LECTURE NO. 5. 



DELAINE MERINOS ORIGIN AND HISTORY, CHAR- 

 ACTERISTICS AND STANDARD POINTS. 



I. Delaine sheep are simply American Merinos 

 with a larger carcass, a better mutton form, fewer 

 wrinkles on the body and a longer fleece of wool. 



(1) They are of several sub-varieties, all of which have 

 been evolved from the American Merino by selection and 

 careful breeding. 



(2) They are a creation of the skill of breeders operating 

 more particularly in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 



II. Origin of the name. 



(1) The name originated from the class of goods known 

 as delaines, for the manufacture of which the wool of these 

 sheep has been found eminently adapted. 



(2) Delaines, i. e., untwilled dress goods, were originally 

 all wool, but are now manufactured with cotton warp and 

 woolen filling. 



III. The principal varieties. 



(1) No classification of Delaine Merino sheep can be 

 made at the present time that can be looked upon as complete 

 or final because of the transition that is yet apparently uncom- 

 pleted in some of the types, but 



(2) It would probably be correct to say that the chief of 

 the types, or sub-types, always designated Delaine, are the 

 Standard, the National and the Improved Delaines respec- 

 tively, and 



(3) The chief of the types, or sub-types, essentially 

 Delaine in their leading characteristics, but not always so 

 designated, are the Black Top Spanish Merino, the Improved 

 Black Top Merino and the Dickinson Merino, respectively. 



(4) The distinctions between these two classes are such 

 as relate to size, character of the fleece, the absence or presence 

 of wrinkles and horns, and blood elements varying in what 

 may be termed purity in descent from more or less distin- 

 guished ancestry. 



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