SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 53 



cotton warps. They are called mohair lustres or brilliantines. Beau- 

 tiful exhibits of this admirable fabric were made by the Arlington 

 Mills and the Farr Alpaca Company, of Massachusetts. Mohair is 

 also used in France in the manufacture of laces, which are substituted 

 for the silk laces of Valenciennes and Chantilly." 



So numerous are the applications of this material that, so 

 soon as a sufficient domestic supply is assured, the manufac- 

 ture will have a great extension in this country, furnishing 

 a home market for all that can be produced ; although it 

 must be admitted that its use at present is comparatively 

 small. The total production of mohair in the world, as shown 

 by the imports into Europe a very little as yet being im- 

 ported into this country in 1876, was, according to the 

 Messrs. Burnes, four and three-fourths millions. Formerly, it 

 was all produced in Asia Minor. Recently, the Angora goat 

 has been acclimatized in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope ; 

 which exported, in 1876, one and a quarter million pounds, 

 a fact which stimulates growers here. The average price last 

 year was thirty-seven pence, about twice that of the best 

 Lincoln hogget wool. That of alpaca fell as low as twenty 

 and a half pence. The Angora, therefore, is by far the most 

 valuable of all lanigerous animals ; not even excepting the 

 famous Cashmere goat, which produces only two or three 

 ounces, to the animal, of the pushm, or fine wool used for 

 making India shawls. 



As to the adaptability of the culture of this invaluable 

 animal to the elevated regions of the South, Mr. Peters 

 says : 



" I have owned these animals (Angora goats) from six distinct impor- 

 tations; those brought over by Dr. J. B. Davis, in 1848, proving to be 

 superior in many respects to any of the more recent importations. 

 One of the most valuable, interesting, and remarkable traits of the 

 Angoras is the rapidity with which fleece-bearing goats can be obtained 

 by using thorough-bred bucks to cross on the common short-horned 

 ewe-goats of the country. The second cross produces a goat with a 

 skin valued for rugs, mats, and gloves. The fifth cross (known by 

 many breeders as full blood) will yield a fleece not inferior to much 

 of the mohair imported from Asia Minor. The fifth cross can be read- 



