California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



recently bought a few bales of California mo- 

 hair and paid 85 cents per pound. It was 

 about seven inches long, and had to be mixed 

 with ordinary combing wool to carry it 

 through, which of course detracts a good deai 

 from the brightness of the goods. Had it 

 been two inches longer, it would have been 

 well worth $1 per pound. 



Messrs. Hall & Turner, of the Jamestown, 

 New York, Alpaca Mills, say that they are re- 

 ceiving some very good sjiecimens of goats' 

 hair from breeders on this Coast, and every 

 year expect to see more of high-grade quality. 



Mr. C. P. Bailey, of San Jose, who gave 

 us returns of last year's clip from S. Thomp- 

 son, Nephew and Co., New York, which ap- 

 peared in July number, has shown us a letter 

 from Messrs. Hall ,t Turner, containing re- 

 turns of this years clip, 920 pounds nett, 

 which is as follows : 



342 lbs long mohair at 75c $256.50 



588 " short " ' 23c 135.24 



Total 391.74 



Freigt on bundle of 1030 lbs 27.50 



Not 3G4.24 



They complain of shortness of staple in 

 California fleeces. This is owing mainly to 

 the fact that many of the goats shorn are not 

 of high breed. When it is remembered that 

 nearly all the flocks of Angora on this Coast 

 were bred up from common ewe goats with 

 Angora bucks, all within a few years, it will 

 be seen that the remedy is in breeding up as 

 fine as posible, with constant selection of pure 

 bucks with the longest staple. In order to 

 produce a long, clear staple of mohair, the 

 goats should be well supplied with pastm-age 

 the whole season thi-ough. Full feed a part 

 of the time and a few months of short, poor 

 feed will not make a prime staple of mohair, 

 any more than it will of wool. This is a 

 matter of considerable importance. While a 

 goat will keep fat on feed that will barely keep 

 a sheep alive, yet they should be kept in good 

 order the whole year through to grow long, 

 lustrous, strong mohair of first quality. Mr. 

 Bailey has also shown us samples of goods 

 manufactiu'ed from mohair, consisting of mo- 

 hairs, alpacas, poplins, etc., ranging in price 

 from 32 to 82 cents per yard, wholesale. Any 

 one who would examine these would affirm 

 that there must always bo a demand for such 

 goods, and it is the demand that wiU govern 

 the prices to a great degi'ee. The supply 

 cannot for many years lower the prices. 



Mr. A. W. Butler, writing upon the " Ke- 

 sources of Monterey County," says of the 

 of the Angora goat : 



The process of breeding a good, wool-bear- 

 ing flock of goats by breeding pure Angora 

 ' bucks to the common ewes of the country, is 

 indeed a slow one, but those who have jjerse- 

 vered are now reaping their reward. Califor- 

 nia has a largo amount of rough mountain 

 land just suitable for' goat-raisiug, and not 

 very valuable for any other purpose. Such 

 pastures cost the breeder very little, and the 

 goats prefer them and keep fatter on these 

 mountain pastures than they do on the more 

 level arable valley lauds. In this county the 

 Santa Lucia and Gabilan mountains contain 

 many thousand acres of Government laud, 

 suited to the grazingof goats. Here the An- 

 gora finds a home very similar to his native 

 home in Angora Bay, Bazare and Constimuni. 

 The progeny of the imported goats raised in 

 this county are generally larger and heavier 



fleeced than the original imported animals. 

 The work of taking care of the animals is 

 light, as they pick their own living the entire 

 year, and never need feeding. The goat 

 raiser must, however, be at his post during 

 the season for dropping kids, and see that ev- 

 ery one is saved, as this is his harvest, but 

 after this is over he can lie back at his ease, 

 and rejoice at his good fortune in having 

 chosen so desirable an undertaking. In a 

 few years the owner of the flock will become 

 independent, his out-door life will give him 

 the best of health, and should ambition 

 prompt him he will be enabled to enter other 

 fields of useful employment. It is doubtful, 

 however if he ever goes into any enterprise 

 that will give him so much satisfaction as the 

 raising of the Angora goats. 



As we have spoken of the business so en- 

 thusiastically, perhaps a little history of it in 

 this county might not be out of place. Mr. 

 C. P. Baily came to this county eight years 

 ago with a flock of two hundred half-breed 

 ewes and one iiair of pure-bred goats (a buck 

 and a doe) and located in the foot-hills of the 

 Salinas Valley, He has now one of the larg- 

 est, if not the largest, flock of high-gr.^de 

 goats in America, and last year sold $5,000 

 from his flock. Thomas Butterfield & Son, 

 and Mr. Landrum, of the firm of Landrum 

 &. llogers, came to this county about the same 

 time that Mr. Bailey came, and havebqth en- 

 gaged quite largely in importing pure breeds 

 and in raising pure breeds and grades. 

 Thomas Butterfield & Son sold, from their 

 flock during the past year over $20,000 worth 

 of stock. Messrs. Landrum & Rogers' sales 

 have been very large, aud they now have a 

 very fine flock. There are, perhaps, a dozen 

 smaller flocks in the county that are doing 

 well. Thus far breeders have realized their 

 main profits from the sale of stock, but here- 

 after they may look for an income from the 

 wool product. 



