THE ANGORA GOAT. 57 



and a part of the Western division of the Census groupings', or twenty States and 

 Territories, which together contain nearly 285,000,000 acres in farms, of which over 

 122,000,000 are improved and over 162,000,000, or 57 per cent, unimproved. The 

 average size of farms and the average amounts of unimproved land are greater in 

 this area than elsewhere, and the climatic conditions are more uniform. 



It is safe to say that it will be many years before the matter of 

 available land for goat culture becomes a problem. It is sufficient at 

 this time to know that there is an abundance of suitable land every- 

 where in the country. 



Mr. W. Hammond Tooke, in the Agricultural Journal of Cape of 

 Good Hope for" May, 1899, says: 



He [Schreiner] admits that it is generally agreed that very large i^ortions of the 

 States are well adapted to Angora goats, an opinion formed from actual experience 

 over a number of years. This being so, it is difficult to understand how it is that 

 the industry has progressed so slowh', seeing that the hair is valuable, the skins in 

 great demand, the flesh prized as good, and the tallow as good as any that reaches 

 the Chicago market. It is not more easy to understand when it is considered that 

 large portions of the country are suitable for goats and not suitable for sheep. 



There seems no reason, therefore, to the outsider why the industry should not make 

 almost as rapid progress in the States a-s it has in South Africa. 



THE CARE OF ANGORA GOATS. 



The preceding pages have no doubt given the impression that 

 Angora goats are very hardy, and, indeed, it is true, especially if their 

 foiuidation is upon crosses with the common goat; but this should not 

 be taken by the careless or shiftless man as a license to subject his 

 goats to all manner of discomfort with the expectation that the results 

 will be f ulh' as satisfactory as if rational attention were given them. 

 That these animals can withstand extreme cold, such as that of the 

 islands of Alaska, or extreme heat, such as that of Guadalupe Island, 

 is strong evidence of their fortitude and of their adaptability to a 

 wide range of temperature under proper care. The same fortitude is 

 exhibited by horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, but no one thinks of turn- 

 ing these domesticated animals out upon their own resources, as wild 

 animals are forced to exist. That the}^ can subsist upon vegetation 

 which is utterl}^ useless for an}^ other purpose is evidence simply of 

 their economical keeping; it does not permit one to conclude that they 

 never need any other kind of feed at times. In a word, it is intended 

 here to impress the fact that, if satisfactory results are to be obtained 

 in goat raising, the animals must receive the same rational treatment 

 that is received by other live stock when best results are sought. The 

 goat is a hardy animal in the fullest sense of the word, but this char- 

 acteristic only enables him to respond the more quickly and satisfac- 

 torily to careful treatment. 



'South Atlantic di^^sion: Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West 

 Yirginia, Xorth Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida; South Central division: 

 Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, ^Mississippi, Louisiana, Texa,s, Oklahoma, Arkansas; 

 Western di\-ision: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Ne- 

 vada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California. 



