Vol.  LXXXII. 
Published  Weeklv  by  The  Rural  Publishing  Co.. 
333  W.  30th  St.,  New  York.  Price  One  Dollar  a  Year. 
NEW  YORK,  APRIL  14,  1923 
Entered  as  Second-Class  Matter.  June  26.  1870.  at  the  Post 
Office  at  New  York.  N.  Y..  under  the  Act  of  March  3.  1879. 
No.  4T3S 
The  Mo 
era  milk 
N  INCREASING  INDUSTRY.— Of  all 
domesticated  animals,  there  is  none 
of  greater  value  in  its  place,  and  none 
that  is  less  understood  and  appreciat¬ 
ed  at  the  present  time,  than  the  mod- 
ioat.  Up  to  a  few  years  ago  the  goat  was 
largely  the  object  of  ridicule  and  the  subject  of 
humorists  for  the  comic  page;  but  the  milk  goat  is 
rapidly  coming  into  her  own,  even  in  this  country, 
where  the  industry  is  largely  undeveloped.  It  bids 
fair  to  outclass  anything  of  its  kind,  in  the  place 
for  which  it  is  adapted,  and  in  sections  where  it  can 
be  utilized  to  the  highest  possible  extent.  While  I 
shall  quote  some  extracts  from  the  bulletin  of  Prof. 
Sherwood,  the  principal  features  outlined  in  this 
article  are  the  proven  experience  of  those  who  are 
now  breeding  these  animals,  as  well  as  the  personal 
experience  of  the  writer. 
d  e  r  n  Mi 
SCRIPTURAL  SUGGESTIONS.— It  is  true  that 
in  the  past  this  industry  has  been  confined  largely 
to  the  foreign  class  of  people  who  have  been  taught 
the  merits  of  the  milk  goat  in  their  own  country. 
Today  Americans  have  taken  them  up  to  the  extent 
that  the  best  of  the  breeding  stock  is  held  beyond 
prices  prohibitive  to  many  who  wish  to  own  them, 
and  the  demand  is  far  in  advance  of  the  supply. 
What  regions  and  locations  are  best  adapted  to  the 
goat?  I  quote  from  Psalms  104,  as  follows:  “The 
high  hills  are  a  refuge  for  the  wild  goat.”  The 
psalmist,  in  writing,  understood  fully  the  habits  of 
the  goat,  and  the  wild  instinct  still  clings  to  the 
domesticated  animals.  If  given  their  freedom  in 
open  pasture  they  love  to  search  out  the  highest  and 
rockiest  summits  of  the  range,  because  such  places 
resemble  more  closely  their  natural  habitat. 
HILL  PASTURAGE. — For  this  reason  no  places 
1  k  Goat 
are  better  adapted  to  their  breeding  and  keeping 
than  the  rolling  hill  sections,  unsuited  to  agricultural 
purposes  in  our  own  country — places  where  the 
drainage  is  good,  yet  watered,  and  where  browse  and 
other  vegetation  grows  in  abundance  and  variety.  It 
is  in  these  places  where  the  milk  goats  of  America 
show  at  their  best,  but  this  does  not  mean  that  they 
cannot  be  kept  in  almost  any  other  place,  as  there 
is  no  animal  now  under  the  hand  of  domestication 
which  can.  and  does,  so  readily  adapt  itself  to  any 
and  all  conditions.  It  is  this  last  named  fact  which 
is  so  largely  responsible  for  the  present  popularity 
of  the  modern  milk  goat. 
A  FAMILY  MILK  PRODUCER.— When  one  has 
really  learned  to  appreciate  the  value  of  a  milking 
doe  (which  can  be  kept  in  almost  any  backyard),  it  is 
hard  to  turn  him  against  her  and  reinstate  the  millc 
bottle  on  the  front  porch.  Prejudice  on  the  part  of 
Leven  children  in  14  months  is  the  record  of  this  Southern  Maryland  ewe.  This  is  rather  hard  to  believe,  but  here  is  the  record:  Twins  in  November,  1921; 
i.gain  in  May,  1922,  and  triplets  January,  1923.  The  owner  so  far  has  realized  $42  from  the  sale  of  the  two  pair  of  twins,  and  still  has  the  ewe  and  the  triplets 
on  hand. 
