California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



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The Angora Coat Business East. 



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irt HE following which must prove of inter- 

 est to all wishing information on this 



|.|i subject, we clip from the Prairie Far- 

 mer: 



A correspondent residing in 'VVayne 

 County, in this State, recently enquired for a 

 house in Chicago or elsewhese, that deals in 

 the fleece of the Angora goat; about how 

 much per pound the product is worth; if the 

 goats can be made to pay in Illinois, and if 

 they can be prevented from climbing fences 

 and barking fruit tfees. 



We sent his questions to Col. Eobt. W. 

 Scott of Frankfort, Ky., for answer believing 

 that he knew more about those animals and 

 their future than any one we know of. Mr. 

 Scott kindly replied as follows; 



I reply, with pleasure, to your favor of 

 the '2;ith ult. and as fully as permitted by in- 

 firm health, and by being on the eve of de- 

 parture to my winter home, near Fort Beid 

 P. O. Orange Co., Florida, from which if de- 

 sired, I will reply more especially to your 

 correspondent. 



During the last fifteen years, I have built 

 up a flock of several hundred Cashmere (or 

 more properly Angora) goats; all of which 

 are now either pure bred, or full blood. For 

 about ten years the mohair, or wool of them, 

 has been sold for me on commission, by 

 Messrs, Bauendahl & Co., extensive wool 

 merchants, of 86 Worth street. New York. 

 It has met with ready sale at prices varying 

 from seventy-five cents to one dollar and a 

 quarter per pound, as shorn ; and for the last 

 two years has been sold by them at ninety, 

 and ninety-two and a half cents per pound, 

 the price fluctuating some, as with other com- 

 modities, and according to quality and con- 

 dition. 



I have also sold some to A. P. Bachman, 

 manufacturer of superior plush gijods, at IS 

 Franklin St., New York. 



I have also had application for the sale of 

 it by Messrs. .Justice, Bateman ,S: Co., enter- 

 Ijrising and reliable wool merchants, of South 

 Front street, Philadelphia, Pa. Besides other 

 Ijarties, I have had also extensive correspon- 

 dence with the ".Jamestown Alpaca Mills," at 

 Jamestown, New York, and ifj one of their 

 letters they informed me, two years since, 

 that they had brought from England, exten- 

 sive cajjital, skilled laborers, and apjiropriate 

 machinery, and had located on an extensive 

 tract of land, and were prepared to manufac- 

 ture three hundred thousand pounds of mo- 

 hair or .\ngora wool, annually, if they could 

 obtain suitable material. I received a letter 

 from this Company last spring, desiring to 

 purchase my mohair, but it had been sent to 

 my usual merchant. 



I have been reliably informed that there is 

 a factory which uses mohair in Providence, 

 R. I., and one also in Worcester, Mass., but 

 I have not been able to correspond nith them. 

 It is certain that there is now unlimited de- 

 maud in the United States, and that there 

 will be in all time to come, for all of the mo- 

 hair of good quality which we can produce, 

 and at prices which will pay the producer bet- 

 ter than sheep's wool of any kind will. Its 

 superior lustre, elasticity, durabijfty and ca- 

 pacity to take color, make it the most desira- 

 bls material for the manufacture of coverings 

 for car seats, and this use aloue will sustain 

 an unlimited demand. 



To command the best price, it should be 

 free from kenap (the coarse hairs which the 

 goat wears in summer, when the niahair has 

 been shed), burrs and trash, and each fleece 

 should be tied up seperatelj- with a small col- 

 ored thread. 



The /cPH.sp, or coarse hair, is found also in 

 the fleeces of low grade animals, and it re- 

 duces the price in ]iroportion to the quantity; 

 but mohair containing it will always sell at 



least at the prices of coarse sheep's wool, it 

 being better adopted to the same uses as 

 coarse wool. 



Your correspondent asks, "Can they be 

 prevented from climbing fences and barking 

 apple trees?" and I rejily that these capacities 

 and tastes make them especially valuable, and 

 they must be controlled and not destroyed, 

 where they cannot be indulged. But clog- 

 gang or coupling will j)revent them from climb- 

 ing, and a wire muzzle will prevent them 

 from barking trees. Arc. 



But there is also another and more practi- 

 cal means of preventing both of these, viz. : 

 by having good fences. A fence of common 

 rails, seven or eight rails high, andst.akjd and 

 double ridered, with corners all erect and not 

 leaning, and with the rails all of equal 

 length, will hold them securely, and so will a 

 post and rail, or a pilank fence, five feet high, 

 if the fences are in good order. Goats do 

 not break fences of any kind, bvit only take 

 advantage of the negHgence of the farmer, 

 where other animals have broken them. They 

 will eat, and in course of time, will destroy 

 a hedge of cedar, or of Osage orange, if they 

 have access to it at all times. A stone fence 

 may be made goat proof by placing pieces of 

 scantling or plank, about two feet long, across 

 the top of the wall and then nailing to them 

 strips of plank on each side of the top of the 

 wall, which strips will strike the goat in the 

 face when he attempts to run over the wall. 

 I have hedges and fences of all these kinds, 

 and my goats are kept in several flocks, and, 

 at some time of the year, in all of the difi'er- 

 ent fields and pastures of a large farm, and 

 they are useful in consuming the weeds, bush- 

 es and briars, the cutting of which by hand 

 would require more time than any extra trouble 

 to keep the fences in good rejiair at all times. 



Though a goat does not produce so heavy 

 a fleece as some sheep do, yet because goats 

 consume a great variety of coarser feed than 

 sheep do, goats will produce as much or 

 more wool than she«p will from the same 

 qu.antity of ground, and the goat's fleece will 

 sell at nearly double the price per pound of 

 the sheep's fleece, and the same may be said 

 of the flesh and skins of the two animals. 



