THE CUBA REVIEW. 



27 



AGRICULTURAL MATTERS. 





Turnip Patch at Herradura, the American Colony in Pinar del Rio Province. 

 Un campo de nabos en Herradura, en la Provincia de Pinar del Rio. En este sitio se ha 

 establecido vma colonia americana bastante numerosa, la cual se dedica al cultivo del citron y del 

 tabaco, asi como en coscchar hortalizas frescas para el mercado de Nueva York. 



The Useful Goat. 



Rank weeds, sunflowers, cockleburs 

 and such have spoiled for cultivation 

 millions of acres. The chaparral smoth- 

 ers all other vegetation in sections where 

 originally prairies abounded for hun- 

 dreds of miles and were kept clean by 

 oft recurring prairie fires. 



For all such the goat is found to be 

 the savior. These lands would require 

 from $12 to $20 to clear were men to 

 do the work. The goat will do it for 

 nothing. In fact, it will perform the 

 task and in the meantime yield up 

 abundant fleece, produce palatable goat 

 "venison" and furnish a grade of milk 

 that entirely outranks that of the cow. 



The goat is to-day actually harnessed 

 to the task of eating up oak brush fields 

 in Iowa, broom sedge wastes in Vir- 

 ginia, cocklebur patches in Louisiana, 

 sunflowers in Kansas, sagebrush in Ne- 

 vada, lantana in Hawaii, chaparral and 

 an unlimited miscellany everywhere. 



It is the Angora goat, the aristocrat 

 of all the tribe, that is doing the work. 

 As they go about devouring they will 

 continue to give up the fleece that makes 



such dress goods as mohair, such com- 

 mercially valuable material as the plush 

 that covers the seats in all railway trains 

 and such quaintly amusing articles as 

 the wigs with which the members of 

 the theatrical profession are wont to 

 make sport. — N. Y. Tribune. 



The brush-eating instinct of the An- 

 gora goat is being demonstrated on the 

 Lassen National Forest in California, 

 where they are cutting trails for fire 

 guards through the brushy areas on the 

 mountain slopes. 



The goats have been divided into two 

 bands of 1,500 each, and under care of 

 herders are grazed on areas to be 

 cleared. They have killed nearly all the 

 brush in the course either by eating it 

 entirely or by barking, as in the case 

 of manzanita bushes. 



Goats will just as readily attack man- 

 zanita as any other bushes where there 

 is little else. 



The goats did not begin until about 

 the middle of June, but have made rapid 

 progress. The trails will be kept free 

 of sprouts by the goats, saving the gov- 

 ernment the labor of cutting them out 

 by hand. 



