January 18, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
63 
“ The following points are those which, by the generality of the 
mohair breeders, are looked for. A fine head with ears semi- 
pendulous, wide, and thin, horns fine at the base and tapering 
gradually to a point, flat-shaped, and set as far apart from each 
other as possible. In the male they should make a direct curve 
to the rear as soon as they leave the head, bending then outward, 
and finally pointed upwards, forming a spiral. In the female 
they grow out more in a lateral direction as they separate at the 
base, the spiral being more decided, and the extremities directed 
downwards. The shape and expression of the face in the Angora 
strongly resembles that of the sheep, with which it has many 
characteristics in common. 
“The coat is composed of two descriptions of hair, the principal 
of which is a fine silky kind of wool, which hangs in long wide 
flakes, terminating in ringlets all over the body and down to the 
hocks. In the most valued specimens these flaky strands of wool 
are closely matted at the base, so that after being sheared the 
whole falls in a united mass like the fleece of a sheep. It is this 
substance which is known commercially under the name of mo¬ 
hair. The other and inner coat is of the same nature as the hair 
of the common Goat; it is quite short, and grows close to the 
skin. This is no doubt intended by Nature as a protection to the 
animal when the outer covering falls, as it does every spring un¬ 
less shorn, and until its growth is sufficiently restored. 
“The yield of fleece varies greatly according to the age, sex, and 
quality of the individual, the average produce of an ordinary 
herd, reckoning adults and kids of both sexes, being about 2^ lt»3. 
each, but in herds of the best breeds it reaches an average of 6 lbs. 
The greatest weight is taken from the rams, but the finest quality 
from the castrated males of two, three, and four years old. A 
fine well-bred entire Goat will sometimes yield as much as 10 and 
12 Its., the length of the strands being from 8 to 9 inches. The 
value ranges from 3s. 6d. a lb. for the very best, to 2s. and less for 
very inferior qualities. 
“ The endeavours which on a few occasions have been made to 
acclimatise them for commercial purposes in England have sig¬ 
nally failed, our atmosphere and soil being much too damp. In 
1848 a choice herd was sent by the Sultan as a present to Dr. J. B. 
Davis in the United States. Referring to this importation an 
American author writes :—They do surprisingly well on the 
Pacific coast as far as introduced, but especially in California and 
Arisona, whose climate and topography closely resembles that of 
their Asiatic home.’ At the Cape of Good Hope, where large 
numbers of Angoras have of late years been bred, they appear to 
do as well as on their native hills, the quality of their produce 
comparing favourably in many cases with exports from the East. 
When Goat-farming soon became general, the rate at which it pro¬ 
gressed may be judged by the fact that whereas the export of 
mohair in 1865, the first year, was only 6804 lbs., it had by 1S77 
reached as much as 1,395,850 lbs. 
“ The finest specimens of the Angora that ever left their native 
country were imported to this colony in the spring of 1879, when 
Mr. J. B. Evans, a large and enterprising farmer of these animals 
at Scoorsteenberg, Eastern Province, brought over from Asia 
Minor a herd of twenty-seven head, to secure which he had left 
the Cape two months previous, and travelled into the heart of 
the Angora country, where he obtained, but only at fabulous 
prices, the flock in question, valued at £2000. As these animals 
were transhipped at the Victoria Docks in London, an oppor¬ 
tunity was afforded me through the kindness of the importer, of 
inspecting them, and I am therefore indebted to Mr. Evans for 
much of the information upon this breed which I am able to place 
before my readers. An idea of the superiority of this consign¬ 
ment may be gathered when it is stated that the weight of fleece 
of the males averaged from 12 lbs. to 15 lbs., and that of the 
females from 7 lbs. to 8 lbs. 
“ The flesh of the Angora closely resembles mutton, to which in 
its native country it is much preferred, whilst its milk, though 
less plentiful than that of the common Goat, is mudi richer. As 
it feeds more freely on grass than the latter, and fattens easier, 
being less fond of browsing on hedges, it is considered by Mr. 
Evans probable that a cross between the two varieties would be 
better suited for pasturing in small herds in England for the sake 
of the milk than our own breeds, provided only they were located 
on dry soil and housed in winter.” 
