PRAIRIE FARMER'S POULTRY BOOK 



premium for fresh eggs from the country will refuse to pay 

 that premium if the eggs are not strictly fresh, clean, uniform 

 in size, and first-class in every way. Live poultry won't com- 

 mand the top prices if it isn't fat, and dressed poultry must be 

 fat, clean and attractive in order to bring a high price. Quality 

 goes hand in hand with better methods of marketing, but in no 

 product is it more important than poultry and eggs. 



Private Customers 



Many farm women have secured better than market prices 

 by selling eggs to private customers. In small towns the 

 margin paid over store prices is often not more than two or 

 three cents per dozen. The development of the parcel post 

 has extended the private customer field to distant cities, and 

 with the city trade has come a much better premium over the 

 local egg markets. 



Mrs. Chas. Plondke of Grant county. Wis., charges private 

 customers five cents more per dozen than the local market, 

 and the customer pays all expense of shipping the eggs and 

 returning the empty cases. 



Mrs. Clara Elfrink of Cook county. 111., has 14 customers in 

 Chicago who pay a premium of several cents per dozen for 

 C&&S. "We got our first customer nine years ago through the 

 Chicago postofilice, and the others were friends of the first 

 customers," she writes. "We ship in egg cartons, using the 

 two, three, and four dozen sizes, according to the customer's 

 needs. We ship mostly by parcel post, but occasionally send 

 large shipments by express. We are only 30 miles from Chi- 

 cago, and in good weather our customers often drive out for 

 their eggs, dressed poultry, vegetables and fruit. When we ship, 

 the customers pay the postage and insurance. We have had 

 no trouble in regard to pay, as all have been prompt." 



Mrs. Otto Schulz of McHenry county. 111., ships eggs in 

 12-dozen crates to Chicago families, several families dividing 

 a case when one can't use that many eggs. "I have followed 

 this plan for three years and am well pleased," she writes. 

 "I get a couple of cents above market price, and my customers 

 pay the parcel post charges. I am also selling dressed geese, 

 ducks, young roosters and feathers to the same customers, 

 charging less than they can buy them for and at the same time 

 giving me more than I could secure at the butcher's or the store. 

 Chicago people are glad to pay well for fresh eggs and poultry." 



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