California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



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^1 



History of the Angora Coat In the 

 United States. 



By R. PETEK8, ESQ., ATLANTA, Oi. 



[From the Americau Agriculturist ] 

 INTRODUCTION INTO THE UNITED 

 STATES. 



^lURING the adniiuistration of Prea- 

 j til ident Polk, the Sultan of Turkey 

 Jtjjl requested that a suital)lo person bo 

 sent to that country to experiment 

 in the eiilture of cotton. Dr. Jas. 

 B. Davis, of South Carolina, was selected 

 and commissioned to perform this im- 

 portant service. On his return, in 1848, 

 the Sultan, desiring to reciprocate the 

 courtesy of the President, caused nine 

 head of the choicest fleece-bearing goats 

 in his dominions, to be selected and pre- 

 sented to Dr. Davis. These doubt- 

 less were selected from the herds of 

 Angora, a district of country lying 

 among the Taurus Mountains, which 

 traverse Asiatic Turkey, and which 

 derives its name from its principal 

 city, situated about two hundred 

 miles east of Constantinople. In 

 1854 I visited the farm of Dr. Davis 

 near Columbia, S. C, and found his 

 stock of pure-bred Angoras, (thest 

 goats are called by the Arabs C'Uainal 

 or Camel-goat, meaning "soft," oi 

 " silky,") to consist of seven females 

 and two males. Besides these he 

 had one pure-bred Thibet ewe, sev- 

 eral head of one-half Thibet and one- 

 half Angora, and quite a number of 

 grade females, bred from the com- 

 mon short haired ewe goats of tht 

 country, and his Angora bucks. 1 

 purchased all the pure-bred Angoras, 

 and several of the Thibet-Angoras. 

 Dr. Davis had fallen into error as to 

 the native country of his goats; and 

 and believing them to bi? Cashiimre, 

 quoted their fleeces as being worth 

 from six to eight dollars per pound, 

 while in reality they were Angoras, 

 whose fleece, known to commerce as 

 "mohair," has been an article of import 

 into Great Britain and this country for 

 years, and held at from sixty cents to 

 one dollar per pound. 



CHAKACTERISTICS AND HABITS. 



I have owned Angoras selected from 

 six distinct importations from .\.sia, and 

 have found them to difl'er greatly in size, 

 fleece, and horns, and the shape of the 

 ears. It is easy to trace several varieties 

 of crosses in many of the importations, 

 occasioned, doubtless, by the fact that 

 stock-breeders, in their native country, 

 are ignorant of the system prevailing 

 here, of breeding up from point to point, 

 and more generally to the admission of 

 stray bucks from distant localities into 

 the various flocks. In fact, it may bu 

 safely asserted that we have in this 

 country, any quantity of grade goats far 

 superior to many that have been import- 

 ed. In the absence of any other stand- 

 ard than that suggested by my own judg- 

 ment, founded on my experience with 

 these valuable animals, I have for twen- 

 ty years observed the following rules in 

 selecting a stock buck. 1st. Pedigree 

 dating back to ancestors imported from 

 Asia. 2d. Weight and length of the 

 long, silky, ringletted, white fleece, and 

 its freedom from kemp and mane on the 

 back and neck. 3d. Form, size, and 

 vigor. 4th. Long, pendent ears, and 

 upright, spiral horns. 



By a persevering and studious adher- 

 ence to this system of selection, I have 

 obtained a flock of great uniformity. 

 The Angora is a hardy, industrious, and 



nearly self-sustaining animal — subsists 

 in its Asiatic mountain homo almost-eu- 

 tirely by browsing — and may be classed 

 as herbivorous. Being active and vig- 

 orous, they roam over wide ranges of 

 wild, rugged country, in search of food, 

 utilizing and giving value to worthless 

 vegetation, refused by most other ani- 

 mals, and will feed and fatten double the 

 distance from water that sheep can, as 

 they travel much faster, and can endure 

 more. The Angora seems not to succeed 

 well in the Middle and Eastern States, 

 where they are imprisoned (as it were) 

 in small enclosures, and kept on grass in 

 summer, and in closed barns in winter. 

 .Mthough from a locality on the fortieth 

 parallel of latitude, north, they thrive 

 best below that lino on the Atlantic coast, 

 though they do surprisingly well on the 

 Pacific coast, as far as introduced, but 

 especially in California, New Mexico, 

 Colorado, and Arizona, whose climate 

 and topography is said to closely resem- 



pound clip from a celebrated no-horned 

 Costaniboul buck, the property of Mr. 

