MARKETING POULTRY PRODUCTS 331 



frequent periodic shipments in case lots can, as a rule, afford to ship 

 their own eggs.^ In such circumstances it becomes necessary that 

 some should collect and ship the- eggs of others. The collector 

 may be himself a producer ; this is most likely to be the case in 

 communities within easy shipping distance of a large market. At 

 other points the volume of poultry products to be handled usually 

 determines whether the collector will handle poultry products ex- 

 clusively or with other lines of produce. If the poultry production 

 of the community is small, the eggs are likely to be taken in bulk 

 at the grocery or general store, packed in cases, and sent either 

 direct to a large receiving center or to an egg and poultry packer 

 at a nearer point. If the community produces enough surplus poul- 

 try products to maintain a depot for collecting them, it will have 

 one or more concerns engaged exclusively in buying, preparing, and 

 shipping poultry products, or in handling these with such lines as 

 butter and cheese, — sometimes one, sometimes another line being 

 of first importance. Many creameries handle eggs as well as milk. 

 These various agencies handling eggs sometimes collect and some- 

 times are simply receivers, that being determined by local custom 

 or by individual interest. 



Most of the eggs gathered in this way go into the general mar- 

 ket through commission houses in the large cities, but large pack- 

 ing houses also handle enormous quantities. Eggs going to the 

 commission houses are sold direct to large consumers, hotels, res- 

 taurants, and bakeries, to retailers, and also to jobbers, who in turn 

 sell to retailers. Thus, between the time when it is laid, on a west- 

 ern or southern farm, and the time when it comes to the table in 

 an eastern city home, an egg may have a history as follows : (i) sold 

 to country store ; (2) shipped to nearest egg depot ; (3) sent to 

 city commission house; (4) sold to jobber; (5) sold to retailer; 

 (6) bought by consumer ; and in going from the farm to the table it 

 may travel several thousand miles, now by wagon, now by rail, and 

 be subjected to many handlings and one or two candlings before 

 it reaches the end of its journey. If it goes into cold storage, or 

 if a glut in one market leads to its being shipped to another, the 

 number of transfers may be still greater. 



1 Exceptions are instances where a small producer can develop a small family 

 trade in a near-by city. 



