GOAT-KEEPING FOR COTTAGERS.
[TO THE EDITOR OP TIM Seacrerod:'] SIR,—You may like to hear of goat-keeping which was, and is, successfully carried on in a district which I know. My father, who, like yourself, was fond of "experiments," was incumbent of a parish among the downs of Wiltshire. Some .twenty years ago he started goat-keeping on a small scale, and by giving the kids away got some of the villagers to take to the idea. A few weeks ago I saw some descendants of his goats there still. We used the milk ourselves for many years. It is slightly richer in fat than cows' milk, but there is no difference in taste or appearance. Occasionally fanciful .relatives on a visit would asseverate that nothing should induce them to have it in their tea. For a few days therefore they were supplied with cow's milk ; then the supply was quietly withdrawn and goats' milk substituted without their. Wing any the wiser. The butter, -owing to the superior
richness of the milk in fat, comes quickly, and is excellent. It can be made for home use by shaking the milk in a large bottle; but a little churn is much less trouble. It is pure white, like lard, and needs a little colouring before it appears on the table. But nowadays, when " Separ- ators," with their oleaginous and viscous products, have destroyed good butter out of the land, it is an advantage to get the real article easily at home. As to the question what to do with the kids, well, I remember having a fore- quarter of kid at Easter instead of lanib. Goata are little trouble to keep ; a rough piece of grass and a shed are accom- modation enough. But woe be to your garden,—vegetables, fruit-trees, and hedges, unless they are tethered most' securely by long iron pegs. If enterprising landlords or farmers took up goat-keeping they would be conferring a great boon on their villages. During a drive yesterday of twenty miles through a district of small farms in Wicklow, there was hardly one where I did not see goats feeding.—I am, Sir, &e., CAPRIMULGUS.
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