Owing to the abundance of water and the absence of hail-storms or other serious climatic drawbacks, agriculture, except for rust and blight, which are seldom experienced, is a certainty, in complete contrast to the reputation it bears in countries that depend on the rainfall for their crops. The life of the oasis, where every acre is cultivated and where the agricultural population is comparatively dense, is quite unlike that of Persia, where each village is surrounded by square miles of uncultivated land, which furnishes grazing, fodder and fuel. There are a few isolated villages, or groups of villages, in Chinese Turkestan, but the country generally consists of extensive oases set in a lifeless desert.
The chief crops are millet, rice, maize, wheat, barley, cotton, lucerne clover, hemp, linseed, turnips, carrots and tobacco. Millet and rice are regarded as the best-paying crops, the former occupying one-half of the total area cultivated.
Of fruits and vegetables, apricots, grapes, peaches, nectarines, quinces, cherries, figs, apples, pears, mulberries, pomegranates and melons grow in great profusion, and pumpkins, which are the staple vegetable, are supplemented by carrots, turnips, onions, cucumbers, garlic and fennel.
The upper classes are less civilized than in Persia, partly because they do not mix socially with the European colonies; good fruit trees and seeds have therefore not been introduced. This state of affairs reflects little credit on the merchants from Andijan, who could easily introduce the magnificent fruit trees which are now grown at Tashkent.
The Chinese of the New City farm much better than the native Moslems, and have introduced the curious plum-cherry, with its blue, white and red varieties of fruit, beans of various kinds, beetroot, cabbages, including kohl rabi, lettuces, potatoes, tomatoes and spinach; but there is little contact between the Chinese and Moslem farmers, so that the latter do not learn much from the efficient Celestials.
The trees in the Kashgar Oasis, other than fruit trees, include the Lombardy and the spreading poplar, the latter growing to a great size, and the Turkestan elm, of which a grafted species grows in a pyramidal shape. The common willow and the Babylonian willow of two species—one with an edible fruit resembling the Bohemian olive—are planted along every irrigation channel and serve as fuel.
Next to agriculture the most important industry is the raising of live-stock—horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. The horses bred by the Kalmucks around Karashahr are the best, being stronger than the Kirghiz ponies, because the Kalmucks do not drink mare’s milk. They are usually geldings, standing about fourteen hands, and are ideal for transport purposes. The Kirghiz pony is hardy and enduring, but not strong or up to much weight. The Yarkandi, especially a roan, was a favourite mount in India in the last century, and is mentioned in Anglo-Indian novels of the period; it is still exported in small numbers.
A LOAD OF CLOVER FROM ISA HAJI’S FARM.
Page 302.