GOATS 403 
States, as reported in the census for 1900, represent- 
ing a total value of $3,266,080. Besides these, there 
were 78,353 goats reported for cities and villages, which 
would bring the total up to 1,949,605 head. He estimates 
the number of Angoras at 700,000, and the remainder, he 
says, ‘‘ are all sorts of animals except recognized breeds of 
milch goats, of which there are so few as not to affect the 
total materially.” This is indeed a small number, but it 
indicates the need as well as the possibilities of improve- 
ment. 
European statistics give far more satisfactory results. 
Germany had (in 1883), according to Dettweiler, 2,639,904 
milch goats; Switzerland (in 1896) possessed 416,323 
head (Stebler). Pegler, in his work (The Book of the 
Goat), gives the following figures: France, 1,794,837 ; 
Russia, 1,700,000; Austria, 979,104; Spain, 4,531,228 ; 
Italy, 1,690,478, and the grand total for continental Europe 
as 17,198,587 head. The Yearbook of the United States 
Department of Agriculture for 1906, in its statistical 
columns, gives the total number of goats for South Ameri- 
can countries as 5,662,239; North and Central America, 
6,296,192; Africa, 17,557,590; Asia, 40,557,402, while 
Australia (total Oceanica) is marked down to a total of 
only 114,865 head. 
494. History in America. — As has been said, little 
effort has been put forth to improve the common goat of 
America, and no important milking strains or families 
have been produced. It is only under the stimulus of 
recent importations of some of the best European types 
that interest in goats for milk production has sprung up. 
The first importation on record was that of W. A. Shafor, 
of Ohio, who brought over four Toggenburg goats in 1893. 
The next importation of note was made by F. 5. Peer, of 
