INTRODUCTION. 



THE value of the eggs placed in cold storage for 

 preservation is estimated at about $20,000,000 

 annually for the United States alone. Considering 

 the importance the industry has already attained, its 

 rapid growth and future outlook, the amount of ac- 

 curate information available to those engaged in the 

 business seems very meager. The difficulties to be 

 overcome, the skill required. and the importance of a 

 well designed structure are not usually explained by 

 those interested in promoting new enterprises in this 

 line, and consequently not appreciated by those mak- 

 ing the investment. Financial disaster has over- 

 taken many large companies who have erected costly 

 refrigeratingwarehouses; thosewhich have succeeded 

 have been forced to install new systems, make expens- 

 ive changes, and make a thorough study of the prod- 

 ucts handled. The experience of nearly all has been 

 emphasized at times by heavy losses paid in claims 

 made by customers for damage to goods while in 

 storage, or the necessity of running a large house 

 while doing a very small business. Those about to 

 become interested in the business may find food for 

 thought in the above, and the history of a dozen 

 houses, in diiferent localities, will be good information 

 for would-be investors. 



The scarcity of knowledge on the subject in hand, 

 while being partly the result of the half developed 

 state of the art until very recently, is also very 

 largely owing to narrow-mindedness on the part of 

 some of the older members of the craft, who have 

 largely obtained their skill by years of experience 

 and study, some of them having expended large sums 

 on experimental work. The same experiments have 



