(i« THE it; u- xi>t text cook 



practice of pickling and liming eggs to preserve them; a practice that is 

 still followed but not so extensively since the advent of cold storage. A 

 pickled or a limed egg is not a very delectable article of diet as every good 

 housewife knows. The brown shelled blood (Asiatic) was not so common 

 on our farms then as now. The greater part of the eggs picked up by the 

 country collectors for preserving were white shelled, hence the ill-tasting 

 preserved egg was more commonly white than brown. 



The writer remembers an egg merchant who did a considerable business 

 "preserving" eggs for the Boston market, and it was said that he experi- 

 mented not a little to find a way to color the pickled eggs a brown that, 

 would have a natural appearance, but without success. 



Is it not reasonable then to infer that the "brown egg fad" had alogical 

 basis? 



Brown eggs were generally good eggs, white eggs were frequently of 

 inferior flavor as preserved eggs always have been and probably always 

 will be. 



Public opinion is not easily changed. A market that once demanded a 

 brown egg for good reasons would continue to demand it after those 

 reasons had disappeared unless some condition should arise to warrant a 

 change. 



So while we know that there is no difference in the eating qualities of 

 white and brown shelled eggs, and that as far as beauty goes the color or 

 absence of color on the shell is a matter of individual opinion, we must 

 give the market what it most desires, be it brown shelled or white shelled 

 eggs. 



WHAT THE TRAP NEST SAYS. 



Trap-nest records have shown us that the ability of a hen to assimilate 

 a generous ration and convert it to her own maintenance and a regular 

 and abundant supply of e^ys at the same time, does not, as a rule, in- 

 clude the ability to secrete color pigment in sufficient quantity to color 

 the eggs equally as fast as produced. 



It has been my practice to make note of the color of each hen's egg 

 from time to time, generally about once a month, by marking opposite 

 the bird".- number on the tally sheet a single letter to denote the shade 

 of color. Thus for a dark brown or chocolate, I use Ihe letter 1), a good 

 brown is marked I',, well tinted T. lightly tinted L, white \V. To one 

 who is studying the subject the information obtained in this way is well 

 worth the trouble. 



By this method I have loiind that with (he mo.-l regular and persistent 

 layers there is a marked and often a rapid decrease in the color of the 

 egg as laying progresses. A pullet (hat laid a dark brown egg when 

 beginning in the fall or winter would be laying a tinted egg in the 

 spring. On the record sheet woidd be found color marks ranginw from 

 l> to T, B to I,, or L to \V against the same bird's numbers. This has 

 not been a peculiarity of an occasional individual but has been a oeneral 



