The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-25 00:00:00

THE GOAT SHOW-A KID DINNER.

A public dinner of a novel description was given on
Saturday at the Alexandra Palace. All :the dishes
were of kid, and eight kids had been killed to furnish
the feast. Nearly every particle of the kid had been
used to show how cookable the animal is. The horns
had been boiled in the soup, the hoofs had been stewed
down to make the jelly, lemon pudding was served on
purpose to show the excellent effect of kid suet, and all
the creams were made of goats' milk. The kid had not
been seethed in its mother's milk, but was served
up almost together with it. Applause greeted the entry
of the principal roast—a fine billy kid of six weeks
old, Which weighed 151 b. live weight, and was car-
ried proudly round the hall, his beard wagging at the
guests as he went. A nanny which has been kept
back may be eaten up to the eleventh month; a billy
goat after he is six months old becomes rank. The
dinner was given by the Goat Society, which has been
organized by the energy of Mr. Stephen Holmes
Pegler, and the chairman was Professor Symons. The
chef, who evolved curry of rabbit out of kidling, and
made the same meat up to represent lamb, mutton,
chicken, &c., was Mr. Vardelot, of the Alexandra.
Palace. The dinner was quite nourishing and agree-
able to . the taste. The meats were tender and
appetizing; they had a slight gamy flavour, and were
most like venison.

There was naturally a laugh at the appearance of
" Billygoatawney " on the menu card, but the soup
itself was consumed without exciting the slightest
manifestation of irreverence or disrespect. Kid stock
was acknowledged to be an excellent foundation for
Mulligatawny soup. In this dish and the next, dis-
guished as s" Kari de Lapereaux h la Madras," the
flavouring of curry powder was somewhat too strong to
pirmit of an unprejudiced judgment as to the quality
of the meat thus served. The imitation of "Vol au vent
de quenelles de volaille " was no more mysterious than
the original dish. It seemed to be pretty well relished.
In a " Fricandeau mix tomates farcies " the guests
had for the fir2t time a chance of discussing fairly the
merits of a goodly piece of kid flesh, which though
cooked like veal, could be tasted apart from high
flavourings. The judgment was altogether favourable.
Lamb cutlets, so-called, 2ompleted the list of entrées
to everybody's satisfaction. The releves were named
in the bill of fare as boiled legs of lamb and spinach,
mutton and mushroom pie, roast forequarter lamb and
mint sauce, steak and oyster puddings, chicken and
truffle pies, and lambs' heads maitre d'hotel. The most
determined experimentalist could not at this stage of
the dinner attempt to pronounce a judgment on
half of these dishes. The roast lamb" certainly bore
out the statement of a French cookery book, that kid
is so like lamb that the one may always be substituted
for the other in the various preparations for which
receipts are extant. While the guests were now feel-
ing themselves nearly surfeited with kid, attention was
called to the appearance of whole one, dressed as a
roast hare. This was taken round on the dish for the
inspection of the company, and then cut up and eaten
as the " roti," without remorse. The entremets were
jellies, custards, creams, and puddings, all owing their
rich qualities to the produce of the milch goat. Ex-
cessive richness in same cases was the only objection
urged against any of these dishes. The menu card
was adorned with a design in which Swiss scenery and
the mountain goat were prominent. The chairman
(Professor Simonds, the Royal Veterinary College,
Camden Town), and the guests were, to judge from
the after-dinner speeches, well pleased with the repast.
The hon. secretary commended kid for general con-
sumption, on the ground that jts cost did not exceed
sixpence a pound, overlooking the fact that a general
demand would soon raise its price. The success of the
Alexandra Palace cook was generally admitted, and
thanks were bestowed on all concerned in the enter-
tainment.

After dinner there were speeches. The Chairman,
in proposing "Prosperity to the Goat Society,"
entered into a review of the methods by which, in his
opinion, the society should seek to attain its ends—the
improvement of the strain of goats and their extended
employment when useful. In the scheme which he
laid down the chairman differed in several respects
from the plans hitherto advocated by the secretary
and other members of the society. He deprecated
the encouragement of a race of hornless goats, as no
such race exists in nature, and preferred to rear goats
with horns bent back. The chairman heartily ap-
proved the society's plan of establishing studs from
which to breed a good race of goats. He objected to
prizes being given for twins ; of twins, one should
De killed and all the milk left to the other. He
preferred short hair to the long hair of the Angora
goat, as the latter collects (in his opinion) dirt ; but
the Angora goat has been successfully crossed with the
common goat to produce a short-haired race, usually
free from the offensive smell which has in all ages
been the opprobrium of he-goats. Mr. Pegler, the
secretary, also spoke, and remarked that 132 members
had now joined the society. The Earl of Rosslyn is
the president ; Lady Burdett Coutts, who has been
from the first a warm friend to the efforts of the
friends of goats, is the patroness • the Duke of Wel-
lington, Lord Shaftesbury, - and 'Sir Henry Peek are
vice-presidents. Other speakers were the Rev. F.
'l7aylor, Mr. Chapman Mr. Freeman, Mr. Willard,
&c.
It was resolved in the afternoon, at the general
meeting, to hold periodical dinners, and the next will
be given at the Dairy Show, which comes on next
month at the Agricultural Hall. The statement was
made that the kid may be bought at 6d. per lb., while
lamb is is. 3d. per lb. Probably it would often be
equally difficult to sell or to buy kid at 6d. per lb ' the
machinery for bringing together buyers and sellers
being deficient. Labouring men who keep goats usually
eat in their own families the kids which these animals
prolifically produce. The Goat Society will help
to provide channels for the sale of kids, as the Bee-
keepers' Association does for the sale of honey. It is
easier to dispose of the milk. The sums of is. per
quart and of Is. Bd. per quart are prices at which milk
is sold to the hospitals or private persons. One mem-
ber of the society made 37 in a year from the sale of
the milk of six goats after they had provided all the
milk used in his house for fourteen persons, and was
thanked by one of the purchasers for having saved the
life of her child. The medical uses of the milk
appear, indeed, to be very great. Mr. Pegler, the
author of "The Book of the Goat," writes :

