The more nearly thoroughbred the goats are, the better the mohair and the higher the price.  The meat of the Angora goat is superior to mutton, although if sold in the market under the name of goat meat, it commands only half the price of mutton.

As an example of the Angora’s utility in cleaning up land, the Country Gentleman says:  “Mr. Landrum exhibited ten head at the Oregon State Fair.  In order to demonstrate their effectiveness as substitutes for grubbing, he left them on three acres of brush.  At the end of the second year the land was mellow and ready for the plow.”

It might be possible to build up a business in clearing lands for others by means of a herd of Angoras.

CHAPTER XIX

HOW TO BUILD

If you find an “abandoned farm” on which the buildings are worth more than the whole price asked, as frequently happens, you are all right.  Even if the buildings are somewhat dilapidated, you can fix them up for a few dollars.  But in buying small plots of ground, larger farms have to be broken up.  If you buy from the resident owner, he may sell you five acres off his larger tract, and keep his house to live in.  Certain it is that if a farm of 100 acres is subdivided into twenty five-acre farms, at least nineteen new houses must be built, although sometimes an old barn can be made into a fair residence.

If you can do no better, it is possible to start by tenting.  An outfit large enough for a family of six would be about as follows: 

1 wall tent with fly, 10 X 14, for sleeping 1 wall tent with fly, 10 X 14, for dining

1 old cook stove (to be erected outdoors), 2 floors, 10 X 14, at $5 each

Brown tents, at least for the sleeping rooms, are best; they last longer, are cooler, and do not attract the flies; though indeed we need not have house flies if we keep the horse manure covered up—­they are all bred in that.  If the tents are in the shade, the cost of the cover or fly can be saved in the dining tent; but it is necessary in the living tent, because wet canvas will leak when touched on the inside.  To make the tent warm for the winter, we must bank up to the edges of the platform with earth and cover the whole with another tent of the same shape, but a foot larger in every dimension.  These are commonly used in Montana.

It is to be presumed that no one would attempt moving in without household utensils, which may be as simple or elaborate as you please.  If there is a sawmill in the vicinity, a temporary shack for winter, say 22 X 30 feet, could be built for from $400 to $600, depending on the interior finish.  Partitions can be made very cheap by erecting panels covered with canvas, burlap, old carpet, etc.  Such a building does not need to be plastered, but can be made warm enough by an inside covering of burlap, heavy builders’ paper, or composition board.  Tar paper laid over solid sheeting makes a roof that will last for two or three years.  For such a shack draw the plans yourself.  All you really need is a living room, bedroom, and kitchen.