description which so experienced a man as the Ettrick | Shepherd gives of 'that vast range of stupendous mountains, deep glens, and trackless forests,' which (he says) at the first view every unprejudiced man must acknowledge nature never intended for the rearing of cattle, and where no one (adds he) will hesitate whether sheep or goats are the most feasible stock.' What pen could have sketched a more faithful picture of the Andes mountains-those high and secluded regions, inaccessible to other animals, where the alpaca lives an inmate of the cloud and storm,' gathering subsistence from edible plants which otherwise would be left to wither on the land?" We are aware of only one doubtful circumstance as to the successful domestication of the alpaca in any of the British islands, particularly in the Highlands-this is the humidity of our climate. If the alpaca can resist damp as well as our South-downs, we shall have nothing to fear on the score of hardiness in other respects. three years ago, has at present a coat upon it from eighteen to twenty inches long, thus proving that the wool grows from six to eight inches yearly, if regu larly shorn. Speaking of the practicability of introducing the Peruvian sheep more generally, in a letter addressed to William Danson, Esq., of Liverpool, who, accompanied by a friend, visited Knowsley at the beginning of the current month [April 1841], his lordship says, that he certainly knows of nothing likely to prevent the propagation of the animal in this country. On the contrary,' he adds, the gentlemen will see in these grounds living specimens that they can and will do so, one female having produced in each of the two last seasons, and the young are doing well.' His lordship then expresses his anxious desire to obtain the remainder of the species, more especially the vicuna.' Already does this interesting animal adorn the pleasure-grounds of the Marquis of Breadalbane, at Aberfeldy, Perthshire; J. J. Hegan, Esq., Harrow Hall, Cheshire; Charles Tayleure, Esq., near Liverpool; Mr Stephenson of Oban, and others. The Duke of Montrose has lately become a purchaser of alpacas; and Earl Fitzwilliam has also bought a llama at £80. Various isolated trials in other countries have proved equally successful." Messrs Ducrow, Wombwell, and other proprietors of menageries, have also kept specimens of Peruvian sheep, which have been at once wonderful for docility, and have lived healthily upon the usual food procurable for animals in Great Britain. Mr Walton alludes to the strong enamel on the alpaca's teeth, as fitting the creature peculiarly for rocky and mountainous pasturage. In the case of snow-storms, too, on our elevated ranges, by which so many of our common sheep are apt to be smothered every severe winter, the remarkable docility of the alpaca renders him almost secure, with little comparative toil to the herdsman. "Peruvian sheep have, in fact, an unerring foresight of the coming danger, long before their tender (if they happen to have one) sees above him a threatening cloud or dreams of a drift. Instinctively they know the safest side of a crag, as if they saw the point of the compass from which the storm was approaching, and thus admonished, collect their young, and fly to the stell which nature provided for them, even before the conflict of the elements and the raving of the wind shall have commenced. If within reach, the alpaca asks protection at the cottage door where at other moments he had been welcomed." Again" Another great advantage in the alpaca is, that he is not liable to the many diseases incidental to common sheep, and which have so often raged like a pestilence among the tenants of the Scotch hills. In Peru, where the circumstances are as near as possible alike, the llama and alpaca are not hurt by changes of diet incidental to the seasons. This may arise partly from their greater abstemiousness and discernment, and partly from their having a wider range, and consequently more choice of food. It is, however, a fact, which I have ascertained from natives, that the Peruvian breeds are not so liable to bowel complaints as ours, and, their constitution being much stronger, they are consequently less affected by sudden transitions from one food to another. The distemper called pining, or daising, very usual in the west of Scotland, which occasions a thinness of blood, and when, though the animal continues to feed greedily, it pines away to a mere skeleton, is unknown on the Andes; neither are the fawns there liable to the many accidents which attend the feeding, herding, and folding of lambs among us. As regards vermin, they are much clearer." With respect to other diseases, though the alpaca is not exempt from some of them, its hardy constitution seems to render their influence less extended and destructive. spun, From the tone in which this notice