Vol. LXXI. No. 4152. 
NEW YORK, MAY 25, 1912 
WEEKLY. $1.00 PER YEAR 
GRAFTING FUR UPON THE WOOLLY-BACK. 
Karakule Sheep as Fur Makers. 
We are, in this country, developing a new side of 
farming. You may call it studying art and producing 
unnatural things. These are things which formerly 
were produced by nature without man’s help, or things 
which were thought to belong naturally to some par¬ 
ticular climate, latitude or locality. There comes an 
increased demand for them, and a failure of the 
natural supply. Some one thinks out a plan for pro¬ 
ducing these things or a good substitute for them, 
and a new farm industry is started. .Just such an in¬ 
dustry has been started in Texas. You might call it 
grafting the fur of a wild animal upon the sheep! 
We have heard about the wolf parading in sheep’s 
clothing, but here are sheep carrying fur which would 
be the envy of many a wild creature. As civilization 
develops and enters more and more of the wild cor¬ 
ners of the earth there comes a shortage of furs. 
Fifty years ago genuine buffalo robes were quite com¬ 
mon. Now you can rarely find one, since the buffaloes 
have been destroyed. It 
was found that hides of 
Angus a n d Galloway 
cattle, when properly 
tanned, made a fine buf¬ 
falo substitute. The de¬ 
mand increased and led 
to the practice of pre¬ 
paring hides of cattle 
and horses. Many firms 
have started this com¬ 
mercial farm fur mak¬ 
ing. Thousands of farm¬ 
ers annually send some 
particularly thick or rich 
hide to be tanned. In 
the cow country of the 
North you will find such 
farmers coming to meet¬ 
ings or driving through 
the cold well protected 
by coat and robe of this 
farm fur. That has been 
one development in an 
effort to find substitutes 
for buffalo fur. Now 
comes this Texas experi¬ 
ment in producing, not a 
substitute, but the gen¬ 
uine thing for which in years past fortunes have been 
sent abroad. 
This promising industry, which we may call graft¬ 
ing fur upon the woolly back, was started by Dr. C. 
C. Yong in Texas. Dr. Yong was born in a little 
German village in southern Bessarabia, Russia. The 
family began raising the famous broad-tailed sheep. 
Dr. Yong was educated at a Bulgarian school, and 
learned the secrets of producing the famous Karakule 
sheep from which the valuable black Persian lamb’s 
fur is obtained. On coming to this country Dr. Yong 
saw the possibilities of such a fur-producing industry 
here. Let him tell his story himself: 
Black silver fox skins are worth in London about $3,- 
000 ; yet any amount of black silver fox boas and muffs 
are sold in this country for .$100, which is not a bad 
price for a dyed dogskin with a few badger hairs inserted. 
1 he skins of Australian hares and American muskrats are 
so well dyed to-day that only an expert can tell them 
from genuine seal, and many a woman has paid 'for a 
genuine seal and is wearing an imitation that defies de¬ 
tection. We are spending millions annually for such com¬ 
mercial Karakule furs as Persian . lamb, Astrachan - and 
Krimmer, notwithstanding the rather high duty. Why 
send large sums annually to Asia, when we can keep it in 
this country? 
After much trouble he succeeded in securing and 
bringing to this country a little flock of 15 pure blood 
Karakule sheep. From this small beginning is de¬ 
veloping an industry of fur production which is 
destined to change the history of the fur trade. 
The picture of a good specimen of a pure blood 
Karakule is shown at Fig. 236. The other picture 
shows ewes and lambs with some of this blood. You 
will see from the pictures of these black lambs why 
we refer to this business as grafting fur upon the 
woolly back. Dr. Yong gives the following descrip¬ 
tion of the large and small classes of these sheep: 
The small Arabi is the original wild broad-tailed sheep 
from which all other broad-tail varieties originate. They 
are always born black, with a wonderful luster, giving it 
the appearance of the richest of black figured velvet with 
very tight curls evenly ‘distributed. The color changes 
from black to gray at maturity. The head is narrow, and 
the face elongated, headline curved, with small ears. The 
feet are thin and long, as is the case with all wild animals 
of the ovine class. The tail is not near as long as is the 
But can it also stand the cold of a northern Winter? 
