42 KGGS IN COLD STORAGE. 



found in every instance where trouble from excessive 

 shrinkage of the egg meat was experienced, that no 

 attempt was made to regulate humidity. It is as easy 

 to control humidity as it is to control temperature, and 

 with no bad effect on the other conditions in the storage 

 room, if we go about it in the right way. Ventilation 

 and the use of absorbents are agents which can be 

 utilized for this purpose. 



toie With a vigorous circulation of air, an egg room may 

 circulation. be maintained at a humidity which would be disas- 

 trous, if only a sluggish circulation was operative. 

 Why? Because a brisk movement of air around the 

 eggs removes the moisture and impurities as fast as 

 given off by the eggs. They are not allowed to remain 

 in the vicinity of the eggs to work mischief, but are 

 promptly hurried off to the cooling coils or absorb- 

 ents, where they are, for the most part, rendered 

 harmless. This seems to explain how eggs may be 

 carried sweet, and with very little evaporation, when a 

 well distributed forced circulation of air is employed. 

 With any gravity system, the circulation of air can- 

 not be controlled, because depending on the tempera- 

 ture of refrigerant flowing in the pipes for its velocity; 

 and as the temperature of refrigerant is regulated to 

 correspond with outside weather conditions (lower in 

 warm weather and higher in cold weather) the velocity 

 of circulation is not constant being least in the cold 

 weather of fall, when it is most needed. With a good 

 system of forced circulation installed, the problem, 

 then, is to proportion the circulation of air to the 

 humidity. We might take our humidity at the degree 

 which would come naturally, if no attempt were made 

 to control it, and speed our blower up or down to pro- 

 duce a circulation to match, but it would probably be 

 best to provide a circulation which would handle a 

 large volume of air at a brisk speed, and raise our 

 humidity to as high a point as would be safe. Refer- 

 ring to the table of correct humidity given in Chapter 



