788 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



uncovered on top. The latter method of packing eggs for ship- 

 ment from country stores was very prevalent during the seventies. 

 It is true that wooden cases with fillers were known at that time, 

 but the price, ranging from one dollar to one dollar and twenty- 

 five cents per case, was so high as to be well-nigh prohibitive. 

 The price was lowered during the later seventies, however, and 

 from then on the cases with fillers came into more general use. 

 The early system of packing, together with the rough handling 

 in common box cars in transit, caused a great deal of breakage. 

 When the egg shipment reached the central market, therefore, 

 it was generally in a deplorable condition. 



The reader may be led to wonder what sort of a middleman 

 from the central market could be induced to deal in eggs thus 

 offered by the country merchant. Who was looking for a product 

 representing widely different grades and still more varied histories, 

 delayed at uncertain intervals on the farm and in the country 

 store as well as during the period in transit ? The method of 

 handling eggs convenient at that time for the country merchant 

 and the farmer attracted just one group of middlemen in the 

 large cities, and they did not buy the eggs outright but handled 

 them for the country merchant, receiving a certain percentage of 

 the gross returns. When the country merchant desired to get 

 'beyond the local market, he found that this was the only class 

 of middlemen in the large cities who were willing to handle th^ 

 kind of product he wanted to sell. These middlemen did not 

 care, however, to take the risk of buying the country merchant's 

 eggs outright. It is thus evident that the only outlet for eggs 

 beyond the . local market during that early period was through 

 the medium of the commission man. 



It is estimated that the unnecessary waste of eggs in the 

 United States at present due to poor quality is at least 17 per 

 cent. The loss from this source during earlier years must 

 have been very much greater. It should also be remembered 

 that most of the eggs are shipped during April and May. The 

 large amount available at that time tended under the earlier 

 method to depress the price to its lowest figure. With present- 

 day facilities for storage unknown, few of the eggs could be 



