RETORT OT TEE POULTRY MAXAGER 333 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Saturated Lime-water, containing 1 per cent common salt. — Very good as to ap- 

 pearance, both externally and internally; 'white,' very slightly tinged, but a little 

 more limpid than in saturated lime-water alone. Yolk, globular; air-space, normal. 

 Faint odour, somewhat more strongly marked on poaching. Nothing disagreeable in 

 uncooked or cooked egg; quite usable, but lacking tbe flavour of a fresh egg. Com- 

 pared with eggs in saturated lime-water only, they are on the whole perhaps slightly 

 superior. 



Saturated Lime-water and 2 per cent common salt. — 'White,' quite limpid and 

 slightly brownish. Fairly well preserved, but not equal to eggs in either of the fore- 

 going liquids. 



Common salt, 1 per cent solution. — In appearance, both externally and internally, 

 four of the eggs were very similar to those kept in lime-water, but they possessed a 

 more marked musty odour. In two of the eggs the ' white ' was limpid and yellowish, 

 the yolk had lost its globular form, and the smell was disagreeable. 



Common salt, 2 per cent solution. — ' White,' very limpid. Yolk, reddish-black and 

 of the consistency of jelly; very bad smell. All the eggs were quite spoilt and un- 

 usable. 



Eggs smeared with vaseline and kept in lime-water. — ' White,' more markedly dis- 

 coloured than those in lime-water simply ; musty smell, somewhat inferior to eggs 

 kept in lime-water without vaseline covering. 



Eggs smeared with vaseline and Icept in rach. — 'White,' slightly discoloured; pos- 

 sesses faint musty odour, but fairly good; apparently somewhat better than eggs in 

 preceding test. 



Eggs covered with paraffin and Jcept in lime-water. — 'White; slightly tinged with 

 yellow ; yolk, thin and degraded in one or two of the eggs ; musty smell. Eggs decid- 

 edly inferior to those in lime-water simply. External appearance rough and unattrac- 

 tive, due to paraffin. 



Eggs dipped for half a manutc in saturated permanganate of potash solution, and 

 Icept in racJc. — Eggs considerably dried in, air-space abnormally large, showing the 

 'white' very limpid and quite discoloured; very musty odour. The majority of the 

 eggs were considered as decidedly bad and unfit for use. 



Sodium alumiitafe. -5 per cent solution. — 'White,' slightly tinged; general appear- 

 ance, good; faint musty odour. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



The preservative solutions that gave the best results were lime-water and the lime- 

 water containing 1 per cent salr. There was not much difference between the egg<, 

 cooked or uncooked, to sight, smell or taste, kept in these two solutions, but such as 

 there was, we considered, showed the eggs in the latter to be slightly the better. 



The addition of salt to the lime-water to an extent exceeding 1 per cent would 

 appear to be no advantage; indeed, when the salt present amounted to 2 per cent we 

 noticed that the quality of the preserved eggs had suffered. The 1 per cent solution is 

 prepared by dissolving 1^ ounces of common salt in each gallon of the saturated lime- 

 water. 



The common salt solutions without lime, both 1 per cent and 2 per cent, caused 

 the eggs to have a more marked and disagreeable odour, especially on cooking. AH 

 the eggs in the 2 per cent fluid were unusable. 