has been drawn up, it may be observed that the statements before us have been convincing in our eyes, in so far, at least, as regards the propriety of making fair and full expe riments on the subject of the alpaca. This animal, we conceive, without infringing materially on the keeping of sheep, might prove the means of enlarging the profes sion of the pastoral farmer, and of varying, extending, and improving our manufactures. From the alpaca wool which we do procure at present, yarn which the French import at from 6s. to 12s. per ib. In conclusion, we give a few additional words from Mr Walton. "When we consider the great improvement which we have attained in sheep's wool, there is every reason to look for a similar success in that of the alpaca; and in devising means to increase the productive power of the country, we ought never to forget, that there have been periods in our history when we were dependent upon foreign supplies for the raw material required for our woollen manufactures, and that the best way to be independent, is not to be under the necessity of baying that which it is in our own power to grow. The task of obtaining suitable breeds of the alpaca is by no means a difficult one; and in our attempts to naturalise them, we ought to feel the more encouraged, when we retler on the recent changes in the growth and supplies of sheep's wool, and how soon a farming stock propagates under judicious management. It must be equally bore in mind, that in using alpaca wool we are not competing with that of our own sheep, but rather with that of the Angora goat (mohair) and silk; and the manufacture, it has been ascertained, does not cost half so much as that of the latter." In reality, the experiment of keeping the alpaca in Great Britain has already been tried on a considerable scale, and the wool has been found to be even improved by the change of site. "The Earl of Derby, with that patriotic spirit and splendid taste which have distinguished him through a long life, also stepped forward among the first breeders, and his lordship has now at Knowsley a little flock of llamas and alpacas, amounting to fourteen, two of which were bred on the spot, whose wool is finer, softer, and more beautiful than that on the backs of their parents. The proof that the wool improves with our pasture is, in fact, established in this instance. The young are eightand-twenty months old, and already the first has wool upon it six inches long. A fine male alpaca, shorn One other point calls for notice. Our present breeds Printed and published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, Edinbu T CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S NUMBER 80. NEW AND IMPROVED SERIES. PIGS, GOATS, RABBITS, POULTRY, CAGE BIRDS, &c. PIGS. As a source of sustenance and emolument to the humbler classes of society, the pig is only second in importance to the cow, and in many instances is found to be more available and useful than that animal. As an object of natural history, it is placed amongst the Pachydermata or thick-skinned order of the Mammalia, the hog, wild boar, and probably also the peccary of South America, being varieties of the same family. The most remarkable characteristic of the common pig is its long roundish snout, given for the purpose of grubbing in the earth for roots and other kinds of food; the feet are cloven, and each possesses four toes; the body is thinly covered with bristles, and the female is provided with from twelve to sixteen teats. The jaws of the pig are powerful, and the teeth with which they are furnished are very formidable, particularly in the wild varieties. Swine do not ruminate, and from this and other peculiarities, they can feed either on vegetable or animal substances, and thus form a kind of link between the herbivorous and carnivorous class of PRICE 1d. colour from white to black, and from a piebald to a sandy hue. They are neat in form, comparatively speaking, and yield excellent flesh. They are usually not very large in size, but vary in this respect, and, of course, in weight also. The gigantic white and black breed of Cheshire, the white pigs of Suffolk and Hampshire, and the piebald hogs of Sussex and Shropshire, may be mentioned as the best known among the district-breeds of England. They are coarser, generally speaking, than the Berkshire and Chinese varieties. Both of these have been pretty extensively introduced into Scotland, where a less valuable white breed appears to have been earlier located, if not indigenous. There is also a small grey pig, apparently aboriginal, which feeds in herds on the natural pasture of the Highland hills, and furnishes very sweet flesh. By artificial feeding, it can be raised to a considerable bulk. But the breed most commonly esteemed both in England and Scotland, is a mixture of the Chinese darkcoloured swine with the