"For household purposes it far exceeds cows' milk, being
richer, rather sweeter, and more nutritious, in tea or
coffee it may be taken for cream : in cakes or puddings it
reduces the needful quantity, if, indeed, it does not entirely
take the place of eggs; 'finally, it goes further and is much
easier of digestion than the oft-complained of and so fre-
quently adulterated liquid supplied by the ordinary milk-
man. For children and invalids alone goats' milk is so
valuable that, were it for nothing else, I should advocate
the culture of these animals. Dr. rye Chavasse, the well-
known author, in his Advice to a Mother,' says :—' The
finest and healthiest children are those who for the first four
or five years of their lives are fed principally upon it.' Now,
every one knows that for the first nine months there is
nothing like the mother's milk for an infant, but very few
seem aware that when this is not forthcoming no better
substitute can be found than goats' milk. I have known
numbers of cases, and heard of many more, where the most
'delicate children—aye, and even some that had been given
' up by the doctors—have been restored to health entirely
from the use of goats' milk. And not only children, but
adult invalids whose digestion is impaired and with 'whom
the milk of the cow disagrees, will find the substance I so
much recommend sits easily and lightly at the stomach. At
Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, a number of goats are kept to
supply consumptive patients with milk ; and, to show the
estimation in which this article is held there, as much as 6s.
per quart is obtained for it. I need scarcely say that when
given to infants it must be mixed in certain proportions
with water, according to the child's age, as it is then too
strong by itself."
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_
One great recommendation of goats is that they may
be kept on land where a cow could not thrive, and
that, as several goats would flourish where one cow
onl3l could exist, a continuous .supply of milk would
be obtained such as can only be had from cows where
more than one are kept. A little attention, a little
combing of the shaggy coat, is valuable; the goat has
been known in all times to take kindly to human
care. In the Tyrol the traveller is often followed by
strange goats. In the Goat Show a "prize is taken
by a handsome black Nanny" which wanders with her
kids about the streets of Clerkenwell.

The first prize was taken by Mr. Robert Martin for
his black billy of 2A years old. In the second class
the entries were 29 in number, and the first prize was
awarded to Mr. J. Clarke's Nancy, as the best short-•
haired she-goat. The second prize was taken by Mr.
E. T. Crookenden. There were five entries in the
competition among long-haired he-goats.. A British
goat of Mr. J. G. Word's was first. Mr. •C.
Dayman's British Queen obtained the first prize
out of seven in the • class for long-haired
she-goats. There were eight entries for the pairs
of kids,under six months old. The first prize went
to Mr. Crisp's short-haired. Lady Pigot's Cash-
mere-white Capricorn was the only entry and took the
only prize in the class for foreign he-goats I\•1r. C.
Bartlett's Dutch Daisy took first prize among the
foreign she-goats. There were entries of foreign kids
from Mr. Bartlett and Lady Pigot, but no prize appears
against this class in the official list. Mr. Tredgold's
British Prince obtains the first for "any other
variety" of billy; Mr. Freeman's Diamond is second
—a fine goat, with the front of a bull, massive fore-
quarters, and mild in temper. He is bred from a
stock which has been selected for gentleness for
thirty years. In the class for she-goats of the
same general definition ("any other variety ") Mr. 'l'.
Smith was first with the half-bred Abyssinian
Duchess, and Mr. G-. J. Patton's promising Nell
(Indian and English) was second. The first prize
for kids was awarded to Mr. W. Freeman, of the
Limes, Wandsworth. Three sets of prizes were given
for goats without horns, and Lady Burdett Coutts led
with the great and hornless he-goat General, brown
with a black head, and of Hungarian stock. Mr.
Chapman's Princess was first among the nannies.

Only -careful attention to the selection of sires and
clams is required to produce a race as famous as the
descendants of the short-horn herd of larger cattle.
Already much success has attended the efforts of Mr.
Evans, a magistrate at the Cape, who has a herd of
5,000 goats, and sends to the show a specimen.