EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 81 



I tain seasons. Judge Peters gives the characteristics of these sheep as 



(they came under his observatiou. They were better set with wool 

 ? than any other with the exception of the Merino, and did not shed 

 | it like common sheep. Th^ wool was sufficiently fine for all common 

 i purposes and could be applied without mixture with other wool to more 

 [uses than that of the Merino or the common sheep. The average 

 I weight of the fleeces was from 5 to 5J pounds washed wool, washed 

 I be fore shearing; some flocks well cared for averaged 6 pounds, and 

 | individual sheep of pure blood gave 8, 9, and 10 pounds. The wool 

 I was fine and from it Judge Peters made white homemade blankets 

 and flannel of great excellence. 



These sheep were hardy, bearing heat or cold better than the com- 

 mon sheep, fattened with less food and much quicker, and would bear 

 to be kept fat without being diseased far beyond any other. The car- 

 cass was heavy, but not coarse. The heaviest ewe coming under his 

 observation weij \ed 182 pounds alive, when sheared. Her fleece, clean 

 washed, weighed 8J pounds. She was half-blood. A half-blood ram, 

 a twin, at 18 months old, weighed 214 pounds. The Tunis ewes were 

 the smallest, and generally carried the finest fleeces. They were gentle 

 and quiet and kept in good condition upon coarse food, and were 

 [ healthy, a diseased one being very rare. It was, like the Merino, a 

 j peculiar genus and race of sheep. Those who valued them reconciled 

 I themselves to colored wool, though the greatest proportion was white. 

 The lambs werft white, red, tawny, bluish, and black, but the fewest ot 

 i the latter. All (except the black) grew white in the general color of 

 I the fleece, though most commonly colored in spots, and either tawny or 

 I black generally marked the cheeks and shanks, and sometimes the 

 whole head and face. By attentive selection and proper management 

 . these sheep could be raised as white as any other, but in most cases 

 , there remained in spots a cast or trace, a tawny tinge. The butchers 

 of Philadelphia testified that while they had killed many sheep of all 

 kinds, the broad-tailed Tunis was the best, compared with the general 

 run of that animal in the Philadelphia market. They fattened in the 

 flesh and on the ribs far superior to most others. The rough fat was 

 fas great in qaantity as in any common sheep, and very white. The 

 lambs sold the highest of any in the market and were more sought 

 after. An unsound sheep was unknown. A ram lamb 1 year old, a 

 . half blood, gave 23 pounds to the quarter well furnished with rough fat. 

 A three-quart*! blood ewe gave 20 pounds to the quarter, and a spring 

 lamb 14 pounds. Maj. Keybold, of Delaware County, bought a three- 

 quarter blood rain of this breed weighing 214 pounds. The wool of the 

 full or high blood, or when crossed with good fleeced sheep, was in 

 great estimation, and yielded more to the fleece, the flock through, than 

 any other breed known. P. Reybold had killed upward of 2,000 

 Tunis sheep, and also killed BakewelFs New Leicester and Wall's 

 breed and the St. John's, and in fact all the various kinds of sheep, but 

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