Berkshire, or some of the large varieties of British swine. This cross possesses many good qualities, and is peculiarly prolific. Either belonging or allied to the Berkshire variety, is the Hampshire brock, a small black pig suitable for cottagers, for it is easily fed and fattened, and is therefore highly esteemed." Littering. The sow is very prolific, compared with other large-sized quadrupeds. She commences breeding at about twelve months old, and generally brings forth twice a-year, her period of gestation being sixteen weeks. The number of young varies considerably; it is frequently below ten, and occasionally rises to twenty. The young pig is exceedingly delicate; and the broodsow should not be allowed to farrow in winter, but in spring and autumn, when the weather is less severe and food more abundant. Another peril to the litter arises from the semi-carnivorous habits of the mother, which lead her to forget the dues of nature, and devour her own brood. She ought therefore to be well watched, and fed abundantly at such periods. The male, for the same reason, must be excluded altogether. Not unfrequently, moreover, the young are crushed to death by the mother, in consequence of their nestling unseen below the straw. To prevent this risk, a small quanThe particular breeds of pigs most esteemed in Great tity only of straw, dry and short, should be placed Britain are the Berkshire and Chinese breeds. These below them. The young are weaned when six weeks are also the breeds best marked by distinctive features; old; and after weaning, it is essentially necessary to though, by crossings, and peculiarities of feeding and feed the young with meal and milk, or meal and water. position, varieties differing in a slight degree from one The brood sow ought to have an ample abdomen, and another have been raised up in almost every county ought to be in good condition when breeding, otherin England. The Berkshire breed, the parent stock wise little good can be expected of her progeny. Many of most of them, are marked by bodies of a reddish-persons labour under the mistaken notion that swine, brown tint, with black spots, large pendant ears, short legs, and small bones. This species of hog fattens to weight under good management, some having been killed which amounted to upwards of twelve hundredweight. The Chincse breed vary in animals. an enormous while breeding, should be kept lean; but nothing can fattening, the male young pigs are cut, and the females | and roots of various kinds-for which latter task their spayed, which is an analogous process. These opera- long and strong snouts peculiarly fit them. Artificial tions should be intrusted to a farrier or other skilled person. feeding is only resorted to in winter, and when the pigs are to be fattened for the market or table. It is more common, however, for the cottager to keep one or two pigs entirely within a stye, to add to the means of subsistence of his own family; and even when kept with this limited view, the pig is a creature of no little consequence. As Cobbett acutely and pithily observes tends more to keep a poor man from poaching and stealing, than whole volumes of penal statutes. They are great softeners of the temper, and promoters of domestic harmony." Pig-houses.-Although swine are found to succeed in all countries, and their constitutions have been accommodated to every climate, yet they are found to degenerate and thrive ill either in the extremes of heat or cold. In a native state we find them, when inhabiting countries towards either extreme, seeking situa-"The sight of a flitch or two of bacon on the rack, tions most adapted to their constitution. Swine, in a domesticated state, require to be kept very dry and warm, otherwise they will never thrive. It will be noticed, that in cold weather they invariably bury themselves among the straw and litter with which they are supplied as bedding, thus pointing out their natural desire for heat. The piggery should therefore be in some well-sheltered spot, and, if possible, with a south or west exposure. If kept in small styes, there should be a small aperture at each end of them, so as to permit the free passage of air through them for ventilation. These may be kept open constantly during the summer months, but only allowed to be open for air once every second day in winter, and that in the forenoon, while they must be carefully shut up in the evening. Pigs will be found to grow notwithstanding the neglect of all these precautions; but we know, from experience, that they will grow much faster and will be more healthy with them. In most cases, pigs are kept in a shamefully filthy condition; their stye ill ventilated, the straw dirty, their small court-yard no better than a wet dunghill, and consequently the skin of the animal begrimed with scurf and all sorts of impurities. We cannot too