Milford chronicle., 1924-10-10
POULTRY GROWERS
INTERESTED in EGGS

Taisers in Kent county took adVan
tage OF the opportunity offered then
last week 10 learn of the require
ments for egg grading according Il
the U. S. standard. This section o
the state is rapidly becoming a cen
ter of egg and poultry production as
a profitable commercial enterprise
which indicates the increasing inter
est farmers are taking in developing
this industry.
Along with this poultry develop
ment there must naturally follow
modern marketing facilities for han
ding the poultry and eggs which are
being produced in large quantities in
many sections of the county. One Oi
the chief marketing problems con-
sidered in the recent series Of meet
ings and farm visits in the county
conducted by County Agent Russell
Il. Wilson with the assistance of f.
s. Jacoby from the Bureau of Agri-
cultural Economics of the U. S. De-
partment of Agriculture was the
grading Of eggs to conform to the
standards as outlined by the govern
ment to meet the needs of all egg
DIOuuCGIs III Oue5AOh lhC NASAA \
United States. Meetings were held in
Dover, Hartly, Milford and Harring-
ton. Many OF the commercial poultry
rainsers in these Vicinities were Wis
tied in order to study the methods
being followed by our local egg pro-
ducers in the handling of their pro
ducts.
According to statements made by
Mr. Jacoby. practically all of the
eggs produced in the Eastern States
are being sold in the New York City
markets, and the majority of these
eggs would grade as extras" with
some of them grading as specials"
Mr.. Jacoby stated further that the
Eastern States were the only ones
which could produce such high quail
ity eggs because of the nearness to
the New York markets which de-
mand eggs of high quality as well as
uniformity in packing.
A few years ago there was no"
standard for grading eggs, conse-
quently the egg producers in the diff
ferent sections of the United States
had no method whereby they could
place their product upon the markets
under a grading system that would
be accepted by other poultry raisers
in some other part of the country.
This fact was brought to the atten-
tiOn of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture which later instituted
the egg grading standards now being
recognized by the commercial egg
producers in every state in the un-
ion. There are in all seven different |
grades of eggs being accepted as Of
fetal grades, but only four of these |
are considered as essential to the av-
erage producer. The principal point |
upon which these different grades |
are based is the age of the egg
which is determined by the size of |
the air cell. These grades are as fol-
lows:
Special" Eggs from one to four
days old, with air cells not over one
eighth of an inch deep.
ra"-Eggs from four days to
two weeks old having air cells that
are One-fOurth of an inch deep.
mo. Eggs from two to three
weeks old, the air cells being not
over three-eighths of an inch deep.
NO. 2'-All eggs which are three
weeks or more old and the air cells
are over three-eighths of an inch
deep are graded into this class
which comprises a large majority Of
our cold storage eggs.
Most of the eggs produced in the
Middle West come from the states of
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and many
of them are sold on the New York
markets in competition with eggs
from the Eastern States, and also
those from California, which are
in refrigerator cars. Due to !
the long distance between the wes-
tern and eastern coasts, it is i'm .
possible for the California eggs to I
reach the New York markets under !
sixteen to eighteen days, resulting in
their being classed as mo. l" eggs. I
these western eggs !
bring higher prices, and are in {
greater demand than the Delaware
eggs which could easily reach the \
New York markets in a fresher con-
ditiOn, and thereby be classed as r
either Extras" or Specials" The
secret of this difference in the mar !
ket demands is that the California
egg producers learned the lesson of @
standard grading and packing, as
they found it improbable to ship T
ungraded products eastward in the
face of high freight rates. y
According to statistics compiled 7
by the Bureau of Agricultural Econ
1mics, there were 100000 cases of
eggs sold in the New York Z
l. n |
eggs from Delaware and New Jer-
5ey. A recent survey of the shipping
facilities Of the Delaware poultry
-aisers indicated that practically all
If these producers are shipping their :,
eggs direct to New York dealers and
commission houses. All the eggs con- d
signed to these distributing points
ire candled and graded in accord Il
lnce with the U. S. standard. It was i
Ilso learned that the majority of the Il
,ggs produced in Delaware are grad 81
ID according to size and are thereby u
,laced in the arbitrary grades of
No. 1" and mo. g." which are not u
ccording to U. S. standard of quail n
tv under which the California egg k
operate. 81
Taking these several factors into
onsideration, the recent investiga- tf
ions indicate that the price of the G
Delaware eggs could be increased 81
everal cents per dozen if better W
rading were practiced and more eff
cient methods of selling establish II
d. This change, however, must be
rought about largely through the a
fforts of the poultry producers
nnr,nrn1,rnr &c thnu are the ones di-