THE GENESEE FARMER. 



371 



INTRODUCTION OF THE ASIATIC BUF- 

 FALO, THE BKAHMIN OX, AND THE CASH- 

 MERE. SCINDE AND MALTA GOATS INTO 

 SOUTH CAROLINA. 



The want of calcareousness in nearly all of the 

 soils of the Souihern States, together with the heat 

 of our sun, makes an inaptitude to ])erennial grasses 

 for grazing auitiiuls ; hence more suitable for brows- 

 ing, as both ten:l to originate shrubbery and weeds. 

 In 1836, having liad some experience in the impor- 

 tation of Short-horned, Devon and Ayrehire cattle 

 into this State, 1 then summarily advanced an opinion, 

 "that all cattle brought from a jVorthern to our 

 Southern climate must necessarily degenerate to the 

 peculiarities of our location, and that it would be 

 easier to improve cattle already acclimated, or import 

 animals from a still warmer region." In my late 

 sojourn in Asia and the East, I had reference to this 

 observation in importing (/ashmcre, Scinde and Malta 

 milking goats, as well as the Brahmin ox, or Xagore, 

 of India, the Asiatic buffalo, or water ox, and other 

 animals. 



The Cashmere, Persian, Angora and Circassian 

 goats are one and the same animal, changed in some 

 respects by altitude, though but httle by latitude. 

 They abound in all this inaccessible territory, and are 

 the eating, milking, cheese and butter-making and 

 clothes-making animal of the whole country. They 

 ai'e finely developed for the table, much disposed to 

 fatten, very white and beautiful, with long fine wool 

 or curly hair, yielding about 4 to 4i pounds to the 

 fleece. They can be easily procured by an energetic 

 man acquainted with the peculiarities of the popula- 

 tion, and at a cost of $4 to $G each on the spot. I 

 brought to the United States, in 1849, seven females 

 and two males. They have kids only every spring, 

 usually two at a birth. The full breeds have increased 

 only to about thirty, from the accidental circumstance 

 that in nearly c\i ry instance the issue has been males. 

 In locating these animals in diflerent sections of 

 South Carohuu, I can see uo difference between those 

 reared here and the imported, with the exception that 

 those reared in this State are finer and heavier fleeced 

 than those imported. 



On my arrival, I immediately procured a number 

 of our httle diminutive native female goats, and 

 crossed them upon a Cashmere buck. Their progeny 

 had hair very line, but little longer than that of the 

 does. I again crossed the females of this progeny 

 upon the other Cashmere buck, and it was difficult to 

 distinguish these from the pure breed ; and the sub- 

 sequent cross cannot be detected. In the spring, I 

 contemplate efi'ecting still another cross. 



I consider this a most valuable and useful experi- 

 ment, as I made an arrangement with amateurs to sell 

 pure bucks at $100, and to exchange annually, so as 

 to furnish them with the advantages of diflerent 

 ci'osses. In ten days all the pure breeds were taken, 

 with a demand for many more. Even the mixed 

 kids have been readily taken by those determined to 

 Infuse their blood with their stoclc. In these ar- 

 rangements, however, I have located them from the 

 top of the mountains to the seaboard, both in Caro- 

 lina and Georgia. Apart from their manifest prac- 

 tical aptitude in all these particulars, there is this 



ultimate value to be considered : a Cashmere shawl 

 is worth from $700 to $1,500. Why is this differ- 

 ence, except in their intrinsic value from durability as 

 wearing apparel ? I have socks which I have worn 

 for six years, and are yet perfectly sound. 



No naturalist has yet been able to assign a syste- 

 matic law regulating the acclimation of animals. The 

 Merino sheep, whenever it has been removed, has 

 generally changed, and in most cases for the worse. 

 Even when crossed upon the best Saxony sheep it 

 was a deterioration, but when crossed upon a coai-se- 

 wooled animal it improved the fleece ; and the cross 

 fixed both the character of the wool and the carcass. 

 This fact is observed in many other instances, demon- 

 strating that the constitution of aninuils must be 

 connected with location to fix the character of the 

 wool or the carcass. In fact, the same temperature, 

 but modified by altitude instead of latitude, does not 

 produce the same results. On all the table mountain 

 and valley plains between Persia and 1'urkey in Asia, 

 all the animals have fine, long, silken hair, as the An- 

 gora cat, greyhound, and rabbits, and I have seen the 

 same in some specimens of the Koordistan horse. 

 To a considerable extent this is the fact on the west- 

 ern part of South America. 



In connection with this part of the subject, I will 

 now introduce the Thiljet shawl goat, belonging to 

 the coldest regions. I accidentally came in posses- 

 sion of a pair of these animals, but lost the male. I 

 have a considerable increase from the female, bred 

 with a Cashmere buck. The Thibet goat has, under 

 a long, coarse hair, a coat of beautiful white wool, 

 which, when combed, makes about a pound to a 

 fleece. I had these specimens with me at the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in London ; and in comparing them 

 with a stuffed specimen of a Rocky Mountain goat, 

 I could not discover the slighest difference ;' nor do I 

 yet see any change of the fresh cross of the Cash- 

 mere buck upon my Thibet doe ; but in the third 

 cross upon the Cashmere, we may expect a valuable 

 experiment by changing the fine undcr-wool, or down, 

 into a conjoint and uniform covering of wool. 



In regard to the Scinde goat, so called from the 

 province at the mouth of the Indus, he is a gigantic 

 animal, with pendulent ears twenty-two inches long, 

 is used for the table and dairy, and is very similar to 

 the Syrian goat. The jNIalta milking goat is also for 

 the dairj', giving about a gallon of milk in a day. It 

 may not be uninteresting for me to state a fact ob- 

 served by me in the malarious sections of the United 

 States and Mexico. In all the similar sections of 

 Asia and the East, they regard cow's milk as being 

 an exciting cause to bilious fevers, as well as to liver 

 complaints, and hence use only goat's milk. The 

 modus agendi I see has been a matter under discus- 

 sion by the faculty of Pari.''. 



Having given thus much on the subject of goats, 

 T now hasten to the cattle. In referring to the Na- 

 gore or Brahmin cattle of India, in Youatt's work 

 on British cattle, it will be perceived that they are 

 organized to undergo tlie fatigues of the hottest cli- 

 mates known, and will carry a soldier six miles an 

 hour for fifteen consecutive hours. 1 brought but 

 one pair to the United States, and, as far as I can 

 learn, my crosses of them upon other cattle are the 

 first known in this country. 1 crossed this bull upon 