 Landrum, of California. The general 

 uniformity of the yield is is indicated 

 by the fact thatiu 1854 I sheared six and 

 a-half pounds of "mohair" from a buck 

 of the Davis importation, referred to 

 above, and in 187B I sheared exactly the 

 same quantity from one of his descend- 

 ants. 



VALUE OF THK FLEECB. 



The market value of mohair, like all 

 other commercial commodities, may be 

 expected to fluctuate in accordance with 

 the laws of supply and demand. But as 

 the production is now, and for many 

 years must continue to be unequal to 

 the demand, prices must remain at, or 

 approximate those now current. In the 

 meantime improvement may reasonably 

 be expected in the yield, the quality, and 

 its preparation for market, at an inaj)- 

 preijiable increase of cost. I have al- 

 ready quoted it at from CO cents to one 



THE FEMALE ANOOBA GOAT. 



ble that of their Asiatic home, with its 

 wet and dry seasons. It cannot brook — 

 scarcely endure — confinement, but loves 

 to roam at will over the highest moun- 

 tain peaks, thriving and yielding its rap- 

 id increase of progeny, and its ringletted, 

 silkj' fleece, where other stock will starve. 

 It is ft singular fact that while the .Ango- 

 ra will live in the snow all winter, in the 

 southern l-.ititudes, and do well on 

 browse, they will die in a northern lati- 

 tude, housed and fed, or in a very wet 

 climate. Efforts have been made to ac- 

 climate them in England, and signally 

 failed; while in France, after an expen- 

 diture of $350,000, they are likely to 

 succeed in but one locality of limited 

 extent. If not sooner sheared, the .An- 

 goras shed their overcoat of "mohair," 

 in March or April of each year. Their 

 winter coating then grows slowly until 

 about July, when the "mohair" starts 

 and grows very rapidly, until January, 

 when it gains its full growth, averaging 

 about nine inches in length. The .An- 1 

 goras live to a greater age than Merino I 

 sheep, and are more prolific. I have 

 three ewes in my flock, numbered by the 

 Randall system of notches in the ears, 

 so there can be no mistjike as to their 

 identity. No. 53 was dropped in 18G1. 

 She has raised 21 kids, brought her first 

 in 18G2, and her last in 1875, is now I 

 ver}' feeble and on the decline. No. 68 . 

 was dropped in 1863, and No. 69 in 1863, i 

 both brought fine kids in March, 1870, 

 at the age of 14 and 13 years. 



AVERAGE ANNUAL CLIP. 



Pure-bred .Angoras will yield from five 

 to eight pounds oi "mohair" per clip, 

 with one notable exception of a ten- 



dollar per pound. But the shrinkage in 

 all values within the last twelve months, 

 has affecfed " mohair" also. As to pres- 

 ent [.August] prices the following re- 

 turns of a small shipment to the James- 

 town, N. Y., Manufacturing Company 

 are respectfully presented: 

 jAalKsTOWM Alpapa Mills, 



Jamwtown, N, Y.. July 18th, 1876. 



RiCUAHD PETKBb, .AtlHUU, (ia.. 



Sold t.) Hall 1: Tue-skb. 

 (Mohnirs, Alpaoas, Poplins and Worsteds.) 



18.5 tbs. 1st quality Mohair (g> 75c $103 00 



So lbs. 2d do do (9«0c.. 33.00 



10 ths. 3d do do (a*^5c.., 6.»0 



7 !b«. black do a .Wc 3 8.. 



43 tbd. H grade do (sD 20c g.GO 



USES OF ANOOBA OOAT PBODUCTS. 



"Mohair," the commercial name of 

 the fleece of the Angora goat, is used for 

 the manufactures of which wool may 

 form a part — but its length, great strength, 

 and silkiness of fiber, and its beautiful 

 luster, and the fact that it readily re- 

 ceives dyes, which, once set, are indeli- 

 ble, gives it a higher market value, ac- 

 companied by a rapidly increasing de- 

 mand. It is manufactured principally 

 into poplins and alpaca goods, that are 

 known as mohair goods, and into plushes 

 and braids. 



