AGRICULTURAL ZOOLOGY. 343 



go, the better adapted are they — the great desideratum to the Northern breeder and the 

 Southern consumer. 



The Asiatic buffalo, or water-ox, is a large, ugly, hardy animal. The cows are good 

 milkers, making fat and good-flavored beef, though coarse-grained, and precisely suited to 

 sea-coast marshes, where no other animal can venture, as well as to lands subject to in- 

 undation. 



Introduction of the Chinese Yak into Europe. 



The Garden of Plants, at Paris, has recently received, for the purpose of acclimation and 

 propagation in France, a number of yaks from China — an animal which Buffon says " is more 

 precious than all the gold of the New World." In Thibet and China this animal serves as a 

 horse, an ass, a cow, and a sheep ; it bears heavy burdens, draws large loads, supplies milk, 

 has flesh which is excellent, and hair which can be wrought into warm cloths. To naturalize 

 them, therefore, in Europe would be an immense service to mankind ; and, as they bear cold 

 bravely, the French naturalists have every hope that they will be able to do so. Some Chi- 

 nese have been brought over to attend the yaks, and they will teach the French the way of 

 treating them and of curing them in sickness. The yaks are of lowish stature, are singu- 

 larly shaggy, and have tails more bushy than those of horses. 



It is to be hoped that the people of the United States will take their share in endeavoring 

 to accustom Asiatic and African animals to our climates. It is not very creditable to our 

 boasted nineteenth century that in this respect it is far behind the old Romans. Out of the 

 many thousand species of which the animal creation consists, only between forty and fifty 

 are, in fact, domesticated. 



Acclimatization of the Cashmere Goat in the United States. 



At the Annual State Fair of New York for 1854, three Cashmere goats were exhibited by 

 Dr. Davis, of South Carolina. It is the animal of which the Cashmere shawls are made, the 

 value of which does not depend, as many suppose, upon their rarity, but upon the fact that 

 the material surpasses every other like article in its capacity for wear. The Cashmere goat 

 was introduced into South Carolina several years ago, by Dr. Davis, from the interior of Asia 

 Minor, and the breed has since been carried into the adjoining States of North Carolina, 

 Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida, and mixed with the native goat. The hair of the 

 animal, which is pure white, is most beautiful. It somewhat resembles in appearance the 

 finest portion of the fleece of the Chinese sheep, a few of which were on exhibition. It is 

 curly, soft in texture, and brilliant in appearance. The animal is extremely delicate in 

 shape, though hardy. A sock made from the hair was shown with the goats. We learn that 

 the meat is white and delicate, and is preferred, in the parts of South Carolina where they 

 are reared, to mutton. A herd will protect itself against dogs, which constitutes a great 

 advantage over sheep in localities where dogs are troublesome. Throughout South Carolina, 

 the ordinary animal has risen largely in price, from the facility with which the breed is 

 improved by this cross. 



A letter from Dr. Davis, June, 1855, to the Greensborough (S. C.) Beacon, states, that 

 " the fourth crop of the Cashmere upon our native goat is fully equal to the pure Cashmere." 

 This animal, the doctor says, is destined to make a great revolution in the agriculture of the 

 whole South. Beautiful cloth is now made by negro weavers, with ordinary plantation 

 looms, from the second cross. All the native goats in South Carolina, he states, are now 

 appropriated to crossing with the Cashmere breeds, and Georgia and Virginia are also breeding 

 these animals extensively. 



Introduction of Camels into the United States. 



At the last session of Congress, in accordance with a recommendation from the Secretary 

 of War, an appropriation was granted for the purpose of importing and introducing the camel 

 into the United States, to be used for transportation on the prairies and deserts of the West. 



