Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-05-13
EGGS BY Weight
Awkward Custom Needs TO Be
Reformed
and OUNCES SAME PRICE

POUNDS and OUNCES SAME PRICE
It Would Be to the Advantage Of Both
Consumer and Producer If All Would
Agree on a Change That Is so OBJ
viously Just as to Leave Nc Room
for Question.
Why does not the butcher sell chops
at so much apiece, regardless Of size
Because he is not quite bereft Of his
senses. How, then, about the grocer,
who sell eggs in precisely the same IL
logical way? Eggs, as we'll as chops,
are Of various sizes and shapes; they
should be sold at so much a pound just
as meat is. Alberta M. Gondiss, who
advocates this sensible reform in the
Forecase (New York, ApriD, tells us
that the normal egg averages a pound
and a half to the dozen; yet she has
seen "baby eggs" a dozen Of which
barely weighed a pound. The dis
count, however, was solely in weight,
not in the price, since 'eggs are sold
by the Dozen" This variation in the
weight Of eggs, she goes on to explain,
depends partly on the age Of the hen,
also somewhat on the time Of year and
the feeding, and a good deal on the
freshness or staleness Of the egg-the
staler egg being always lighter. The
factor which most Of all affects the
size, however, is the breed Of the fowl
We read:
"The big, yellow cochins, the minor
cas-, the wyandottes, and a few other
breeds yield big, heavy eggs, often
weighing six to the pound. The eggs
of the common white leghorn, pro-
life layer, run ten or twelve to the
pound at adult age-the first eggs Of
the pullet being always smaller. On
the commercial farms of some Of our
state universities the leghorns have
been developed to produce larger eggs;
but on the general farms throughout
the country the leghorns lay smaller
eggs than the usual general purpose
breeds, such as the Rhode Island reds
or the Plymouth rocks-as these lay
smaller eggs than the cochins or wyan-
dottes.
Eight eggs Of ordinary size-the
kind that would not be pronounced
either large or small-should just bal
ance a one-pound weight. The aver
age, of two ounces to the egg, Is the
generally accepted standard, and the
domestic science teachers, the dietl-
tians, and other professionals along
the line Of food and nutrition, who are
given to exaetness in statement, will
assert this to be the correct normal
weight of hens egg. Yet eight high
priced eggs, presumably Of good grade,
frequently occupy the light end Of the
scale, failing to bring the indicator to
the middle.
THE sale of eggs by weight on the
wholesale basis has for long beon GUS
ton1ary; and ip view OF this 1t seems
still more unfair that the retail buyer
should be compelled to pay for them
by the dozen. Some years ago there
was serious demand that eggs should
be sold by weight, but since then one
or two concessions have been made by
the dealers, which up to the present
have partially stilled the demand for
the sale by weight.
"One Of these concessions has been
a more careful grading Of the eggs, 80
that the weight per thirty dozen, which
is from fifty-five to fifty-seyen pounds,
is fairly we'll standardized, apd eggs
under this weight fetch less money
But this is entirely in the interest OF
the wholesale dealer, for only In COM
paratively few retail markets are the
smaller eggs sold at proportionately
less price. In only a fey rare cases,
and for specially choice and costly
eggs has the weight per dozen been
standardized.
Some hotel stewards reject all eggs
that will pass through a ring OF one
and one-h half inches diameter; but this
is buying eggs by the shape rather
than by the weight
Fruits and vegetables are common
ly sold by weight; it should not be
harder to sell eggs on the same oasis.
It is much more important that what
the food administration call "a fair
price for eggs should be based on
price weight, since eggs are a more
important and valuable food from the
standpoint of nutrition. Yet, a few
months ago complaint was made by
writer from one of our western cities
that in his town he saw eggs range
from fourteen to twenty-six ounces a
dozen, all at fifty cents '''
"All the tendencies Of modern trade
are toward Standardization and uni-
form grading, and the sale OF eggs as
at present conducted is about as un-
standardized as can be imagined. The
customer has no protection, the dealer
is practically helpless in the face OF
general custom (for alone he Is help
less to change it,, while there Is at
present no incentive whatever TO
the farmer to increase the size and
weight Of his eggs. When once the
retail buyer makes definite, continued
and resolute protest, the matter will
be sure to come up for discussion and
rational solution among all of those
who together can bring about concert
ed action looking to the selling OF eggs
by the pound"
ARMY SICK REPORTS.
Middle AGED Men Have the Edge on