Data available 

 on humidity 

 practically 

 nothing-. 



Evaporation 

 and mold can 

 be prevented. 



Questions 

 relating- to 

 humidity. 



CHAPTER II. 



HUMIDITY. 



INFORMATION on the subject of humidity, as 

 J. applied to the cold storage of eggs, is very meager. 

 Not more than a dozen of the replies received in 

 answer to the li& t of inquiries sent out contain infor- 

 mation on the three queries under the head of hu- 

 midity. Considering the amount of talk we have all 

 heard, with dry air as a subject, this scarcity of knowl- 

 edge is rather surprising. Those who have had ex- 

 perience with cold storage work and the products 

 handled are well aware that an essential for good re- 

 sults in egg refrigeration is a dry atmosphere in the 

 egg room ; but just how dry, very few are able to give 

 even an approximate estimate. Very likely if a cold 

 storage man is asked in regard to it, he will reply 

 that an egg room should be "neither too moist nor 

 too dry." What this "happy medium " is, that will 

 not shrink or evaporate the eggs badly, and yet keep 

 down the growth of fungus to a minimum, is what all 

 are striving for, and very few have the means of 

 knowing when this point is reached. A few years 

 ago a prominent commission man, in conversation 

 with the writer, speaking of storage eggs, said : 

 "You storage men are between the devil and the 

 deep sea. You always shrink 'em or stink 'em"; 

 meaning that eggs which" were held long in storage 

 would show either a considerable evaporation or a 

 radical " musty " flavor. To some extent this is true, 

 but with a penetrat-ing circulation, careful ventilation 

 and a judicious use of absorbents (all of which will 

 be considered under their proper heads) egg can be, 

 and are, turned out of storage without this strong, 

 foreign flavor, and with little evaporation or shrinkage. 

 The questions relating to humidity were written 

 with a full understanding of the scarcity of informa- 

 tion on the subject, and were designed to locate, if 



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