^A/Try HOj)A 
* . ii i (r 
^ R H .1 
VOL. XLIX. NO. 2095 . NEW YORK, MARCH 22, i 89 o. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1890 , by the Rural New-Yorker, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.l 
(l\)t ijfriXsm.au. 
THE ANGORA GOAT. 
D. H. VAN HOOSEAR. 
T 
'HE Angora goat is a native of Asia 
Minor or Turkey in Asia, and the 
term Angola is derived from a town of the 
same name within this territory. Consid¬ 
erable importations of the breed have 
been made into the United States. Some 
are now raised in New England, but 
most of those in this country are raised in 
the South and West. The desirable points 
are a heavy fleece of long ringlets, evenness 
of character, size, good health, hardiness 
and long ears which droop by the sides of the 
head just back of the eyes. The animals are 
very clean and at this time of the year the 
shining ringlets nearly reach the ground. 
The fleeces average per head about four 
pounds of washed mohair, which is very 
soft and silky, strong, fine and rich-look¬ 
ing. The fleece covers the entire body. It is 
made up of two kinds: the under cover, 
called kemp, is short and fine, but resembles 
hair rather than wool. It protects the 
goats from cold and rain, but is shed early 
in the spring. Manufacturers separate it 
from the mohair before the latter is worked 
up. 
Angoras are very attractive, and while 
my flock were on exhibition at the Danbury 
Fair a constant crowd was seen in front of 
their pen. Agriculturists of wealth and 
taste buy them as ornaments for the farm. 
Some breeders have crossed the pure-bred 
Angoras with the common goat, and this 
has injured the industry, as some of the 
nearly pure-bred offsprings have been sold 
for breeding purposes, and the small 
amount of the blood of the common goat in 
their veins has been very detrimental to 
success in breeding. I can hardly see the 
object of making such a cross, as the fleece 
of the pure-bred goat is exactly 
what is wanted for the manufac¬ 
ture of mohair goods, which can¬ 
not be made of any substitute. 
Mohair is sometimes used in con¬ 
nection with wool, silk, cotton, 
etc., but for such purposes it 
should be from pure-bred animals. 
It was thought that Angoras 
were too delicate for most parts 
of this country and especially for 
the Northern States, and that 
they needed a great space for 
roaming among bushes, etc., in 
winter, so that their food would 
be composed wholly or in great 
part of bushes, twigs, etc.; but 
they will bear housing and close 
confinement even better than 
sheep. Mine have been perfectly 
hardy and have suffered less from 
cold and disease than my several 
breeds of sheep. They will eat 
almost all kinds of youug tree 
shoots, bushes, weeds, etc., and 
are valuable in pastures infested 
by these, for they will reject even 
good pasture to eat them. When 
they are turned into a new pas¬ 
ture they generally go about the 
fences cropping this kindof 
growth usually to be found there. 
In winter they select dried leaves 
from bushes and weeds, that are 
cured with the hay before they 
eat the latter. They are very cu¬ 
rious, and on new ground they 
seek a rock or high hill or eminence, 
or even the edge of a rocky ledge 
to obtain a good view of their surroundings. 
They are also very inquisitive, and can 
walk up an inclined rail at an angle of 45 
degrees with little trouble. They will not 
worry if fettered or hobbled, but will travel 
as fast and as far as they can when ham¬ 
pered in this way. 
The males are larger than the females 
and their horns are also much larger and 
differ somewhat in shape. The animals are 
sheared in early spring, the same as sheep, 
and the mohair is worth about twice as 
much as wool per pound. 
The female’s period of pregnancy is only 
five months or 140 to 150 days, and there is 
generally but one kid at a birth. It is at 
first seemingly quite feeble, but when fairly 
cared for, for a few hours, there is no furth¬ 
er trouble, and a very handsome animal is 
an Angora kid. Several years ago, owing to 
the cruel destruction of a valuable fldck of 
sheep by dogs in a. single night, I had al¬ 
most made up my mind to abandon sheep 
husbandry, but hearing that an Angora 
goat put with sheep would protect them 
from dogs, 1 invested in another flock of 
sheep and put a goat with them, and since 
then I have had no trouble with dogs; al¬ 
though they frequent my pastures they do 
not venture to attack the sheep. 
Fairfield County, Conn. 
R. N.-Y.—The picture shown at Figure 
54 is taken from a photograph of three ani¬ 
mals owned by Mr. Van Hoosear. 
[Note. —There seems to be quite a little 
misunderstanding regarding the value of 
mohair and the prospects for profitably 
utilizing what may be produced in this 
country. Mr. Edward Atkinson informs 
us that the mohair is mainly useful for 
hand-made articles which are not yet man¬ 
ufactured to any great extent in this coun¬ 
try. Wm. MacNaughton’s Sons inform us 
that the demand for mohair has been ac¬ 
tive since October last and that prices are 
firm, ranging from 15 to 50 cents according 
to quality. They claim that the highest 
grades of domestic mohair are fully equal 
to anything grown in the world. The fol¬ 
lowing figures are said to be reliable. 
CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
1888. 1889. 
Foreign. 1,482,238 lbs. 1,720,432 lbs. 
Domestic.. 621,858 “ 685,106 “ 
MOHAIR IMPORTS INTO UNITED STATES. 
1888. 1889. 
New York. 67,274 lbs. 375,310 lbs. 
Boston. 322,574 “ 1,284,500 “ 
Philadelphia. .. 65,367 “ 181,502 “ 
455,215 1,841,312 
Prices in New York for the best grades 
varied in 1888 from 36 cents to 40 cents per 
pound. In 1889, the price ranged from 36 
cents to 52 cents.—E ds.] 
£arm Ccoitomij. 
COVERED YARDS. 
PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
ARE THEY VALUABLE ? HOW TO MAKE THEM. 
IN a letter dated Marcellus, February 3, 
1890,1 find the following : “ How are the 
farmers to house manure, when they feed 
so much straw, stalks, etc. ? To cover the 
whole yard is not practicable. The loss of 
$1.03 per ton on manure would not keep the 
buildings in repair, to say nothing about 
their first cost.” 
It was found in our experiments last year 
that our horses with moderate bedding 
produced 54.4 pounds of manure daily. 
Ten horses for six months, would then 
produce, in round numbers, 50 tons. Our in¬ 
vestigations in 1885, showed that some large 
half-blood cows in milk, produced, includ¬ 
ing five pounds of bedding, 89 pounds of 
manure daily. This gives eight tons for 
six months—the usual length"; of time^the 
ANGORA GOATS. From Nature. Fig. 54. 
cattle are in the barn—or 160 tons for a 
dairy of 20 cows. Boussingault from his 
experiments, concludes that a 900-pound 
horse produces 7% tons, and a cow 14 tons 
annually and this without counting any 
bedding. 
I think it is fair to conclude that 30 ani¬ 
mals as above, with a fair amount of bed¬ 
ding, will produce, in six months, 200 
tons of mannre and the value, computed at 
commercial prices for the three valuable 
elements, may safely be set down at $2.50 
per ton. In many cases I am certain that the 
loss from exposure in the open yard is far 
greater than is shown in bulletin 13, in 
other cases it is often less. Be that as it 
may, manure is a valuable product of the 
farm and should be cared for and protected 
from waste like any other product. At 
times it is quite convenient to haul it to 
the field and spread it where plants are 
growing but for nearly half the year there 
is no suitable place for spreading it, or the 
land is too wet to permit one to go on it, or 
other duties press and it is not convenient 
to draw the manure as produced. Many 
imagine that an expensive building or 
basement is required which they are unable 
to build, so they suffer the waste, though 
unwillingly. 
The accompanying Figures, 57, 58 and 59, 
show the ground-plan and elevation of the 
frame of a cheap, durable and easily con¬ 
structed covered yard. Long posts or 
poles, eight inches in diameter at the butt 
are set in the ground two and six feet 
apart. Upon these are spiked 2x4 scant¬ 
lings about four feet apart, and a plate, 2x6, 
is nailed on top of the posts, which are 
sawed off to a line after they have been 
set and the girts have been spiked to them. 
Round poles flattened at the ends, or 2x6 
pieces doubled, placed six feet apart, will 
tie the building together. A few poles or 
old rails laid on these ties and some straw 
upon them will exclude the cold more per¬ 
fectly than a matched floor. On the inside 
of the posts spike horizontally flattened 
__ poles, rails or slabs, or nail on 
cheap boards, and then fill the 
space between the outside perpen¬ 
dicular and the inside horizontal 
boarding with straw. This kind 
of a wall is far drier than one of 
stone or brick, and the animals 
will be more comfortable than 
they would be in a fine, costly 
structure. I speak from actual 
experience, having had occasion to 
use both kinds. 
If it is desired to have a place 
to store straw, then the building 
should be twice as high or 20 feet, 
and the ties or joists will have to 
be stronger, more numerous and 
a heavy, false summer should be 
placed under them and supported 
by large posts set on stones. The 
roof can be of shingles or double- 
boarded. When the posts which 
have heen set in the ground have 
rotted off, set a prop temporarily 
under the girt, saw the rotten 
parts off and place large, flat 
stones under the sound parts. 
Such a building will serve as a 
place for the deposit of the man¬ 
ure, when needed ; it will shelter 
the animals while they are being 
watered and while the stables are 
being cleaned and aired; it will 
give facilities for mixing and 
tramping the manure, thus pre¬ 
venting serious loss. The liquid 
part of the manure will not be lost 
but will be absorbed and it will 
serve to dampen the dry mate 