This concludes our quotation, which although it has extended 
to an unwonted length, and is throughout not only interesting to 
the general reader, but of great importance to us in the considera¬ 
tion of our subject, and the observations we shall have to make 
in reference to the obtaining all the combined qualities in one 
and the same type of animal, which may be obtained by crossing 
and judicious mating of the animals, and which we shall endeavour 
to describe as the result of our many years’ experience in the 
cross-breeding of sheep, and describing as far as possible the 
means whereby we hope to obtain success. For as “like begets 
like ” is a truism, we can adopt a system of breeding whereby the 
desirable qualities of one type or species may be so blended as to 
improve any other, and yet obtain the advantages of both, by 
excluding or obliterating undesired points, whilst profiting by and 
retaining superior qualities to the extent we may require. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour. —Wheat-sowing as fast as the ground is ploughed 
daily is the work still going on at every favourable interval, but very 
much yet remains to be done on the strong and flat-lying soils in 
every district. This employs the horses when it is possible to work 
the land so as to bury the seed, but on heavy soils scarcely any drill¬ 
ing has been possible, therefore broadcast seeding has been the 
mode adopted. If the weather continues changeable and the ground 
not so heavy but that the seed can be fairly buried, the sowing since 
Christmas is likely to produce a more regular plant of Wheat than 
much of the ground sown in November and early part of December. 
In such a season as we have just passed through the chalk hill lands, 
sandy land districts, and generally vale soils have had the advantage 
over the mixed or heavy soils ; for at almost all intervals the fallow- 
ploughing has been continued upon those farms which had finished 
the sowing of Wheat at the early period. 
In other cases the carting of earth for compost heaps of manure 
has been the work for horses, also the carting of chalk or marl 
where the distance is not too great from the pit has been done. In 
many cases, however, the railways will supply chalk and bring it 
within reach of various farms which must otherwise be treated with 
lime and mineral manures. The work of obtaining these substances 
and placed in store or heap is very important, and in various districts 
great complaints are made of the cereal crops being subject to blight 
or mildew. This in our opinion is often caused by the absence of 
chalk or lime in the soil, for it is not sufficient that the home farmer 
shall liberally manure his land in various ways to enable it to pro¬ 
duce a full crop of straw. If lime and silica are entirely or partially 
absent in the land the growth of straw may be abundant, but the 
straw will be weak, and in seasons like the past it will be subject to 
disease on the surface of the stem, and be attacked with parasites of 
various kinds and be called blighted or mildewed. The straw will 
then go down and be lodged without the ears being properly filled 
with grain, which would not be the case as a rule if the carbonate or 
common lime had been liberally applied to the soil, but especially in 
the fen lands of the eastern counties, and vegetable loams of some of 
the western counties. We are so strongly convinced of the necessity 
of the applications we have named to such soils as we have indicated 
that we shall continue to repeat these opinions until we notice that 
they are somewhat more generally taken up and acted upon. In 
the districts where chalking was formerly pursued as an important 
operation in the tillage of the land it is shown that the numerous 
chalk pits and limekilns are at present for the most part unused and 
neglected. 
Hand Labour .—Whilst open weather continues forking-out grass 
from the root crops may still be done, also on some lands intended 
for Lent corn after Wheat; and this is a matter of great economy, 
inasmuch that a small outlay in manual labour will save the 
larger outlay in horse labour to a great extent in the tillage for 
spring crops. Hedging, ditching, banking, and planting trees for 
plantations of Larch and other Firs may now be done with advan¬ 
tage, and where the land in hand is not good enough for tillage or 
pasture it can be turned to good account by being planted for timber 
or hop poles, the latter giving the quickest return. 
Live Stoclc .—This is now the busy time for shepherds having charge 
of the various breeds of Down sheep, for the lambing will now be 
going on, or preparations should be made for the near approach of 
the lambing season of later flocks. We hear much of the death of 
sheep in some districts by the coathe or rot through flukes in the 
liver. For several years, but especially in 1879 and 1880, the losses 
by rot were enormous, and we see a difference of opinion exists as to 
the possibility of curing sheep with flukes in the liver, and it still 
remains an open question whether it can be done or not; but we 
blame every farmer who has suffered in former years from losses by 
rotten sheep if he still continues to pursue the system of feeding 
sheep on doubtful soils without using the necessary precautions, for 
it can certainly be prevented or avoided, and prevention being better 
than cure, it is within the farmer’s power to prevent losses by rot, 
which we have explained fully in articles in this Journal on the 
31st of July and 7th of August in 1879. 
Under the present circumstances as to the high price of cattle and 
sheep, the latter especially, we recommend that all the stock required 
for fattening should be bred on the farm, in which case if there is 
any profit to be obtained it will be done to the fullest extent only in 
the breeding of all animals required on the farm, the benefit being 
not only certain, but arising or accruing in various ways, one of 
which is the avoidance of disease brought on the farm by purchased 
stock, and as the seasons vary the breeder is said to have the advan¬ 
tage in some years, and the feeder in others ; we say, therefore, Take 
both and be satisfied. There is much lameness amongst sheep, 
especially where they are feeding on roots on strong or flat-lying land. 
