The Book 

 of the Goat. 



Chapter I. 



Introduction. 



THE Goat has been appropriately termed " The Poor 

 Man's Cow," and certainly no better designation could be 

 found to express the position of this useful creature 

 amongst our domestic animals. In this respect it may be 

 placed in the same category as the pig, for it converts 

 waste vegetables and other refuse matter into milk as the 

 latter transforms such substances into meat. To a certain 

 extent indeed the goat holds even a higher position than 

 the pig, inasmuch as it provides the food of mankind 

 from his earliest infancy, furnishing those very elements 

 of nutrition so necessary to build up the foundation of a 

 robust and healthy constitution, the greatest blessing of 

 life. All doctors are agreed that milk, and plenty of it, 

 should be the principal diet of children in the early stages 

 of their existence, if a perfect development of the frame 

 is to be secured. Milk, however, is not generally avail- 

 able in England as it should be. In the towns it is 

 usually obtainable without much difficulty, though its 

 quality is often questioned, but in villages and the outlying 

 cottages the article is rarely tasted except by those who 

 can afford to keep their own cow. This may sound absurd 

 to some people who have never personally inquired into 



B 



