THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVE STOCK 15 



and other animals have been found mingled together in the 

 remains of prehistoric villages in Europe. As man ascended 

 in the scale of civilization, we find that animals became more 

 and more associated with him in his daily life. The oldest 

 historical works make frequent reference to farm animals. 

 If one consults the Bible he will find in the Book of Genesis, 

 dating back over 2000 years before Christ, repeated reierence 

 to herdsmen and horses and asses, cattle, sheep, and goats. 

 In fact, these people of early days were farmers, and depended 

 largely on their live stock. 



The importance of domestic animals to man is to be seen 

 in several ways. There are some features of special interest 

 to the student; namely, (a) the use of animals for clothing, 

 (b) for food, (c) for labor, and (d) in relation to maintaining 

 soil fertility. Each of these is of sufficient importance to 

 justify special consideration. 



The use of animals for clothing refers to the skin, hair 

 .and wool or other hairy covering. Earliest man is supposed 

 to have used the skins of animals for clothing, especially in 

 the cooler regions or colder parts of the year. 



For thousands of years people have woven cloth from 

 wool, and the hair of camels and goats. At the present day 

 the making of cloth from wool is a great industry in different 

 parts of the world. Millions of sheep even now have their 

 chief value in the wool that they produce. The leading 

 industry of a number of English and American towns and 

 cities is the converting of wool into clothing; so we find there 

 great mills employing thousands of people. 



The use of animals for food is of first importance. It is 

 for this that cattle, sheep, and swine have been domesti- 

 cated; and the final end of all farm animals except the horse, 

 ass, and mule, must be for human food. Meat is a concen- 

 trated food, rich in the substances that give strong physical 