strongly reprehend this infamous treatment of the pig, which is not naturally dirty, as some suppose, but loves to be kept dry and clean, as well as warm, as any one may observe by the delight it evidently takes in having its hide scratched and scrubbed. Let us, then, beseech all pig-keepers under whose eye this sheet may come, to preserve the stye in the most dry and clean condition possible, to change the straw frequently, and to curry the skin of the pig at least once a-week. By doing so, without a particle of additional food, the animal will thrive and fatten in a very superior degree, while the flesh will be more pure and delicate. So true is this, that any man who keeps his pig dirty, may be said to be picking his own pocket, as he will realise less money for its carcass than if he had taken a little trouble to clean it. When a young pig is to be purchased for feeding and killing, it is advisable to buy one which will be about sixteen months old at Christmas, that or some time in January being the preferable period of slaughtering the animal. Unless for delicate pork, it should not be killed less than a year old. During the summer, the pig may be fed on any refuse from the kitchen or garden, in cluding turnip and potato parings, table-waste, cabbage blades, &c. ; but if barley-dust, or grains from a distillery, can be economically procured, either forms a good article of diet. Let it be kept in remembrance that the finer the feeding, the finer will be the pork. The food should at all events be of a vegetable kind, or principally so; nothing beyond slops from the table being to be tolerated in the shape of animal food. Whatever given, let it be offered in small quantities and frequently it being a matter of importance never to allow the p to become violently hungry. The half-starving system of feeding is poor policy, and is repaid by a lank pour carcass scarcely worth killing. Farmers possess great advantages for feeding p The straw-yard of itself affords continual support to them; and many pigs reach the age of one year with out having received any food but what they themselves have gathered, yet are in good condition. What wish the sweepings of the barn, and the straw, turnips, and clover, lying about a steading, with the refuse of the kitchen, a farmer, it has been calculated, may sustain swine in the proportion of one to every seven or eight acres of land under crop, without being conscious of the consumption made by them. In few instances are swize reared in such numbers as to have crops specially ad out for them, though some writers assert, that they would yield, in such a case, greater profits than other live-stock habitually reared in the same way. To insure comfort to the pig or pigs, let the stye consist of at least two compartments-a sleeping apartment and an open court-yard, the one opening into the other. The sleeping apartment should be well-built and slated, for the sake of dryness, and the floor, formed of strong planks, should slope outwards to the door. The outer court should be paved in a substantial manner with large flag-stones, sloping also in a particular direction, to which the liquid refuse can flow into a gutter. It is advantageous for the erection to be near the dunghill, to which all liquid may run, and solid materials be carried without loss. Keep plenty of straw both in the pig-house and its court, in order to absorb moisture or dung, and let all be raked out regularly, and renewed. The money lost by allowing the dung to go to waste by mere evaporation-flying off into the atmosphere no one can calculate. The open court of the pig-house should, if possible, lie to the sun, as the inmates are fond of basking in his beams. The feeding utensils placed in the court should consist of two strong troughs, which cannot be easily knocked over. These should be daily washed and scoured, to keep them sweet, Feeding. In rural situations, where extensive woods exist, and where the grass in otherwise of no value, the feeding and breeding of nie to the coêts About the month of September, the process of fat. tening pigs should commence, whether they be de signed for pork or bacon. If for pork, the fattening need not be carried to the same extent. In either case, a nourishing diet must be given, the only pre caution being not to commence feeding too rapidly otherwise surfeit may be produced. The best materia for feeding are barley and peas-meal; and if milk, either skimmed or churned, can be given at the same time, will greatly facilitate the feeding, and improve the quality of the flesh. Many persons feed their ps potatoes, but in that case the flesh is not so salad and good, and the fat is somewhat loose and flabby. S meat may do very well for pigs when they are growing but it is not the food which should be given when they are fed for killing. Those who feed pigs for their