THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



39 



man in the country is a disappointment to 

 all classes of the dissatisfied, for when 

 they talk of going- to the city he persist- 

 ently says 'Don't' and he supports his 

 advice with a dismal array of facts and 

 figures." 



Redlands, Cal. expects a visit 

 Eterestf* soon from William E. Smythe, 



erstwrale editor of the IRRI- 

 GATION AGE and a gentleman thoroughly 

 conversant with the great problems of 

 irrigation and the reclamation of arid 

 America. His visit will be in the interest 

 of the California Water and Forest Asso- 

 ciation and will be accompanied by P. P. 

 Wood, of Tulare, P. N. Berniger, of San 

 Francisco, and S. C. King, also of that 

 city, or, if not these gentlemen, by others 

 interested in the subject. The object of 

 the visit is to awaken the interest of our 

 people in the great work of association, 

 and get them to be active in the changes 

 necessary in our laws to enable irrigation 

 to be extended and made more secure, 

 and to assist in obtaining aid from the 

 general government in bui'ding storage 

 reservoirs to hold flood v/aters over for 

 use in time of deficient rainfall. "Mr. 

 Smythe should be heartily and cordially 

 received" says the Citroyraph, "and his 

 talk listened to with close attention." 



The egg testers of Chicago 

 Eggs Galore, have just organized them- 

 selves into a local labor union 

 with the intention to effect a national 

 -organization. About 200 men find em- 

 ployment inspecting eggs in the big 

 storage houses of South Water street and 

 vicinity. The egg tester must daily 

 handle thousands of eggs that can be 

 guaranteed and sold to the trusting house- 

 wife under the "strictly fresh" stamps. 



According to statements furnished by 

 managers of cold storage houses the sup- 

 ply of eggs in Chicago at the beginning of 

 this year in round numbers was 252.000,- 

 000, enough to give the entire population 

 of the United States at least one square 

 meal. Putting it in another form, this 

 meant 700,000 cases of eggs, thirty dozen 

 or 360 to the case, and it would be enough 

 .to fill every inch of space in the Masonic 



Temple. This was a supply unprece- 

 dented in the history of any city, and was 

 largely due to the mildness of the then 

 prevailing winter weather, when the 

 simple-minded hen kept on laying, to the 

 great consternation and financial loss of 

 the storage speculators. It was about 60 

 per cent, of all the marketable eggs in the 

 United States in January. All the storage 

 eggs in this country during that month it 

 was estimated aggregated 1,250,000 cases, 

 or 450,000,000 eggs. 



It is on record that the eggs received in 

 this city in 1898 numbered 773,262,000; in 

 1899, 753,596,900. The number reshipped 

 to other cities and towns in 1898 was 440,- 

 408,160: in 1899, 359,969,480. It takes 

 about 50,000 to 60,000 cases of eggs, or 

 18,000, to 21, 600,000 distinct and individual 

 eggs to supply the local Easter market. 

 The number of eggs received during 

 Easter week, this year, exclusive of 

 "through'' shipment, was 20,250,000: over 

 50,000 cases. The receipts of eggs in New 

 York last year were 2,642,252 cases, and 

 this Eastern supply was drawn largely 

 from the Western country by way of 

 Chicago. 



Speaking of the hen figuratively, as 

 representing her entire tribe, she annu- 

 ally earns more than the total value of the 

 wheat crop, more than the total value of 

 the cotton crop, and is still clucking 

 cheerily away as though she had done 

 nothing remarkable after all. It is esti- 

 mated that there are about 350,000,000 

 chickens in the United States, which pro- 

 duce each year something like 14,000,000,- 

 000 eggs. This number of eggs represents 

 in money value about $175,000.000. The 

 consumption of poultry as food amounts to 

 $130.000,000 annually, and the total value 

 of living hens at 30 cents apiece is $150- 

 000,000. Thus the entire product of the 

 humble hen may be said to be some $410, 

 000,000 a year, while all the cows in the 

 country foot up a total value of only 

 $370,000. 



The fact is that egg producing is carried 

 on now not only far more extensively but 

 far more systematically than ever before. 

 The breeds of chickens everywhere have 



