CHAPTER EIGHT 



Poultry: A Success Story 



LET us consider the egg. First, as food. To 

 most people an egg is simply an egg. It is either 

 fresh, or bad without graduation of quality. A 

 few distinguish between white and brown eggs, 

 between "strictly fresh'* and "cold storage." A very, 

 very few, who go in for the more esoteric techni- 

 calities, describe further classifications: "large" or 

 "small." Of those who have heard of "candling" 

 probably as many suspect it is a way of propping 

 up inferior eggs for market as understand its real 

 purpose. 



The United States Department of Agriculture 

 has defined various grades of eggs. In its bright 

 lexicon are no such terms as "strictly fresh," "day 

 old," or even "fresh," although there is one clas- 

 sification to gladden the phrasemaker's heart: 

 "standard dirty." Such fanciful names or descrip- 

 tions as are applied to eggs as to banks implying 

 honesty, sincerity, thrift, stability and solid worth 

 are, of course, wholly outside government's pale. 

 Take the phrase "day old": it is a good catch line, 

 "fine for a flash," as we say in trade. But it means 



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