MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



dyeing has made great advances, especially in South 

 Germany. 



THE KARAKUL SHEEP INDUSTRY IN BOKHARA. 



The Karakul sheep industry centres in the foothills of 

 the mountains that form the southern boundary of 

 Bokhara, the cultivable land in the valleys being utilized 

 for gardens and orchards. The flocks are driven in 

 autumn, when the first snow falls, from their summer 

 quarters on the higher plateaux into the " Kishlaks " of 

 the valleys. They are kept there until the lambing season 

 is past, and in early spring they are driven back to the 

 higher desert grazings, which are unsuited to cultivation. 

 Their first destination from parts within range are the 

 steppes of Karshi to the S.S.E., the earliest to become 

 green. They do not go to the higher mountains, but 

 are confined to the saline country, and are moved about 

 at different seasons to the plains, valleys, and steppes, 

 where and when food is most abundant. To enable the 

 Karakul flocks to utilize the bushes and dry grasses of 

 the steppes they must hunger from other food at times 

 for fourteen days and even longer when snow covers the 

 ground. The practices of to-day are, to all intents, those 

 described by Pallas. The sheep are kept always in the 

 open, and during winter more or less protected from the 

 cold winds in the hollows of the mountains, and live 

 mostly on dry stalks kept clear of snow by the wind. 



To give their lambs a good start in life, the lambing 

 season is regulated to come when there is an abundance 

 of plants and flowers to develop the plentiful supply of 

 milk that the ewes are capable of yielding. The time of 

 lambing is determined by tying an old rag round the belly 

 of the rams to form a screen, after the fashion practised 

 on the Indian Deccan with supernumerary young bulls. 

 In Bessarabia the proper breeding time is about the end 

 of October, and lambs come early in the following March, 

 after the danger of late frosts and snows is past; but in 

 Bokhara the lambing season extends from January to 

 May, with the busiest period in March and April. One 

 ram unattended may not suffice for more than thirty to 

 fifty ewes during the season on account of the difficulty 



