THE LEGHORNS 



Care in Selecting and Shipping Eggs 



To produce the strictly fresh and choice white eggs 

 that command the top notch prices in the best markets is 

 a serious business, requiring honesty of purpose and a 

 thorough knowledge of the art of feeding and handling 

 of the laying stock to obtain the best results. An egg 

 must be above suspicion, for like butter, it is easily tainted 

 if improper food and unsanitary conditions are tolerated 

 by the producer. For it must be borne in mind that the 

 eggs that bring the highest prices furnish the substantial 

 portion of the morning meal in many instances, while 

 they are often the chief food given to invalids in sani- 

 tariums. Such eggs must not only be absolutely fresh, 

 but palatable as well. 



An egg is an egg with the majority of people and as 

 long as it is edible, it will pass without any serious loss 

 to its reputation as an article of food. But there are thou- 

 sands of consumers that know the difference between the 

 fresh, rich and fine flavored egg and the ordinary storage 

 or badly handled farmer's eggs. 



We had considerable experience in the egg business 

 twenty-five years ago catering to private families and a 

 hospital in New York City. It was a side line with us, 

 while engaged in dairy farming in New York State. As 

 our own flocks could not supply the demand for strictly 

 fresh eggs, we made contracts with farmers and small 

 poultry raisers in our vicinity to deliver strictly fresh 

 eggs twice a week, paying five cents a dozen above the 

 market price for all such eggs. . 



We experienced little or no trouble in getting the-pro- 

 ducers to live up to their contracts, as far as the smaller 

 poultry raisers were concerned, the latter being principally 

 women, who took great care of their poultry and could be 

 depended on to get even a good supply of fresh eggs from 

 their hens in October, November and December, when 

 eggs were at a premium. The hens kept on these small 

 plants were principally White and Brown Leghorns, but 

 with our easy going neighbors, the farmers, we had more 

 or less trouble. We could not always depend on their 

 delivering the goods as per agreement, especially in the 

 fall of the year, when their hens failed to shell out the 

 required number of eggs. It was at such times that we 

 were compelled to examine the eggs very closely, as some 

 of our neighbors would work off the eggs salted down in 

 the summer months, for fresh ones supposed to have been 

 laid in the fall. Neither could we always depend on the fresh 

 laid eggs being carefully and systematically gathered on 

 such farms. It was the old story of the farmer who would 

 give his horses the best of care, feed and groom his cows 

 to produce the cleanest and richest milk, yet allow the 

 hens to shift for themselves. 



Yet the gross profit per cow would rarely exceed $25 

 per annum, whereas a flock of twenty-five Leghorns would 

 pay him a net profit of twenty-five dollars a year, even 

 at the lower prices of eggs in force twenty-five years ago. 



The Cause of Poor Eggs in Our Markets 



This indifference of the farmer toward the hens on his 

 farm, is the cause of the thousands of dozens of poor, 

 stale and unattractive eggs finding their way into our 

 markets. Commission dealers have been justly censured 

 and fined at times for disposing of "rots and spots," but 

 in order to get a supply of the latter, there must be a 

 source, and it needs no Sherlock Holmes to discover 

 the latter. 



An egg gathered the day it is. laid will keep in edible 

 condition a very long time if kept in a temperature not 

 exceeding fifty-five degrees to sixty degrees. With our 

 excellent cold storage plants eggs that are sweet and 

 sound when placed in the latter, will be found fit for 

 consumption months afterward. 



There can be no reasonable excuse then for the ex- 

 istence of the "rots and spots" and all other kinds of stale 

 eggs in our markets. 



We believe the commercial Leghorn egg farms of the 

 United States to be indirectly responsible for the gradual 

 higher standardization of the American egg trade. The 

 men who have engaged in this industry have built up 

 large plants, equipped them with thousands of White 

 Leghorns and found a most profitable market for their 

 products. 



The smaller poultry raisers have taken their cue from 

 larger ones and better, cleaner and more uniform pro- 

 ducts are the result. 



The farmers of this country are slowly beginning to 

 realize the value of applying intelligent methods in hand- 

 ling their poultry products, thanks to the good work done 

 by the agricultural and poultry press and agricultural ex- 

 periment stations. 



What the thrifty Danes did in building up a great co- 

 operative egg trade, that has made the Danish egg almost 

 as famous as the Danish butter, can be accomplished by 

 the farmers of the United States. 



In the succeeding articles of this chapter, the methods 

 of successful commercial Leghorn farmers are given. 

 They will bear most careful study by all persons interested 

 in making poultry pay, and pay well. What applies to 

 Leghorns as profitable producers of eggs and squab 

 broilers will apply with but little modification to all other 

 laying breeds. It's the quality of the product, rather than 

 the source of it, that determines its market value. 



