1078 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



once while fresh. Send by express from the first of June to the 

 midddle of September; at other seasons of the year they can be 

 safely sent by fast freight lines." 



For any market the eggs should always be clean, and the 

 crates and barrels should present a neat, fresh, attractive ap- 

 pearance. 



Preserving Eggs. Eggs can not be kept "fresh" for any 

 great length of time, but if properly put up they can be kept 

 "good" for some months, and a great deal of money is made 

 every year by dealers who buy up eggs when they are cheap, 

 lime them, and hold until the price goes up. The following 

 (from the third report of the United States Butter and Cheese 

 Association) is the method of liming most used by dealers : 



"To make a pickle use stone lime, fine salt and water, in the 

 following proportions : One bushel of lime, eight quarts of salt, 

 twenty-five ten-quart pails of water. The lime must be of the 

 finest quality, free from sand dirt lime that will slack white, 

 fine, and clean. Have the salt clean and the water pure and 

 sweet, free from all vegetable or decomposed matter. 



" Slack the lime with a portion of the water, then add the 

 balance of the water and the salt. Stir well three or four times, 

 at intervals, and then let it stand until well setttled and cold. 

 Either dip or draw off the clear pickle into the cask or vat in 

 which it is intended to preserve the eggs. When the cask or 

 vat is filled to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches, begin to 

 put in the eggs, and when they lie say about one foot deep, 

 spread around over them some pickle that is a little milky in 

 appearance, made so by stirring up some of the very light lime 

 particles that settled last, and continue doing this as each lot of 

 eggs is added. The object of this is to have the fine lime drawn 

 into the pores of the shells, as they will be by a kind of induc- 

 tive process, and thereby completely seal the eggs. Care should 

 be taken not to get too much of the lime in; that is, not enough 

 to settle and stick to the shells of the eggs, and render them 

 difficult to clean when taken out. (The chief cause of thin, 

 watery whites in limed eggs is that they are not properly sealed 

 in the manner described. Another cause is the putting into the 



