GOAT. 



645 



procured in the east by a process nearly similar ; 

 and it is possible that the*fact of its being- perfectly 

 ripened on the back of the animal may contribute to 

 its superior strength. It doe's not appear that the 

 long hair is cast at the same season. 



This experiment, and we believe those made in 

 France have been as successful, from many circum- 

 stances connected with it, is well worthy the attention 

 of those who cultivate natural history with a view to 

 the promotion of domestic economy. At one time, it 

 was very generally understood that the Merino sheep, 

 producing the fine wool, could not be profitably bred 

 in any part of Europe except Spain. It has been 

 found, however, that the produce on the sandy plains 

 of Saxony is finer than that from the original Spanish 

 stock ; and so useful has the discovery proved, that 

 in very many of the dry and sandy districts to the 

 northward of the Carpathian mountains it has com- 

 pletely changed the character of the people's economy. 

 In a great part of Poland, where woods are compara- 

 tively few, where the soil consists of sand and gravel, 

 containing no mines, and where the people must, in 

 consequence, subsist entirely on the surface-produce 

 of the ground, that ground had been completely 

 worked in tillage until it became comparatively unpro- 

 ductive, unless at a few spots advantageously situated. 

 The first consequence of this exhausted state of a 

 country is the falling off in the food of domestic 

 animals, and a consequent diminution of their num- 

 bers. This, of course, diminishes the quantity of 

 animal manure, and that diminution immediately tells 

 upon the land in inferior crops. When this progress 

 begins.it is of a growing nature ; and therefore there 

 is not, in the power of common agriculture, any 

 means of hindering it. It is the case with several of 

 the poor and dry districts of England, which are far 

 from fuel, and deficient in manure ; and, though it is 

 probable that the whole is in a state of improvement 

 as regards the cultivation of vegetables, it is highly 

 probable, nay, absolutely certain, that many parts of 

 it are fast declining in value. Now, we know no 

 means by which calamities of this kind can be 

 arrested upon the large scale, and the land brought 

 back to fertility lor tillage, but the depasturing of it 

 by some species of ruminating animals. Hence it 

 becomes very desirable to know, not only what 

 ruminant can be bred with present advantage in any 

 particular district, but what can, while it compensates 

 the breeder for his labour, turn the tide-ruin from the 

 land, and gradually bring it back to fertility. 



The case of Poland, to which we have above 

 alluded, and also of the light lands on both banks of 

 the Oder, form experiments exactly in point. In 

 very many instances, the farmers, especially those 

 who migrated from Saxony, when so much of that 

 state was annexed to Prussia, have ceased to be 



train farmers. Indeed, they found the crops unpro- 

 table, except on the rich bottoms, to which the sub- 

 stance of higher grounds is washed by the rains of 

 autumn and winter. Thus they became shepherds, 

 naturally imported the same valuable breed of sheep 

 which had already succeeded so well in Saxony ; and 

 thus, while their wool is a more marketable article, 

 more easily carried to market, and really more pro- 

 fitable than the corn, a sward is gradually coming 

 over many places, which, when the scanty crops of 

 rye were cut down, remained nearly plaritless through- 

 out the year. As this has succeeded so well in the 

 case uf sheep, it would be at least worth while to try 



Cashmere goats upon the bleak and dry commons of 

 this country, because there is a point of sterility in 

 such commons at which any attempt to graze them 

 with sheep is a failure. 



These remarks apply not only to the Cashmere 

 goat, but to almost every species of the genus ; and 

 any one who considers that we have, within the four 

 seas, a thousand climates, and all varieties of soil, 

 from the rich meadow, which scarcely any continuance 

 of tillage will exhaust, to the plantless "mountain-top 

 capped with snow, it is not easy to point out from 

 which place of the world a ruminating animal could 

 be brought which would not find some spot in these 

 kingdoms very nearly corresponding to its native 

 locality. 



This is one of the strongest inducements which can 

 be held out for the scientific study of this useful class 

 of animals in conjunction with the nature of those 

 places of which they are natives, or to the circum- 

 stances of which time has, at all events, tempered 

 them. Probably we shall resume it a little when we 

 come to the article RUMINANTIA ; but it is an ex- 

 tensive subject ; in many respects it is a new one ; 

 and we cannot resist the present opportunity of 

 recording our opinion of its usefulness, and earnestly 

 recommending our readers to promote it by every 

 means in their power. Having done so, we shall 

 return to say a very few words on the varieties and 

 species of goals, which are in themselves matter of 

 far minor importance. 



Egyptian Goat. 



THE COMMON GOAT (C. hircus, is found in almost 

 every quarter of the world, though in considerable 

 variety in the different districts, and almost every one 

 is so familiar with its most common form, that a 

 description of it is not necessary. In many parts of 

 continental Europe, and those especially in which 

 other means of subsistence and wealth are the most 

 difficult to be procured, the common goat is of very 

 great service. On the poorest pastures she-goats 

 yield a good deal of milk, which, though it contains 

 but little cream or oily matter, is both agreeable and 

 wholesome. We mentioned already some of the 

 uses of the bodies of these animals ; and we may 

 add, that the skin is an article of great commercial 

 value. That of the kid is the most flexible, the most 

 handsome, and the most durable for light gloves and 

 shoes ; and this answers well with the condition of 

 kid's flesh, and the rapidity with which goats breed, 

 that flesh being without any of the rankness and 



