Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 7

Let's see what fun facts I can dig up for this.

• The Company Store is still going strong, only five years till their centennial!
• Of the 24 different varieties of mattress pads that they now offer, none of them is made from merino wool. (At least it is not specified in the ad copy)
  
• This is not a knock against merino sheep - you can purchase merino wool blankets.
• While the merino is the most common variety of sheep in the world, it is uncommon in the UK as the relative humidity causes the merino wool to rot.
• The marino is generally not considered good for eating, although attempts are being made to breed a more palatable version. Two examples are the South African Mutton Merino and the Merinofleischschaf.
• I am not certain what department in The University of Wisconsin one would go to for research into mattress pads. They do a fair amount of research into cattle bedding. It is unlikely that they tested the sleepability of their mattress pads using cattle, rather than human subjects, but I hope they did, just because the idea of it cracks me up.
• The term "Company Store" refers to the now illegal practice of either paying one's employees in goods rather than currency, or placing them in a situation where the only place that one's employees can purchase staples is in a store owned and operated by the employee itself. As the advertiser was founded in 1911, I suppose that we can presume that the name does not refer to the practice. I am also reasonably certain that everyone who works there is sick to death of people calling up and singing "Sixteen Tons" at them.