THE ANGORA GOAT. 25 



Tho Aiiiei'iciiii people desire to know things by tlieii- riobt naiues. 

 This is ii principle more deep seated than nier(^ prejudire. A great 

 amount of prejudice had to be overcome before the tomato was gener- 

 ally used for food, and we can imagine in a degree what was said of the 

 first man who ate an oyster or a mushroom. But these ' ' poisonous " and 

 '"nasty" things are now recognized everywhere not only as delicacies 

 but as most nourishing food. So will it be with the flesh of Angora 

 goats when it is generally known that it is palatable and nutritious. A 

 perusal of the man}^ reports received b}^ the Bureau of Animal Indus- 

 try shows that there is no objection to Angora goat meat in those 

 localities where these goats are raised. 



The Angora has everything to recommend it — nothing to condemn 

 it; and there seems to be no real good reason why its identity should 

 be lost by dropping the name "goat." Whoever sees the animal can 

 not fail to admire it, arid whoever eats of it is quite certain to like it 

 if he is at all fond of mutton; and the prejudice against it will disap- 

 pear as the industry expands and develops throughout the country. 

 Indeed, a knowledge of the Angora goat shows that the existing 

 prejudices will not hold against it; that those prejudices are based 

 upon the reputation of the common goat. 



NAMES OF THE SEXES. 



There are no well-established names for designating the sexes of 

 goats. The, male is indiscriminately called "male," "sire," "buck," 

 '"ram," and "billy," and the female, "doe," "ewe," and "nanny." 

 Oftentimes a writer uses two or more of them in one article, showing 

 that he has not adopted any of them. One of the questions submitted 

 to the men was this: "As to designation of sex — do you call the male 

 "buck," "billy," or "ram," and the female "ewe," "nanny," or 

 "doe ? " More than half of those who replied called the male ' ' buck," 

 and nearly half called the female "doe." The objection of one writer 

 that the plural of the female, "does," conflicts in reading with the verb 

 "does," will not hold, as a sentence will not "make sense" with the 

 one word used for the other. In this bulletin it has been decided to 

 refer to the sexes as "buck" and "doe." 



The castrated animal is called "wether," as with sheep. In Cape 

 Colonj'^ he is called a "kapater," and the sheep wether is there called a 

 ''hamel;" but there is no reason why we should adopt these terms. 



The young is called the "kid." There seems to be absolute una- 

 nimity in this matter. 



NAME OF THE FLESH. 



Our correspondents are apart in the use of the terms "Angora mut- 

 ton" and "Angora venison" for the flesh of the Angora goat, but the 

 greater number of them call it by the former name. Those who pas- 

 tured their goats upon some grass or clover as well as upon browse, 



