The suburban citizen., 1901-01-12
EGG BUSINESS ODDITIES
THE SORTING AND CLASSIFYING A
COMPLICATED PERFORMANCE.


Kept Long in Cold Storage Tempta-
tions of Farmers.
A cackle OF relief and conscious vlr.
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 np-
preciated by her average fellow coun-
tryman. He insists upon regarding
her as an Individual, and doesn't real
ize what a power Of organized labor
she represents. At n rough estimate.
there are about 35O,O00,O0O chickens in
the United States. They produce each
year something like 100000, 600
eggs, which represent S175O0O,000 Be-
sides, S130,000,O00 worth Of poultry is
eaten in the country during year, and
the value Of the living hens. at thr-
ty cents apiece, is figured at $150,000,-
900. So the hen stands for about S455,,
100000 in the yearly economics of tho
United States, and it keeps her hust-
ling to live up to her reputation. II
is enough to daunt even n 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 S1,OOO,0OO ahead Of the
total value of the cows Of the country
and their produce.
However, she sees her duty and she
does it. The bulk of her work, so far
as the eggs are concerned, is done IN
the spring and early summer, thougD
the hens keep UP a fairly good pace
until November, and are not actually
daunted until the severe cold weather
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 a de-
cided scarcity of fresh eggs and o
jump in the prices of stored eggs.
The egg business has been revolu.
tionized in very recent years and its
development has been marvellous. A
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
En1,v
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 ,ssaid by experts
to have the finest favor, the difference
being, doubtless, the effect Of the sand
and lime in the soil.
Poultry farmers to-day are showing
a tendency to eonfne themselves TO
some one breed of hens, but the merit
of this measure lies not in superior
flavor 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
soy scornfully that their concessions TO
public idiosyncrasies are all foolish
ness, they make the concessions Just
the same. The ordinary buyer ahso-
lutely refuses to put aside prejudice
in favor of eggs uniform in size and
color The grocer cannot sell mixed
eggs, however fresh they may be, at
q 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-
| dlces in this regard as well as univer.
sal ones. Every dealer the country
over knows that fancy sorted eggs
J to find favor in BOSTON. must be Of a
warm brown color, and he knows well
that New Workers will not pay 4 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
! 1t is done in the wholesale houses or
storage warehouses. First the eggs
are candled and sorted according to
their degree of freshness. In the old
days this was done by passing the eggs
before a candle fame in a dark room;
but Gambling is now a misnomer, for
the eggs are held before a powerful
electric light hooded in tin, so that
the light escapes only through one
small aperture. An expert GAMBLER
needs long training, and the work is
tedious and trying, though old cand-
lers who have been at the trade for
many years pooh-pooh the Idea that
the work is disastrous to the eyes. The
Gambling room is a picturesque place
with it's inly gloom, its high lights on
the faces Of the workers and the glow
ing little ovals of warm color that are
swiftly passed before the ray Of light
and laid aside. The incidental smells
are more than picturesque, but disin-
fectant thrown in the air quickly kills
the odor Of the bad eggs, and the work
ers says that they are so used to the
odor that they really do not mind 1t.
The Gamblers in one of New York S
largest wholesale egg houses get Sl4
] a ,r-ooi- tba ,-aar ronnd bIt thQir wOrl.