St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-06-20
EGGS IN COMMERCE.

The Popular Science Monthly for
May has an extremely interesting
and valuable article on eggs in COM
merce taken from the London Jour
nal of the Society of Arts, The fol-
lowing facts are CLEANED from that
source for the readers of the Caledo-
Man:
Farm-yard hens average 60 or 20
eggs in the year, and certain Cochin
China fowls are said to lay from 200
to 800 eggs. The number of eggs
laid is less at the commencement and
end of life. With hens, for instance,
the number laid is lessi the first and
fourth year than in the second and
third, and after the fifth year, gener-
ally, they cease laying. Chickens
and ducklings, which can generally
shift for themselves soon after emerg
ing from the egg, are more numerous
in a brood than Young pigeons,
which have to be fed by the parent
The standard yield and weight of
eggs for the different varieties of do
mestic fowl are as follows: Light
Brahmas and partridge Cochins, eggs
seven to the pound they lay, accord
ing to treatment and keeping, from
so to 100 per annum, often more if
kept well. Dark Brahmas, eight to
the pound and lay about 70 per an
mum. Black, white and buff Cochins,
eight to the pound, 100 is a large
yield per annum. Plymouth Rocks,
eight to the pound, lay 100 per an
mum. Houdans eight to the pound,
lay $50 per annum; non-sitters.
Leghorns, nine to the pound, lay
ing from $50 to 200 per annum.
Bantams, 16 to the pound, lay 60
per annum.
i Egg-shell is much used in medical
prescriptions The eggs of the os-
trich are often mounted in silver, and
form elegant drinking cups; so are
the handsome green eggs of the Aus
tralian e1neu, which look as if made
of dark morocco leather Ostrich
egg-shells serve as water vessels
among the African women; necklaces
made of pieces of egg-shells punched
out in a circular form are worn by
some African natives.
If a farmer has $50 hens they will
produce in egg-shell about 1877
pounds of chalk annually, and yet
not pound of the substance, or per-
haps not even an ounce, exists around
the farmhouse within the circuit of
their feeding grounds. The materi-
ais of the manufacture are found in
the food consumed, and in the sand,
pebble stones, brick-dust, bits of
o+o 81,
birds are continually picking from
the earth. The instinct is keen for
these apparently innutritious and re-
fractory substances and they are de-
vOured with as eager relish as the
grain or insects.
AS a fiesh-producer, one pound of
eggs is equal to one pound of beef.
About one-tllird of the weight of an
egg is solid nutriment, which is more
than can be said of meat. Eggs, at
average prices, are among the cheap
est and most nutritious articles of
diet. Like milk, an egg is a complete
food itself. 1t is also easily digested,
if not damaged in cooking.
The flavor of eggs is much inf1u-
enced by the nature of the package,
for they imbibe foreign odors with
the greatest readiness. Eggs
brought in the same ship as oranges
become impregnated with the scent
and flavor of the fruit. If the cases
are of green wood the eggs will be
ruined. The straw in which they
are packed should be perfectly dry,
or it will ferment and communicate
q fusty smell to the eggs.
Eggs are of great use in many
branches of industry. In some, as in
confectionery, both the yolk and the
whites are used, but usually the two
find separate applications. The
whites are used in calico printing, in
kid glove factories, in photography
in gliding, in clarifying wines and Ii
quors and by the bookbinder.
The question whether fowls or
ducks are the better investment for
the production of eggs has been de-
cided experimentally in Germany and
France in favor of ducks. They lay
more eggs than the fowls, and, al
though they were rather smaller,
they proved to be decidedly superior
in nutritive material. 1t may be |
doubted whether as much attention
is paid in England to the production
of eggs as the utility of the food de-
mands, and particularly by the poor,
to whom their value is a considera-
ton. Efforts should be made to in
duce all persons conveniently circum-
stanced to keep hens and ducks, and |
there is reason to believe that ducks
are more profitable than hens, hav-
ing regard to the size and number of
the eggs laid by them. The solid
matter and the oil in a ducks egg
exceeds that of a hens egg by as
much as one-fOurth.
Eggs should be fresh. To deter
mine this they should be examined |
by the light of a lamp. Fresh eggs
are easily known by their transpar-
ency when held up to the light. BY |
keeping they become cloudy, and
when decidedly stale distinct, dark,
cloudlike appearance is discernible
some portion of the shell.
Another simple mode is by placing
theegg against the closed eyelid, and |
if the end of the egg is void it will
feel warm, whereas if the egg is new
laid it continues cold. A way to tell |
bad eggs is to put them in a pail of
water, and, if good, they will lie on
their sides; if bad, they will stand
on their small ends, the large end