Cooperation 161 



THE EGG BUSINESS 



It has been estimated by Secretary Wilson that the 

 value of the poultry and eggs produced on the farm reached 

 in 1909 the enormous annual value of $600,000,000, or 

 the equivalent of the value of the hay or the wheat crop, 

 and the production is rapidly increasing. It has been 

 shown by Miss Pennington and Mr. Pierce l that there is 

 a total loss of 7.8 per cent of the eggs marketed as a result 

 of improper handling from the farm to the market. It is 

 pointed out by these investigators that the egg must be 

 kept cool at every stage of its handling if it is to reach the 

 consumer in a perfectly fresh condition. In describing 

 the conditions under which the egg supply is handled 

 from the farm to the packing-house the authors say : 



"The first responsibility for the low quality of market 

 eggs rests upon the farmer, and after him come the country 

 produce dealer or store-keeper and the shipper who does 

 not have artificial refrigeration. Usually the farmer 

 gathers his eggs daily, or he may gather them at irregu- 

 lar intervals. Stolen nests often accumulate a large lay, 

 over a period of some weeks, and may have been covered 

 by brooding hens for a while, to boot, before the farmer 

 happens to find them ; but the chances are that every 

 sound-shelled egg goes to market, regardless of the con- 

 dition inside the shell. If the eggs are gathered with 

 fair regularity, how are they kept while on the farm? 

 Generally where the housewife can most conveniently get 

 them for household use, not where the temperature is low 

 and the air fresh. Neither does the farmer have any regu- 



1 Yearbook, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1911. 

 M 



