310 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA. 



make delicious mutton at the same time, that 

 they were very prolific. 



Now the simple truth is that the Angora 

 goat is the most delicate, though the most beau- 

 tiful goat knqwn. It is troubled with all the 

 diseases that afflict sheep, or most of them. It 

 is not very prolific, nor are the kids very easily 

 raised in a cold and wet climate. It is not dog- 

 proof, nor will it serve very well to keep dogs 

 from sheep. It destroys brush effectually, if it 

 can reach it, but should have some grass along 

 with the brush to keep it in good order. And 

 it shears a fleece of about 3 pounds that is worth 

 from 7 to 40 cents per pound. 



While the writer from his study of goats 

 believes his characterizations true, yet he be- 

 lieves further that despite their delicacy An- 

 goras can be profitably grown in every state 

 in the Union, wherever there is rough, dry, 

 brushy land, that they may readily be kept in 

 health, and more readily than sheep, since they 

 are in no danger from parasitic infection while 

 browsing on trees, and that the quality of their 

 fleeces may be so greatly increased by syste- 

 matic breeding that the 7-cent fleeces will be- 

 come extinct and even the best fleeces will be- 

 come more valuable. 



Let us get at the history of the American 

 Angora goat. The native home of the Angora 

 is in Asiatic Turkey, on a high, dry and rather 

 cold plateau. It may be that there is some 

 peculiarity of the soil and climate of that re- 

 gion, or some mental twist of the breeders 

 there, since there are other animals found there 



