Angora skins properly dressed are used, white or tinted, to manufacture rugs, robes, carriage mats, fur sets for children, trimming for ladies' furs, and also for dusters, horse head tassels, doll hair, and wigs. They are mostly imported raw from Cape of Good Hope and Turkey, and range in value, duty paid, from $1.50 up to $3.50 each, undressed. Domestic skins are worth from 50 cents for kids up to $2 each for large full-fleeced pelts. The low, crossbred, common skins and short pelts not suitable to dress are used by morocco and glove leather manufacturers, and are worth from 15 to 18 cents a pound for large sizes down to 10 and 11 cents for small ones and kids. PROTECTION FOR SHEEP. The ability and inclination of the buck to fight varmints has made him in many places a valuable acquisition in herds of sheep. It is said that dogs and wolves will not only not attack a grown goat, but will not venture into a herd of sheep where there is a buck goat. Many owners of sheep in this country recognize the value of the goat in this respect, and keep one or more for the purpose of protection for their sheep. This practice is especially desirable in pastures where there is no herder or immediate oversight. If one or two goats are placed when young in a herd of sheep they will remain with them all the time. An extensive breeder of Pennsylvania says: "While goats do not fear dogs, and will even fight, I prefer to keep dogs out. I have seen them drive a dog out of the yard, and oftentimes a single goat will protect a flock of sheep from attacks by dogs." If they are old and not accustomed to being with sheep, they will in all probability keep to themselves, away from the sheep. They may be depended upon to do this certainly if there is quite a number of them. They are more rapid walkers and more inclined to wander than sheep, and so will flock by themselves. Their protection to sheep will thus prove a failure. It is quite amusing to see the courage of a doe when she protects her young kid from a dog, or hog, or flock of buzzards. Two of my neighbors' dogs got in the habit of killing my kids, and one doe protected her kid quite a while from the two large, vicious dogs until the neighbor caught one of the dogs and gave him a good whipping, when the goat assisted in this work by butting the dog with all her might. You should train the goats to be brave by taking your dogs into the goat pen with you, and, in case the dog refuses to run from a brave goat, scold the dog to make the goat think that she whipped him. If you had a tame wolf trained in that way you could train your goats to fight wolves.-H. T. Fuchs. ENRICHMENT OF LAND. The enrichment of land from the droppings of goats is decidedly noticeable wherever they are kept for a year or more. This factor is of no small importance where goats have been employed to clear the brush from land with the object in view of turning the land into grass pasture. Such land, especially if hilly and rocky, is usually in need of fertilizers of any kind if cropping is to be attempted upon it. The manure of goats and sheep is about equal in value. A California firm has been selling Angora manure for fertilizing fruit trees and lawns for several years. They get $6 a ton (delivered) for it in carload lots. Manure is considered as one of the resources in the best system of modern farming, and it should be taken into account by anyone who is keeping goats or contemplating doing so. THEIR USE AS PETS. The purebred Angoras are very graceful, and their beautifully shaped bodies and fine silky hair make them very attractive. There is no animal, except possibly the horse, that is more beautiful than these goats, and no animal is more cleanly in his habits. As pets for children they are very popular, if they can be kept where they will be harmless to vegetation and anything made of cloth. They have all the propensities of the common goat for destroying fruit trees and chewing any kind of cloth and of climbing upon roofs. All kinds of goats are mischievous in the extreme. The Angoras are tractable and are often harnessed to carts, as are common goats, and their beauty makes them more desirable for this purpose. BY-PRODUCTS. In the modern methods of economic production and manufacture nothing is permitted to go to waste. Whoever it was that said facetiously that the packers saved every portion of a hog but his squeal spoke the whole truth. The same truth applies as well to the carcass In the case of goats the horns find many uses, and the fat is said to be the best tallow known for the manufacture of candles. Any part of the carcass not useful in any other way is converted into fertilizer. of any food animal. LOCALITIES ADAPTED TO ANGORA CULTURE. CLIMATE. So far as temperature is concerned, no place has been found that is too hot or too cold for Angoras. Although not partial to heat, they will stand it quite as easily as sheep. Shade is essential to success if the sunshine is very warm. The climate in Angora, where the breed originated and is still supposed to flourish in its more perfect state, is extreme. A temperature as high as 85 F. is registered in the summer and as low as 0 F. in the winter. In Cape of Good Hope, where they are thriving well, the temperature goes higher in the summer, but not so low in the winter. The United States presents a wider range of temperature, where, in southern Texas and New Mexico, it may go above 100 F. in the summer, and in Idaho as low as 30° F. below zero in winter. The range of localities where Angoras have done well is from Guadalupe Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, to Ukamak Island, belonging to the Alaska Peninsula. Mr. M. L. Washburn, superintendent for the Alaska Com mercial Company at Kadiak, says: "On Ukamak Island we have a flock of Angora goats, which have increased 60 per cent a year since they were placed there. They have given very good results