CLEARING THE LAND 191 



sowing it with hemp not a thistle survived; and while 

 ridding the land of this pest, the hemp yielded him nearly 

 sixty dollars an acre, where previously nothing valuable 

 could be produced. 



As it grows from Minnesota to the Mississippi Delta, its 

 value for this purpose is considerable. 



But there is a way easier and cheaper of clearing land 

 than by blasting, if we can afford to wait a little ; and Mr. 

 George Fayette Thompson, in Bulletin No. 27, Bureau of 

 Animal Industry, tells us how, giving some interesting facts 

 about Angora goats, of which the following is a condensation : 



To people taking up raw land, particularly where there is 

 a heavy undergrowth to be cleared away, goats of some 

 kind are an invaluable aid. In its browsing qualities the 

 common goat is as good as any, but, aside from the clearing 

 of the land, the profit in his keep is very little, though some 

 demand is growing up for goat's milk for infants and for 

 some fancy cheeses. A much better animal from the stand- 

 point of profit, while in use as a scavenger, is the Angora 

 goat. Their long, silky hair has been used for centuries in 

 making blankets, lap robes, rugs, carpets, and particularly 

 the "cashmere" shawls, formerly a great luxury in this 

 country. Much of the camel's hair dress goods is in reality 

 made from the hah- of the Angora goat, or mohair, as it is 

 called. Angora goats thrive best in high altitudes with dry 

 climates. They exist in greatest number in the United States 

 in California, New Mexico, and Texas. They have been 

 used successfully in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to eat 

 the underbrush off the land, doing for nothing that for 

 which the farmers pay Chinese laborers twenty-five to forty 

 dollars per acre. The cost of Angora goats is about ten to 

 thirty dollars each for does, with bucks at fifty to two hun- 



