53 



EGGS FOR MARKET. 



Yearly the egg consumption increases and our exports decrease; in fact we 

 have ceased to be an exporting country in this line of farm produce. During 

 the last year in particular the public have taken more interest in the egg supply, 

 and in the kind of eggs that are consumed. The value of an egg as a food is 

 gradually but surely being recognized. Probably no one food is its equal: it is 

 relished by all, old and young. Few people realize how quickly and how easily 

 an egg deteriorates in flavor or as a food. 



There appears to be a general idea that the shell of an egg protects the contents 

 against all kinds of germs and weather ; that the outside of the shell may be filthy, 

 but that the interior is not in the least affected by the filth on the outside. 



There is nothing more disgusting than at the breakfast table to break a bad egg. 

 Iso more eggs are wanted for days, perhaps for weeks, and consequently egg con- 

 sumption decreases; or eggs are looked upon as a doubtful source of food. Many 

 bad eggs are due to ignorance on the part of the producers and consumers, and 

 many dealers are as careless in their methods. 



The shell of an egg is porous, or is full of very small holes. The egg is designed 

 to hatch a chick. The chick under favorable conditions grows inside the shell 

 and finally bursts it open. The holes in the shell supply the chick with air as 

 it grows, also allows the bad air to escape. Science has proved this, but we have 

 ample illustration in practical work. Eggs that become badly smeared with broken 

 eggs in the nest during incubation usually rot, owing to^the breathing holes becom- 

 ing plugged or blocked by the broken egg content. Creased eggs will not hatch 

 for the same reason; and we might mention several other examples. 



Knowing that the shell is porous we can readily understand how minute 

 animal or plant life,/ or germs, may enter the eggs. Let us take a common case 

 of mouldy or musty eggs. Frequently the paper fillers of egg boxes will become 

 damp due to the boxes being left in a shower of rain or something of the kind. 

 The fillers are only slightly damp, and we think they will do. If no eggs are 

 put in the boxes, and the boxes with fillers are set aside for, say. a week or so, 

 when they are opened they smell musty, and if the fillers are examined we will 

 see slight developments of moulds here and there. jSTow in cases where eggs are 

 put in such fillers they soon become musty, and when they are left in for some 

 time they become mouldy, not only on the outside of the shell, but on the inside 

 as well. The writer has taken clean eggs on the day they were laid, and put 

 them in dry paper boxes which were slightly mouldy, and set them aside in a 

 dry cellar for a period of a few weeks, and at the end of this time many of the 

 eggs had well developed mould on the inside of the shell. 



Many eggs are spoiled by being partially incubated. Most people believe that 

 an egg must be set under a hen, or put in an incubator before it will start to 

 hatch. Eggs will start to hatch at less than 90 deg. of heat. Many eggs are 

 submitted to this or higher temperatures for several hours, if not days, before 

 reaching the consuming public. When the germ inside the egg commences to 

 develop, the edible qualities of the egg are lessened, or the egg goes off flavor. 

 Eggs may 'be kept at an incubating temperature for a day, when the chicks will 

 start growing, next day the temperature may be so low that the chick is killed, 

 and from that point decomposition begins, possibly slowly, but, nevertheless, the 

 egg is gradually going bad. 



There are almost innumerable ways in which eggs may start hatching during 

 the summer, such as forgetting to gather the eggs daily, and leaving some under 



