i66 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



of rearing and fattening poultry, and improving 

 the methods of placing poultry and eggs on 

 the market. Poultry experts are employed to 

 impart technical instruction, and amongst these 

 I myself was brought from Denmark, especially 

 to teach the Societies the Danish methods of 

 selecting, grading, and packing eggs for ex- 

 portation. 



"A number of what may be termed Egg 

 Societies are now in working order. The Sub- 

 societies send the eggs collected during the 

 week, or when eggs are plentiful every second 

 day, to the exporting centre ; these central 

 stores are either at a seaport town, or some 

 station on a main line of railway, from which 

 there is good communication to the English 

 markets. The local depots, which are all within 

 carting distance of the centre, receive the eggs 

 from their members daily, by weight only, and 

 none but perfectly fresh and perfectly clean 

 eggs are received. The suppliers are paid cash 

 for the number of pounds weiglit of eggs sup- 

 plied, and not (as hitherto has been the way 

 in Ireland) for the score or the dozen and 

 paid in tea and sugar. Purchasing by weight 

 has had the effect of making Irish poultry 

 keepers much more ready to adopt the advice 

 given them, and cultivate breeds which pro- 

 duce eggs of larger size and in greater number. 

 The eggs are then placed in large cases with 

 cardboard divisions, holding i,ooo eggs each, 

 and so brought to the central packing station. 

 As soon as received there, they are graded to 

 their respective sizes, which range from i8 lbs. 

 per 1 20 eggs down to 13 lbs., then tested 

 carefully so as to detect any that may be bad, 

 and finally packed in export cases. 



" The packing cases are of Continental 

 pattern, and are made in three sizes, namely, 

 'whole cases,' containing twelve long hundreds, 

 or 1,440 eggs, 'half-cases,' containing si.x long 

 hundreds, or 720 eggs, and 'quarter-cases,' to 

 take 360 eggs. The whole cases are practically 

 two half-cases, these being divided into two 

 equal parts by two centre-pieces, in such a 

 manner that by cutting the case between those 

 centre-pieces there will be obtained two half- 

 cases. The eggs are packed m these cases in 

 layers, and each layer in rows of a certain 

 number; not, as the custom has been in Ireland, 

 pell-mell. Every case of whatever size contains 

 four layers of eggs, and each layer in the six- 

 hundred cases or half-cases, iSo eggs, arranged 

 iS eggs in a row, and ten rows ; while the three- 

 hundred cases or quarter-cases contain only 90 

 eggs in a layer, 9 in a row, and ten rows. The 

 packing is done with such accuracy that the 

 eggs on unpacking occupy the same position as 



they did when packed. To attain this a layer 

 of wood-wool is placed between each two layers 

 of eggs, and carefully arranged so that it is the 

 same thickness both between the layers of eggs, 

 and the eggs and the sides of case. Its quantity 

 must be such that no empty space is left when 

 the eggs are packed down. When the fourth 

 and last layer is packed, this ought, before 

 compression, to be on a level with the edges nt 

 the case. This layer is then also covered with 

 wood-wool of about two inches thickness, and 

 above again is laid a layer of dry, clean, and 

 stiff straw. In order to press down the lid to its 

 position the packer walks on it when nailing, 

 and this can be done without breaking a single 

 cg^. If the top layer is on a level with the cast 

 edge, the proper pressure will generally be had 

 on packing down, so that the eggs keep their 

 position, but of course either too much pressure 

 or too loose packing would cause breakages. 



" This method of packing is new for Ireland, 

 but has been used on the Continent for a 

 great many years. Several e.vperiments made 

 in Denmark have shown that eggs packed in 

 this manner and forwarded to London by 

 steamer from Copenhagen to Newcastle, and 

 thence by rail to London, have reached their 

 destination without a single breakage. But 

 this implies another matter of importance, viz. 

 that both the steamship company's and the 

 railway company's porters, as on other routes 

 through which eggs are forwarded from the 

 Continent to Great Britain, fully understand 

 the handling of eggs. In this particular their 

 colleagues in Ireland liave still much to learn, 

 and no packing, however good, can avoid 

 breakages by careless transport. We hope, 

 however, before long to get this important 

 branch of Irish trade on a sound basis all 

 round, and that it may rise to a height 

 comparable with that in Denmark, where the 

 egg export is now for the most part on co- 

 operative lines, and one society I know has 

 a yearly turn-over of more than ;;r 125,000 

 sterling. 



" Some of the local Societies have, in order 

 to prevent bad eggs being brought in, supplied 

 each member with a stamp, bearing the number 

 of the member and the letter of the Society. 

 With this the supplier stamps all his eggs, and 

 in this way it is possible to trace a bad egg 

 to its source. A good many Societies ha\'c 

 now been in working order for some time, and 

 some of them — for instance, those at Athlone, 

 Mallow, and Newmarket — are able to e.xport 

 weekly more than 150,000 eggs. No doubt 

 this movement, which has already attained such 

 striking results, will steadily enlarge as in Den- 



