14 A DISSERTATION ON EGGS 



farmer is now well able to hold his own as 

 regards the particular branch of the egg 

 business with which he is most directly con- 

 cerned. The opportunities open to him are in- 

 dicated somewhat by the fact that there is one 

 London company alone which uses 70,000 new- 

 laid eggs a week in its different refreshment 

 rooms. This may be exceptional, but any 

 farmer living within thirty miles of London, 

 or within fifteen miles of Liverpool, Manchester, 

 Birmingham, or any other large centre of popula- 

 tion, will find there a market for all the new-laid 

 eggs he can send in. The drawback to his 

 position is that, with his comparatively small 

 supplies, and the need he is under of sending them 

 off promptly, so that they will arrive within the 

 three-day limit, he is obliged to despatch them 

 in a succession of consignments, day by day, and 

 cannot keep them back until they will make a 

 single substantial lot. It is the very essence of 

 the situation, therefore, that with his present 

 limited supplies, he simply cannot offer to the 

 railway companies quantities approaching in any 

 degree to the magnitude of those coming from 

 abroad, so that though he may expect to realize 

 the best price for his particular goods on the 

 market, he is unable to get his small lots 

 delivered there at the same proportionately 



