The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-12-27
EGG BUSINESS ODDITIES
THE SORTING AND CLASSIFYING A
COMPLICATED PERFORMANCE.

A cackle of relief and conscious vir.
tue Is going up from conscientious
hens all over the country. Their busy
season Is practically ended and they
have beaten all previous records.
The American hen isn't properly au.
preciated by her average fellow coun.
tryman. RE insists upon regarding
her as an individual, and doesn't real
ize what a power of organized labor
she represents. At a rough estimate
there are about 350,000.OO0 chickens in
the United States They produce each
year something like 1900. 900. .00O
eggs, which represent SIZE. 100000. Be
sides, S130O00,000 worth Of poultry IS
eaten in the country during year, and
the value of the living hens. at thlr-
ty cents apiece is figured at S15000O.-
OOO SO the hen stands for about $45J,.
100000 in the yearly economies of the
I United States. and II keeps her hust-
ling to live up to her reputation. II
Is enough TO daunt even Black Min.
orca TO reflect when the spring days
come that she and her fellows must
start in and outdo the iron Industry,
the coal industry. the wheat crops and
the corn crop, incidentally soaring
more than 100000 ahead of the
total value of the cows of the country
and their produce
However, she sees her duty and she
does 1t. The bulk of her work. so far
as the eggs are concerned. Is done ~
the spring and early summer, thougO
the hens keep up fairly good pace
until November. and are not actually
and storms arrive. The supply and the
price of eggs depend entirely upon that
unknown quantity, the weather. Such
an episode as the egg famine of earli-
er times is never known in this day
of cold storage and refrigerating Ia.
cilities, but long winter means de-
cided scarcity of fresh eggs and %
jump in the prices of stored eggs.
The egg business has been revolu-
tionized in very recent years and its
development has been marvellous. 4
comparatively short time ago the mar
ket depended upon local farmers and
upon Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and
Iowa for its egg supply, and the great
Southwest had no finger in the pie; but
the improvements in railroad facilities
and refrigeration have changed all
that ana now Kansas Nebraska ana
Missouri are sending out enormous
quantities Of eggs. The South, too.
has taken up the industry Iowa is
still. perhaps, the heaviest producer,
but Michigan eggs are said by experts
to have the finest flavor, the difference
being, doubtless, the effect of the sand
and lime in the soil
Poultry farmers to-day are showing
tendency to confine themselves to
some one breed of hens, but the merit
of this measure lies not in superior
favor but in the uniform size and color
of the eggs. Those questions of size
and color cut an important figure in
the egg trade, and though the dealers
public idiosyncrasies are all foolish.
ness, they make the concessions just
the same The ordinary buyer abso
lutely refuses to put aside a prejudice
in favor of eggs uniform in size and
color. The grocer cannot sell mixed
eggs, however fresh they may be. al
fancy price, so the wholesale dealers
sort out the eggs, tack an extra price
to those that are uniform, and every
body is happy. There are local preju
dices in this regard as well as univer-
sal ones. Every dealer the country
over knows that fancy sorted eggs
to find favor in Roston. must be of =
warm brown color, and he knows well
that New Workers will not pay fancy
price for brown eggs, but demand as
sorted whites.
This sorting and classifying of eggs is
q complicated performance. Sometimes
it is done before shipping. More often
il Is done in the wholesale houses Ol
storage warehouses. First the eggs
are candled and sorted according to
their degree Of freshness. In the olt
days this was done by passing the eggs
before a candle fame in a dark room
but candling Is now mlsnomer, tol
| the eggs are held before a powerfr
electric light hooded in tin, so tha
| the light escapes only through one
small aperture. An expert candlel
needs long training, and the work Il
tedious and trying. though old cand
lers who have been ut the trade fol
many years pooh-pooh the idea thh
the work is disastrous TO the eyes. Th'
Gambling room Is a picturesque place
with its inky gloom, It's high lights OF
The faces OF the workers and the glow
ing little ovals of warm color that ar'
swiftly passed before the ray of ligh
and laid aside. The incidental smells
are more than picturesque, but n disin
fectant thrown in the air quickly kill
the odor of the bad eggs, and the worl;
ers says that they are so used to tn
odor that they really do not mind It.
The Gamblers in one Of New York
largest wholesale egg houses get 81
a week the year round, Dut their w0rl
is comparatively light during III
spring and early summer months
when nearly all eggs are fresh II
during the hot weather that their trOu
bles begin. That season eggs must b
handled quickly and large percen'
age of them are not strictly fresh tn
GAMBLER must be able to grade In
varying degrees OF staleness unerrlnq
ly, separating blood eggs, spotted eggs
| heatpd epus and thoroughly Dad egg