21 



I have observed that when the flock crosses a dead wood 

 fence, where the kids cannot follow, the mothers do not 

 always return to seek them. 



No ordinary fence will restrain goats, and as they are 

 restless, energetic, and destructive, cultivation is not profit- 

 able in their vicinity. Hawthorn hedges and ornamental 

 shrubs, possess peculiar attractions for them. 



They have great attachment for home, and can be depended 

 upon to return to their sheds at night. Shelter should be 

 provided for them, as they evince great aversion to rain, and 

 will remain all day under cover in wet weather. 



Angoras are not so prolific as common goats, and require 

 more attention during the breeding season. 



Mr. Wilson adopts the plan of shearing twice during the 

 year. I do not think it would be advisable to do so in this 

 climate. 



The flesh of goats in good condition has much the appear- 

 ance of mutton, but is firmer in the fibre, and not, in my 

 opinion, quite so palatable. 



The wethers accumulate large quantities of internal fat, 

 which is remarkably firm and white, and should be a valuable 

 tallow. 



The dry, heath-covered, hills on our eastern coast should 

 provide sufficient food for goats, where sheep cannot be 

 profitably kept. 



Gorse and briars are eagerly sought for, and hedges of 

 either are kept carefully trimmed where goats have access to 

 them. 



The chief reason why the sheep have from early days been 

 preferred to the goats, is that the latter had no fleece to be 

 shorn. The introduction of the Angora would remove that 

 ground of preference. 



I do not anticipate that goats will ever supplant sheep on 

 the best grass lands of Tasmania, but I believe they will 

 cause a good deal of land now idle and valueless, to be taken 

 up and utilized in the production of an important article for 

 manufacture or export. 



The skins now exhibited show very clearly how the silky 

 hair increasing with each fresh infusion of Angora blood, dis- 

 places the coarse shaggy covering of the common goat. 



The skin of a half-bred is covered with the two distinct 

 kinds of hair in about equal quantities. The three-fourths 

 Angora has a fleece in which the silky hair attains a length suffi- 

 cient to hide the common hair from sight, and the next cross 

 approaches, in the best specimens before you, to the standard 

 of the pure goat — the mohair being as fine and nearly as long, 

 although not so abundant, as in the thorough-bred. 



