BREEDING AND CARE OP SHEEP. 1059 



about displaced the disappearing buffalo robe. Undyed, the hair retains 

 its brilliant luster. In its original white, nothing compares with the An- 

 gora as a robe for the baby carriage. 



These skins with the fleece on are also used extensively in making chil- 

 dren's muffs and— tell it not — the beautiful white fur on My Lady's 

 opera cloak is the skin of the little Angora kid. Yes, it is known by 

 another name, or My Lady would not wear it— "but a rose by any other 

 name is still a rose. And it is not My Lady alone who is deceived. 

 Many a fine gentleman wears the coat of an old Angora wether thinking 

 he is decked in genuine astrakan. 



The profit in goat keeping is not confined to the skin and the fleece. 

 The flesh is sold readily at market prices ranging above those of mutton. 

 It is a well-known fact that when goats are fed on grass, their flesh has 

 the flavor of mutton, but when kept exclusively on browse, it takes the 

 flavor of venison, and sells for that in the market — in the proper sea- 

 son, of course. 



XXVII. Habits of the Angora. 



As I have remarked, the Angora is not dainty ; he is adapted to a very 

 wide range of climate and j^hysical conditions. He seems to thrive 

 ecjually well in the climate of Mexico and in that of Canada. Naturally 

 the better and heavier fleece is produced in the colder climates. In 

 southern latitudes it is necessary to clip the fleece twice a year to pre- 

 vent shedding. Then, again, a dry climate is preferable to a humid one, 

 and a rough and semi-mountainous country to a level plain. The goat is 

 by nature a climber— an inheritance of his ancestors in the rugged moun- 

 tains and tablelands of Asia Minor. 



The most interesting thing about the goat is his diet. In this respect 

 he differs from all his farm associates — and radically. He is a browser, 

 and prefers leaves, twigs and weeds to the best white clover or blue- 

 grass that ever grew. This is one of his strong points. He does not 

 interfere with the feed of the other stock. Sheep have been called 

 four-footed locusts ; they will utterly destroy the most carefully pre- 

 pared pasture in one season. In a single summer a flock of goats will 

 create a pasture out of a brush-covered common. 



Turn fifty goats into a forty-acre pasture covered with brush, weeds 

 and all manner of foul growths, and in two years the work of reclama- 

 tion will be done; the brush will be dead, the weeds exterminated, and 

 the native grasses, whatever they are, will be in complete possession. 



