The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-10-31
TIE DESP!SED GOAT.
His Uses Have Not Yet Been Discovered
In America.


In America.
The goat has not had fair show in
modern times. Among the ancients
he was highly esteemed, and figured
extensively in serious literature. Now
he is only the butt of funny para
graphers, whose acquaintance with him
is confined to a tradition that he eats
tomato cans on the Har&7n rocks. The
children of Israel and the heroes of Ho-
mer knew him better. The Old Tesla
ment shows the goat as an essential
part of the Hebrews flocks. 1t gave
him milk and meat for food, hair and
skins for clothing, and was his most
common sacrifice for sin. Encamped
before the walls of Troy, Ulysses and
his comrades RECALLED themselves with
the fat goats roasted quarters, and
thought themselves specially blessed
of the gods. But we of the western
world have come to despise the goat
as the poor mans cow" useful
enough animal for the mountaineers
of the Alps or the squatter sovereigns
of unsavory suburbs, but an inferior
creature not worth the notice of the
free-handed owner of broad American
acres, possessed of Jerseys, Merinos
and blooded trotters, and above the
utilization of a brush lot or a stony pas
ture.
Some American farmers, however,
are coming to realize that the goat may
be made one of their valuable domestic
animals, not merely poverty-stricken
substitute for a COW, but an addition to
the farm community, filing place of
its own and giving a return peculiar to
itself. A Missouri farmer writes to an
agricultural paper that he finds goats
profitable for rough land filled with
weeds and bushes. He has had them
four years, and they have destroyed
the bushes, sumach and small persim-
mon trees.
His hogs have been free from disease,
while his neighbors, who did not keep
goats, lost most of their hogs by cholera
He ate the meat of young goats, and
liked it better than mutton. His eX-
perience comedies with that of farmers
in countries where the goat is extern
sively raised and priced. England is
not among them, owing partly to there
being comparatively little waste land,
but also, according to S. H. Pegler, an
authority on the subject, because there
"the advantages of goat keeping are but
imperfectly known" and the American
lack of appreciation for goats may be
inherited. In Ireland, on the contrary,
the number of goats has increased in
recent years. Of course, the goat can
+ not compete with the cow as the single
mich animal for those able to keep the
COW, but it has advantages in places
where the COW cannot be kept, and as
an addition to the profits of farm.
In the first place, is a great instrument
for extending pasture lands. 1t will eat
by preference and thrive upon forest
leaves, shrubs and weeds that no other
domestic animal will touch, and get
rough and oyergrown field into good
condition for horses and cattle. 1t is
hardy, and will live on rough or smooth
ground. There is a prejudice against
the milk, but one entirely groundless.
1t is richer than cows milk, heavier in
butter, and much heavier in cheese,
but all experts declare that it has alb
solutely no different flavor or taste from
that of the COW. The average daily
yield of a well-kept goat is said to be
three pints, not large quantity, but
not an item to be despised, in view of
its richness, the size of the animal ant;
slight cost of keeping it.
! l., -, Al i
not only utilize much of the heritage
which now goes to waste, but might
also develop some profitable industries
which have not yet been acclimated
here. The manufacturer of fancy
cheeses in imitation of expensive for
eign varieties in some cases has been so
successful that the domestic product
sells on it's own name and merits. II
other cases, such as Roquefort, the re
suits have not been satisfactory. Meth
DDS of curing account in part for the
failure, but different materials may
have much to do with it. Many of the
finest European cheeses are made from
goats milk, while the American at
tempts to rival them have been made
with cows milk. There is nothing else
available in the market. If there were,
doubtless creameries making fancy
cheese would arrange to consume all
that could be had, and the goats would
prove source of wealth, both to farm
er and manufacturer. Nor is the goat
to be despised for food by an overfas-
tidious race. In the restaurants OF
Rome the kid holds an honored place.
The elderly members of the tribe are
inferior to mutton, but the kid, prop
erly prepared, is meat which will bear
comparison with any other. 1t would
be an agreeable variation of our reg
linen. The man who makes a goat
grow where none grew before should
have credit with him who makes two
blades of grass stand where formerly
one stood alone. BY all means, let us
learn of the ancients and grow rich
from fiocks of goats.-N. Y. Tribune.
nt-Mindedness.
The best instance l know is that of