Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1900-10-11


the other states. He also asserts that
eggs that have been produced on corn
bring better prices than eggs from
hens that have to rustic for a living.
We are afraid the man that so reports
is permitting his fancy to create facts
for him. The farmer has not yet
found out that the public appreciates
an egg produced from good food more
than an egg produced from any other
kind OF food. Indeed we hope to see
the time come when the distinction
will be made, but it is not yet.
Because the fall months are at
hand, do not conclude that lice will not
multiply on the hens. Remember that
they have the atmosphere OF the
warm bodies Of the fowls and that at
mosphere Is always one Of summer.
The lice and mites will not indeed
multiply as fast as they will in very
hot weather, but they will increase
sufficiently to do good deal OF dam
age, and will establish base for the
millions OF their kind that will ap-
pear next season Now is the time to
wage a war OF determination and II
is possible to so thoroughly destroy
them that another year will not bring
temperance. ..
There Is no doubt that farmers lose
large sums of money annually through
the unscientific handling Of their egg
product One Chicago egg buyer says
that farmers and country store keep
ers are largely responsible for the poor
eggs on the market and that two
thirds OF the eggs sent to the Chicago
market do not come In in a candition
that makes II possible for them to
get the best price. He says: After
the egg is laid It Is permitted to re-
main In the nest from twenty-fohr to
forty-eight hours. Then two or three
days elapse before It is taken to town
and placed In the hands OF the store-
keeper. He throws 1t into a basket
and week later it reaches the chill
room. Meanwhile the temperature
has ranged from so to 100 and many
spoiled eggs are the result Eggs
promptly gathered and kept In the
proper temperature are worth three
cents a dozen more than ordinaries.
This is ninety cents the farmer loses
on each case, or over two million dol
lars a year on the Chicago receipts
alone; money absolutely wasted by
carelessness."
=
1t 10 said that the number OF eggs
going into cold storage Is only enough
to supply the natural demand. Accord
ing to reports. the Chicago men that
two years ago put large quantities of
eggs IN cold storage made a big sum
of money out Of the transaction. Last
year great many more men, spurred
by the success Of the packers the
previous year, went in to get rich on
stored eggs. The buying in the sum
mer time was so brisk that the price
OF eggs very naturally went up. When
these same eggs came to be sold in
the winter, the large quantities thrown
on the market caused sharp decline
in price. So the cold-storage men had
hard bargain at both ends of the
season. 1t is said that the Chicago
men alone lost more than half a mill
lion dollars that year on eggs alone.
This may, however, fairly be doubted,
but 1t seems certain that their profits
II any were small. AS a consequence
the egg spectators are this year 60
ing in very carefully and the number
that has been put in to cold storage
Is only what the trade will be likely
to take without the price becoming
demoralized
Most OF our breeds OF poultry are un-
dergoing change. 1t is said that the
Light Brahmas were produced from
the Shanghai, and both breeds have
been modified In recent years. Breeds
evidently change more in this country
than in Europe, and nearly all the
breeds now in this country have been
changed greatly since they were inn
ported. Perhaps the breed that has
changed less is the Old Dorking, whose
type has been pretty well fixed by
thousands of years of breeding, till 1t
resists change. But the Dorking Is
popular principally in England. II is
said that of breeds now popular in this
country the Langshans have been mod
ifed least since introduction. The
Leghorns, as introduced, were rather
uneven and unfixed in form, but have
been greatly improved in this coun-
try, and their types have become more
fixed. The great trouble with new
breeds Is that they will not breed true.
and this exists to some extent with
the old and most prepotent ones, yet
the tendency is to breed true as the
age of the breed increases, especially
in strains that have been long bred to
a certain type. AS there is more breed
ing to type today than at any previous
time, 1t is altogether probable that in
the future our breeds will be found
to breed very true to type. For this
reason cross-breeding is seldom adyis
able as 1t disturbs the type and makes
II more difficult to raise young fowls
Of hal