EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 81 



tain seasons. Judge Peters gives the characteristics of those sheep as 

 they came under his observation. They were better set with wool 

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

 it like common sheep. The wool was suffloiently fine for all common 

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

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

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

 before shearing; some flocks well cared for averaged 6 pounds, and 

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

 Avas 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, bnt not coarse. The heaviest ewe coming under his 

 observation weij "ved 182 povinds 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 uijon coarse food, and were 

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

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

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

 The lambs were white, red, tawny, bluish, and black, but the fewest of 

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

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

 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, bub in most cases 

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

 of Philadelphia testifled 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 

 as great in quantity 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 2.i pounds to the quarter well furnished with rough fat. 

 A three-quartei blood ewe gave 20 pounds to the quarter, and a spring 

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

 quarter blood ram of this breed weighing 1314 pounds. The wool of the 

 fiill or high blood, or when crossed with good fleeced sheep, Avas 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, ar,d also killed BakewelFs ISTew Leicester and Wall's 

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

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