The morning journal-courier., 1908-10-26
EGGS FEN ROUTE.
Carted for Miles IilSc RriclSs in Wag-
 Ons Successfully.

Eggs by the wagon loads, hauled for many miles over rocky road, in al- mos exactly the same manner as a western farmer transports his corn crop, Is the way the OzarK region poultry raiser gets his eggs to market. On the streets of West Plains, Mo-, which has become a great poultry and egg market as well as the centre of the famous land of the big red apple and ElbcrtG peach, 1t is daily occur renee to see wagon loads of eggs, mary of them coming a distance of moro than sixty miles, says the St, Louls Republic
 Filling a wagon with eggs so that they will ride without breaking Is an art that requires skin. The Ozark huckster and freighter has this down to a nleety and 1t is seldom that he breaks more than two or three dozen Of the big load in the long journey over the mountains
 In leading a wagon with eggs q three-inch layer of straw Is placed in the bottom of tho wagon bed Then the eggs are carried out to the wagon In buckets and small boxes. They are poured on the straw without cere- mony, and the driver, with a broad stroke of his hand scatters them out in a single layer When the layer of eggs is complete another covering of straw Is put on and more eggs are ,,pt i,, t,n y,aoov ,,,,ti1 fla. aptiro had is piled high, Then boards are put on top of the load to hold if down. Usually the hugo pile Is much higher than the top of the wagon bed, and then it becomes necessary for several persons to get on the boards to bring them down to q level with the top of the wagon bed, and they are nailed down.
 A chain Is wrapped around the mid dle of the wagon bed and on top of the wagon is put the drivers bedding and grub" box, and sometimes q big bale of cotton. Eggs ride better this way than if they were packed in cases with strawboard filters. Frequently the driver walks around on top of the wagon without fear of doing damage. and the jolting of the heavy load over the hills of'the Ozarks does not crack many of the eggs. One thousand doz- on is an average load. but many freighters bring more than this mum Der If the condition of the roads per- mits and the hens have been busy.
 In shipping eggs to market the eggs are first "candled process through which they are put to find all the bad ones In order to comply with the na- tional pure food law Then the eggs are packed in cases and loaded in re- frigerator cars. bound for the Eastern markets. A single car contains exact ly 400 cases Counting thirty dozen to a case. a car holds 12,000 dozen or 144,000 eggs. Estimated at present prices received in the east, q car of eggs Is worth s2,500.
 The Missouri hen as a revenue pro- ducer Is far ahead of the famous Mis- souri mule or even the COW. In the Ozark region the poultry industry IS going to outrival fruit growing at the present stride According to the Bur eau of Labor statistics Missouri ship ped more than s39,OOO,00O worth of poultry and eggs in 1907, and this year will show a big increase.
 From actual experience farmer g wife with one hundred chickens will net the tidy sum of s65 in six months time from the sale of eggs alone. One hundred bullets will produce on an av- craze sixty-six eggs q day. or $50 dog en in the course of a month. At 16 2-S cents dozen, the average price paid in the markets the gross revenue de- rived from the hens is S156,56. Esti- mating that t costs about S2G to feed the flock and counting two hours la bor each day at Sl5, the net profit is s65.