Many have been deterred from going into 

 the business on account of the uncertainty 

 of sale for wool on this continent. For the 

 past one hundred years there has been a 

 steady demand and plenty of purchasers in 

 the London and Liverpool markets, and goats' 

 wool or mohair has brought about three times 

 as much as sheep's wool. The production of 

 goats' wool in this country has created a de- 

 maud for it here, and now the Jamestown 

 Mill, N. Y., the Riverside Mill, N. Y., and a 

 mill in Philadelphia are ready to buy and work 

 all the good wool that can be produced ; and 

 they will pay from fifty cents to one dollar 

 per pound for it. An estiiblishment has been 

 started recently at San Jose, to tan, dye and 

 manufacture goat skins into robes, coats, etc., 

 and manufactured skins found ready sale at 

 from two and one-half to ten dollars each. 

 With the present outlook, is not here a large 

 field open, inviting the attention of labor 

 from less favored countries?" 



The fact of Mr. Bailey selling so many of 

 his high-bred goats accounts for his not shear- 

 ing more high-grade mohair. The short sta- 

 ple not used by the alpaca mills is sent to the 

 carpet factory and used in making the finest 

 carpets, to give gloss to the white portions. 

 The new tannery and coloring establishment 

 in San Jose, above mentioned, is to be greatly 

 enlarged by a stock company lately formed 

 for the purpose. Messrs. Welch & Me- 

 Cracken will still be the head of the manu- 

 tory ; but a stock company representing 

 §50,000 has been formed, composed of some 

 of the leading business men of San Jose, in- 

 corporated as ' ' The Angora Kobe and Glove 

 Company." The design is to enter largely 

 into the business of dressing, tanning and 

 coloring the Angora goat and other skins into 

 robes, mats, furs, gloves, etc. We have spo- 

 ken of this branch of business before, as one 

 Ukely to become a most important industry. 



There is tio doubt in our mind that the An- 

 gora goat will prove to be one of the most 

 valuable acquisitions to our State. He will 

 draw nourishment from high, rocky hill-tops 

 and waste places, and give a fleece, that for 

 beautiful white may be compared to the 

 water-lily, that draws its life from the mud at 

 the bottom of miu-shy ponds. But while the 

 lily is simply beautiful, the goat is as full of 

 utihty as beauty ; the shining fleece to be 

 woven into fabrics, or used as furs, trimmings, 

 robes, etc., in many ways, and the tanned 

 skins converted into nice gloves, while the 

 meat, which is sweet and wholesome, will 

 furnish food for toiling thousands of people. 

 ' — t 



Lompoc Temperance Colony, Santa 

 Barbara County. 



fiw* Ds. AoBicuiiTtTBisT : — I am under prom- 

 Jjt,iso to write you from this place. I have 

 /fwjlong intended to redeem my promise, for 

 ij^the benefit of the many readers of your 

 varied, practical and wide-awake paper, but 

 hitherto I have been very busy. 



Well, about this much-praised valley. At 

 a distance, I do not doubt, some think it over 

 praised, so much has been said in its favor; 

 but I can simply say, with all my neighbors, 

 that the longer I am here and the more I see 

 of it, the better I like it and the stronger 

 grows my faith in its fertility, its capability 

 of withstanding drought and its future. Had 

 not the soil been so rich and naturally moist, 

 we should have raised nothing, for the Spring 

 had well advanced before most farmers could 

 get to ploughing, not to say planting. This 

 year, too, you remember, the rains ceased 

 very early. Notwithstanding all this you 

 would be astonished to see how vigorous is 

 the growth of corn, beans, potatoes, pump- 

 kins, beets, etc. Experiments with sweet 

 potatoes, flax and tobacco are also very en- 

 couraging. Barley is all harvested, most of 

 it being cut for hay. This, with some hun- 

 dreds of tons of wihl oats and clover hay cut 

 from our splendid grazing valley, will fully 

 supjjly the whole settlement till our abundant 

 grass comes again, which, on this warm, 

 loamy soil, is directly after the first rains. I 

 think we will have enough potatoes, of the 

 very finest quality, both as to size, flavor and 

 freedom from all disease, for home consump- 

 tion and seed for next year ; but there is not 

 likely to be any surplus, as almost every 

 available acre will be planted next season, so 

 encouraging is the result on the comparatively 

 small scale of this year. 

 This is a number one valley for all root crops. 

 Grain will grow well enough; but it is rather 

 a question whether the growtli of wheat 

 would not be so rank in this moist land and 

 climate as to lodge and rust; yet one man has 

 raisetl a ten-acre patch of flue, plump wheat. 

 The foot-hills and mesa land will probably be 

 tried pretty largely, as we are to have a grist 

 mill on our mountain stream — the men to 

 build and work it are right here now. On 

 ranches above us they will sow wheat largely. 

 We have abundance of timber and brush. 

 Farmers are already at work clearing a large 