In California and other of the Pacific 

 States, large flocks of grade .Angoras are 

 being bred for their skins, for which 

 there is an increasing demand at San 

 Jose, California, by the .Angora Robe, 

 Glove and Mat Manufactory. The car- 

 cass is highly prized, wherever intro- 

 duced, as food, while the milk is highly 

 esteemed for domestic use and the sick 

 room. Taken altogether, the Angora 

 may be regarded as a very valuable ac- 

 quisition, and an addition to the re- 



sources of our husbandry — especially 

 the Middle, South Atlantic, Western and i 

 Pacific States. The great hardiness and > 

 beauty of the animal, its almost entire 

 freedom from disease, its self-sustaining 

 qualities, and the rapidity with which it 

 multiplies itself and grows, must make 

 it u universal favorite. 



CAN IT BE CBOSSED WITH SHEEP? 



Prior to the year 1860 I tried many 

 experiments, in hopes of obtaining a 

 cross between the goat ami sheep, and 

 failed in every instance. Extensive cor- 

 respondence with other breeders hascou- 

 viuced me that the cross cannot be ol>- 

 taiued. Dr. John Bachmau, the cele- 

 brated naturalist of Charleston, S. C, 

 who was in correspondence with the 

 most distinguished naturalists of Europe, 

 informed lue that he had no faith in the 

 theory, and did not believe the cross ob- 

 tainable. He stated, however, that Cu- 

 vier, the renowned French naturalist, 

 claimed to have examined a specimen of 

 such a hybrid, but Dr. Bachmau himself 

 believed that Cuvier had been deceived, 

 or had made a mistake. 



ISTEOUCCTION INTO CALIFOBNIA. 



In the spring of 1861 I shipped, by 

 Adams Express, to St. Louis, two 16- 

 months'-old bucks to Mr. Wm. M. Lan- 

 drum, then of Joaquin county, Cali- 

 fornia, who, at the ensuing State Fair, 

 in September, received a special premium 

 for the introduction of the .\ngora, or 

 " Cashmere" goat — a large size silver 

 goblet. From St. Louis they were trans- 

 ported by steamer to Fort Leavenworth. 

 Thence they traveled on foot with the 

 wagon train, browsing on what was re- 

 j-cted by other animals, and arrived un- 

 injured, and in good condition, at their 

 new home. One died of snake-bite, after 

 siring about thirty kids. The other, 

 widely and popularly known on the Pa- 

 cific Coast as "Billy .Atlanta," (and 

 " King of the Cashmere Goats,") lived to 

 be ten vears old, (when be was accident- 

 ally killed,) and sired about 2,000 kids. 

 This buck won the sweepstake prize, 

 against all competion, at every fair down 

 to that preceding his death; his nu- 

 merous descendants are scattered all 

 along the Pacific Coa.st, and his blood 

 courses in the veins of over one-half the 

 .Angora flock, j ure-bred and grades, ia 

 that part of the Union, estimated to ap- 

 proximate 70,000 head. 



In November, 1867, Mr. Landnim im- 

 ported eight bead, and these were fol- 

 lowed in December by seven imported 

 by Gray i Gilmore; and these by three 

 importe'd by Sir. Flint. In 1868 Gray 

 & Gilmore imported seven more, and 

 Messrs. Landnim, Butterfield A Son im- 

 ported two bucks —one of which was the 

 celebrated no-horned Costaniboul already 

 mentioned. Soon after, in the same year, 

 (1868,) I sent out 25 head of choice pure- 

 bred goats by Mr. E. Holland, of .Atlanla, 

 17 of which were bought by Landrum, 

 Bntterfield k Son, and the other eight by 

 various parties in California. 



In 1870 Diehl 4 Brown shipped out 

 most of their stock, 60 of which sur- 

 vived, and passed into the hands of 

 Butterfield 4 Son. In 1871-72, Shear- 

 land ct Thomas imported the larger por- 

 tion of the Eutychides flock, and in 1872 

 Landrum i Rogers bought the greater 

 portion of my pure-bred stock. Thus it 

 will be observed that about one-third of 

 the pure-breds introduced into California, 

 was contributed from the first and origi- 

 nal (Davis) importation of 1848; and 

 that its blood is present in probably two- 

 thirds or three-fonrths of the Angora 

 stock on the Pacific Coast. 



SUGGESTIONS AS TO FUTCBE IMPOBTATIOK3. 



As already intimated, the importation 

 of Asiatic goats has been promiscuous. 



