Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-09-02
VALUE OF THE EGG CROP.
Year in, Year Out, It Beats the Pro-
 duction of Precious Metals.

duction of Precious Metals.
 Russia is the largest seller of eggs in the world. She sells to foreign countries 15O,OOO,OOO dozen eggs near ly every year. In 1896 she sent abroad 1,475, 100000 eggs: in 1897, 1,137, ,0OO, GOO and in 1898 1881 100000. Her sales are all the time increasing.
 China is supposed to be the largest producer of eggs in the world. There is no such thing as statistics of poul- try products in China, but there are over 4OO,0OO,OOO persons in that en- pire who are very fond of eggs; it takes a good many eggs to supply them. The humblest farm hut has hens in plenty, and they do their best to supply the demand. There is little doubt that China takes the cake as an egg producer. Her entire supply is usually consumed at home, though she sometimes manages to spare few for Japanese consumers. ...'
 Great Britain is the largest buyer of foreign eggs in the world Of course no English breakfast table is complete without eggs as a compile
 
 Great Britain buys every year an av craze of 1,5OO,O0O,OOO eggs from about twenty countries; and this is only 40 per cent of the consumption. British hens manage to produce three-ffths of the eggs that the home market de- mands. Tn 1901 Russia sold to Eng land 539,O53 900 eggs, and the next largest sellers were Belgium, Den mark, Germany, France, Egypt and Morocco. Great Britain spent S26,- 745, ,194 in the purchase of eggs in 1901.
 Our entire export of eggs in 1902 was only 2,717,990 dozen, valued at $52S, ,679, which cuts small figure in comparison with Russia's total. But our hens are very industrious, and it is only the enormous home demand that keeps our exports at such a low figure.
 In 1899 there were 233, ,59S, ,O05 chick ems in this country, and they produced 1,293, ,S1S, IA dozen eggs; and the fact that we consumed aO per cent. of them shows that we are nation of egg eat CTS. It is enough to make any hen dizzy to think that a train of ordinary refrigerator cars containing our entire egg crop of that year would have ex- tended from Chicago to Washington, with several miles of cars to. stretch along the track toward Baltimore.
 Tn 1901 the receipts and oonsump- ton of eggs in New York city were 2,372, 800 crates of thirty dozen each. Chicago has even larger per capita consumption, or an average of 1,581,- 545 crates a year. Truly the egg in- dustry is a great business; and when we consider it in connection with the troile-'. spriz chickesi ,. ugh and the poultry interests assume prodigious proportions.
 The total value of poultry and eggs we produced in the last census year was $281, ,17S,247 The industry was worth more than all the cattle and hogs we slaughtered It was worth. more than the wheat crop of twenty eight states and territories; and the value. of our eggs alone was higher than that of the combined gold and silver product of the United States in any year since 1850, except in 1890, when the precious metals exceeded the eggs by $9,41S,125 These are sur- prising statements, but they are true, if the census figures from which they are taken are correct
 But such facts are not so wonderful when we remember that the dietary studies of recent years have shown that eggs compare favorably with most animal foods. both ill respect of the total food material and the total pro tein and fat which they supply. They are also valuable for giving variety to the diet and for furnishing a light. easily digested, nitrogenous food es- peciaIly suitable for breakfast or other light meals. These things are appreci- ated in the American household, and it is no wonder that eggs have prom inent place in tbe dietary of nearly every family. We. have 5,739,657 farms in Uncle Sam's domain, nearly every one of which is producing eggs right along.