MERINOS. 243 



ing, the purity of blood is at once accepted, and the animal admitted to 

 record. 



DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



No authoritative scale of points or standard description has been 

 adopted by the club, but the following points may be stated in brief, as 

 distinctive of the Atwood sheep : They are large, round-bodied and 

 strong-boned ; very heavy shearers a clip of 24 or 25 pounds for rams 

 being not uncommon ; the fleece is very dense, and although abundantly 

 supplied with liquid yolk (natural oil) it exhibits little tendency to crust 

 externally ; when parted, the wavy crimps of the wool may be seen to 

 the very tips of the fibre, and the coloring is a rich buff tint one of the 

 points for which Mr. Hammond bred in particular. The skin, as will 

 be seen from the illustration, is strongly marked by folds ("wrinkly") 

 at both neck and rump a peculiarity even more strongly marked in the 

 next family (Paulars). The sheep are hardy, and the rams have been 

 extensively used for grading up the mixed flocks of Texas, New Mexico 

 and Arizona. 



The Paulars. 



Concerning the history of the Paular Merino family, and its present 

 status, as compared with the other recognized strains, we have thought 

 best to give without comment the views of the acknowledged leader 

 among Paular breeders in America, Mr. Jno. P. Ray, Hemlock Lake, 

 N. Y. We have decided upon this course for several reasons, chief 

 among which stands the fact that Mr. Ray is known to be a careful 

 breeder, and, although undoubtedly somewhat partisan in his views, a 

 thorough student of all literature bearing upon the history of sheep. 



Replying to our request, he writes as follows : 



' ' Probably the most noted of all the Spanish flocks were the Paulars, Infantados, 

 Escurials, Guadaloupes, Negrettis, Montarcos and Aquierres. We have no authentic 

 history to show how marked and well denned were the differences that existed between 

 these families ; there is a general belief among sheep men that the Escurials were the 

 finest fleeced of all the Spanish flocks ; the Negrettis the wrinkliest, and the Paulars 

 the hardiest, best formed and heaviest folded in the neck. * * * * Col. 



David Humphreys [see Atwoods] left no records behind to show from what flock or 

 flocks he obtained his sheep ; Consul Jarvis, who went to Spain soon after, made a great 

 effort to learn this fact, but without success. Stephen Atwood, the distinguished Con- 

 necticut breeder, who lived near Col. Humphreys, wrote Gen. Otto F. Marshal, Wheeler, 

 N. Y., in 1884, that Col. Humphreys' sheep were of the Paular breed. That Edwin Ham- 

 mond, the great improver of Merino sheep (Atwoods), was of the same opinion, the fol- 

 lowing certificates witness : 



" ' MIDDLEBURY, Vx., September 23, 1847. 



" 'This may certify that I have this day sold to D. P. Pond, of Cornwall, state afore- 

 said, six full-blood Merino ewes four of them being of the age of one year, and one of 

 them bearing the age of two years. Said sheep are of the Paular breed, a part of them 

 being purchased by myself and R. P. Hall of Stephen Atwood, of Connecticut, and the 

 other portions of said sheep were raised by me and are precisely the same in pedigree as 



