LGGS A NE.CL55ARY OF LIFL. 129 



LE55ON XV. 



Eggs and Egg Production. 



IX this lesson we consider the egg and the subject of egg production from the "business** 

 point of view, aud lor the common people not versed in- any of the "ologiei*" into which 

 the study of the egg in most littingly introduced, or which may lie applied most interot- 

 ingly to the examination of the egg and the problems of egg production. 

 The egg owes its great commercial importance first of all to its food value. In it we have 

 combined as in few other simple food articles the qualities of delicacy and substantial nourish- 

 ing quality. Eggs alone constitute an important article of diet. But in the average family or 

 hostelry their use as a separate article of diet is second in importance to their use as an ingredi- 

 ent in an almost endless variety of dishes. Except in the homes of the well to do the use of 

 the egg as a separate article of diet depends largely on the relative prices of eggs and meat, the 

 general tendency being to use eggs freely when they are cheaper thau the popular cuts of meat, 

 and to l>e economical in their use when the meats are cheaper. 



The matter of cost also enters into the question of the free or economical use of fggs in cook- 

 ing, though not to the same extent, for so many are the common dishes requiring eggs for their 

 preparation that it is impossible for most housewives to make any considerable! eduction in tde 

 quantity of eggs used in that way without entirely changing the ordinary bill of fare. 



As lack of freshness and flavor are less noticeable in eggs when mixed with other articles, it 

 becomes possible, and is customary to use as "cooking eggs" eggs which served separately to> 

 most people would be rather unpalatable. Indeed it is a matter of common knowledge among; 

 poultrymen that the infertile eggs from an incubator, tested out the fourth or fifth day, mid 

 ready sale to bakers and possibly also to go into channels of more particular trade. Eggs, 

 preserved by various processes or kept in cold storage, and "held" eggs, that is, eggs kept, 

 without preservatives by the producers for weeks or even months in anticipation of rising; 

 prices, are also salable as "cooking" eggs. Of course these inferior eggs from various sources 

 are not as good even for cooking as nice, fresh eggs, but so many people are satisfied to use 

 them when the prices of fresh eggs are very high, that almost any kind of an egg that is not 

 actually bad will sell readily for cooking purposes. 



c* 



Evri:* sell according to their quality as they reach the buyer. This is true as a general proposi- 

 tion though some exceptions and seeming exceptions to the rule may be found. If they 

 reach the buyer in as good condition as they left the producer there is no occasion for differ- 

 ences of opinion as to quality and value, but it is only when they go direct from producer to 

 consumer that this is, generally speaking, possible. Most producers of eggs must send tlieir 

 goods to the consumer through channels of trade which require several transfers, more or le>* 

 delay, and sometimes exposure to deteriorating influences. Sometimes the producer can exert, 

 some degree of control over the vicissitudes to which the egg in transit is subjected by investi- 

 gating the course his goods take after leaving him, and selling to the middlemen who get then* 

 into consumption by the most direct route and with the least possible delay. It might be sup- 

 posed that as a matter of business every dealer in produce would do that, but as a matter of 

 fact there is a great deal of slackness in the handling of eggs, much more than in the handling 

 of poultry, which more quickly shows deterioration whether alive or dead. 



