40 BULLETIN 51, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



mixed hj shaking, and a small portion of the mixture was trans- 

 ferred to a sterile 4-ounce bottle containing pieces of sterile glass; 

 the large sample was for chemical analyses, the smaller one for 

 bacteriological examination. If the specimen represented 9 or more 

 eggs, the eggs were collected in a suitable container and mixed, a 

 bacteriological and a chemical sample being taken. The samples 

 were frozen in a sharp freezer 12 hours or less, packed in chilled, 

 cork-insulated boxes especiallj^ constructed for the purpose, and 

 shipped by express to the laboratory, where the}^ arrived hard 

 frozen. About 3 hours were required for transportation from E 

 house and about 12 hours from D and F houses. 



The sam]3les were taken on the successive weekly visits made at 

 D, E, and F houses during the season of 1912. A section in each of 

 the tables containing the laboratory results of this research indicates 

 the time and place of sampling. For example, F-5, in Table 14, 

 signifies that the sample was taken on the fifth visit to F house. 

 The number of eggs represented in each sample varied from 4 to 

 360. 



JULY AND AUGUST FIRSTS. 



Since strictly fresh- eggs are not used in the United States for the 

 preparation of frozen and clesiccatecl eggs, ho studies were made of 

 this gi'ade opened under commercial conditions. During the latter 

 part of July and August, however, when receipts are not only light 

 but also low in quality and cheap, eggs commercially graded as firsts 

 are sometimes used to piece out the regular supply of breaking stock. 

 The firsts of the summer and autumn months differ before the candle 

 from the firsts of the spring months in that the former are much 

 more shrunken, the yolks more opaque, and the whites are less firm. 

 Firsts, also commercially termed " storage-packed No. 1 eggs," con- 

 stituted a large percentage of the breaking stock used in F house 

 during the season of 1912. They were graded from the daily re- 

 ceipts and held in chilled rooms until needed to fill out the regular 

 quota of eggs for the breaking room. 



On the last two visits to F house samples were taken of the liquid 

 egg broken from five lots of firsts, each representing 15 dozen eggs 

 (see Table 14). Care was taken during the process of breaking to 

 eliminate all eggs which might have a deleterious effect on the liquid 

 product. For example, from one sample an egg with a green white 

 was discarded and from a second an egg with a broken yolk which 

 at one time had been adherent to the shell. Some of the firsts had 

 cloudy whites, but such eggs were not discarded in the preparation 

 of these samj)les because laboratory studies proved that they were 

 not infected. 



