336 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



ping. Horn flies and flesh flies give considerable trouble from 

 their attacks upon wounds which sheep may receive. 



The sheep industry of Brazil is an important part of the 

 animal husbandry of that great country. There are now 

 nearly 2,000,000 sheep in Brazil. The fat-rumped sheep are 

 widely raised in the warmer parts of Asia Minor. In Tur- 

 kestan and neighboring countries the broad-tailed sheep is a 

 favorite breed. The caracul sheep is a race of broad-tailed 

 sheep which is recently becoming popular in the United States 

 for its mutton and for its fleece which resembles Persian 

 lamb or Astrakhan wool. Mutton is the favorite meat of the 

 Hindus and throughout India sheep are extensively raised. 

 Most of them are small and resemble goats in appearance. 

 Sheep are not important domestic animals in Indo-China, Ma- 

 laya, Formosa, or the Philippines. In Egypt, on the other 

 hand, the sheep industry is well developed. It has been found 

 in Egypt that sheep furnish much help in keeping down weeds 

 and grass along irrigation ditches, and in many localities they 

 are raised primarily for this purpose and secondarily for their 

 meat. Maned and broad-tailed sheep are quite commonly 

 raised in Abyssinia and East Africa, while the Mauritanian 

 and 'Macina breeds are found in considerable abundance in 

 the French African colonies. In Central America and the 

 West Indies, sheep are yielding their position to cattle and 

 the sheep industry is therefore on the wane. 



GOATS 



Man has made use of goats since the dawn of history. They 

 have constituted an important source of meat, milk, and hair 

 for the production of certain fabrics in both tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries. Hawaiian experiments with goats have 

 been unfortunate. On account of their eminent ability to care 

 for themselves in tropical countries they have escaped from 

 domestication and run wild on most of the islands of the 



