STUDIES OF POULTRY. 37 



variable and depends to a certain extent, at least, upon the construc- 

 tion of the storage room, the quantity of eggs stored, and the environ- 

 ment in general. Where refrigeration is by brine pipes only, and 

 rooms are well filled, it is generally too moist rather than too dry for 

 the best results ; but, on the other hand, when a dry, cooled air system 

 supplements the brine pipes, or where this is the exclusive source of 

 refrigeration, a drying out of the contents of the egg must be care- 

 fully watched. 



In practice the growth of a fine, white mold on the eggshell is a 

 good indicator of moisture conditions. This mold does not penetrate 

 the shell ; it is snow white, woolly, very delicate, and is removed by 

 the slightest touch. The degree of humidity which permits a very 

 slight growth of this fungus is a desirable one for egg preservation. 

 A luxuriance of growth means too much moisture. A lack of it is 

 very apt to indicate an undue drying out of the contents of the shell." 

 Each warehouse storing eggs is a law unto itself, and must continue 

 so until careful scientific studies of egg keeping under refrigeration 

 have correlated such factors as temperature, moisture, and fresh air. 



Eggs absorb odors. Therefore, every effort. is made to keep the egg- 

 storage rooms free from them. No other commodity should be put 

 into the same room, and in the offseason many warehouses that make 

 a specialty of egg storage let the rooms lie idle rather than risk the 

 absorption of foreign odors which might, later, contaminate the eggs. 

 A plentiful coating of lime over wooden surfaces, freshly applied 

 before the eggs are received, is the most common method of keeping 

 walls and floors odorless. 



The length of time that eggs can be kept in cold storage depends 

 v T ery largely upon their condition when they enter it. As has been 

 stated, eggs laid early in the season during cool weather keep best. 

 Carefully graded, packed, and transported, such eggs are good food 

 at the end of nine months. It is likely that they will not soft boil 

 or poach with entire satisfaction at the expiration of that period, but 

 for all the other methods of cooking they are available. If the eggs 

 are of strictly first quality when they enter storage they will soft 

 boil after six or seven months and compare satisfactorily with the 

 u strictly fresh " eggs of the market. Indeed, when the lay falls off 

 in the late summer and autumn, and farmers begin to hold eggs for 

 high prices, good stored eggs from early lots are to be preferred 

 to the average market offerings. This is also true of shipments to 

 market in very hot weather, when incubation is observed in almost 

 every egg. At such times the jobber who supplies a fastidious trade 

 may be driven to draw upon his storage stocks for satisfactory sup- 



This fungus is being studied at the present time in the Food Research 

 Laboratory, Bureau of Chemistry. 

 [Cir. 64] 



