Cooperation 165 



eggs,' 'blood rings,' or the great number of 'rots' that 

 come from developing embryos and which account for 

 such a large share of the total losses. The education which 

 the farmer should have in the gathering and care of eggs 

 after they are laid, and the prompt delivery of them to the 

 next person in the marketing chain, is self-evident from 

 the recital of the farmer's present methods. 



"Changes in the methods of the small egg-buyer. 

 The country storekeepers and small produce buyers 

 are, next to the farmer, responsible for the number of 

 low-grade eggs marketed. They must be taught to buy 

 'loss off' instead of 'case count.' Buying 'case count' 

 places the good farmer and the poor farmer on the same 

 basis, and is grossly unfair to the good farmer. The 

 producer of good eggs receives less and the producer of 

 bad eggs more than they are worth. What incentive 

 is there, on this basis, for the farmer to take extra care and 

 trouble ? 



"The country merchant should be eliminated entirely 

 from egg handling. He likes to buy eggs from the farmer 

 because their value is usually accepted in groceries and 

 merchandise rather than money, and, as has been pre- 

 viously said, he makes a profit on his wares if not from 

 the selling of the eggs. Then, too, if the farmer's wife 

 brings in eggs greater in value than the goods she receives 

 in trade, her credit on the merchant's ledger insures her 

 continued trading with him. This makes eggs practically 

 a form of currency. Oftentimes from her eggs and poultry 

 a farmer's wife provides her family with clothes and gro- 

 ceries, and it is not at all unusual in small towns for the 

 doctor and dentist to be paid with a due bill on the mer- 