in mohair, which is of good quality and fine texture." There are a few small flocks in New England and in nearly every State west until the Pacific Ocean is reached. The Western States have many thousands. Mr. William M. Landrum is quoted as follows: White goats can stand any amount of cold and snow, but sleet and wind are very injurious. On the other hand, they can endure the scorching heat of the Tropics. Their fleece is best at an altitude of from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea level. The fleece never sheds on the Guadalupe Island, 210 miles from San Diego, at an altitude of only from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. I have grown mohair there 2 feet long, of lovely We had 80,000 wild goats roaming on the island without any attention, except in slaughtering season, when we sheared the Angoras and slaughtered from 14,000 to 15,000 common goats for their hides and tallow. The goats all ran wild and took care of themselves. We were not at one dollar expense on them. texture. In considering Angora culture it is of more importance to study the climate with reference to moisture rather than temperature. It should be remembered that the original home of the goat is high up in the mountains, where the air is not laden with moisture. Under like conditions it thrives best here. Lowlands that are wet or marshy are not at all suitable. The effect of such situations soon makes itself apparent in a flock of goats. Foot rot is apt to give endless trouble, and the feet will need much attention in other respects. Therefore lowlands with much moisture and high temperature are not recommended for goat culture. It is a historical fact that the first effort to transplant the Angora goat outside of Asia was a failure on account of these conditions. This was in 1554, when a few individuals were taken to Holland, but they soon died, owing to the moist climate. The effect of climate has a great deal to do with the character of mohair. On this point Mr. John S. Harris, of Oakley, Idaho, who is a gentleman of much experience, is quoted: Mohair grown here in Idaho is very bright when scoured, and, owing to the electric currents which exist in the air, the hair possesses elasticity, a property requisite to mohair. Goats do not grow a long staple here, but owing to the cold it is very dense. Neither do they grow so heavy a fleece as in a milder climate, owing to the dryness of the air. Plenty of green, natural herbage the year round would produce a heavier fleece and ultimately deteriorate its quality. A high altitude is a locality always preferable in goat culture. This is especially true with Angoras, as the climate in high altitudes seems to have a beneficial effect upon the mohair. Colonel Black, whose experience covers a period of thirty years, says that the Angora goat will thrive in any part of our country, and the yield of mohair will be greatest in the colder States. He estimates that the yield can be increased fully 1 pound by removing the goats from Texas to any of the Northern States. CHARACTER OF SOIL. Almost any kind of soil, except wet and marshy land, is suitable for these goats. Their preference is mountainous or rocky land, where they find it necessary to climb mountain sides and rocky cliffs to browse. Such situations not only afford them satisfaction in climbing and feeding, but the rocks serve to keep the feet trimmed. This is an important matter, for on soils devoid of stones or sand the feet must oftentimes be trimmed by hand. One of the reasons for the freedom of goats from most diseases is that they require pure water, and in no place is better water found than in the springs and rivulets of hilly or rocky localities. Goats also require much exercise, much more than sheep, and such situations satisfy this inclination. However, it must not be understood that rocks and hills are essential, although they provide for the goat an ideal situation. As stated above, almost any kind of soil is suitable except wet and marshy land. Goats are not partial to water in any form-in the soil or in the form of rain, snow, or sleet-and they drink a very small amount. Keep the goats dry overhead and under foot. LAND AVAILABLE FOR GOAT CULTURE. The habits of goats, as set forth in the earlier paragraphs of this paper, suggest at once to the informed person that there are in the United States millions of acres of land suitable for goat culture which are now serving no economic purpose whatever. Much of this would answer for sheep raising, but much more of it is suitable for goats only. In the northwestern States there are hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land which, on account of the forest covering, is useless, but when goats clear it of all underbrush and put it in proper condition for cultivation, as they are doing there at this time, the land becomes more valuable for other kinds of farm crops. In other places there is much brush land which it is desirable to have goats transform into good pasture land, and there are also vast acres of mountainous and hilly districts which are ideal locations for Angora goats, but which could be of no importance as pasture or as tillable land. Capt. Almont Barnes, in the article entitled "Keeping goats for profit," makes some estimates of the amount of unimproved land in the country, basing his calculations upon the reports of the Eleventh Census. He finds that the total amount of unimproved land in the United States is 265,000,000 acres. In Maine there are 6,000,000 acres in farms, of which 3,000,000 are improved; in Georgia are 25,000,000 in farms, of which 9,500,000 are improved. He concludes: There is, however, in the United States a large, continuous area, embracing over one-third of the States and Territories, which invites particular attention in connection with this subject. It includes the South Atlantic and South Central divisions |