26 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



and then finished their fattening with grain, produced a meat so nearly 

 like the best lamb that it required experts to detect a difference; these 

 people use the term ''Angora mutton." In other instances, where the 

 animal is fattened by browse alone, there is imparted to the meat a 

 game flavor, which may be intensified or reduced by the character of 

 the browse; people who use the meat under these conditions call it 

 "Angora venison." 



Some correspondents, with evident thoughtlessness, refer to the meat 

 as "goat meat." This is a serious blunder if a successful effort is to 

 be made to popularize the use of Angora mutton, as there is a wonder- 

 ful difference between the flesh of the common goat and that of the 

 Angora. For this reason the prefix "Angora " should never be omitted. 



THE USES OF ANGORA GOATS. 



A large class of people in some way have become possessed of the 

 opinion that the goat is practically a useless animal. They do not 

 reach conclusions upon investigations, however, and do not discrimi- 

 nate between the different breeds. To them a goat is a "goat," and 

 there the argument ends. Investigations prove that the Angora goats 

 are not only classed among the most useful of the domestic animals, 

 and have been so classed for thousands of years, but their usefulness is 

 manifested in a variety of ways. The fleece, called ' ' mohair," furnishes 

 some of the finest of fabrics among ladies' goods and is used in various 

 other manufactures; their habit of browsing enables the farmer in a 

 wooded locality to use them to help in subjugating the forest; their 

 flesh is exceedingly delicate and nutritious; the milk, though not so 

 abundant as with the milch breed of goats, is richer than cow's milk; 

 their tanned skins, though inferior in quality to the skins of the com- 

 mon goat, are used for leather; their pelts make the neatest of rugs 

 and robes; they are excellent pets for children; a few of them in a 

 flock of sheep are a protection from wolves and dogs; their manure is 

 noticeably helpful to the grass which follows them after they have 

 cleaned away the underbrush. These are all vital subjects of varying 

 degrees of importance, and will be considered here under appropriate 

 heads. 



BROWSING AND PASTURAGE. 



Ability to clear brush land. — Goats are browsers by nature, and there 

 is no vegetation they will eat in preference to leaves and twigs of 

 bushes. While this fact would at once establish them as an intolera- 

 ble nuisance in an orchard or garden or any other place where desira- 

 ble shrubbery is growing, it also shows that they may be of great value 

 in many localities where it is desirable that underbrush be destroyed. 

 They are omnivorous eaters and seem particular to avoid that charac- 

 ter of vegetation which other kinds of live stock prefer. Every leaf 



