LIVE STOCK ON THE RANGE. 



109 



range the better they like it. In the Southwest, espe- 

 cially in New Mexico, the industry found a splendid op- 

 portunity to develop, and areas of many thousands of 

 acres covered with the densest thickets of underbrush 

 furnished the best range for them. The region about Sil- 

 ver City, N. M., is in the heart of a goat-raising district, 

 and nearby will be found some of the largest and best- 

 bred herds of Angoras in the West. 



There are also a great many Angora goats in west 

 Texas, Arizona and California, and the introduction of 

 improved billies from Africa, where the best blood from 

 Asia was originally taken, has brought the standard 

 of the herds to a very high degree. Experts believe that 

 the Southwest offers almost ideal conditions under which 

 to raise a class of Mohair equal to the very best im- 

 ported. In 1881 the Sultan of Turkey absolutely prohib- 

 ited the exportation of any more Angoras from that coun- 

 try, and although a few head have since been smuggled 

 out the South African supply has been the main source of 

 the importations into the United States, until recently, 

 when the South African government prohibited further 

 exportation from that country also. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, the importations into the United States had been 

 of so superior a class that it is believed American Angora- 

 raisers can keep up the standard of their flocks without 

 further infusion of foreign blood. Many expert authori- 

 ties believe that, due to the great care in selection, the 

 skill in breeding and the business-like manner in which 

 American Angora-raisers have handled their flocks the 

 breed here will eventually be superior to that of either 

 Turkey or South Africa. 



This is undoubtedly true so far as Turkey is concerned, 

 because the breeding of Angoras there is not in the hands 



