98 



NEW ENGLAND FAR]\IER. 



Feb. 



too, has been sneered at by some as "a pleas- 

 ant thing to go abroad at government expense 

 in pursuit of zoological curiosities ;" others re- 

 gard it as a (novcraent which may prove of as 

 great advantage to the country as the introduc- 

 tion of the merino ^heep. IVIr. Diehl, after a 

 journey of 1500 miles in Asia, has returned 

 with 118 goats, and he says he has also "col- 

 lected many vahiable seeds for distribution, as 

 well as some of the celebrated Angora cats, 

 rabbits and shepherd dogs, all white." As to 

 the agricultural value of the cats, rabbits and 

 dogs we have no information. 



In relation to the Angora goat we find the 

 following valuable communication from Geo. 

 W. Bond, a wool merchant of this city, in the 

 Tlwrsdaij Spectator : — 



I am most happy to famish yon with any infor- 

 mation in my power which shall help to prevent 

 the farmers "of the country from being imposed 

 upon by any erroneous statements and delusive 

 hopes, "respecting the Angora or so-ealled Cash- 

 mere goat, and at the same time to encourage the 

 growth of goat's wool in this countrj', if it can be 

 profitablj- prosecuted. 



I have received frequent inquiries respecting the 

 value of the article and the probable demand, to 

 which I have invariably replied, that if it could be 

 obtained here in suflSiient quantities to warrant 

 the starting of machinery suitable to its manufac- 

 ture, and could be afPirded at about $1 per pound, 

 a steady and permanent demand for it would be 

 created. Thcic arc machines at Lowell and else- 

 where prepared for wool combing, on which it can 

 be worked, and where some experiments have 

 been made. For the manufacture of furniture 

 plushes and many articles of ladies' dress goods it 

 is very valuable. A gentleman of much experi- 

 ence ill the wool trade and its collaterals informs 

 me that it is consumed liy less than a dozen houses 

 in Europe, and that in fact one firm f onsumes 

 about one-third of the whole supply, and has agents 

 in Turkey, piu"chasing the same. Nearly the 

 whole supply comes from Asia Minor, whence the 

 exports for the past three years have averaged 

 about 4,000,000 pounds per annum. Some is 

 raised and exported from South Africa, but the 

 samples which have been sent to this country liave 

 been of a very inferior character, lacking the re- 

 quired lustre "and liciiig full of kcmyty hairs. 



Of the specimens raided in this country, which I 

 have seen, some fleeces have been very handsome, 

 but there has been a great want of uniformity in 

 the various lots ; some fleeces being very poor and 

 keinpy, probably being crosses on ihc common 

 goat, while others have been as handsome as any 

 that I hnvc ever seen from any quarter. The value 

 in England has 1 believe at no time exceeded 4s. 

 or SI per pound, unless it may liave been for some 

 exceptional parcels of great beauty and desired for 

 some fancy manufacture in small quantities. The 

 highest quotations in England to-day are 2s. 7d. 

 or G2 cents for the choicest quality, down to 2s. or 

 48 cents for good. 



It was formerly imported into this country, in 

 moderate quantities, when we were mamifacturers 

 of broadcloths, and used for licnd ends and listing, 

 bringing generally about 50 to GO cents per pound. 

 The introduction of it into Europe for the purposes 

 l)eforc named gave it a value too great to allow it 

 to he longer used ibr such purposes. I doubt 

 whether there ever was a time when 1000 pounds 



of it could have been sold here for $1 in gold per 

 pound, but a sliort time since, when fringes and 

 tassels made of it became so tashionable, it is pos- 

 sible that a few of the choicest and most l^cautiful 

 fleeces might have been sold at $4 and $G per 

 poimd, but even then a well dressed pelt, with 

 long lustrous hair, would have been preferred. 

 Indeed, the manufacturers of such articles in this 

 city expressed their preference of a handsome, lus- 

 trous haired sheepskin to a fleece of Angora goat's 

 wool, though the lustre of the latter was more 

 brilliant. 



Why is not the mountainous portion of the 

 Southern States well adapted to the production of 

 goat's wool ? 



CHECK VALVES FOB FURNACES. 



In conversing with a friend, recently, upon 

 the different modes of warming houses, he 

 gave us a bit of information which Is valuable, 

 and which he has kindly written out as follows : 



My hot-air furnace used for warming the 

 house, had a trick common to furnaces, of oc- 

 casionally drawing the wrong way. In many 

 cases it will be found, by standing out of doors, 

 at the end of the cold-air box, that the heat, 

 especially in windy weather, passes outward. 

 I have learned from one skilled in such mat- 

 ters, how to cure this defect, and with my 

 own hands applied an effectual remedy. What 

 is wanted is a valve in the cold-air box, play- 

 ing horizontally, which instantly closes with an 

 outward current, and keeps open with an in- 

 ward current. I made mine and put it in suc- 

 cessful operation In less than two hours, and 

 this is how it was done. 



The inside of the air-box Is 11x28 inches. 

 I made a fram e of light pine stuff an inch 

 square of that size, and covered it with cotton 

 sheeting, tacked on. Then it was hung in this 

 way in the box. Measuring one-third the 

 width from the bottom of the frame two holes, 

 one each side, were bored through it, into 

 which were turned flush, two brass wood- 

 screws, into the heads of which had been 

 counter-sunk with a common tool In a bit-stock, 

 holes about a quarter of an inch deep for the 

 gudgeons to turn in. Then making the valve 

 to fit loosely in the box, another brass screw, 

 the point of which had been filed smooth, was 

 put through each side of the box, forming 

 gudgeons resting in the holes in the heads of 

 the other screws. 



This completes the valve, except the stops ; 

 as two-thirds the width of the valve is above 

 the gudgeons, it turns outward, on the same 

 principle as a weather cock turns, and a strip 

 must be nailed across the inside of the top of 

 the box, to stop the valve at a perpendicular. 



