THE ANGORA GOAT. 39 



those grown in Turkey, which goes to show what can be accomplished witli care and 

 brains. The trouble is more with the grower than with the goats and the climate, 

 for what one man can do another can do. 



There are in these quotations hints enough to point the proper course 

 for those goat raisers who desire to make their moliair crop a paying 

 one. If an Angora goat is of most profit in clearing land of brush (as 

 is the case in some localities), his work will be done just as well if he 

 produces at the same time a first-class fleece; thus he may become more 

 valuable. There is no reason why Angoras should have the preference 

 for such work over the common goats, except that the}^ may be profit- 

 able in other respects at the same time; therefore the better the fleece 

 produced while destroying brush, the greater the value of the goats. 



Influence of age and hloodonfiher. — Reference has already been made 

 to the fact that the fiber becomes coarser as the animal grows older. 

 The fiber is also coarse upon younger animals of the lower crosses. 

 The best fiber grows upon the animals of best blood; and among these 

 that upon kids, yearling wethers, and does, in the order named, is pre- 

 ferred. The best fiber is usually very curly, in ringlets rather, but not 

 kinky. It loses its curl and becomes thinner on the goat, coarser, and 

 straighter as the animal grows older. A fiber of best quality is shown 

 on the left of Plate V. It will be noticed by careful examination of 

 this illustration that the samples become less curly as arranged from 

 left to right. The reason for this is that the samples are coarser 

 toward the right. The laSt sample in the illustration is from an old 

 buck, the one next to it from an old doe, while the two samples on the 

 left are from kids. 



TJie weight and length of fleece. — ^The weight of the fleece is always 

 a subject of inquiry and is a difficult question to answer, because of 

 the controlling circumstances — such as climate, feed, care, and, above 

 all, the degree of Angora blood in the animal. The briefest answer, 

 and probably the best one that can be made in a general way, is that 

 of Mr. C. P. Baile}', and is as follows: 



Half-breed goats scarcely shear enough to pay for the shearing; three-fourths bred 

 goats shear 1 to 1^ pounds, worth 15 to 20 cents; seven-eighths bred goats shear 2 to 

 3 pounds, worth 20 to 30 cents; fifteen-sixteenths bred goats shear 3 to 5 pounds, 

 worth 30 to 40 cents. 



He adds the important statement that the fourth cross, or fifteen- 

 sixteenths, is the low^est grade that he would use exclusively for mohair. 



It would be a difficult matter to state what is the average length of 

 an annual fleece, but 10 inches would probably not be much out of the 

 wa3^ There is on record an account of mohair measuring 20 inches. 

 Mr. IT. S. Grant, of Oregon, reports a buck Avith a fleece 19 inches 

 long. In the southern part of the country, where shearing is done 

 twice a year, the fiber must necessarily be shorter. Thia is a disad- 



