The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-06-17
HOW TO MAIL EGGS

Washinslt II, June l3.--'Tliat eggs
! hplendOr. Indeed. II Is The reign of
Gel, be marketed successfully Ly rar-
cci post and that this method frequent
ly secures n better price Tor the pre-
duCcr and d fresher article fo~ the
tonshn,cr has now been demonstrated
| To the satisfaction of the expert. In .lc
L. $. department OF agricu,tu. The
department conducted te:tj that Gov
erC1 period Of live months. At the
end Of that period II cam. tn the e N.
! c:ns:ca that the parcel po.t wa; I'll
particular value to the Man wllHse
flock was too small or wh1 ives too
far from express service to permit
| him to ship his eggs in the regular
commercial case which holds 30 dozen
eggs.
In the cuurre OF these experiments
the department shipped 9131 eggs in
466 lots. OF these 327 or slightly less
than 3.6 per cent. were broken. but
only 2009 or slightly less than 2.3 per
cent. were absolutely wasted. The
others. though broken, could still bo
used. St The percentage Of breakagc.
moreover will bo greatly reduced, II is
said; when the employees. of the post
Office bncomo moro accustomed to
handling G;Ich fragile matter.
That tho osEa should lie properly
packed. is of course essential. This
implies time. care and some expense
and is one reason why no attempt.
should be made to market by parcel
post any but the finest quality of eggs
for they alone will bring romunera-
tive prices. Moreover II the customer
who buys in small lots finds that any
considerable proportion of his pur-
cilases Is undesirable or even unat-
tractlvc In appearance, he will not
trouble to ask for. deductions on that
account, he Will simply discontinue;
his orders. The producer. therefore.
must see to It that all the eggs the
postman delivers arc what he repre-
sents them to be.
J This can only be done by Gambling
tpom. Gambling: "The process Of
listing Gigs by passing light through
them so rs to reveal tao condition OF
tho contents" is omitted by many pro-
duccrs who rely on care In collecting
the eggs. In this manner 1t ia
however impossible to avoid an occa-
aIonal accident and Gambling Is there
fore advisable as an extra pre:autiOn.
A simple outfit can be made out Of Il
small hand lamp and an ordinary paste
board box sufficiently large to be
placed over the lamp. after the eIids
+, have been removed. without risk Of
frc. In order to supply mir to tho
enclosed lamp. notches should he cut
In the edge on which the box rests. "A
round hole Is then cut in the box at tho
level OF the lamp fame and the cand.
linz done by holding each cgg against
thin hole while the rest OF tho room is
| In darkness. The light from the lamp
| reveals the contents OF the egg and
those that show any defect can he re-
jected.
! II possible only infertile eggs should
be sent to market. Fertile eggs de-
! teriorate rapidly ip warm weather and
| are the cause OF much loss bro0dy
hen on the nest or accidental exposure
to high temperature may start In
. cubation and cause the egg to spoil
and injure the shippers reputation. It
fs advisable. therefore. to retain, tho
fertile eggs for home use or dispose OF
them in some other way than thrc ugh
the parcel post Thia is aIao, truo OF
soiled eggs. Eggs shu0ld nevo. bo
washed when intended for high, class
trade. since the process remove a
natural mucilaginous coating; land
opens the pores Of the shell. ~
After this thorough elimination OF
the unfit the eggs that remain should
be carefully packed In container OF
corrugated pasteboard. metal. wood or
other suitable material The postof-
fee regulations require this .containcr
| to be so wrapped that nothing can esf
cape from the package and each egg 1ail
addition to be wr4pped separately IA
excelsior. cotton or some such mater
fal. Any soft paper serves the ppr:l
pose quite well. 4 AS TOR the container
itself. there are many kinds ,on the
market and the department OF. agri-
culture Investigators have not sats3
tempted to decide which is the best,
Instead they refer inquirers to- the
varions state experiment stations