Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-07-12
EXAMINING EGGS.
AN HOUR WITH AN EXPERT IN A
CURIOUS BUSINESS.
Peculiar Trade Secrets-How both Trades
men and Farmers Deceive
Confiding Public.
From the Philadelphia Press

fOm Tue tIeSS.l
1t was room about 101lO feet, without
windows and with only one door. The
walls, ceiling and floor were painted black,
and the funereal gloom seemed deeper and
blacker under the rays of single gas Jet
Of many candle-power.
Seated in front of the gas Jet and SO
close that he could touch the flame easily
with his extended hands, was a smooth
faced, medium-sized man, whose gray eyes
had a preternatural pupil dilation, like
those of cat. On either side of him was
box half filled with eggs, which he was
engaged in shifting from one box to the
other.
Taking five in his left hand and three
in his right he juggled the lot before the
light, shifting the eggs from the top to
| the bottom of his hand with astonishing
rapidity. For moment each egg was
brought to the level of his dilated eyes,
which were directly opposite the gas jet
| and did not blink in the powerful light.
As the eggs were thus held, each was skill
fully turned until every portion of the
shell was critically inspected. Like a
well-constructed machine the mans arms
and fingers worked, and the pile of eggs in
in one box decreased while the other re-
ceptacle was rapidly filled. Finally one
box was emptied and the other was heap
ing full. Then the mans arms and fingers
ceased to work and he turned to face his
| visitor.
"Yes," said he, 81 am an egg-tester, and
] the process you have Just witnessed is
what we call Gambling eggs. Formerly a
candle was used, but it is not as satisfactory
! as gas. The burner we use was made spe-
| cially for the purpose, and gives a very
| powerful light. We have tried electricity.
| but it doesn't work. 1t dazzles the ewes.
and after while we can't tell good egg
from bad one. As it is, egg-testing has
| its effect on the eyesight.
II was reared at the business, and reckon
that l am as expert as any man in the
| country. Just before Easter, when a
great many eggs are coming in, handle as
many as 5000 dozen in day Every egg
| that comes into the establishment passes
through my hands.
"FLoATERs' AND SWIMMERS
'The lot that have Just examined con-
tains an unusually large number of what
are known to the trade as 'foaters. You
will notice, if you hold the egg between
your eyes and the light, dark, almost
black, substance close to the shell. That
is the yolk, which has settled through the
albumen and is sticking fast to the SHE'LL
1t is caused by allowing the egg to lie too
long on one side. In summertime a
'hoater' would be bad in two days, but now
it will last a week.
''1n the spring and summer we get
great many swimmers or half-hatched
eggs. They have been under the hen two
or three days, and in the albumen is
little black spot not larger than PIN
head. These eggs are all right in the
winter time, but in the summer they soon
become bad.
when we receive more eggs than we
have market for we store them for future
use in an alright room, which is kept at
uniform temperature of 35o They are
packed in flour barrels, in oats that are
extra cleaned. In the bottom of the bar
rel we put two or three inches of clean
hay, then a couple of inches of oats, on
which we put layer of eggs, with the
flat side down. Between each layer are
oats, and on the top of the filled barrel we
put more hay. The barrels are placed on
their sides, and they will keep in that
condition for eighteen months perfectly
fresh and good. These eggs are not worth
much now. When we fetch them out
next winter they will bring % or "a cents.
METHODS OF PRESERVING EGGS.
Sometimes we wax eggs to preserve
them, but this gives the eggs glossy ap-
pearance that Injuries their SALE In this
process beeswax is melted, and when very
warm the eggs are dipped into it, and the
pores of the shell are thus stopped up.
Then there are also lining and picking as
means of preservation. The shell Of
lined egg is always rough, while that of
picked egg is smooth. You can't boil
either lined or picked egg. Both
lime and pickle eat into the shell, and
make it very thin and fragile. When you
put them into hot water the shell cracks
open, and the albumen oozes out"
"What do you do with the bad eggs ?"
"lf they are too utterly bad we throw
them away; ones that are little off
bring three cents Dozen"
''To what possible use can these eggs be |
putt"
''The yolks are used by morocco fnishers
in their business"
"And the whites?"
you'll be surprised if ! tell you that
confectloners use them in making fancy
cakes. They can't use a musty egg,
though. The best eggs that are sent to us
come from the West. A frosted egg be-
comes watery and cracks. The cracks
close, though, when it is thawed out, but
will open again when it is placed in boil
ing water An egg that is six or nine
months old is graded by dealers as fresh.
Cracked eggs bring two-thirds price
SOME SECRETS OF THE TRADE.
ave deal in eggs, butter and lard, and
am an expert in testing and grading all
these. There is much fraud in the butter
business. We print great deal of tub
butter. The contents of five or ten -tabs
are dumped out on big table. The outside
has become strong and dirty. This we
scrape off and sell to the fancy cake bakers
at from to II cents pound, according to
its condition. The balance is reworked.
resulted, made into prints, and sold as best
print butter,
quite quantity of what is known as
mill or paddle-worked butter comes from
the West. Small farmers there, who have
no ice, get ten or fifteen pounds of butter
on hand in rolls, and after awhile it be-
comes strong. There are firms IN Chicago
that have men out all the time buying up
this rancid butter. 1t is put into ma
chine something like an old-fashioned
paint-mill and ground up, after which it
is worked, colored with Danish butter coli
oring, made into prints and sold as fresh |
creamery butter There is not dairy !
man in the State of Pennsylvania that
does not use butter coloring of some sort.
We sell thousands and thousands of the |
Danish coloring every year. Some of the |
large diaries buy il by the barrel.