“Tests made in eastern Michigan have proved that 
25 per cent of the Karakule blood infused into Meri¬ 
nos has produced a sheep that defied the blizzards 
and awful cold of that country; the grade Merinos 
seeming to prefer to be out of doors instead of in the 
barn, where the full-blooded Merinos sought shelter.” 
What about its flesh? 
“When crossed on our native sheep there is an in¬ 
crease of 15 to 25 per cent in weight while the so- 
called ‘sheepy’ taste is eliminated. The flesh from 
this cross has a wild or ‘gamey’ taste, greatly relished 
by consumers. The tail and buttock' of the Karakule 
accumulate great quantities of fat, and this tendency 
is carried by the grades. As is known, this quality 
of the fat tail is greatly appreciated by farmers who 
use the Tunis breed for producing early lambs.” 
Dr. Yong says that as the Karakule sheep are more 
like goats than sheep, when it comes to rustling and 
browsing, they should be introduced in brushy or 
timbei countries. As Karakules develop much quicker 
than our sheep, it has been found that half bloods 
(Karakule tightwools) 
attain the same weight 
at three months that 
ordinary sheep 
co 
PUREBRED KARAKULE EWES—LAMBS FOUR DAYS OLD. Fig. 236 . 
case with the Karakules of the large class, and is triangular 
in shape, seldom ever weighing over 15 pounds. Roth 
sexes are horned, with whitish spots on the front, head, 
tail, feet, and both sides. This sheep is said never to 
have existed anywhere but in the mountainous section of 
Bokhara. To find a Karakule to-day that answers this 
description is extremely difficult, and necessitates caravan 
trips through a great portion of Central Asia. The large 
at 
six months, making 
possible much earlier 
marketing. This together 
with a much superior 
mutton, with the sheepy 
taste eliminated, means 
of course a much better 
price for the producer. 
It would of course be 
out of the question now 
to try to breed a flock 
of purebred Karakules. 
The “fur grafting” we 
have mentioned will be 
done by introducing the 
blood of this breed into 
our common breeds. It 
becomes a study as to 
which of these breeds 
will make the best graft¬ 
ing stock. Next week 
we shall give some of 
the results of Dr. Yong’s 
experiments in this line. 
Both Karakule and* Per¬ 
sian lamb are in such demand among furriers that the 
possibilities of future profit are most encouraging. 
LIME AND POTATO SCAB. 
I would like to add my experience to the lime and 
--=... . . — potatoes discussion which comes up at intervals. A 
Arabi has a massive Jiead, short face, nose line bent, ears year ago last October I plowed about three-quarters 
pendulous and v<^*y. ^aTgo, with thick strong feet esneciallv c , , • , , , . , 
l.ind logs wrtb .» "T”-sh,ped toil witlTtwl't ° ™ ° f 8r ° l "’ d wh j d > h » d been P 001 ^ s ' eded 
on the‘end rlairtiing to the ground. When they are very a ” ollt eight years ago, and upon which were growing 
fat the- tail drags, and in exceptional cases it has to be mostly weeds and thistles. My intention at that time 
supported on a two-wheeled cart. wa s eventually to sow Alfalfa, but I afterward de- 
Dr. \ong’s flock is located in the warmer deserts cided the ground was too low and wet. After plow- 
of 1 exas. He was asked if they are inured to the ing I sowed 1 1 / 2 ton of freshly burned unslaked fine 
hardships of desert life. lime. After one or two rains and several harrowings 
It is so constituted that it can go for days without I sowed about October 15 Crimson clover. The 
water, and on account of the unbearable heat in the clover started but all winter-killed. The following 
Summer, and the great cold in the Winter in Bok- Spring I plowed again and planted three sacks and 
hara, this animal can stand infinitely more heat and five bushels of potatoes. The lime had entirely 
cold than any other sheep, therefore when crossed changed the texture of the soil, and as some of the 
with our native sheep, there is a great increase in seed was badly infected with scab and the soil was 
hardiness.” ' so full of the lime that it could be plainly seen in 
