STUDIES IN EGG-MARKETING 801 



from country merchants on the basis of mailed quotations which 

 are good on shipments made from local towns before specified 

 dates. In this way purchases are often made without the aid 

 of the field agent. The shipments thus received may be sold 

 largely to the retail trade or to hotels and restaurants. 



Another type of the cash-buying firm is seen in companies 

 ordinarily identified with the business of cold storage. These 

 are found in both larger and smaller cities and do their buying 

 through field agents or mailed quotations or, perhaps, through a 

 combination of these methods. Their sales, however, are usually 

 confined to carload lots which are shipped to other primary mar- 

 kets. The smaller storage plants usually make their purchases 

 largely for the purpose of immediate sale, while larger firms may 

 also hold considerable quantities of eggs for a future market. 



The far-reaching importance of cold storage in widening the 

 market in time as well as in space demands further emphasis. 

 Few appreciate the extent to which the conditions of egg supply 

 have been adjusted to the needs of the consumer at all seasons 

 of the year by means of the storage system. Some there are 

 whose limited and imperfect knowledge of conditions lead them 

 to urge that cold storage should be abolished entirely. They have 

 perhaps become familiar with certain abuses of the system, cer- 

 tain attempts to control supply and thus control prices. It may 

 be, too, that experience with eggs kept in storage has revealed 

 a deterioration in quality that has inspired general distrust as 

 to the efficiency of the system. Both of these evils have un- 

 doubtedly been operative. It is idle, however, to think of dis- 

 pensing with the use of a valuable mechanism such as this 

 simply because of the possibility of its abuse or because of its 

 earlier imperfections. 



Methods of cold storage have been so far improved that eggs 

 may be kept in good condition from spring until the follow- 

 ing winter. Vast quantities are stored during April and May 

 and furnish the reserves during months of relative scarcity. 

 Diagram I on page 802 shows the relative numbers of eggs 

 taken in to storage during the surplus months and the number 

 going out of storage each month as indicated in the records of a 



