112 



THE LEGHORNS 



The ca>h value of these >hii>iiieiU> will exceed over 

 $4U,000 fur the Veek, a must gratifying demonstration uf 

 the far reaching importance of co-operative organization 

 among producers for the purpose of marketing their pro- 

 ducts in the best possible condition to realize the high- 

 est prices. 



We have quoted the highest prices obtained in the re- 

 tail and wholesale markets of the United States for the 

 best grades of eggs only, as a progressive farmer or 

 practical poultry raiser should aim to produce and market 



the history of their distribution as do the men 

 who linally devour them. 



"To these fir-t ;iim1 la-t {>• 

 duct, the eggs arc (.iilur .^ I 



/omer 



"JOSEPHINE 



First R. 

 Boston. 1911. 

 Springs, N. Y. 



only the best. It means a difference of twenty cents per 

 dozen to those vi'ho deliver the right kind of goods, as 

 the quotations for ordinary mixed eggs of uncertain age 

 and doubtful quality will range from 20 to 30 cents per 

 dozen below those of prime or fancy quality. The com- 

 mercial egg trade conducted in the large markets of the 

 United States is a business requiring the keenest judg- 

 ment on the part of the buyer and seller. 



The Egg Trade 



I~rom the "Grocers' Encyclopedia," one of the most 

 valuable and authentic books of its kind, we reprint the 

 *ollowing comprehensive article on the egg trade: 



"The original owners of the eggs know as little about 



-sons who handle the pro- 

 or bad, and there's an end 

 on it. But to the ni.m \\h<, hniKlIes them between the farm 

 and the breakfast table they are Fancy. Fresh, Fresh 

 Gathered, Storage Tacked, Storage, Limed, Known Marks, 

 Extras, Firsts, Seconds. Dirties, Checks, etc. The dis- 

 tinctions become very necessary when one realizes that 

 practically the whole enormous egg business is conducted 

 by telegraph and that the dealer who purchases a car- 

 load of eggs has no opportunity to examine them until 

 they arrive. 



"With the exception of those which, because of their 

 proxiinity to a large city, can profitably be shipped by ex- 

 press, eggs always travel in refrigerator cars — winter as 

 well as Slimmer, for the heavy construction of the peram- 

 bulating ice chests is equally serviceable for protection 

 against cold and heat. One carload contains four hundred 

 cases, or one hundred and forty-four thousand eggs. 



"On large poultry farms, eggs are produced and 

 handled very much as the product of any other factory — 

 the poultry man knows his cost of production by dozen 

 or case — but the greater part of the country's egg supply 

 is still represented by accumulations from thousands of 

 .uenernl f;irniers scattered all over the country. 



"The history of one of these farm eggs reads like 'a 

 uatheriny of the clans.' The hen that laid it may be the 

 I>ro|iLrty of a small farmer in a Western state, located 

 titty or a hundred miles froin the nearest good-sized town. 

 lilt e.yg is one of a dozen that the farmer takes to the 

 lu•are^t village store and either sells for a small sum of 

 money or barters for sugar, calico, tobacco or some other 

 commodity that he needs more than he needs eggs. 



"Other farmers in the neighborhood are doing the 

 same and the store is thus the recruiting station for a 

 goodly coinpany of eggs that must necessarily find a mar- 

 ket somewhere else. These eggs are sent to a larger cen- 

 ter, where they pass into the control of a large or small 

 shipper who mobilizes them, to continue the figure, no 

 longer by companies but by battalions, regiments and 

 armies — i. e., carloads. 



"When the shipper has a carload of eggs ready for the 

 eastern market, he telegraphs the fact to an eastern 

 dealer. A certain amount of dickering goes on over the 

 wire, and the eggs are finally sent East. The eggs are not 

 though for immediate consumption, hence the necessity 

 for the refrigerator car and the storage warehouse to re- 

 tain the condition m which they were purchased. 



"Comparatively few eggs are found to be bad, and all 

 shipments are now sold 'at mark,' a technical way of say- 

 ing that a case of eggs at wholesale is supposed to be 

 within a small percentage of the requirements or stand- 

 ard of each grade, and there is no rebate for damaged 

 eggs. Formerly there was a rebate during a part of the 

 year that was called the 'loss off' season, because a cer- 

 tain percentage of the eggs were not expected to coine 

 up to the standard of the various grades. 



"There are very few disputes between shippers and 

 dealers that are not settled peaceably between the persons 

 directly concerned, but occasionally they form the basis 

 of expert examination by either the Chamber of Com- 

 merce or Fruit and Produce Exchange inspectors, some- 

 times, indeed, getting as far as the Arbitration Com- 

 mittee." 



