The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-04

in the swampy districts. The warmth
of Florida and the cold of Montana are
alike congenial to their natures. In
hilly countries and dry climates they
thrive the best but in the bushy plains,
as those of the state Of Iowa, they also
prosper very well
Having explainni the three uses to
which the goat is put--the slaughter for
skins and Incidentally for meat the
consumption of milk and the use of mo-
hair-and having shown by the figures
on imports how great the demand for
the first of these has come to be, Cap
tain Barnes adduCes additional reasons
to influence the American farmers to
undertake the raising of goats. For one,
he points to the very limited expense
connected with the keeping of the
horned billies. The goat, he says, is a
very hardy animal and requires almost
no care-nothing more than little
shelter 1t feeds IN the toughest kind
of grasses. Weeds in fact, are it's ia
vorites, and therefore a piece of pas
ture land which has been gone over by
cattle and sheep still presents plenty of
food for the goats The latter may also
be sent over the ground first, and will
pick off the weeds leaving the tender
grasses for other animals.
captain Barnes speaks at length of
the unimproved lard which is lying idle
great extent, in almost every east
ern state. There is plenty of vegetation
on all of this, he says to feed the herds
OF goats. AS they can be purchased at
an average price Of 81 per head and
then allowed to multiply. consuming
almost no valuable food, Captain
Barnes points out mat the gross profit
derived from the sale of skins, milk and
mohair would be practically net pro-
fit. The cost of the labor is also very
small, a single herdsman being able to
take care of an entire flock. Interesting
statistics are given showing that the
surplus unskilled labor in various sec
tions of the country runs in direct pro-
portion to the untitled lands. This ar
gument, to judge by letters received by
the agricultural department, has had
it's effect upon the south, where the
farmers would be glad to find work for
some of the idle negroes.
While the cheapness of the goat is
the primary consideration, positive ad-
VantageS are also to be derived from
the trespass of goats upon any soil In
the first place, every herding animal
acts as natural fertilizer, and the
goat itself possesses the further adj
vantage of being a natural destroyer of
weeds. Turned loose on the bayfield,,
the goat will succeed in destroying
nearly all the obnoxious weeds within
the first season, leaving nothing but
good substantial grasses. Finally, the
male goat can serve the purpose to
which it has been put in a few in
stances-that of guardian for the more
timid sheep. A score of two of goats
with a herd Of sheep will scare away
the average dog or coyote, and even he
wolves may sometimes be frightened
away, for butting billy Will fight and
fight hard on all OcCa SiOnS.
Before concluding his pamphlet, Cap
tain Barnes submIrs some statistics on
the number of goats 70 be found in the
different parts of the world. In all the
United States there ire but 800, 900, OF
which fully two-f1ft1s are the fancy
Angoras. In Mexico there are 100000
in Argentine the same number, in Ven
ezuela half again as many. Europe is
full of goats, Germany alone has over
100000 of them Spain has over 4,
900, Austria Hungary over 100000
Greece 500. 600, or more than that
France, Bulgaria, Italy and European
Russia each in the neighborhood of l.
500, 000 The total for Europe, whose
area is so much smaller than that OF
the Western continent, is almost 3D.
000,0 600 Several of the states of Africa
| are favored with goats. There the An.
goras are quite common, having been
| imported directly from Turkey. Cape
| Colony has the grand total of 1851 1851
goats, and Algeria follows with some
what less than 100000
You see the United States isn't much
| of a goat country" Captain Barnes re-
| marked as he showed these figures
While the Spanish, the Germans anC
| other Europeans have raised goats as
we raise COWS. the Americans have
rather despised the poor animal. They
| have looked upon it as a sort of infer
| Tor something, though as a matter o
| fact think | have shown that the goa
is a very valuable animal; of value t.
! the producer as well as to the con
| sumner. The sooner the stock breeders
| of the United States recognize this thu
sooner they will succeed in turning
some more trade into domestic chan
| nels. "-Washington Post.