HOW EGGS ARE MARKETED 
price will remain fairly uniform. By November the season of 
high prices is reached. If storage eggs are still plentiful and 
the weather is mild sudden variations in price may occur. 
These are caused by a fear that the storage eggs will not all 
be consumed before spring. If an oversupply of eggs have 
been stored a warm spell in winter will make a heavy drop 
in the market, but if storage eggs are scarce the sudden vari- 
ations will be up-shots due to cold waves. From November 
until spring egg prices are a creature of the weather maps 
and sudden jumps from 5 to 10 cents may occur at any time. 
The price curve of 1908, which is represented by the dotted 
line in plate IV will illustrate these general principles. In 
the lower portion of plate IV is given the curves for the New 
York receipts. ‘she heavy line represents the smoothed or 
norma] curve, deduced from eighteen years’ statistics and cal- 
culated for the year 1908. The dotted line shows the actual 
receipts of 1908. A comparison week by week of the receipts 
and price will show the detailed workings of the law of 
supply and demand. 
Aside from the weather there are other factors that per- 
ceptibly affect the receipts and price of eggs. A high price 
of meat will increase farm and village consumption of eggs 
and cut down the receipts that reach the city. Abundance of 
fruit in the city market will cut down the demand for eggs. 
A cold, wet spring will increase the mortality of chicks and 
cause a decreased egg yield the following season, due to a 
scarcity of pullets. Scarcity and high price of feed will cut 
down the egg yield. High price of hens is said by some to cut 
down the egg yield, but I think this is doubtful, as the impulse 
to sell off the hens is counteracted by the desire to “keep ’em 
and raise more.” 
The following are the quotations taken from the New York 
Price-Current for November 14, 1908: 
State, Pennsylvania and nearby fresh eggs continue in very 
small supply and of more or less irregular quality, a good 
many being mixed with held eggs—sometimes with pickled 
stock. The few new laid lots received direct from henneries 
command extreme prices—sometimes working out in a small 
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