use, generally give them a feed or two of corn dailyfie fourteen days before they are killed, and give the nothing else but churned or skimmed milk to drank and for a day before killing, the pig should not get a food. Where people's circumstances will have any of the modes of feeding for killing which we ha above pointed out, boiled potatoes, mixed with a ha It is undeniable, notwithstanding what has bee ful or two of oatmeal, may be resorted to as a substinat above, that the Irish peasantry produce excellent blatable by feeding their pigs almost entirely on potatoes not so fat as the pork produced from peas and bazies but it is on that account the better suited to unaccustomed to very strong food. When the arrives for slaughtering, let it be done in a humane | heat absorbed, so that the smoke is both dry and cool when it comes in contact with the meat. They are thus perfectly dry, and acquire a colour and flavour Pork. The carcass of a pig is less frequently con- unknown to those smoked by the common method. sumed as fresh than as salted pork, and the preparation Hams, after being smoked, may be kept any length of of the salted article for home consumption or exporta-time by being packed in any dry dust, which will keep tion forms a large and flourishing business. Those them from the air. Bran is usually employed for this who pursue the occupation cut the carcass in pieces, purpose. When fully smoked and dried, the meat may and pack it in kits formed to hold from one to two be hung up in a dry airy room; and if liable to be hundred pounds weight. A brine is then made by attacked by the bacon-fly, or other insects, draw over it dissolving salt in water, until the mixture is so thick a loose cotton bag, tied closely with a string. The that an egg will swim in it. This is boiled, and poured small part of a ham should always be hung downwards upon the pork after it has cooled. Russian pork, in the process of smoking, or when suspended for prealways much esteemed, is steeped in a brine containing servation. 2 lbs. of loaf sugar, and 3 oz. of saltpetre, to 6 lbs. of salt, the whole being boiled in six gallons of water. After brine is added to pork in kits, the end of the receptacle is fixed in, and the article is usually sufficiently cured in a few days. Four days are enough for small pork, People who pickle pork for private use must take care that the brine covers the meat, otherwise it will require to be turned daily. The same pickle may be several times used, if reboiled, and slightly strengthened anew. Brawn.-Boars are also fattened for the purpose of procuring an article for the table called brawn. Male pigs of all ages are put into feeding with this view, but those experienced in such matters prefer them of the of two years. They are kept separately, in pens which will not permit of their turning round, perfect inactivity being held to conduce to the fattening. Their food is beans, with water, into which a small quantity of sulphur has been put. The collar of the animal is the part prepared for brawn, by the processes of pickling and drying. A large collar will weigh about thirty pounds, and is valued at about £3 in the market. The lean parts of the animal are commonly used for sausage-meat. age Bacon is the whole side of a pig cured. The method of preparation is as follows:-After being killed, the carcass should not be scalded to remove the bristles, as in the case of pork, but singed off by being covered lightly with straw, to which fire is applied. When the burning straw has cleared one side, the other side may be cleared in the like manner. By this means all the hair is to be singed clean off, but without scorching the flesh, and then the skin is to be well scraped as a finish. This singeing process gives a fine firmness to the bacon, which scalded bacon never possesses. In Hampshire, as Mr Cobbett informs us in his "Cottage Economy," the plan of singeing is universally followed; and pigkeepers could not have a better example. The next steps in the process are related as follows by this writer:-"The inwards are next taken out, and if the wife be not a slattern, here, in the mere offal, in the mere garbage, there is food, and delicate food too, for a large family for a week, and hog's puddings for the children. The butcher the next day cuts the hog up, and then the house is filled with meat; souse, griskins, blade-bones, thigh-bones, spare-ribs, chines, belly-pieces, cheeks, all coming into use one after the other, and the Hams are the cured hind-legs of the pig, and are last of the latter not before the end of about four or considered the finest parts of the animal. The follow-five weeks. All the other parts taken away, the two ing are general directions for curing them :-In the first place, the legs require to be cut in a neat rounded form, and it is usual to prepare a number at a