The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-10-16

never, if possible to prevent it, allow
them to stand still during the growing
season.. NJ. Smith, i'm N. Y. Tribune.
The Trade in Eggs.
DURING the year 1873 we imported
6,O53,649 dozen of eggs, valued at
$7a6, OS7: Nearly all Of these eggs
came from the British provinces, that
feeder ON this country. 1t is certain
that this country can produce the eggs
required for consumption, and it seems
to be very poor policy to expend nearly
a million dollars annually for articles
that can be produced at home. The
capital required to keep hundred hens
is SO small that almost any person can
engage in the poultry business. Since
the invention Of the eggg-carrier the
transportation of eggs has been rem
dered cheap and safe. Eggs are now
carried as cheaply as small fruit, and
may be transported long distances with
a much greater degree Of safety. Eggs
produced in the States west of the Mis-
souri, now find their way to the Boston
market, and there is no good reason
why they are not sent to London.
The large farmers in the West are in
clined to look on the production of eggs
as very small business, but it is Ger
tainly more remunerative, according to
the capital required, than the raising of
corn and grain. At present, the poultry
business is more profitable than the
dairy business, and the indications are
that it will remain SO for many years.
The ordinary wholesale price of eggs in
this market will average during the
season more than twelve cents per
dozen. At present a dozen of eggs will
sell for as much as a pound of medium
butter or two pounds Of cheese. In the
opinion of all who have carefully esti-
mated the expense of producing them,
the eggs cost less than the butter or
cheese. Eggs are handled, stored and
sent to market with less trouble and
expense than butter and cheese. If
farmers are provided with egg-cases,
the trouble is hardly to be considered.
A higher estimate is being pitt on
eggs as articles of food every year, and
as facilities for transporting and stor-
ing them improve their consumption
will increase: At present dozen of
| eggs sell at retail in most of our large
cities for less than pound of fresh
beef. That the former are worth more
than the latter for food is generally ac-
| knowledged. There is no waste in eggs
as there is in the meat obtained Of a
butcher. Eggs are more easily and
more cheaply cooked than meat, while
they are capable of being served up in
greater number of ways. If house.
keepers could be assured that eggs in
the market were in good condition,
their consumption would he greatly in
creased. People who keep house on a
small scale, and many in large towns do,
find eggs much more convenient than
meat to cook.
There is no good reason why eggs
may not be collected from farms, trans
ported a thousand miles and passed
through the hands of the wholesale and
the retail dealer while they are still
other somewhat perishable articles OF
food would insure their reaching the
consumer in good condition for the ia
BILE. In order to have eggs III prime
condition in town remote from the
place where they are produced it will
be necessary to change the present
manner of collecting and storing them.
1t is often the case that farmers keep
eggs from one to three weeks before
taking them to the neighboring village
to sell. The country trader, in turn,
retains them another week, SO as to
have enough to make considerable
shipment. They are often sent to the
city market in warm cars which form a
part of a slow train.
After the eggs have arrived in the
city to which they were consigned they
receive no better care than they did in
the country. They ordinarily remain
in packages on the sidewalk, exposed
to the sun, till they are disposed of to
the retailer. In the retail grocery they
receive no better treatment. They are
not placed in refrigerator, as butter,
game, dressed meat and poultry are,
but are exposed to the heat of the sun
or stove. The practice which prevails
in some portions of the Eastern States
should be introduced here. There buy.
ers 90 from one farmhouse to another
every day, or at stated times, collect
the eggs, take them to the nearest rail
way station and dispatch them to the
city by express. The quickness with
which these operations are conducted
renders the use of refrigerator cars un
necessary. In many instances the eggs
are consigned directly to the persons
who dispose of them at retail.
If eggs were more perishable thar
they are the chances are that they
would reach consumers in better condi
ton than they now do. No time woul(
then be lost in getting them to marke
in the quickest manner possible. Whe1
they had reached their destination they
would be stored in situations favorabl,
to their preservation. The device o
egg-carriers has rendered their trans
portation comparatively safe so far a
breakage is concerned. The matter
that now claim attention are bette
system of collecting, direct shipment t.
retailers, the employment of cars TO
transportation over long roads, ant
better means of protection from the ef
fects of heat and bad odors, after tn
eggs have reached their destination
With these changes the trade in and tn
consumption of eggs may be greatly in
creased, to the benefit of all concerned
Chicago Times.
Mark Twain on elevated railroads
81 used to be afraid of them, but it.
no use. Death stares us in the fac
everywhere and we may as well take it il
its elevated form. l have friend VIII
wanted to take ride on the clevate'
; when the first one was built; but whel
he looked at it he thought of his wifi
and children, and concluded to wall
! home. On the way up town a woman
} who was washing a third-story windov