40 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



Some cooperative labor will be expected of the division in the course 

 of the year under the arrangements already made with the Census 

 Bureau for criticising and verifying the statistics of dairying in the 

 Twelfth Census of the United States. 



THE ANGORA GOAT INDUSTRY. 



During the last three or four years requests for information about 

 Angora goats have been received in increasing numbers. These 

 requests finally became so numerous that a bulletin was issued on the 

 subject under the title of "Information concerning the Angora goat." 

 This bulletin contains 94 pages, 17 plates, and 1 text figure, and was 

 designed to give answers to all the questions that are asked of the 

 Bureau. But the demand for it was great and stimulated a desire for 

 further information, especially regarding available land and names of 

 breeders and dealers in mohair, subjects which could not properly be 

 discussed in the bulletin. This has operated to increase rather than 

 diminish the correspondence. 



Angora goat raising is in fact a rediscovered industry in the United 

 States. For a score or more of years these goats have been raised in 

 large numbers in Texas, New Mexico, California, and Nevada, and 

 there has always been a ready market for their mohair ; but it is only 

 quite recently that their ability to clear land of brush, briers, and weeds 

 has become generally known throughout the country. Now that the 

 fact is well known, there has been a great demand for these goats in 

 those sections of the country which are suffering from the encroach- 

 ment of brush and briers upon the farm and pasture lands. They 

 have found their way into every State in the Union, as well as into 

 Canada and Alaska. 



Assured as we are that the Angora will produce an annual fleece 

 which is worth from $1 to $1.50; that it will destroy the brush, briers, 

 and weeds on abandoned land, permitting the grass to follow; that 

 its flesh is as palatable and as nutritious as that of the sheep; that its 

 skin with the fleece attached is worth from $1.50 to $2.50 — it would 

 seem that Angora goat raising is certain to develop into a permanent 

 industry. 



A Farmers' Bulletin on "The Angora goat" will soon be issued, 

 besides the bulletin mentioned above, and the Bureau will from time 

 to time publish such additional information as may come to hand. 



EXHIBIT AT THE PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION. 



The duty of suitably representing the work of the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo May-November, 

 1901, was intrusted to Mr. E. B. Jones, assistant chief of the inspec- 

 tion division. Although the space and amount of money allotted to 

 the Bureau were both inadequate, a comprehensive display of the 

 various branches of its work was made. The idea was to show, as 

 well as the means permitted, what the Bureau is doing, both scien- 

 tifically and practical^, for the benefit of the farmer, stock raiser, 

 and consumer of animal products. 



A list of the various features comprising its exhibit, prepared for 

 the use of the officials of the exposition, gives a condensed description, 

 and is printed here in preference to a more detailed statement. A 

 complete list of the titles of every article shown would be superfluous. 



