HOW EGGS ARE MARKETED 
large cities. They are not numerous, however, and there is 
room for more. The reason the business has not been over- 
done is chiefly because of the difficulty of getting sufficiently 
really high grade eggs in the season of scarcity. Southern 
winter eggs are destined to relieve this situation more and 
more. 
Another great difficulty with a plan that attempts to buy 
eggs directly from the producer is that premium offered on 
the goods tempts the farmer to go out and buy up eggs from 
his neighbors. This brings disastrous results in the quality 
of the goods and the farmer must be dropped from the list. 
In order to make a success, a system of buying directly from 
producers must be based upon a grading scheme that will pay 
for the actual quality of the eggs. No fear then need be 
exercised as to whether the farmer sells his own eggs or those 
of his neighbor. 
The following extract from Farmer’s Bulletin 128 of the U. 
S. Department of Agriculture has been used as advertising 
“dope” in the sale of high grade eggs: 
“Under certain conditions eggs may be the cause of illness 
by communicating some bacterial disease or some parasite. It 
is possible for an egg to become infected with micro-organ- 
isms, either before it is laid or after. The shell is porous, 
and offers no greater resistance to micro-organisms which 
cause disease than it does to those which cause the egg to 
spoil or rot. When the infected egg is eaten raw the micro- 
organisms, if present, are communicated to man and may 
cause disease. If an egg remains in a dirty 'nest, defiled with 
the micro-organisms which cause typhoid fever, carried there 
on the hen’s feet or feathers, it is not strange if some of these 
bacteria occasionally penetrate the shell and the egg thus 
becomes a possible source of infection. Perhaps one of the 
most common troubles due to bacterial infection of eggs is the 
more or less serious illness sometimes caused by eating those 
which are ‘stale.’ This often resembles ptomaine poisoning, 
which is caused, not by micro-organisms themselves, but by 
the poisonous products which they elaborate from materials 
on which they grow. 
“In view of this possibility, it is best to keep eggs as clean 
as possible and thus endeavor to prevent infection. Clean 
poultry-houses, poultry-runs and nests are important, and 
154 
