The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1896-06-18

full into the house ard then put into a
case containing $50 other eggs. 1t will
be protected from contact with other
eggs by cardboard partitions. You know
how they are made We will say that
this particular farmer lives half days
journey from the nearest railroad station,
so he does not think it worth while to
market his own eggs, but waits for the
egg collector 10 come around. This in
dividual shows up two or three times
week, according to the condition of
the roads. If the travelling is good, the
egg waits in the crate two days. BY the
time that IL is three days old Ii has ar
rived at the railroad station, been loaded
into refrigerator car and started ON its
long journey east. The car In which il
makes its journey is one which has been
built especially for the purpose.
Now this egg might have been started
FOR st. Paul or San Francisco. But il
wasn't. The shipper who bought 1t found
!. hat the price per dozen was / cent more
a n New York than 1t was in any Of the
j, other cities. So it went first to Chicago
/. By the time it reached there our egg was
travelling in considerable company of
its own kind. The car in which it had
started had stopped at good many sta
tions on the way, at each Of which more
cases, all filed with eggs, had been put
in until there was not room for another
case. At Chicago the cases were taken
out and sorted. Those going to Phila-
delphia were put in one car, those for
New York in another and 80 on until
train Of is or 20 cars was made up In
each of these cars were 400 cases each
containing 800 eggs, SO that if there had
been smash up ON the road there would
have been raw omelet made of some
thing like 2,SS0,O0 eggs
After journey Of five days our Iowa
egg arrives in New York. Then, il it is
handled quickly. it is delivered to the
retailer in another day. Possibly the
very next day it is sold to New Yorker
by the veracious dairyman as "striet-
ly fresh" egg and reaches the table ten
days after it was laid in the nest by
the Iowa hen.
That is not half bad, considering, and
the egg, as a matter If fact, was wholly
good when sold TO the New Yorker, al
though he would probably have been
highly indignant had he known the ex-
act age Of the egg. Eggs two weeks old,
however, are just as good as those two
days old if they have been properly
kept. In the cold storage warehouses
they are kept for two months and sold
as fresh, and it takes an egg expert to
detect an egg that has been kept in dry
storage for three months. The ordinary
cook couldn L do it.
There was time when the American
hens did not lay enough eggs to supply
the American table. Ten years ago we
imported annually over Is, 0O0, 600 eggs
that had been gathered from all parts
OF Europe. They were shipped from
Antwerp on slow steamers that took IL
days to make the trip.
Today, however, owing to the i'm
proved methods Of railroad transporta-
tion, the American hen is on top, and
Uncle Sam can proudly say that he lays
his own eggs. Nearly all the western
states contribute their share except those
beyond the Rockies. but the largest pro-
auction Of "hon fruit" is in Iowa, with
Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas stand
ing next on the list Tennessee and
North Carolina also contribute largely.
The heaviest shipments Of eggs from
the west are made just before Easter
each year. although all through Lent
they are sent in big trainloads. During
the week preceding last Easter there
wero received in New York city alone
a5.oo0. COO eggs. Chicago. Philadelphia,
Cincinnati and other big cities had to
have their millions Of eggs, too, so you
zee that the American hens are kept
rather busy during Lent when eggs are
IA great demand.