COMMERCIAL EGGS IN THE CENTRAL WEST. 29 



Two of the eggs show decidedly high counts. The first, Sample 

 3006^, was a winter egg and had probably been held by the farmer 

 or merchant for a long time. The second high count, Sample 4108, 

 was a July egg, and its bacterial condition might be explained by 

 the fact that the shell showed signs of much handling, and the egg 

 had acquired a stale odor; The other samples of the series show low 

 counts ; there was an absence of B. coli throughout, even in the case 

 of the two high-count eggs. 



Six small lots of eggs, where deterioration had gone further than 

 in the type just described, were also examined for bacteria and loosely 

 bound nitrogen. The number of organisms was negligible; the 

 amount of loosely combined nitrogen was higher than had been pre- 

 viously noted. All of these eggs would have been discarded by a 

 careful grader because of the yellow color of the white. Just where 

 to draw the line, however, is not a simple matter. Practical expe- 

 rience would indicate that when the white of the egg was normal in 

 color and when the filaments of yolk were entirely distinct from the 

 white, or when, if the seepage was by the diffuse rather than the 

 localized method, the outer zone of egg white was normal, the bac- 

 terial content was low and the loosely bound nitrogen did not rise 

 above 0.0038 per cent. 



WHITE ROTS. 



If the egg, where white and 3^olk are just beginning to mix by 

 either method of seepage, be held under commercial conditions, it 

 becomes what is known to egg candlers as a " white rot," or to some 

 as a "sour rot," but the latter is a misleading term and should be 

 discarded. The inexpert or careless candler fails to notice these white 

 rots; hence they are too often found in the breaking room; when 

 opened yolk and white are seen to be completely, or almost com- 

 pletely, mixed. Very frequently the mixture is much thinner than 

 the mixed yolk and white of a fresh egg and may or may not have 

 an offensive odor. Its appearance is never appetizing. Sometunes 

 scraps of membrane are seen, suggesting a disintegrated embryo; 

 again, the contents are thin, homogeneous, and pale j^ellow (see 

 PL VII). The series of eggs given in Table 10 is typical of eggs 

 having these characteristics. 



