Poultry Meeting at Columbia. 433 



to fifty million dollars, an amount equaled to the combined 

 output of gold and silver from California, Colorado and Arizona 

 for the same year. Of this sum the estimated value of eggs 

 produced is at least twenty million dollars. 



Eggs are a perishable product. Their quality depreciates 

 with age, especially when improperly handled. A common 

 conception is that cold storage is responsible for the average 

 low quality of eggs, but this is a mistake. Investigations have 

 shown that eggs deteriorate very little if in good condition 

 when placed in storage. The deterioration of quality and the 

 corresponding depreciation in value are due to causes outside 

 the storage. 



Marked improvement in the marketing of other foodstuff, 

 such as dairy products and fruit, has been made, but so far 

 little improvement -has occurred along the line of marketing 

 eggs. Despite their importance as foodstuff, they are handled 

 in such a manner as to result in enormous losses. 



Losses in the Handling of Eggs. — Bulletin 141 of the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture states that seventeen per cent of the total crop is lost 

 annually. On this basis, the annual loss in Missouri would 

 amount to over four million dollars, which means that each 

 year the poultry producer or the Missouri farmer loses a large 

 portion of the profits of his poultry flock because of carelessness 

 in handling the poultry products. 



A new-laid egg is a fresh, sweet, nutritious food, but the 

 average egg reaches the market in such a condition that the 

 consumer hesitates before he has sufficient courage to use it. 

 So great is the shrinkage and the inferior quality that the 

 consumer scarcely recognizes the product that was once in a 

 condition to be valued as a delicacy. The consumption of 

 eggs is much less because of the neglect that permits such a 

 deterioration. 



The Channels Through Which Eggs are Marketed.^Eggs pro- 

 duced on the farm are, perhaps, taken to the grocery on an 

 average of once a week, usually on Saturday, which is the 

 grocer's busy day. Under the most favorable conditions it is 

 probably Monday or Tuesday before they are shipped to the 

 nearest egg collector, and a day or two is spent in the transit. 

 Sometimes the collector is in the same town and the time 

 intervening is perhaps a day less. The collector then ships 

 the eggs to commission men, when another day or two is added 



