44 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



find it preferable to buy from the commission merchant, as he sepa- 

 rates and classifies the fleeces, and the purchaser is enabled to make 

 personal inspection. A few producers ship their mohair to Boston, 

 and others, especially some of those in the Northwest, sell to com- 

 mission men in Portland, while others of the West sell in San Jose, Cal. 

 Production. — The production of mohair will be considered elsewhere 

 (see p. 82) in connection with the world's production and the imports 

 and exports. 



MANUFACTURES OF MOHAIR. " 



One of the reasons why the mohair industry has lagged so in this 

 country during the fifty years since the introduction of Angora goats 

 is that the use of mohair goods was subject to the caprices of fashion. 

 It would not be strictly correct to say that the industry has even got 

 beyond the influence of fashion, but it is at least nearly so. There is 

 now a steady demand for the product of our country, and much is 

 imported besides. Dame Fashion is still whimsical toward all-mohair 

 goods, especiall}^ dress goods, but the mohair is mixed with other fibers 

 for producing fabrics of strength and luster, and the home supply is 

 not nearly equal to the demand. Because of the limited and uncertain 

 suppl}^, some mills which have at times used mohair no longer attempt 

 to secure it. They are prepared to use it as soon as the supply will 

 warrant the undertaking. 



Mr. George E. Goodall, president of the Sanford Mills, Sanford, 

 Me., who has kindly furnished the Bureau with valuable information, 

 states that his mills consumed 840,000 pounds of domestic mohair and 

 460,000 pounds of Turkish mohair in 1899, a total amount of 1,300,000 

 pounds. While these mills are believed to J^e the largest consumers 

 of the domestic product, there are thousands of pounds consumed by 

 other mills (see p. 82). This proves, first, that there is a good 

 demand for mohair, and second, that the usual estimate of the domes- 

 tic production in 1899 as being between 600,000 and 800,000 pounds 

 is far below the real amount. 



Only a small percentage of the domestic product of mohair is of 

 superior cpality, as has been shown in previous pages. The greater 

 amount is of inferior quality from various causes: First, the fleece 

 from the crosses, beginning with the first cross, is called mohair, and 

 is indeed worth something; second, all of the crosses up to the fourth 

 or fifth have a great deal of kemp in the fleece (it never disappears 

 entirely from any cross); third, efforts have been directed too per- 

 sistently toward producing a large fine-looking animal, the fleece being 

 a secondary consideration; fourth, the staple, when of superior quality, 

 is often too short. 



Many grades of mohair are mixed with silk and wool in a large 

 variety of fabrics in which it formerly was not used. It is made into 



