LOSSES DUE TO BREAKAGE 423 



egg trade. Mind you, this percentage represents actual wastage, 

 and nothing more. It does not include the losses resulting from 

 decreased prices by reason of the inferiority of most farm eggs. 

 The losses attributable to the inferior quality of the bulk of our 

 egg trade are intangible, the same as the losses due to curtailed 

 consumption are intangible ; but they are real nevertheless. It is 

 doubtful if one hundred million dollars a year would cover them. 

 The most significant testimony to this statement is found in 

 the twenty or more grades of low quality eggs, selling at low 

 prices, and their relation to a few grades of high class eggs, which 

 sell at high prices. The farmer's eggs comprise the bulk of the 

 low grade marks, which include storage eggs, and sell at prices 

 from a third to two-thirds the value of strictly fresh, prime eggs. 

 The following is a typical set of wholesale quotations in the New 

 York market for December: 



Nearby hennery whites, fine to fancy 76 to 82 cents 



Nearby hennery browns 57 to 63 cents 



Fresh gathered extras 54 to 55 cents 



Extra firsts 52 to 53 cents 



Firsts , 48 to 50 cents 



. Seconds 42 to 46 cents 



Refrigerator extras 38 to 39 cents 



Refrigerator firsts 35 to 36 cents 



Refrigerator seconds 32 to 33 cents 



Refrigerator thirds 30 to 31 cents 



Limed extras 28 to 29 cents 



Limed firsts 26 to 27 cents 



Limed seconds 24 to 25 cents 



No. I dirties, refrigerator 23 to 24 cents 



Checks 22 to 24 cents 



It is not possible, of course, to bring the entire egg crop of the 

 country up to the level of the "nearby hennery whites," but it is 

 possible to create a vast improvement in the lower grades, which 

 improvement will redound to the benefit of the farmers. Strange 

 that they do not see it this way ! 



Breakage. — Next to heat, the greatest damage is occasioned 

 by breakage. Indeed, it is nip and tuck which is the most in- 

 fluential factor in piling up our monument of worthless eggs — 

 heat or breakage. A broken egg is such a malicious sort of 



