The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-08-14
AGRICULTURAL.
Keeping Eggs


The following, from the third report of the
United States Butter and Cheese Association,
gives the method of preserving eggs which is
practlced by large dealers:-
10 make the pickle, use stone lime, line
SAT- and water, in the following proportions:
One bushel of lime, eight quarts OF salt, twen-
ty-hve ten-quart pals OF water. The lime
must be of the finest quality, free from sand
and dirt,-lime that will slack white, fine
and clean. Have the salt clean and the
water pure and sweet, free from all vegetable
or decomposed matter.
Slack the lime with portion of the water,
then add the balance of the water and the
salt. Stir well three or four times at inter-
walls, and then let it stand until well settled
and cold. Either dip or draw off the clear
pickle into the cask or vat in which it is in
tended to preserve the eggs. When the cask
or vat is filled to the depth of fifteen or eigh-
teen inches, begin to put in the eggs, and
when they lie, say about one foot deep, spread
around over them some pickle that is little
milky in appearance, made so by stirring up
some of the very light lime particles that set.
tied last, and continue doing this as each lot
of eggs is added. The object of this is to
have the fine lime drawn into the pores of
the shells as it will be kind of inductive pro-
cess, and thereby completely seal the eggs.
Care should be taken not to get too much of
the lime ia; that is, not enough to settle and
stick to the shells of the eggs, and render
them difficult to clean when taken out. The
chief cause of thin, watery whites in lined
eggs Is that they are not properly sealed in
the manner described. Another cause is the
putting into the pickle old, stale eggs that
have thin, weak whites. When the eggs are
within four inches of the top of the cask or
vat, cover them with factory cloth, and
spread on two or three inches of the lime
that SattlQc in rnakiOn tho piak1o md - 10 of
the greatest importance that the pickle be
kept continually up over this line. A thin
basin (holding about six or eight dozen eggs),
punched quite full of inch holes, edge muf-
fled with leather. and suitable handle about
three feet long attached, will be found con-
venient for putting the eggs into the pickle.
Fill the basin with eggs, put both under the
pickle and turn the eggs out; they go to the
bottom without breaking.
When the time comes to market the eggs,
they must be taken out of the pickle, dried
and packed. To clean them, secure half a
molasses hogshead, or something like it, fill
the same about half full of water Have
sufficient number of crates of the right size
Ito hold twenty or twenty-five dozen eggs)
made OF laths or other Stats, placed about
three-quarters of an inch apart. Sink one of
these crates in the half hogshead, take the
basin used to put the eggs into the pickle, dip
S>AS S55S W A0tSiAS ~ w 6hA uOWh III e1O
water, and, If necessary, to properly clean
them, set the crate up and douse water over
them; then, if any eggs are found, when pack
ing, that the lime has not been fully removed
from, they should be laid out and all the lime
cleaned off before packing. When the eggs
are carefully washed, they can be set up or
out in suitable place to dry in the crates.
They should dry quickly, and be packed as
soon as dry. In packing the same rules
should be observed as in packing fresh eggs.
Watts built in a cellar around the walls, with
about half their depth below the surface,
about four or five feet ceep, six feet long, and
four feet wide, are usually considered the
best for preserving eggs in, although many
use and prefer large tubs made of wood. The
place in which the watts are built or the tubs
are kept, should be clean and sweet, free
from all bad odors, and where steady, low
temperature may be maintained-the lower
the better, that is, down to any point above
freezing.