174 



The Journal of Heredity 



is a very hardx' mutton sheep, belon<;ing 

 to the species of Ovis steatopyga, and 

 is closely related to the Kalmik, Mon- 

 gol, Khirghiz, Tshuntuk and other fat- 

 rump (Kurdiuk)'' breeds, that have 

 very coarse, brittle, generally red wool 

 but possess no fur characteristics what- 

 soe\'er, unless they are crossed at least 

 once with Karakul rams of the right 

 class. The furriers, who in their ignor- 

 ance call Karakul skins (either full- 

 bloods or grades) "Persians," "Persian 

 Baby Lamb," "Persian Broadtail," or 

 "Astrakhan," furnish the opportunity 

 for certain breeders of red Persian fat- 

 rump sheep to dispose of their stock as 

 "Persian broadtails, the only genuine 

 fur-bearing sheep that i^roducc the 

 famous Persian and Astrakhan furs." 

 To corroborate these statements readers 

 may consult a book on Russian breeds 

 of sheep, issued by the Russian Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture, also a 

 circular recently issued by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. 



From the two good ewes and Teddy 

 there were born three rams, one of 

 which was used one season by the 

 United States Department of Agri- 

 culture on the experimental farm near 

 Washington, D. C., and there lost his 

 life from the kick of a zebra. Another 

 good ram died on a ranch in Texas, 

 from eating green alfalfa. The third 

 ram became the ]jro]jerty of the Middle- 

 water Cattle Com])any, controlled by 

 former Congressman Frank O. Louden 

 of Illinois, and was finally bought back 

 from them by ourselves, and is now on 

 Prince Edward Island, where we have 

 decided to establish our Karakul in- 

 dustry. The fourth ram, a grandchild 

 of Teddy, was sold by us to the Univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh, but has not yet been 

 delivered. 



KARAKULS IN AMERICA. 



The father and grandfather of these 

 four rams— Teddy, Sr., the only good 

 ram of the first importation — is the 

 property of the Middlewater Cattle 

 Company, of Middlewater, Texas. The 



second coarse-wool ram of the first im- 

 portation, when crossed to good Lincoln 

 ewes, gave fair results, and is today our 

 property on Prince Edward Island 



About three years ago, the entire herd, 

 with the exception of three Karakul 

 fine -wools that were j^urchasel by R. J. 

 Rhome, of Texas, was divided equally 

 between the Middlewater Cattle Com- 

 pany and myself, but I have since sold 

 my share, telling the purchasers of the 

 urgent need of breeding out the obnox- 

 ious fine wool strain by the introduction 

 of new Karakul coarse-wool blood of the 

 second importation which landed in 

 Baltimore in March, 1913, before offer- 

 ing any for sale. My advice, however, 

 was disregarded. I strongly urge breed- 

 ers to be cautious in buying rams. The 

 officials of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington seem fully 

 alive to this danger, and in a recent cir- 

 cular letter advise the purchase of 

 tested rams only. 



Out of the second importation, six 

 rams and four ewes were purchased by 

 the Hon. Charles dc Brcmond of New 

 Mexico, I retaining an undivided half 

 interest in them; the balance are the 

 property of the writer and his associates 

 in Charlottestown, P. E. I., Canada.. 

 where black silver foxes and other fur- 

 bearing animals are raised with wonder- 

 ful success. 



We find in Central Asia six classes of 

 KarakuP sheep, all of which owe their 

 black pigment, tendency to tight curl 

 formation, and lustre, to the small, 

 black, and nearly extinct D madar sheep. 

 These breeds are known as (1) Large 

 Arabi or Duzbai, (2) Small Arabi, 

 (3) Intermediate Arabi, resulting from 

 the crossing of the above mentioned 

 three classes, (4) Gray Shiraz, (5) Zigais 

 (of these classes there are very few), 

 (6) Karakul Afghans, which last class 

 vuifortiniateh' comi)rise 90% of all the 

 fur-producing shcci) in Bokhara, and 

 while possessing excellent mutton quali- 

 ties and wonderful hardiness, like all of 

 the other breeds, can hardly ])roduce 

 jjrofilable fur in America, where ])eople 



^Kurdiuk is the Tartar word for "fat rump." 



■•Kara Kul, "Black Lake," is the name of a town in Turkeslan, wluTe these sheep have long 

 been raised. It has >,'iven its name to the whole l)rei(l, lliroiij^'h its adoption by the Russians. 



