Khanikoff mentions in his interesting work[27] ten different kinds of grapes he found in Bokhara. In Khiva I met with the following:--1. _Huseini_, with oblong seeds and a thin skin, very sweet, and keeps throughout the winter. 2. _Meske_, with large round seeds. 3. _Sultani._ 4. _Khalide_ are ripe first of any. 5. _Shiborgani._ 6. _Taifi._ 7. _Khirmani._ 8. _Sayeke._ All these different sorts of grapes grow on the level ground, and are either made into shire (syrup) or dried for eating; wine being made only by the Jews in Bokhara, and in a very small quantity. [27] "Bokhara, its Emir and its People." There are four sorts of apples grown, and that of Hezaresp may boldly challenge the productions of our European horticulture. The mulberry, too, is larger, more varied, and sweeter than ours, and to this superiority we must, perhaps, ascribe the fact, that the silk of Central Asia is better than the Italian and French, and that a certain disease among silk-worms, common with us for many years, is there quite unknown. The rearing of silk-worms came originally from Chinese Tartary, especially from Khoten, where, as M. Reinaud[28] correctly remarks, it was introduced in the first century of our era from the interior of China. Silk stuffs of native manufacture were known in Bokhara in pre-Islamitic times, according to the testimony of a certain Manuscript,[29] which treats of the ancient history of Bokhara. It is no exaggeration to assert that the cultivation, spinning, and dyeing of silk, is a still more primitive process in the three Khanats than in China itself, where industrial progress, no doubt, effected many changes, whilst here everything has remained as it was years ago. The Khanat Bokhara supplies most of the raw silk; it is produced in the capital, in Samarkand, and among the Lebab-Turkomans. Much also comes from the Khanat of Khokand, in the neighbourhood of Mergolan and Namengan. Khiva contributes but little, and this little is inferior in quality to the productions of the other Khanats, though, as competent judges have assured me, it is far superior to the silk of Gilan and Mazendran, in Persia. The manipulation, however, is very imperfectly performed. I was struck with the manner of winding off the cocoons, which were placed in a cauldron of boiling water and stirred with a broom, until a certain number of threads unwind themselves, which are then wound round the broom. The dyeing is almost exclusively in the hands of the Jews, the weaving is done by the Tadjik and Mervi, who, in accordance with the taste and fashion of the country, prepare only stuffs of glaring colours. [28] "Relations Politiques et Commerciales de l'Empire Romain avec l'Asie Orientale," p. 197. [29] Tarichi Narschachi.