Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-08-09
Helena, Montana, Thursday, August 9, 1883.
EGGS FROM FOREIGN LANDS.
Present Sources OfSupply.The Un'imi.
ted Resources of China.
Chicago Times.1


Two hundred thousand dozen eggs have
been received at this port from Europe dur
the past nine months. The importations
have ceased until the middle of September,
when they will be resumed The home sup
ply is so large during the summer months,
ard the risk on imported eggs so great that
for the ensuing three months none will be
brought from the other side to place on the
market here. There are only two houses
here that import eggs One house began re-
ceiving three years ago, and the consign-
ments to it have steadily increased. The
head of the house said yesterday that the
eggs that came to this country were shipped
from Germany and Denmark principally, and
also from France. Italy and Turkey were
two great egg producing countries, but the
shipments to the United States were not
made from them. The eggs came packed in
straw in long cases containing 120 dozen
each. The only difference between imported
eggs and those produced in this country was
that the former was somewhat smaller and
the shells perhaps a trife harder. The eggs
were consigned on commission, and the mar
ket here fixed their price. They were sold
at from one to two cents less per dozen than
domestic eggs The lower price was on &C
count of their size, and not because they
were inferior in quality, for such was not the
case. .E. -'.-'t' @+."s '."'''
"At this season of the year," the dealer
continued, eggs were received fresh. Dur
ing the winter they came lined; that is they
were subjected to sort Of picking process
in lime water. The effect was to close the
pores of the shells, SO that when boiled they
were apt to break but not to injure the con-
tents. Coming from colder countries the eggs
kept better than those laid here. This was
true of those brought from Canada, and
many were shipped from the Dominion to
the United States. The largest egg producing
States of the Union were Ohio Indiana and
Iowa. The breakage ON imported eggs was
less than on those that came from the West.
They were transported by water and were
subjected to less violence. The importa-
tions had the effect of lowering the prices. 1t
was when prices were high that the great
profit was made on imported eggs. large
sale had been found for the eggs in Connecti
cut and Massachusetts. Whether retail
dealers told their customers that they were
buying imported eggs the speaker could not
say. He saw no reason why any discrimina-
ton should be made. The dealer that shipped
to his firm began sending to London first.
The surplus of supply intended for that
market was sent to this country, thus intro
ducing the eggs here. The outlook for the
trade for the fall and winter was good
A member of another house in the gen.
eral produce trade said that in time eggs
would doubtless be sent from China to San
Francisco. Poultry raising was an extensive
industry in China. Eggs would keep as long
as six or eight months, although that was, of
course, too long, and there were no difficult
ties about transportation in the way. The
cheapness with which eggs could be pro-
duced in China made such thing possible.
Fowls were kept on the boats on the rivers,
and in fact, everywhere Enough eggs could
be sent from China to supply the whole
United States.