The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-05-20
The lesGoat.

Butthey cannot. The grave gives its guerdon
OF silence and beautiful rest.
The Goat.
The goat was :coeval with the OK and
: the sheep, in those regions of the East
where civilization first dawned upon
mankind. He was part in the mytho-
logical systems of the first nations. In
the Sacred Scriptures he is constantlyre-
ferred to as forming the wealth of patri-
archal families. By the laws of Moses
his meat was allowed to be used as hu-
man food, and he was ordained to be
employed in remarkable religious cere:
monies. saThou shalt make curtains Of
goats hair as q covering to the taber-
nacle," is sacred injunction. The ear
lest Grecian aud Roman writers speak
of it as yielding food and raiment, and
superstition connected it with the attri-
butes and services of the gods. It has
been the universal companion of man
kind in their migrations, from the ear.
lest periods Of authentic history. Yetit
is remarkable fact that no goats were
found in New Holland or in. the Polyne-
sian Islands; and, more stranger still, no
traces of the domesticated goat were
found on this continent, though, at its
discovery, it was peopled throughout.
There was, however, the wild Rocky
Mountain goat, which, if it could be do
mesticated, it is supposed might possess
some valuable properties.
Tie fleece Of the goat has furnished
man With his richest, most durable and
gorgeous attire; its nutritious and whole
some milk and meat have yielded him
; food; its skin has supplied the materials
for water sacks or bottles, morocco, &C.,
while the animal itself may be said to
have lived on chips, and yet among US
the goat is the subject of an unnatural
and unreasonable prejudice.
Our foreign population, however, are
giving more attention to the breeding
and management Of these neglected ami
mails, especially for their valuable milk
ing properties.
Mr.. L. s. Diehl, our former consul at
Batavia, says: "The goat is an indis-
criminate feeder, living on weeds,
browse, &C., where sheep would stsrve.
Its milk is much used by travellers and
families, and especially by Inhabitants Of
tropical, bilious and fever countries, as q
preventive and cure for those and other
diseases incident to such countries. The
medicinal qualities of goats milk have
long been known and acknowledged in
the Old World and in some portions of
this country, if- being not only very
wholesome, but less liable to curdle on
the stomach. By those who have tested
the different kinds of milk, it is much
esteemed and preferred in tea and coffee,
and is largely used for children and con-
sumptives and invalids, especially at the
various hospitals in Europe.
Mr.. James B. Davis, of South Caro-
lima, who has travelled much in the East,
says: "The Malta milking goat gives
about gallon of milk per day. It may
not be uninteresting for me to state
fact observed by me in the malarial Sec
tions of the United States and Mexico.
In all similar sections in Asia and the
East, they regard cows milk as being an
exciting cause to bilious fevers as we'll
as to liver complaint, and hence only use
goats milk. The modus ogendi has been
under discussion by the faculty of Paris"
Prof. Law says: persons, even in
large towns, could. by the means of a
goat, readily supply themselves with
milk far superior to that which they
commonly obtain, and it is surprising
that. method so simple and cheap, and
of avoiding the frauds too much prac-
ticed in this kind of food, should be neg
lected."
A goat can be kept cheaper than
sheep, and can be kept about the house
of the poor man, or tied by the roadside.
It. will live on the refuse of the kitchen
and little coarse feed, and yield from
two to four quarts of the richest and
most wholesome milk per day during
nearly the year round.
The Scind goat, the Maltese, Syrian,
and some other varieties, are valuable
mixers, and for convenience and econo-
nv to the poor, where food is high and
pasturage scarce, they have, in many
places, even in the country, supplanted
the COW. The goat crops even poisonous
plants with impunity and relish, and no
leaves or herbage seem to affect the
quality of its milk. Whenever gentle.
man Keeps horse and cannot keep
COW, for want of room, &C, q goat can
be kept on the leavings Of the horse, and
the family health and comfort promoted
thereby.
Mr.. I. s. Goe, of Brownsville, Penn,
had an Assyrian goat which gave a gal
Ion of milk per day. Mr.. Diehl had q
similar goat equally good, whose milk he
sold to physicians for their patients tor
twenty cents quart.
The kid should be taken OF when
about three weeks old. The goat should
then yield about three quarts day till
about three months before parturitlon,
when the quantity may be gradually re-
duced.
A goat should always be milked three
times day. This is better for the
health of the goat, and improves the
quality and quantity of the milk. 1t is
not generally known that a goat will give
more milk tethered TO certain spot, and
moved now and then, than when she is
permitted to run at large. If mischiev-
eug eba can ba yoked and fettered.