CLASSES OF DETERIORATED EGGS. 15 



Some of the effects of this system aro: 



1. The inflated price of merchandise is an injustice to the townspeople and to 

 farmers not selling produce; in fact, it amounts to a taxation of these people 

 for the benefit of the egg producers. 



2. The inflated prices of the merchant's wares work to his own disadvantage 

 in competition with mail-order or out-of-town trade. 



I!. The farmer who exchanges eggs for dry goods is not being paid more for 

 his eggs, save as the tax on the townspeople contributes a little to that end. but 

 is in the main merely exchanging more dollars. 



4. The use of eggs as a drawing card for trade works in favor of inferior 

 produce, and the loss to the farmer through the lowering of prices thus caused 

 is much greater than his gain through the forced contributions of his neighbors. 



DKLAY IN MOVING ECCS. 



The delay which takes place from the time tho eggs aro produced 

 on the farm until they reach tho packing house or car-lot shipper is a 

 direct result of the case-count system of buying. This delay is most 

 serious, and, coupled with weather conditions, it is responsible for 

 the changes occurring and the loss and deterioration caused. Inci- 

 dental to the delay and the ignoring of the necessity for good quality, 

 many careless habits develop in handling the eggs. On the farm 

 this usually takes the form of negligence in gathering the eggs, also in 

 storing them in hot, damp, or other unsuitable places, and in holding 

 them for a considerable length of time, either because it is not con- 

 venient to go to town or, in the fall on a rising market, with the idea 

 of getting a better price. At the country store, also, the eggs aro 

 often held for a considerable length of time. When the eggs finally 

 reach the packer they may, therefore, be several weeks old. and as 

 they are subjected to high temperature during the summer and early 

 fall months, and may have been held in damp places, changes often 

 take place which bring them under one or other of the following well- 

 recognized classes. 



CLASSES OF DETERIORATED EGGS. 

 IIKATED E(1(JS. 



Heated eggs occur most commonly, of course, during the summer 

 months. They are caused by the development of the embryo in fer- 

 tile eggs. AVhenever a fertile egg is subjected to proper conditions of 

 heat and moisture, whether it be under a hen. in a bucket behind tho 

 kitchen range, or in an egg case in (he hot *un on tho railroad s(a(ion 

 platform, the embryo development proceeds. The degree to which 

 this development has progressed will determine into which of the 

 classes or grades recognized by practical egg men it will fall. 

 " Light floats" are those in which there is only a slight development, 

 approximately equal to that reached at the end of 18 or -24 hours of 