time. Being properly prepared, pack them with rock-salt in a suitable tub or cask, being careful not to lay the flat sides of the large pieces upon each other, and filling the intervals with hocks, jowls, &c. To every 300 lbs. of meat, then take 20 lbs. of rock-salt, or Onondago coarse alt, 1 lb. of saltpetre, and 14 lbs. of brown sugar, or half a gallon of good molasses, and as much water (pure spring water is the best) as will cover the meat; put the whole in a clean vessel; boil and scum; then set it aside to cool, and pour it on the meat till' the whole is covered some three or four inches. Hams weighing from 12 to 15 lbs. must lie in the pickle about five weeks; from 15 to 25 lbs., six weeks; from 25 to 45 lbs., seven weeks. On taking them out, soak them in cold water two or three hours, to remove the surface alt, then wipe and dry them. It is a good plan in cutting up, to take off feet and hocks with a saw intead of an axe, as it leaves a smooth surface, and no fractures for the lodgment of the fly. Some make only six pieces of a trimmed hog for salting, but it is more convenient, when intended for domestic use, to have the side pork, as it is called, cut in small pieces. The odness of hams and shoulders, and their preservaon, depend greatly on their smoking, as well as saltg. The requisites of a smoke-house are, that it hould be perfectly dry; not warmed by the fire that makes the smoke; so far from the fire, that any vapour Town off in the smoke may be condensed before reaching the meat; so close, as to exclude all flies, face, &c., and yet capable of ventilation and escape of moke. The Westphalian hams are the most celebrated Burope, and are principally cured at and exported rom Hamburg. The smoking of these is performed in extensive chambers in the upper storeys of high buildconveyed to these rooms from fires in the cellar, gs, some of four or five storeys; and the smoke is hrough رہے۔ It sides that remain, and that are called flitches, are to be cured for bacon. They are first rubbed with salt on their insides, or flesh sides, then placed one on the other, the flesh sides uppermost, in a salting trough, which has a gutter round its edges to drain away the brine; for, to have sweet and fine bacon, the flitches must not lie sopping in brine, which gives it that sort of taste which barrel-pork and sea-junk have, and than which nothing is more villanous. Every one knows how different is the taste of fresh dry salt from that of salt in a dissolved state; the one is savoury, the other nauseous. Therefore change the salt often; once in four or five days. As to the time required for making the flitches sufficiently salt, it depends on circumstances the thickness of the flitch, the state of the weather, the place wherein the salting is going on. takes a longer time for a thick than for a thin flitch; it takes longer in dry than in damp weather; it takes longer in a dry than in a damp place. But for the flitches of a hog of twelve score, in weather not very dry or very damp, about six weeks may do ; and as yours is to be fat, which receives little injury from over-salting, give time enough, for you are to have bacon till Christmas comes again. The place for salting should, like a dairy, always be cool, but always admit a free circulation of air; confined air, though cool, will taint meat sooner than the mid-day sun accompanied with a breeze. The flitches of bacon are now to be smoked, for smoking is a great deal better than merely drying, as is the fashion in the dairy counties in the west of England. plenty of farm-houses, there were plenty of places to smoke bacon in; since farmers have lived in gentlemen's houses, and the main part of the farm-houses have been knocked down, these places are not so plenty. However, there is scarcely any neighbourhood without chimney left to hang bacon up in. Two precautions are necessary: first, to hang the flitches where no rain comes down upon them; second, not to let them be so a When there were near the fire as to melt. These precautions taken, the 1. sheep. But it is for the milk, chiefly, that the goat is prized, the qualities of that secretion being not only very nutritious but even medicinal. Where cottagers have not the means of keeping a cow, a goat will be found a very useful animal, being easily fed, and contented with grasses which are rejected by the cow and the sheep. To those peasants who live in the neighbourhood of mountainous countries, the trouble and expense of keeping a couple of goats will be nothing, as they will find sufficient nourishment in the most heathy, rough, or barren grounds. Heaths, also, which are unfit for any kind of pasture, will afford this animal an ample supply of food; and it requires no care or attention, easily providing for itself proper and sufficient food. In some countries, goats render consider able service