MODERN MILK GOATS 



CHAPTER I 

 THE SO-CALLED " NATIVE GOAT " 



The Goat in the Old World.— The history of the 

 goat in the Old World, in Asia, Africa, and Europe, 

 goes back as far as the history of man himself. The 

 goat seems to have been one of the first animals to be 

 domesticated. It is found associated with man in the 

 earliest traces of human existence, and its place of eco- 

 nomic importance has been persistent and unquestioned 

 throughout the recorded history of these continents. 



Early Importations to the American Colonies. — It is 

 curious that since the coming of the Evn-opean races to 

 this continent the milk goat lias played so small a part in 

 the development of American life. The domesticated 

 goat was unknown to the North American Indian. But 

 in the records of the earliest settlements in New Eng- 

 land and Virginia the goat plays no small part. Goats 

 were included in the list of animals brought over by Cap- 

 tain John Smith and by Lord Delaware. Frequent 

 mention is made in the early annals of the colony of the 

 fertility and rapid increase of the milk goats. In 1620 

 we find the record of a contract for the shipment of 400 



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