Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-05-07

trail station. They are good, clean eggs
too, for not only have they been
promptly gathered and kept in a cool
place. but the nests themselves are
kept clean and fresh. AS the egg is
delivered it is carefully tested; no egg
which is bad either in appearance or
in substance, passes muster. Every
egg bears a stamp indicating who de-
livered the egg to the association. The
farmer who sends in bad egg is
fined. These 10000 farmers through
their manager whom they hired and
who is a highly skilled man, ship most
of these eggs directly to the retail
dealers in England. The manager, as
he himself told US, absolutely refuses
to sell through the London commls-
sion men because they demand a per-
centage which cuts down the profit of
the farmer who produces the eggs
and raises the price to the city man
who eats them At the moment OF
shipping he knows just where there
is a demand for eggs and consequently
is sure that the eggs will be promptly
accepted and promptly resold. So eff
cient is this process that within six
days after the egg is laid by the hen
it may be on the table of the consumer
in distant England. During every
minute of that six days the egg has
been SO we'll cared for that 1t has had
no chance to deteriorate in quality in
the slightest degree. Not only does
the farmer receive a good price for
this egg but, because the process of
distribution is so efficient and mex
pensive, the final retail price is rea-
sonable and the consumer profits as
much as the producer The stamp OF
a Danish cooperative association on
an egg is a guarantee of quality.
Cooperative Egg Export.
Some Of the smaller Danish soc1e-
ties had in the beginning little dill
Guilty in standardizing their product
and in establishing stable prices To
assist in accomplishing these two OBJ
jects the Danish Cooperative Egg Elk
port society was organized in 1885
The purpose Of this organization is to
standardize the output and bring about
greater stability in prices. The cen
trail society is made up of large num-
Der of local associations each OF which
contains at least ten members.
Each producer must stamp the eggs
with his own number and that of the
group to which he belongs so that 1T is
possible to ascertain exactly who sup
piled each egg The farmer who sends
in bad egg is fined. The eggs are
then sent to packing centers, whence
they are shipped according to a liked
price determined a week in advance
by the managing committee.
Although not twenty years old the
Danish Egg Export society consists OF
$50 groups and did business, in 1908,
of more than $6,600,000. Danish eggs
bring fancy prices because they are
always fresh, well sorted, well packed,
and guaranteed.
Dutch Eggs.
The organization of egg societies
has also been taken up by the Dutch
farmers, the system adopted being
practically the same as that which
prevails in Denmark.
Local societies are formed and affil-
lated to a Central Provincial fedora
ton, which is responsible for grading,
testing, packing, and shipping. The
eggs are collected by the local socie-
ties and forwarded regularly to the
Central Depot Every member of
local society is furnished with a num-
Der, which must be stamped on the
eggs before delivery. The eggs are
carefully tested, and a member supply
ing stale eggs is subject to penalty
of one dollar for every egg rejected.
The Association of Cooperative
Creameries in Limburg was the first
to take up the cooperative export of
eggs. The province Of Friesland fol-
lowed. There is poultry association
which works over the whole of Hol-
land, and has eleven provincial
branches, but this association does not
trade, having been established to pro-
tect the interests and develop the in
dustry of poultry farming generally.
The Friesland Export Federation was
eSIaDllSueu III Two, anu Iu0 LOIdi NdluS
of the shipments in 1909 was about
100000.
How Irish Eggs Are Sold.
recent activity of the Irish Agri-
cultural Organization society has been
the establishment of poultry products
associations, patterned entirely after
the Danish system already described
This is, of course, about the simplest |
and easiest form of cooperative en-
terprise to establish, as the outlay of
invested capital is small, the returns
prompt and continuous and the prod |
uct, at least the eggs, readily stand
ardized. The eggs, in fact, are not only
stamped, sorted and packed as by the
Danes, but the producers are paid for
them almost entirely by weight instead
Of by number. These cooperative egg
companies have succeeded beyond ex-
pectation and the value OF the egg ex-
ports handled comparatively is about
equal to the dairy exports, although
the poultry produce is of much less
value than dairy produce.