FACTORS INFLUENCING QUALITY. 13 



"case-count" system has proven u great stumbling block. It is a 

 system of payment for number alone regardless of quality, and in 

 consequence it has not only not provided an incentive for care and 

 attention to quality, but by neglecting to reward carefulness has even 

 encouraged careless and dilatory marketing on the part of fanners, 

 with the attendant loss in quality. Briefly, case-count buying con- 

 sists of the payment of the fixed price which happens to be current 

 at the time for each and every dozen eggs which may be offered for 

 sale, regardless of whether the eggs themselves are good, bad. or 

 indifferent. The only requisite in most cases to consummate a sale 

 is for each egg to have an intact shell. The case-count system of 

 buying eggs may, therefore, be said to be the greatest factor in pre- 

 venting an improvement in the general quality of commercial eggs. 

 No more practical step can be taken, or one which would have a 

 more immediate and far-reaching effect in improving the quality of 

 the eggs of the Middle West, than to discard this system of buying 

 and to replace it by the one known to the trade as '* loss-off," in other 

 words, to buy on a candled or quality basis. 



THE I/)SS-OFF SYSTEM OF BUYING. 



Where this system is in use the eggs as bought are " candled," 

 that is, subjected to a test which shows quite definitely their con- 

 dition and quality. Candling is performed by holding the eggs up 

 to a small hole, about the size of a half dollar, cut in a shield of 

 metal or other material, behind which is a strong light. Usually 

 this light is furnished by an ordinary 16-candle power incandescent 

 light, but a lamp, candle, or even the sunlight may be utilized. The 

 person candling the eggs is in a dark or semidark room, so that the 

 light shines through the eggs, and when the latter are twirled the 

 condition of the contents is at once revealed to an expert eye. By this 

 test it is possible to detect rots, spots, and other deteriorated eggs, 

 such as shrunken, weak, watery, and heated eggs. In paying for 

 eggs bought on this basis, the rots and usually the spots and blood 

 rings are thrown out entirely, so that they become a dead loss to the 

 person responsible for them. Often in buying from the farmer no 

 other distinction is made. The eggs are simply divided into two 

 classes, one of which is good enough to accept and pay for while the 

 other is rejected and payment therefor is refused. Such a classification 

 is a distinct step forward and results in a great improvement in the 

 eggs. Indeed, there are many reasons to believe that such a simple 

 system is preferable when dealing with the farmers to a more com- 

 plicated one where the eggs are placed in several grades, according 

 to quality, and for which different prices are paid. In the latter 

 case the farmer is prone to think that he is being cheated if a part 

 of his eggs are accepted but' bring a les's price than the others. 



