326 POULTRY CULTURE 



Sorting eggs for color. Uniformity in the color of the shell 

 is desirable, even .though the market has not a color preference. 

 Mixed lots of eggs do not look as well or sell as readily as lots 

 of uniform color. Eggs are classed according to color, as white, 

 gray, and brown. 



White eggs are not, as a rule, of a dead-white color, though that 

 is sometimes found ; they are nearly always slightly tinted. Eggs 

 that are uniform in color and look white unless closely compared 

 with something whiter may be classed as white. 



Gray eggs are eggs that are plainly not white, yet not dark 

 enough to be considered brown. The color of the shell usually 

 tends toward black rather than toward red or brown, but extremely 

 light-brown eggs may be classed as gray. 



Brown eggs exhibit a wide range of color, from a light, golden 

 brown to a reddish chocolate. Ordinary brown eggs are light 

 brown. What are known to the trade as dark-brown eggs are 

 mostly medium in the range of shades of brown found in eggs. 

 Very dark-brown eggs are comparatively rare and are not often seen 

 in quantity. Commercially, the darkest-brown eggs are not favored 

 beyond the ordinary dark brown eggs. Where the range of shades 

 is so wide the uniformity of color presented by ordinary white eggs 

 graded with a little care can be secured only by a more discriminat- 

 ing selection than it is usually practicable to make. For all ordi- 

 nary trade purposes it is enough to make two grades of brown 

 eggs, light and dark (medium), discarding, as not brown, the white 

 or gray eggs sometimes laid by brown-egg stock, and packing the 

 darkest eggs with the medium. An appearance of greater uniform- 

 ity of color may be secured by a little care in placing the eggs so 

 that those of different shades are not placed at random but arranged 

 according to shade, not so accurately that the shades blend per- 

 fectly, but with care to avoid marked differences in shades of eggs 

 in adjoining compartments. 



Grading for size. Grading for size consists principally in dis- 

 carding from lots designed for ordinary trade all very large and all 

 very small eggs. The compartments of boxes and cases used for 

 packing eggs for market are usually of pasteboard sufficiently elastic' 

 to allow the larger eggs to spread the sides of the compartment, 

 the smaller eggs being placed in the adjoining compartments ; but 



