The Washington herald., 1911-08-06

Mexico has q bigger goat industry than
most people know about. and under Ger
tain conditions the business is likely to
increase. A conservative estimate places
the output oe Mexican skins at 1000, 900
a year, the United States for the past
forty years being the principal outlet
and American concerns entirely handling
the manufacture Of the leather.
On the hills and caou wales Of Mex-
ico, through bracing winters and torren-
tial summers, millions Of goats constant
ly wander. From hacienda to hacienda
they roam, feeding on berries and scrub
bushes and on cactus II no other fodder
abounds. Where the grazing is good
and the weather faN orable they prosper;
in the barren lands they suffer from
disease, mango, starvation, thirst, and
in difficult lands are torn and scratched
by thorn and brush.
The business of raising goats Is gen.
eral one The poorest native Of the hills
will have his flock, the greatest don his
innumerable herds. As one goat will pro-
duce several in a year. small capital Is
required to start on and fortunately II
is a business that demands few office
hours. Once or twice a year or oftener,
according to the output of the sections
which vary (as for instance in the leveler
climate Of Northern Mexico the output
Of skins continues the year arounO the
goatherd adjusts his serape. dons his
sombrero, sallies forth and corrals his
flock for the killing.
How Skins Are Cured.
Take the remote owner Of small
herd, and his business life presents vast
possibilities Of leisure. When the rainy
season ends he does his killing, dries
brines, or buries the meat for his own
use, or sends 1t to the nearest market
with the blood and interns. which have
q food value among the poems, and pre-
pares the hides for the travelling agents
sent out from shipping points by the big
firms to buy up skins for few cents
each.
The entire family-beautiful, brown,
picturesque groups that would delight
the American Blessed Damozel as par
lor ornaments in bronze-work to pre-
pare the skins and cure them against
the ravages Of vermin. In the northern
and central sections the curing Is done
with dirt. Gigantic mud pies are made
in the aIkali soil. the hides lightly COW
cred with the paste, and dried under the
sun. About Oxhaka, re-
huacan, and Puebla the curing is done
with arsenic dissolved IN water. into
which the skins are dipped. Then the
lord of the adobe returns to his siesta,
the rolling of innumerable cigarettes.
and dreams of pleasant profits.
They are, for him. not tremendous |
Sometimes the agent trades for the |
skins, or he will pay but few cents !
shipped to Europe for fancy feathers |
and sell to the manufacturer at about |
the dozen. He pays the herder. |
In whatever coin. according to the size |
and condition Of the hides, and this In |
turn depends in no small measure upon |
the section of the country. For in |
stance, skins from Southern Mexico /
bring better prices to owner and manu- |
acturer than those Of the north. Not |
,nly are climatic conditions more favor |
able. producing an animal with a |
shorter, finer hair. and. therefore, skin |
that makes "A finer grade OF leather. but |
from Scratches" which are Inevitable |
In the catci lands OF the central and |
other regions.
Some Drawbacks.
Not only ''scratches' and careless |
butcher cuts affect the value OF the
'kins, but so does the weli-being Of the /
creature before Il v killed. Mango star |