The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-06-23

week. I ask what the grape fruit is
worth and the cold storage man replied:
I'VE are now selling them for 4 cents
apiece, although the price quoted at
home is cents and upward"
Further on they are sorting lettuce and
lemons The lettuce comes from New
Orleans. the lemons from Jamaica.
Eggs, Butter and Cheese
Passing through rooms kept cool by the
dry air system, we enter storage halls
devoted to eggs, butter and cheese. The
cheeses are kept by themselves. They are
of all sorts. from some as big as wagon
wheel to others no larger around than
the palm of your hand. s>ls room is kept
cool by the brine system, and the pipes
which line It are covered with snow.
A little farther on the egg cooler
which is also lined with brine pipes. II
is filed with crates of fresh eggs, which
are now being sold at the rate of 10000
a day. Every egg has to be tested before
it leaves this cold room, and over there
at the right you may see the process OF
testing 1t is done by means Of a box
In which an electric light shines. The
box is closed except for hole the size
of an egg in one side The man takes an
egg and places 1t over this hole
| If II is good the light shines right
through and makes it look like an egg
| OIL real BOlO. II II IS quo Inc es6 Will
not be transparent. It will look streaked
and spotted, and If rotten almost black.
All but the best eggs are rejected. and
record is kept of every egg handled. We
| look over the reports and find that In the
| last batch of II 600 only A eggs were bad
That is only about two bad eggs
to the thousand The eggs are all
candled before they leave New Orleans
and only the good ones are paid for
rxyhgo lob, ero xad
used in the bakery.
The same care Is employed as to the
butter. Uncle Sam buys the best the
creameries can furnish, and that only in
bulk. It used to be that outter was sent
down in prints, but it was found that 1t
cost 3 cents more per pound to bring 1t
that way, and that It did not keep so
we'll For this reason tho government
has Its own butter-citring machines and
it cuts and packs it's own prints. The
butter now sells at AZ cents a pound, and
| II is of the grade which costs cents
more than in the states.
Fresh Beef for Panama
| We find the chambers colder and colder
as we go on with our journey. Those
| In which the turkeys, ducks, squads and
milk-fed chickens are kept is only u de-
grees above zero, ana the fowls are
! frozen stiff Here there are fresh fish,
oysters. canvas back and teal ducks, as
well as sweetbreads and other such
things. I take one Of the chickens In my
hand, and pound box with 1t. 1t Is as
solid as ice and I have little difficulty in
breaking the boards.
A little further on Is the meat cooler,
the temperature of which keeps the
flesh as hard as glacier Immense
| quarters of beef hangs from the racks
There are 700 quarters in this single
room, and this will last only five days.
The beeves come in by the thousand at
shipload. and they go out almost as
fast. It takes more than COCO cattle a year
to supply the canal employees and about a
| ton of pork chops are consumed every
day. As to corned beef, the government
| makes It's own. 1t has watts connected
with the cold storage department which
have a capacity of 10000 pounds. 1t
takes about 1900 pounds of such meat
| every day to supply the demand.
100000 Gallons of Ice Cream
Uuole Sam makes his own Ice cream
and he sells his employees $4,000 worth
the hotels and retail stores. The flaw
ors are changed five or six times a
week, and there is a special arrange
nent for supplying Ice cream on Sum
days. AS to the ice itself, that is made
| In the cold storage plant. The amount
manufactured is ninety tons day and
the Ice receipts for one year are more
] than 100000