580 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



returned to the farmer. Occasionally a difference is made between 

 first and second quality eggs. 



The fanner usually delivers the eggs to the storekeeper or packer's 

 agent by wagon. From these receivers they commonly go to a central 

 shipping plant, which is generally known as a "packing house," and 

 which handles goods in car lots. This plant may or may not be pro- 

 vided with the proper facilities for doing the work assigned it. To 

 get to the packer, however, the eggs generally go by train and in com- 

 paratively small quantities, therefore, as "less than car lots," or what 

 is known to the railroad men as "l.c.l.'s." For such small lots or 

 for short hauls the goods are picked up by a local freight. The wait 

 at the station, which is frequently only an open platform on which the 

 cases remain until the arrival of the train, is ruinous to quality when 

 the weather is warm. 



The haul in the "pick up" freight car, the temperature of which 

 is governed entirely by atmospheric conditions, results in rapid 

 deterioration in summer and oftentimes freezing in winter. 



The progressive packer, who generally handles poultry, eggs, and 

 butter, is now equipped with an artificially refrigerated chillroom 

 which maintains a temperature of 40 degrees or a little less. If he is 

 wise he rushes the eggs in cases into that room, stacks them loosely, 

 and chills thoroughly before shipping to his own market center. He 

 also candles in a room which is chilled, removing rotten eggs and 

 broken eggs and grading according to cleanliness, size, and, to a cer- 

 tain extent, freshness. After the packer has graded and repacked the 

 eggs in boxes holding 30 dozen each, with clean "fillers" as the 

 little strawboard racks which hold the eggs are called he ships them 

 to the market center, generally in car lots. This gives him a chance 

 to control the temperature of the car, keeping it iced in summer 

 or closing it to prevent freezing if the weather in transit happens to 

 be cold. 



It is not a difficult matter for the transportation systems to keep 

 egg cars cool enough in summer to insure quality, provided the eggs 

 are good when they are put aboard the car. But breakage during the 

 transit is a serious matter. Freight cars are shunted from siding to 

 siding; air brakes come down hard and the long train jars from 

 engine to caboose, and flying switches may occur while the cars are 

 moving rapidly. These are hard knocks for an eggshell to withstand. 

 Various devices have been and are constantly being tried by the rail- 

 roads to prevent the shifting of loads, but the breakage of eggs in 



