REGENERATION OF THE BREED THROUGH ITSELF, OR BY SELECTION.
The first manner, also called _selection_, consists in making, among
the race itself, a rational, judicious choice of the most perfect
types; those which are as free as possible from the most prominent
defects of the breed; those which best recall the primitive type, if it
possess the superior qualities which it is required to reproduce; those
which, healthy and vigorous, seem to have among themselves the most
affinity. This choice ought to be severe and rigorous, nor should we be
discouraged by the small number of the elect.
From the issue of this first selection, make a similar choice, and with
them and their progeny march perseveringly in the same way, without
ever looking to the right or to the left—that is to say, without
ever listening to advice which would modify the work commenced, or
to praises which might induce the desire for too rapid results. To
proceed too fast is perhaps a still greater error than to stop on the
way, inasmuch as it often renders a retrograde movement obligatory and
reduces to nothing the results of several years of success.
It is indispensable that the selections from which a good progeny is
desired should be completely grown—that is to say, the horses should be
at least four years past, and the mares fully three years old.
Sell, without remorse, to the trade the least successful types,
and most carefully keep the good. The horses, after serving some
campaigns in their adult age, can be sold without inconvenience; a few
well-proved types are sufficient for a district. But never part with
the mares when they are remarkable for their conformation, temper,
aptitude to work, and for their qualities as breeders.
Thus, in order to keep the breeders clear of temptations which are
always dangerous, and as a good means of guidance, prizes become a
question of life or death for the future of the race. It is, in fact,
by means of prizes and rewards, liberally distributed for the class of
mares of three to ten years inclusively, that they can be kept in the
region. It is by awarding the prize at three years, after they have
been covered, in paying at first but one-half of the prize and the
remainder only after they have foaled and have been again covered, that
they can be virtually controlled. After ten years, as they no longer
meet with either a good or profitable sale, special encouragement
may cease. Moreover, the breeder who during eight years has received
in prizes a sum often superior to the money value of his mare, and
recognizing that he possesses in her a brood-mare of merit, will no
longer commit the folly of parting with her for a price which would be
ridiculous.
There is such extreme delicacy in the manner of distributing these
prizes, that I scarcely dare refer to it.
The members of the council-board, who have the appropriation for the
prizes, should have naturally and rightfully the honor of awarding
them. I would then wish, that in each district (what I am about to say
excludes the public fairs, in which a jury, numerous, and consequently
never unanimous in opinion, opposes the execution of a uniform idea),
the council-board and the council of the district, charged at the
same time with the establishment of the _Stud-book_, of which I will
speak in a separate chapter, should be willing to accept this mission,
which they would perform with the aid of the inspector-general of the
Stud-stables. Each year, by their care, the mares of a district would
be scrupulously examined and classed for the prize.
These premiums should be granted for eight years, to the best
three-year-old fillies, to which this distinction would give the
entrance upon the _Stud-book_. In the first year of the establishment
of this book, destined to contain the genealogical documents relative
to the celebrities of the race, the mares above three years, which have
been found worthy to be inscribed, should be likewise given prizes,
and this same should be allowed them as a pension up to the age of ten
years.
These inducements should be annual, and kept up as long as the
prize-mare is kept as a breeder and in proper condition, that is to
say, sound of wind, and exempt from the glanders. Other blemishes, the
natural consequence of work and age, might be tolerated.
Following the same system and conditions, similar prizes should be
awarded to stallions, without paying attention to rewards which they
may have received from other quarters. But as the resources of which
a department disposes, augmented even by private contributions, are
not inexhaustible, it is urgent that the prizes, always liberal and
remunerative, being from two to four hundred francs for mares, and from
four to eight hundred francs for stallions, should be accorded only to
specimens of real merit. Quality, when it effects the regeneration of a
race, is always preferable to quantity.
It is, especially, necessary to excite earnest breeders by all possible
means, to preserve or to buy remarkable Percherons, presenting in their
form and character the type of the stallion. And, if the prizes of four
to eight hundred francs, of which we have just asked the institution,
should not appear to the authorities of the departments a sufficient
means to impart the necessary impulse for the complete success of this
measure, the departments might themselves buy some remarkable types,
and either use them, themselves, in gratuitously serving the finest
mares, or in confiding them to good farmers, in whose hands they would
be given the prize and used almost for nothing, as long as their health
permitted them to be profitably kept. After a certain number of years
these stallions might even become the property of their keepers, or
they might, from the beginning, be granted them at reduced prices, with
the obligation, on the one side, that they should be used with judgment
and preserved with care, and on the other side, with the promise of
a largely remunerative prize. Love of gain has driven the peasant to
strip himself of everything he owned that was good; it now belongs to
the authorities, by the incentive of gain, to induce this same peasant
to pursue a wiser course.
Oppose as much as possible the use of stallions before fully four years
old, and the fillies being put to breeding before reaching their third
year. This can only be attained by giving the prize, in the class of
fillies, to such as have been served at the age of three years, by
stallions of at least four years old.
Crossing by selection has numerous advocates, and from all time,
the best-informed, the most practical men, have been unanimous in
proclaiming that _blood is only preserved and improved by blood_—that
is to say, by selection. It is easy and not expensive, inasmuch as the
necessary subjects are always at hand; it is natural, inasmuch as its
simplicity is apparent to every mind. And, if it does not bring the
rapid results so pleasing to those too eager for profit, it is, at
least, always sure. For, without giving at first exceptional results,
it never fails in its effects, by reason of the affinity existing
between the different individuals, and by reason especially of their
perfect conformity with the climate and soil. In fact, this conformity
is not an indifferent matter, and it has been found by experience
that animals, noted upon their native soil for their sureness in
reproducing, and for the invariable transmission of their qualities to
their descendants, frequently fail in these respects when imported into
another country. Often, several years roll by before they recover that
equilibrium of health and that tranquillity of animal functions, which
permit them to reproduce in a sure, equal, and fixed manner, without
which an improvement in the type cannot take place.
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. It is
thus that the finest herds of La Manche, and especially those of M.
Mannoury of Canisy near Saint-Lô have been formed. The success of this
breeder began at Ebisey near Caen, where he commenced a few years ago
and where the stock can be easily examined.
A bull of the Cotentin race, the most perfect and best bred that could
be found, put to heifers of the same breed, chosen among the finest
types, was the starting point officially recorded. Selection, operating
upon this progeny, as it had operated in the beginning, was continued
without intermission, and, by these means it has produced a herd all
the members of which are alike and constantly transmitting identical
qualities.
[Illustration: Decoration]