ALPACA. An animal inhabiting the mount ains of Peru (the Camelus paw of Linnaeus), used as a beast of burden. The wool is particularly valuable, and many attempts have been made to introduce them into, various countries, but as a rule not with success. Of the late attempt to. introduce them into the United States, Hon. Frederic Watts, Commissioner of Agriculture under President Grant's administration, in his report says in relation to the Alpaca, that, in the latter part of 1875, correspondence was had between the Commissioner and Hon. Francis. Thomas, late minister to Peru (since deceased), concerning a small flock of Alpacas which that gentleman had imported from Peru and placed on his farm at Frankville, Alleghany county, Md. In a letter dated October 8, 1875, M. Thomas, inclosing a sample of the wool of four months' growth, remarked: The fiber of a fleece of twelve months' growth often exceeds fifteen inches in 'length, and fleeces average from seven, pounds to ten pounds each in weight. The ani mals live to the age of twenty, twenty-five, and sometimes thirty years; are too large and bold to be worried by dogs, and are very docile and tractable. I think you will concur with me in the opinion that this experiment which I am con ducting is well worth the expense which I have incurred, especially when we consider the puplic benefit which would accrue in case of my suc cess. Attempts have been made at various iim's in this country, in Eu rope and no 21.11W,I2L1171,to introduce the Al paca, but generally without profitable re sult. Various causes have contributed to the failure of these efforts.
Sometimes the confine ment on shipboard dur ing a long voyage, with impure air and unac customed food, has al most destroyed the stock. Again, the ani mals, when brought to their destined abode have been placed on luxuriant clover past ure, or other feed, so much richer than the coarse herbage of their native regions, that dis ease has fastened on the whole flock. The Al paca is indigenous in the mountain regions of Peru, and thrives in the highest inhabited districts of the Andes, where the cold is more severe than in most T n LD VL ULM pa States. to the vicissitudes of such regions, and inured to cold, damp, hunger, and thirst, it is especially adapted to bleak hill dis tricts. Yet it is said to do well in most localities where the air is pure, the heat not oppresSive, and water for bathing readily accessible. The latter is stated to he indispensable to the health of the animal, which, when deprived of this requisite, soon becomes fevered and infected with scab. While the introduction of the Alpaca into this country still remains a matter of ex periment, there is no known reason why such experiments should not be successful, when properly conducted, in localities affording some approximation to the native conditions of the animal. Not to mention many elevated situations ip the Atlantic, Northern and Central States, the regions lying along the Rocky mountain ranges havebeen indicated as presenting good opportunities for such trials.