The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-29
EGG LORE FOR LEN ZEN DAYS.
The Egg in its Social, Domestic and
Comm ercial Aspects.

The Egg in its Social, Domestic and
Commercial Aspects.
From the Ne,0 York World.
"Sherry and egg, please"
Eyes, sir"
Crack goes the shell. A gulping sound is
heard, and the glass is put down with "a
a-ah !-'notherin
Very sorry, sir, but can't spare any
more eggs"
'No more!"
mo, sir. It's Lent, you know"
Such was the conversation overheard in
Broadway hotel by a reporter while
searching for prominent statesmen who had
just received their mail and were likely to
know what sort of cocktail" the forth
coming elections might produce. Such a
colloquy would set even an ordinary mind
thinking, but the reporters was no ordl-
nary mind, and the presence of the Lenten
abstention from meats ana the consequent
extensive consumption of eggs suggested a
diversion of his intentions and desires.
Statesmen are always prevalent but eggs
oh! awful thoughti-eggs might be scarce
He reflected, too, that egg deals have
always been held more or less in the grasp
of trusts, y and why? Because the connlv-
ing begins directly with the producer. The
ia mer speculates by sailing or mealing the
eggs, holding them back for an advance in
price and traudulently selling them for
fresh to the shippers. The shippers also
hold them back for such a period as the
market price may warrant The receiver
here also detains them for sale. Then
comes the jObber, who must pacify the
retailer by mixing with these held-back
goods some eggs of a better quality. So
that, when they reach the consumer as
fresh eggs they are in decidedly mixed
state, and the oft-reiterated "Bad-bad,n as
the housekeeper breaks open her egg, has
been the cause of many a one giving up the
purchase OF egg altogether.
Very few of those who visit their corner
grocery and purchase their modest 15c. and
25c. worth have any idea of the vast guam
tity of eggs supplied to and by the United
States of America. The eggs received in
New York alone during 1887 amounted to
534, 400 barrels of 70dozens each, and 745, S43
cases of 80 dozens each, or a grand total of
III, 1899, 240 eggs in New York last year!
How many of these were fresh?
Take stroll down Washington street.
and see the merchants opening their barrels
and cases. On the sidewalk and even in the
buildings are women who have come TO buy
cracked eggs. Very few men engage in this
business; the women are much shrewder,
and with covered wooden pail in hand
they watch the cracked eggs being taken
out. They buy them up and resell them to
the bakers No bad eggs can be palmed off
on these women; the cracked eggs must be
completely broken and empted before they
accept it on their count Many small stores
also buy cracked eggs, and these are pur-
chased in small quantities by boarding
house keepers who delight in homemade
pastry on the table"
But the rotten eggs? What becomes of
them: In former years they were taken to
the scows and dumped with the city refuse,
but now they are the means of supporting a
distinct line of bust desS. They are gathered
together by the members of an energetic
commonwealth, who take them to New
Jersey, put them in barrels and sell them to
the manufacturers of Morocco leather. So
necessary have they become for the leather
process that the demand is frequently
greater than the supply.
In the crowded state of this city it is al
most matter of impossibility for boarding
house keepers to supply their patrons with
fresh eggs" all the year round. Unless
persons can keep their own hens fresh eggs
must, with them, be at a discount. The
hen is a wilful bird subject to all the ca
prices of her sex, and so long as her nature
prompts her to do most of her laying during
the milder portion of the year SO long will
the necessities of the case require tnat
portion af her product shall be kept from
the period of plenty to relieve the period of
scarcity. This question of preserving eggs
has excited attention for centuries, and mil
lions of dola have been lost in trying to
attain perfection. The lining process was
discovered a little more than a hundred
years ago, and an excellent method it is, but
such eggs are easily detected, and while
prejudice exists against them they can sell
dom be foisted as fresh.
The later invention of refrigerating con-
sists in holdin, eggs in proper packages in
a cool temperature, so that they VIII not
grow old too fast. The temperature is gen
orally from 80 to 40, in which they are Of
ten kept from three to six mon his. Blu
these ice house eggs ere usually found to be
''ri>ky.n They come into the market
early in the fall, just when trade
They work off rapidly at first,
but the regular eggeater soon discovers
there is something wrong, and they are in
confidently dropped" The worst of this
kind come from Canada, where they are
packed in oat-hulls.
1t is a notable fact that the Northern
bred and born egg is heavier and far SUI
perior to the SOutLern, which is usually
very sickly. Then, again, the eggs of small
gum ea-hens and other birds are frequently
substituted for the natural food egg. 1t is
the general practice of selling by the dozen
which allows of such state of things, and
to obviate this there was introduced in the
State Assembly at Albany, April 4, 1877,
IAN act to establish the weight Of dozen of
eggs, and to establish an equivalent in
weight to a count by the dozen" 1t set
forth that one pound and eight ounces
should be the equivalent to a dozen eggs.
The act was defeated in the Senate SlAce
then the subject has been continually
agitated by those most interested
in egg produce, but although it is
obvious that the method would be protec-
ton to buyer and seller, still nothing seems
more conservative than trade customs. 1t
has been found that the a erage weight of
small eggs is 20 ounces to the dozen, aud that
of large eggs 30 ounces to the dozen, which
naturally means great difference in value
in which the consumer appears to be the
greatest sufferer. Still, many think that to
the consumer a change would cause the
most dissatisfaction. Only one man in this
country-Mr. Smith Barnes. of Taverse
City-has tried selling by weight, and after
much opposition he has succeeded in estab-
fishing the custom in his own store
II may be Interesting to note the quanti-
ties of eggs impo. ted into the United States
during the year ending June 80, 1886, and
the values thereof:
Dozen. Value
AuStrla. .ssssssts'sf'ss "'Wlv - ~
Belgium .... ...ss.t.stt s+sss OoatooD o1s-'t
Central American States. lls,s4O go
emma .-+.....ss ttttsf''s'' VyoevS 1870
~.