13 



THE CAM PINES 



for, and brought the highest price. We vainly searched 

 for the Braekel egg, packed by thousands in their 

 wicker baskets. We heard after our return that the eggs 

 of the Alost district do not go to England, because they 

 bring on our market as high a price as the dealers can 

 sell them at in England. There come very eulogistic 

 reports from Denmark on the system applied in that 

 country by co-operative societies which collect and de- 

 liver their eggs in England. Thanks to the jealous care 

 which the Danes take to guarantee their honesty and 

 the freshness of their eggs and butter, they have suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining in England for Danish eggs the 

 highest price paid proportionately to the quality of the 

 merchandise. 



But so far nothing has been found to compare with 

 our admirable markets. Since the foundation of the 

 Braekel Club at Nederbraekel, three similar societies 

 have been formed in the Alost district, one at Erembode- 

 ghem, Dender Kieken at Orammont, and de Zwarte-kep 

 at Sottegem. Following the advice given by the National 

 Federation we have studied in harmony with the so- 

 ciety of Erembodeghem whose members bind themselves 

 to devote their efforts exclusively for the sale — as much 

 as possible in common for the sale — of their products, 

 eggs, chicks, pullets and hens. Before taking steps to 

 favor the foundation of an egg syndicate, we have taken 

 the advice of Mr. de Mulder. The latter answered us 

 that the eggs laid by the hens belonging to the mem- 

 bers of the syndicate would never be in sufficient num- 

 bers to make competition against established markets, 

 that, besides, intelligent farmers would prefer to sell 

 direct to the market and dealers rather than to accept 

 the control of such an organization. 



Quality of the Braekel Egg 



After all, the dealer in eggs is the best judge of an 

 egg-laying race; it is he who contributes the most to 

 the amelioration of the race in a practical way. These 

 dealers are in direct communication with the producers 

 and they do not only complain, but they pay less when 

 the eggs are too small, too long, too dirty, too fragile, 

 or not answering in every detail to the exigencies of 

 the consumer. These observations by being frequently 

 repeated and all the more by being weighted by a money 

 consideration are taken into account by the farmers, and 

 when they see that a neighbor returns from the market 

 with a cent more for each egg, they are not slow in 

 selling the old hens and replacing them with hens of 

 the variety of the neighbor, or even with the same fam- 

 ily of hens. 



The quality required for an egg of the Braekel hen 

 can be enumerated as follows: The shell is white, not 

 glossy and solid. The envelope which coats the shell 

 is so strong that when the egg is cracked or even partly 

 crushed in a basket the white does not run. The white 

 of the egg is very thick, elastic and keeps the yolk well 

 in place, so as to make the Braekel the best of all for 

 poaching. The pellicle holding the yellow is sufficiently 

 thick so that in breaking the egg the yellow remains 

 intact. The yolk of the Braekel egg is generally thicker 

 in proportion to the white than that of other eggs. It 

 is more highly colored. When the hens of different 

 breeds have been deprived of liberty and food, the 

 yellow of the eggs laid under those conditions will be- 

 come paler, whereas the yolk of the Braekel egg will 

 longer retain its fine deep color and its good savor, and 

 the hen will lay longer than any others. But the hen 

 herself will grow weaker and waste away and conse- 



quently is more subject to microbic diseases, whose 

 germs are spread everywhere and await but the anemic 

 condition of the organism which favors their development 

 and they are overcome by disease. (Good care of the birds 

 is necessary.) The size of the yolk of the egg corres- 

 ponds to the external form of the egg. When two eggs 

 of ordinary size are broken lengthwise, of say 60 grams 

 each, one being of round form and the other oval, the 

 yolk of the round one will be one-fourth larger than 

 that of the other. The size and the quality of the yolk 

 of an egg are of great importance in its value. The con- 

 fectioners in order to make certain pastry take 18 

 bVaekel eggs, but when they are obliged to take other 

 eggs they need, in order to obtain the same result, to 

 break another six eggs, of which they use only the yolk. 



This explains why the eggs quoted by the thousand 

 at Sottegem at (even dearer at Nederbraekel) 15 to 16 

 centimes apiece, are paid for there on the market, direct 

 to the farmer, higher than we pay for eggs in retail 

 at the shops in Brussels. In Brussels many of the eggs 

 are received from the Wavre market, from isolated 

 farms, from dealers of packed eggs or from small syn- 

 dicates which will vainly endeavor to compete with the 

 markets of the district of Alost. 



The flavor depends on many things. 



Packing 



Eggs are packed in straw, the freshest and cleanest 

 possible. Look at the packing of a thousand eggs in wicker 

 baskets serving for a long period of time for their trans- 

 portation. The dexterity of the good people employed 

 for that work in taking only good eggs, in manipulating 

 them without ever breaking one, in placing them firmly 

 so that not one can break is simply admirable. They avoid 

 carefully placing a basket of eggs beside fish. The food 

 of the hen and the physical condition in which she is, 

 exert their influence in a curious way. It suffices that a 

 hen should eat something of a peculiar taste, say for in- 

 stance onions and immediately her egg will taste of it; 

 the eggs laid in damp weather differ from others. The 

 eggs with the finest flavors come from hens running 

 free in prairies and orchards on the loamy soil of their 

 native districts. The race and the color ot legs and 

 other details still unknown have their influence on the 

 flavor of the egg. When last year we had the oppor- 

 tunity of doing the honors at the Avicultural Exposition 

 of Brussels to the ambassador of the Chinese empire, 

 this gentleman stopped with pleasure before the "Neg- 

 resse" chicken with white, silky plumage (Silkie.) He 

 seemed to enjoy similar feelings to what one experiences 

 when encountering a compatriot in a foreign land, and 

 took pleasure in saying that this breed is highly appre- 

 ciated in China for nothing else than for the delicacy of 

 flavor of its eggs. This information from so reliable a 

 source but confirms an old theory of the district of 

 Alost. It is due to the blue legs of the Braekel cock- 

 erel, the grain fed-chicks have a fineness of flavor — the 

 belief is widely current. This peculiar flavor is de- 

 veloped in cockerels at three months of age and capons. 

 It is already noticeable in Braekel eggs. Our deep re- 

 spect for the theories of the ancients has made me 

 deem childish and ridiculous the pretensions of some 

 foreign fanciers who have tried to impose upon us fancy 

 standards bearing upon the markings of the feathers to 

 the detriment of the production of eggs. These gentle- 

 men take their inspiration from England, ignoring the 

 Braekel hen, whose eggs have been the subject of the 

 preceding paragraph. 