From these data your correspondent may 

 judge of the propriety of raising the wool- 

 bearing goat in Illinois, though the more ap- 

 propriate locality may be in the prairies of 

 Texas and in the mountains of California, in 

 both of which states the taste and demand 

 for them is largely on the increase. Though 

 I have disposed of more than one hundred 

 head this season, I yet have respectable flocks 

 of both pure, and of full bloods, and I find 

 them profitable, even in this blue grass region, 

 where lands are high comparatively. 



Robert W. Scott. 



Near Frankfort, Kv., Nov. 4, bST-j. 



Foot Rot in Sheep. 



As there are getting to be more and more 

 cases of foot-rot among sheep on this coast 

 Ijarticularly in Oregon and in Mountain 

 Meadow valleys, and we have been asked for 

 advice on this subject we think that we can 

 do no better than to give an article on this 

 disease from the National Live Slock Journal, 

 which is good authority ; 



Usually the first intimation the shepherd 

 has of the presence of foot-rot is the limp- 

 ing of the afl'ected animals. If the sheep had 

 been carefully examined before this, there 

 would have been noticed in the cleft of the 

 foot, just above the horny covering, a moist 

 irritated appearance, omitting a peculiar dis- 

 agreeable odor. This is usually present sev- 

 eral days before lameness in manifested. The 

 disease, from this first stage, usually passes 

 under the shell of the hoof, at the heel, grad- 

 ually working and widening until the entire 

 foot is afl'ected, unless arrested by artificial 

 appliances. A feverish condition of the en- 

 tire foot is apparent, when taken in the hand. 



Occasionally a foot may be found that has 

 ulcerated, as the effect of injury from some 

 cause or other; but the peculiar odor that is 

 inseperable from the foot-rot is wanting. 



There has been much discussion as to the 

 origin of foot-rot, some flock-masters con- 

 tending that it originates from continuous 

 confinement in foul pens of stables, or by 

 jjasturage on low, swampy grounds. As this 

 is a question upon which the "doctors disa- 

 gree," we will not enter upon its discussion 

 here, but relegate it to the experience of the 

 readers of the Journal, with the remark that, 

 in a pretty expensive experience with large 

 and small tlocks of sheep, we have never met 

 with a well defined case of foot-rot that was 

 not traceable to contact with diseased ani- 

 mals. The determining of the possibility of 

 engendering the disease by confinement upon 

 foul floors, and by neglect, has a certain value 

 from a scientific standpoint — and we will be 

 glad to get exi^eriences tending to prove the 

 fact or fallacy of such a theory. Practically 

 considered, the flock-master is contented with 

 the knowledge of the rule that, to keep his 

 sheep free from the i^ossibility of contact with 

 the presence or walks of aftected animals in- 

 sures them exemption from foot-rot. The 

 exceptions to this will be found so rare that 

 they need not excite solicitude. 



The actual presence of foot-rot in the flock 

 determined, the question of the hour is, not 

 so much how came it there, as how it is to be 

 eradicated. Before discussing any of the 

 numerous remedies piroposed, all affected ani- 

 mals should be picked from the flocks and 

 confined so as to render impossible further 

 spread of the disease by inoculation from 

 them. As fast as further cases are noticed — 

 as most likely there will be — these, too, must 

 be culled out. Unless this course is pursued, 

 a large proportion of the animals in the flock 

 will, in time, be afl'ected. The next step is to 

 get the healthy animals off the ground fre- 

 quented by the diseased ones — and to keep 

 them oft' for several weeks at least, until sun 

 and rains have thoroughly purified the sur- 

 face and herbage. As soon as possible every 

 animal in the flock should be examined care- 

 fully — every foot being scraped and trimmed, ■ 

 when necessary. Let this be thoroughly done, 

 as the animal neglected may have about it the 

 seeds of disease that will in time render all 

 work unavailable — for of foot-rot it may truly 

 said that "one sickly sheep infects the flock 

 and poisons all the rest. " As the sheep leaves 

 the hands of the operator it should be placed 

 in a troiigh filled to the depth of two inches 

 with a decoction of blue vitrol, and be made 

 to walk through this while passing out of the 

 pen. This will tend to destroy any trace of 

 the disease that may have escaped the eye of 

 the operator. Such trough should be eight 

 to twelve feet long, so that each foot will be 

 immersed several times. This process should 

 be repeated at the end of a week or ten days 

 at the farthest, and if repeated a seeond and 

 third time will only make "assurance doubly 

 sure." 



The diseased animals having been separat- 

 ed, should receive immediate attention. The 

 outfit for the opjerator should consist of a 

 pair of toe-shears, two sharp knives (one 

 heavy one for removing the outside of the 

 the hoof, and a smaller one, with a keen 

 edge, for the more delicate work), a sponge, 

 or cold cloths, for removing blood, and :i 

 small bottle of butyr of antimony, or soiii'' 

 equally good caustic, for application when th' 

 work of the knife has been thoroughly pi i 

 formed. The knife will be found the sheet- 

 anchor of success in treating foot-rot. The 

 last Vestige of disease must be cut out — eveu 

 though it involve the removal of the entire 

 horny covering of the foot. Any less heroic 

 treatment may mitigate, but will not cure the 

 disease. When the diseased portions of the 

 foot are thus laid bare, and as much of the 

 pun wiped away as can be done withcnit irri- 

 tating the exposed parts.the butyr of antimony, 

 or other caustic, should be appled with a 

 soft lirush or swab made by tying a piece of 



