66 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of usefulness, and one species cannot intrude on the rights of the other. The maple tree of the North, and the sugar beet and Chinese sugar cane of more temperate climates, are admirable substitutes, and of immense value. They are also well adapted to check the cupidity of speculators in sirups and sugars; but they cannot in the end demolish the great sweetner of the human palate of the world— the old tropical cane. Cotton js at this time king, and is struggling, like Aaron's rod, to swallow up all the lesser products of silk, flax, and wool, but they are destined still to hold their place in the articles that minister to man's comfort. The sheep will not be depressed in the scale of man's valuable commodities; the goat will only be ele- vated to the standard to which it was designed to rise. Thus each product revolves in its own sphere like the lesser lights in the firma- ment, reflecting glory on their great Author, and conferring benefits and blessings on him' who was created in his image, and crowned

with glory and honor.“¹

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THE LLAMA AND ALPACA— THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRI- BUTION, ORGANIZATION, FOOD, HABITS, AND PROBABLE ADAPTATION TO CERTAIN REGIONS OF THE UNITED

STATES.

On the lofty Cordilleras of the Andes, in South America, consider- ably below the line of perpetual snow, from Chili nearly to the equator, there abound at least three kinds of animals known under the names of“ Guanaco,“ or“Llama,“ Paco,“ or“Alpaca,“ and the Vicuña, the latter of which, according to the classification of Cuvier, is merely a variety of the llama. This also agrees with the opinion of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who says, in the year 1811, that the domestic animals of the Peruvians are of two kinds—the greater and the smaller—which they, as a common name, call lama, that is, cattle or sheep. The larger kind they call huunacu-lama, on account of the resemblance it bears to the wild animal known in Peru by the name of huanacu, from which it differs only in color; for the domestic llamas are to be met with as various in their colors as horses; but the wild llamas are uniformly of a chestnut color. The larger kind bears a great similitude to a camel, except that it is deficient in the hump upon its back, and is not so large. The small kind they call paco-Mama, which is only reared for its flesh and wool. The vicunas are not very unlike goats in their appearance, except that they have no horns, are larger, and are of a leonine color, or more ruddy. They live in the highest mountains and groves, and particularly love those cold regions of solitude, which the Peruvians designate by the common name of Punas, neither are they annoyed by frost and snow, but are rather created by them. They go in ſlocks and run most swiftly; and such is their timidity that, at the sight of man or wild beasts, they instantly hurry into inaccessible retreats, and thereby elude their pursuits. There were formerly a

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