to mankind, the flesh of the old ones being salted as winter provision, and the milk is used in many places for the making of cheese. The flesh of the kid is highly palatable, being equal if not superior in fla vour to the most delicate lamb. next is, that the smoke must proceed from wood, not | In Britain, the goat produces generally two young a a time, sometimes three, rarely four. In warmer chi mates it is more prolific, and produces four or five at once, though the breed is found to degenerate. The time of gestation is five months. The male is capable of propagating at one year old, and the female at seven months, but the fruits of a generation so premature are generally weak and defective; their best time is at the age of two years, or eighteen months at soonest. goat is old at six years, although its life sometime extends to fifteen. Lard is that part of the fat of the hog which easily melts, and forms a soft grease. The saving of this material is of great importance, for it may be put to many uses in household economy. Martin Doyle, in his Cyclopaedia of Agriculture," makes the following observations on this subject :-"The lard should be of two qualities; the finest and whitest (that taken from the sides) should be chopped into small pieces in a pan, over a slow fire, and kept constantly stirred, lest it should stick to the sides of the boiler; then strained and put into bladders, turned inside out, and thoroughly purified, by having all the fat cut out, and being well blown, and perfectly dried in the open air; when the wind is pressed out, they are to be put into a little salt pickle for a few days, then washed in lukewarm water, after which they may be turned by means of a stick. That of the first quality, when well made, is far better than any salt butter for cookery, and, from the delicacy of its colour, is used by confectioners for the finest kinds of cake and pastry. The inferior lard is obtained from the intestines, and is treated as the fine lard in every particular. The feet, when taken off, are chopped in two or three places, and put into brine, in which they may be kept until required." The same author continues-" Both the hair and bristles are serviceable for brush-makers' and cabinetmakers' purposes. No part of the pig is useless; even the intestines are converted into an inferior kind of lard, by being cut open and washed clean, and (after the water is well pressed out of them) melted in the same way as lard; this substance is very useful for making candles, greasing wheels, and such purposes." If goats are properly trained, they will return to the owners twice a-day to be milked, and prefer sleepin under a roof when accustomed to it. The milk of th goat is sweet, and not so apt to curdle upon the stomac as that of the cow; it is therefore preferable for thos whose digestion is but weak. The peculiarity of the animal's food gives the milk a flayour different fro that of either the cow or the sheep; for, as it general feeds upon shrubby pastures and heathy mountain there is a savoury mildness in the taste, very pleasi to such as are fond of that aliment. The quantity milk produced daily by a goat is from three half p to a quart, which yields rich and excellent cream. properly attended to, a goat will yield milk for ele months in the year. In several parts of Switzer and the Highlands of Scotland, the goat is the chief session of the inhabitants. On those mountains wh no other useful animal could find subsistence, the contrives to glean sufficient living, and supplies hardy natives with what they consider a varied lux They lie upon beds made of their skins, which are clean, and wholesome; they live upon their milk, oat-bread; they convert a part of it into butter, some into cheese; and the flesh furnishes an exce food, if killed in the proper season, and salted. They fattened in the same manner as sheep; but taking precaution, their flesh is never so good or so s our climate as that of mutton. It is otherwise bets the tropics. The sheep there becomes flabby and while the flesh of the goat rather seems to improve in some places is cultivated in preference to that sheep. The cream of goat's milk coagulates is as that of cow's, and yields a larger proportion of The cheese is of an excellent quality, and high flavo and although, to appearance, it looks poor, it has a delicate relish, and strongly resembles Parmesan Some farmers have been in the practies of little goat's milk to that of cow's, which materia proves the flavour. In winter, when native food scarce, the goat will feed upon turnip-peelings, P peelings, cabbage-leaves, and other refuse th In addition to the other products yielded by the its tallow, we should mention, is also an article importance. It is much purer and finer than sheep, and brings a high price, being calculated eandles of a very superior quality, |