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MERINO

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 168 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MERINO , the See also:

Spanish name for a breed of See also:sheep, and hence applied to a woollen fabric. The Spanish word is generally taken to be an See also:adaptation to the sheep of the name of an See also:official (merino) who inspected sheep pastures. This word is from the See also:medieval Latin majorinus, a steward, See also:head official of a See also:village, &c., from See also:major, greater. The merino is a See also:white See also:short-See also:wool sheep, the male having See also:spiral horns, the ewes being generally hornless. It is bred chiefly for its wool, because, though an excellent grazer and very adaptable, it matures slowly and its mutton is not of the best quality. The wool is See also:close and wavy in See also:staple, reaching 4 in. in length, and surpasses that of all other sheep in fineness; it is so abundant that little but the muzzle, which should by of an See also:orange tint, and hoofs, are See also:left uncovered. The best wool is produced on See also:light sandy soils. The merino is little known in See also:Great See also:Britain, the See also:climatic moisture of which does not favour the growth of the finest wools, but it predominates in all regions where sheep are bred for their wool rather than- their mutton, as in the western See also:United States, Cape See also:Colony, See also:Australia, New See also:Zealand and See also:Argentina. In See also:Australasia, especially in New Zealand, the merino has been crossed with See also:Lincoln, Leicesters, Shropshires and other breeds, with the result of improving the quality of the mutton while sacrificing to some extent that of the wool. The merino sheep appears to have originated in See also:Africa, whence it was brought by the See also:Moors to See also:Spain and thence spread over See also:Europe, especially to See also:Austria-See also:Hungary, See also:Germany and See also:France. The best-known breeds are the See also:Rambouillet, a large merino named after the village near See also:Paris, to which it was imported towards the end of the 18th See also:century, and the Negretti, which stands in closer relationship to the old Spanish stock and has shorter wool but a more wrinkled fleece. Importations to See also:America began about the beginning of the 19th century.

The so-called See also:

American merino, the Delaine, the See also:Vermont and the Rambouillet, are well-known breeds in the United States. The See also:term " merino " is widely employed in the textile See also:industries with very varied meanings. Originally it was restricted to denote the wool of the merino sheep reared in Spain, but owing to the superiority of the wools grown on merino sheep and shipped from See also:Botany See also:Bay, the name as applied to wool was replaced by the term " botany." In the See also:dress-goods and See also:knitting trades the term " merino " still implies an See also:article made from the very best soft wool. The term " cashmere," however, is frequently confused with it, although cashmere goods should be made from true cashmere and not, as is often the See also:case, from the finest botany wool. In the See also:hosiery and remanufactured materials trades the term " merino " is applied to fibre-mixtures of See also:cotton and wool in contradistinction to " all wool " goods.

End of Article: MERINO

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