DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 283 



as from breakage, when being moved from place to place. If 

 the producer is careless about any of these points, many of his 

 eggs will be tainted or stale or beginning to rot when they are 

 only a few days old, and though he may call them fresh eggs 

 and try to sell them as such, he will not get the highest price 

 for them. The small collectors are also likely to be careless in 

 handling eggs, and to ship them to receivers in bad condition. 



The receivers in the cities, whose whole business is in perish- 

 able products, cannot afford to handle goods in this slipshod way. 

 They candle the eggs that are forwarded to them to determine 

 the quality; and pay for eggs not only according to their external 

 appearance, but also the appearance and condition of the pack- 

 age in which they are received. Candling eggs consists in passing 

 them before a bright light, as in testing to determine the fertility 

 of eggs that are being incubated. When the egg is held before a 

 light, the expert candler can tell in an instant whether it is fresh 

 and good and, if not, just what is wrong with it. Except when 

 kept at almost freezing temperature, eggs that have begun to 

 decompose continue to deteriorate quite rapidly. Sometimes a 

 lot of eggs is candled several times and the bad ones removed, 

 before it reaches the last dealer who handles it. 



Market poultry and pigeons are sold both alive and dead. 

 Most dead poultry is dressed (that is, has the feathers re- 

 moved), but pigeons and guineas are often marketed dead with- 

 out plucking, and occasionally turkeys are treated in the same 

 way. Live birds lose weight in transportation, especially when 

 they are shipped in crowded and badly ventilated coops. Fre- 

 quently many birds in a shipment die before their journey is 

 over. Because of such losses, and because the price per pound 

 of the best dressed poultry is usually much higher than the 

 price per pound of the best live poultry, the impression that 

 it is more profitable for a producer to dress his poultry is wide- 

 spread. The result is that a great many people who have poultry 

 to sell dress it just as they would to use at home and, putting 



