8 BULLETIN 94, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
part of the nose, and the muzzle are woolless, and these are covered 
with white, silky hair. The wool also extends down the legs to the 
hoofs. A large amount of yolk or oil is desired, as this is regarded 
essential to the production of the best quality of fiber, but in a great 
many cases it has been overdone. The skin is a beautiful shade of 
pink, the ideal color. The form is rather inferior; the neck is long, 
shoulders sloping, and the chest is narrow. The withers are thin, 
the spring of ribs only moderate, consequently the back is rather 
narrow. Behind, they lack development in the leg of mutton, being 
more or less "cat-hammed." This type became famous not only in 
the United States, but in foreign countries as well, and rams were 
shipped to Australia, South America, and South Africa. Many of 
the Vermont flocks have been disbanded, but shipments of Merinos 
are still made frequently from this State both to South Africa and 
South America. Some prominent men in early American Merino his- 
tory were Stephen Atwood, of Woodbury, Conn. ; Edwin Hammond, 
of Middlebury, Vt. ; and William Jarvis, of Weathersfield, Vt. Robert 
Livingston also did a great deal in establishing the breed. 
The Delaine Merino was developed through Ohio and Pennsylvania 
and to a lesser extent in Michigan and West Virginia. This type 
differs from the Vermont Merino in having a smoother body with few 
or no folds. They possess more size and fatten more readily than 
the type of American Merino mentioned above. The fiber is consid- 
erably longer and usually grades as a combing wool. It does not 
contain as much yolk as that of the American Merino. The Delaine 
breeders have endeavored to combine mutton qualities with wool, 
and their success is attested by the present popularity of this type 
There are several different families of Delaines. The most impor- 
tant of these are the Dickinson, the National, the Victor Beall, the 
Black Top, and the Improved Black Top. 
Merinos in America are to-day divided into three classes, based upon 
the folds in their skin, fineness of fiber, their mutton qualities, etc., 
and are registered under these types. At the Columbian Exposition 
and again at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, they were 
divided into two classes, A and B. Class C has since been added 
It must be admitted that there has been considerable confusion 
due to this classification. The fairs are not uniform in their specifica- 
tions as to what comprises the different divisions, the judges are not 
all of the same opinion, and it is evident that the exhibitors have not 
the classification as clearly in mind as they should, since lightly folded 
A class sheep are sometimes shown with the B classes and heavily 
folded B's occasionally compete with A class sheep for honors. An- 
other confusing condition is that the different classes do not breed 
true to type. A B-type ram may sire C-class lambs, or vice versa. 
Again the number of folds decreases with age, and a lamb that prop- 
