THE FARMER S MARKET. 33 



would simply have thrown out the rots. The loss represented by the 

 rots would, however, have been saved, excepting a small proportion 

 which would have developed between the times the storekeeper and 

 the candler handled the eggs. 



Driving the local merchant out of the egg business is not inevita- 

 ble, though in many respects it would be greatly to his advantage and 

 to the advantage of the egg trade. Indeed, the merchants of some 

 towns have voluntarily withdrawn by mutually agreeing to turn the 

 egg trade over to the cash buyer, where it belongs. This is the sim- 

 plest and best solution of the problem. It has also been suggested 

 that the business be turned over to the produce dealer, who. instead 

 of paying cash, shall issue scrip which will be taken at its face value 

 in payment for goods at any of the local stores. The whole object 

 of this plan is to compel the farmer to patronize home trade. 



Other plans have been devised and are working with some degree of 

 success which attempt to keep the benefits of the egg trade for the 

 merchant, while at the same time relieving him of its unpleasant 

 features. One of these allows the farmer to trade his eggs out on a 

 case-count basis as before, but these eggs are kept separate. Each 

 morning the receipts of the previous day are sold to the local cash 

 buyer, who candles the eggs and reports the rots or bad eggs found 

 in each individual lot. The merchant then charges the loss against 

 the farmer's account and deducts it from the next lot of eggs brought 

 in if he has no balance in his favor. By such a procedure the mer- 

 chant is obeying the law, is helping to improve the quality of the eggs, 

 is protecting himself against loss, and at the same time is retaining 

 his egg trade. This means that instead of unloading inferior mer- 

 chandise upon his customers, as he did when the case-count system 

 was in vogue, he is able to give them full value for their money. 

 He has no loss to figure and need not fear the competition of his 

 fellow merchants or the large out of town mail-order houses. As 

 soon as the farmer is made to realize that every merchant in town 

 is going to candle his eggs, he immediately commences to take better 

 care of them and carefully compares the prices on various articles 

 of food and clothing as advertised by the merchants. Thus the whole 

 problem simply resolves itself into the question of legitimate profits, 

 and unless the merchant is selfish or money mad there is no logical 

 reason why his prices can not be made as attractive as those of his 

 competitors. 



Aside from the method of buying, there are other conditions con- 

 nected with the country store which should be remedied in order to 

 give best results. The most prominent of the>e i> in frequency in 

 shipping. It is not uncommon for the storekeeper to allow his eggs 

 to accumulate for a week or even longer before he ships them, and as 



