TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Production, Rearing, and Improvement of the Percheron Horse 7
PART FIRST.
Greatness and Decline of the Percherons.
Chapter I. —Glance at Perche 11
Chapter II. —Sketch of the Percheron Race 14
Chapter III. —Origin of the Percheron 17
Chapter IV. —Modifications of the Percheron Race 20
Chapter V. —His first Modification due to contact with the Brittany Race 21
Chapter VI. —Conditions under which they are bred 23
Chapter VII. —Causes of the Degeneracy of the Percheron Horse 26
Chapter VIII. —Starting Point of this Degeneration 28
PART SECOND.
Of the Means of Regenerating the Percheron Horse 32
Chapter I. —Regeneration of the Percheron Breed 33
Chapter II. —Regeneration of the Breed through itself or by Selection 33
Chapter III. —Consanguinity 38
Chapter IV. —Ought the gray coat of the Percheron to be inflexibly maintained? 40
Chapter V. —Preserve pure, and without Mixture the three Types of the Percheron Race—the Light Horse, the Draft-Horse, the Intermediate Horse 44
Chapter VI. —Improvement of the Breed by means of Foreign Crossings 48
Chapter VII. —The Arab Cross 51
Chapter VIII. —The English Cross 64
Chapter IX. —Improvement by means of the Stud-book 71
Recapitulation 75
PART THIRD.
Information to Strangers wishing to buy Percheron Horses 81
Chapter I. —Food and Breeding 84
Chapter II. —Trade. Glance at the most celebrated Breeding Districts 93
Chapter III. —Speed and Bottom of the Percheron Horse 95
Chapter IV. —Tests of Speed of the Percheron Horse 97
Chapter V. —Tests of Endurance of the Percheron Horse 99