THE SO-CALLED "NATI\T GOAT" 3 



Reasons for This Degeneracy. — Why were they so 

 indifferent to the goat, these early settlers of the Atlantic 

 seaboard? Why did the milk goat, elsewhere so honored 

 and valued, fall into such obscurity in the United States ? 

 The answer is found in certain fundamental laws which 

 govern the development of agriculture as a whole. 



Fig. 1. — A "native" goat, showing the results of many ereneratinns of neglect in 



breeding and selection. The milk type has been lost, the udder is almost invisible, 



the body awkward and heavy, the goat rough. 



Goats attain their greatest importance at the two ex- 

 treme stages of agricultural progress — the first and the 

 last — the primitive nomadic stage and the final crowded, 

 frugal, and highly intensive stage. During the first 

 stage agriculture is still undeveloped and unstable, and 

 herds must depend for their sustenance upon range feed- 



