HOW EGGS ARE MARKETED 
hucksters in southern Michigan working on a profit of one- 
half a cent per dozen, while in the mountains of Tennessee 
he found a huckster paying ten cents for eggs that were worth 
ear cents in Chattanooga, and twenty-three cents in New 
ork. 
The huckster scheme of gathering eggs would seemingly be 
a means of obtaining good eggs because of the advantage of 
regularity of collection, but in reality it does not always work 
out that way. While it must be admitted that in the isolated 
regions of the Middle and Southern States the presence of 
the huckster is the only factor that makes egg selling possible, 
it is also true that the peddling huckster of those regions 
usually disregards the first principles of handling perishable 
products. He makes a week’s trip in sun and rain with his 
load of produce, with the result that the quality of his summer 
eggs is about as low as can be found. 
In the more densely populated region with a twice or thrice 
a week, or even daily service, the huckster egg becomes the 
finest farm grown egg in the market. 
The second step in the usual scheme of egg marketing is 
the sale of eggs collected by the small storekeeper to the 
produce man or shipper. 
The Produce Buyer. 
Throughout the Mississippi Valley there are wholesale 
produce houses at all important railroad junctions. A typical 
house will ship the produce of one to three counties. These 
houses, once a week or oftener, send out postal card quota- 
tions. These quotations read so much per case, and are usu- 
ally case count, with a reservation, however, of the privilege 
to reject or charge loss on goods that are utterly bad. Each 
grocery receives quotations from one to a dozen such houses, 
and perhaps also from commission firms in the nearest city. 
The highest of these quotations gets the shipment. 
The buyer repacks the eggs and usually candles them, the 
strictness of the grading depending upon the intended destina- 
tion. The loss in candling is generally kept account of, but is 
seldom charged back to the shipper. The egg man wants 
volume of business, and if he antagonizes a shipper by charg- 
ing up his loss, the usual result will be the loss of trade. So 
the buyer estimates his probable loss and lowers his price 
enough to cover it. 
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