth in his mouth; and to affright the Pike and save himself he will set up his fins, like as a turkey-cock will set up his tail. If there be twenty or forty in a hole, they may be catched one after the other, at one standing; they being, like the wicked of this world, not afraid, though their fellows and companions perish in their sight. ”

“ The Perch, when seen alive in a clear stream, is, as we have said, a beautiful fish. Perhaps the elevation of its back may be thought to detract from its elegance of form, giving it a humped appearance. The back rises somewhat abruptly just behind the head, after which it tapers to the tail: the height of the body, independent of the fins, is about twice that of the width. The general hue of the upper parts is a rich olive, crossed by five or six dark brown bands, which become inconspicuous after death. ”