BREAKAGE OP EGGS IX TRANSIT. 



29 



tion of eggs that there is less damage at the destination than at any 

 other point, considering the vast volume of goods handled. 



As previously stated, the eggs under observation were treated ex- 

 actly in accordance with t lie commercial routine, and I he final exami- 

 nation was made when the commercial handling ceased, whether that 

 was on the pier, in the freight yard, at the store of the consignee, 

 or in a private Avarehouse. Damage due to a transfer from the 

 pier to the store of the consignee or the private warehouse is much 

 less than is commonly believed. The occasional dropping of a case 

 or other mishap, serious in itself, is small when the huge volume of 

 business handled each day is considered. A comparison between the 

 handling at private warehouses and that at railroad terminals shows 

 that while the railroad handling is usually more rapid, it compares 

 favorably, on the whole, with the handling at private houses. 



In order to obtain a definite idea of the actual damage caused by 

 loading and unloading into wagons and hauling over rough city 

 streets, eggs were followed from the store of the dealer to the ware- 

 house where they were held in cold storage for several months, then 

 back again by wagon to the store of the dealer. Each egg was ex- 

 amined before and after the double haul. The wagon was light ; the 

 load was heavy; the haul, 2 miles each way; the streets traversed 

 were paved with cobblestones and were unusually rough; the hand- 

 ling at the warehouse included shifting to a second storage room and 

 high stacking of cases. In spite of this excessive hauling and hand- 

 ling, the damage, as seen from Table 14, was only 3.5 eggs per case, 

 or 0.97 per cent. This represents more than twice the amount of 

 handling the egg cases ordinarily receive between the terminal and 

 the store or warehouse. It may, then, be concluded that, with the 

 allowance of 1 egg per case as experimental error, the damage due to 

 the usual cartage is less than 1 cracked egg per case. 



Table 14. — Damage due to haul in light wagon over eobble-paved streets. 



Load No. 



Number of 

 individual 

 eggs ob- 

 served. 



Eggs damaged. 



Number 

 per case. 



Total. 



1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 6 



8 

 9 

 10 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 15 

 16 

 17 



1,080 

 3,240 

 5,400 

 5,400 

 5,400 

 5,400 

 5,400 

 5,400 

 5,400 

 5,400 

 2,160 

 3,240 

 4,320 

 4,320 

 4,320 

 4,320 

 4,320 



3 



5 



3 



3 



2.5 



4.5 



4 



4 



5 



3 



3 



3 



3 



3.5 



2.4 



2 



3 



8 

 44 

 42 

 43 

 38 

 65 

 53 

 57 

 77 

 49 

 18 

 25 

 37 

 41 

 29 

 26 

 35 



