EGGS OF VARIOUS KINDS AS FOOD. 189 



through a ring. The average-sized ones must enter a 

 ring $ centimetres in diameter, the small ones a ring 

 3 centimetres 8 millimetres in diameter. The legalised 

 charges in the public markets of Paris are ; for mirage, 

 or examining the eggs, 6d. the 1,000 ; testing their size 

 by the ring, l|d. the 1,000. 



In a dark cellar in Paris, under one of the markets 

 devoted to the sale of dairy produce, by the light of a 

 candle, the troublesome operation of examining eggs is 

 carried on, for not a single egg enters into consumption 

 in Paris without having been thus examined. It is to 

 be regretted that similar official scrutiny is not followed 

 in London. 



It is said that oval eggs are better than round ones. 

 No less than 200 modes of cooking an egg have been 

 published. 



The fowls which lay large eggs, averaging about seven 

 to a pound, are La Flfeche, Houdans, Crfevecoeurs, and 

 Black Spanish. Those laying medium eggs, averaging 

 eight or nine to the pound, are Leghorns, Cochins, 

 Brahmas, Polands, Dorkings, Games, and Sultans. The 

 Hamburgs lay smaller eggs, eight or ten to the pound. 



There are many debatable points yet to be settled 

 about eggs. Has the hen in her ovary more or less 

 than 600 eggs ? Are there races of fowls which pro- 

 duce more eggs than others, and do hens lay in a 

 short space of time all the eggs they wiU produce in the 

 year. 



The egg traffic of the United States is now exceedingly 

 large. The aggregate transactions in the city of New 

 York alone are said to amount to £1,600,000 in value. 

 In Cincinnati and other cities the sale is proportionally 

 great, and the total sales of eggs in the States have 

 been estimated to reach £12,000,000 in value annually. 

 Large as is, however, the indigenous production, the im- 

 ports of eggs reach 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 dozen a year, 

 chiefly from Canada. 



The export of eggs from Canada doubles about every 

 four years. In 1882, 10,500,000 dozens, valued at 



