[ £98 ] 



Extracts from Commwiications to the Society* 



December y 1810. — Mr. John Shallcross of Wilming- 

 ton Delaware, stated, in a letter to the President of the 

 Society, that *' in the month of March 1810, in taking off 

 the second crop of hay, which lay on the top of the 

 first crop, two eggs were found which must have been 

 laid there by a hen, about the last of August 1809, the 

 time the second crop was housed ; upon examining them, 

 they were found to be as fresh, as if they had been only 

 24 hours old : the whites had the appearance of fresh 

 laid eggs, and the yolks were suspended in the whites. 

 The hay that covered them was six feet or more deep : 

 the eggs were found three or four feet from the inner 

 Q^gQ of the mow, and more than that distance from the 

 outside ^\all.'' 



Mr. S. thinks the above facts shew that ** the month 

 of August is the proper time to put up eggs for keep- 

 ing ; and how they are to be laid up." 



The opinion as to the influence of the time of year on 

 the keeping of eggs coincides with that of Mons. Parmen- 

 tier of France whose whole life was devoted to the dis- 

 semination of knowledge on domestic economy. In a 

 memoir on the subject of eggs, he says that " eggs of the 

 second laying preserve better than those of the first.''' ^' 

 But It has been ascertained to the satisfaction of the wri- 

 ter, that eggs laid at any time will keep several months, 

 provided they are completely covered with a varnish of 

 some kind. Thick lime- wash has been used with com- 



* Memoirs of the Institute of France, vol. 7. 



