PREPARING POULTRY PRODUCTS 425 



radishes, lettuce, and tomatoes under glass bear to the 

 general production of vegetables. Fresh winter eggs, like 

 fresh winter strawberries, are out of season products and 

 should be paid for as such. For most persons, the straw- 

 berries eaten in winter must be preserved by canning and 

 saved over from the previous season. The eggs eaten out 

 of season by most of the consuming public must also be 

 preserved, usually in cold storage. 



The View-point of Preparation. — ^The preparation of a prod- 

 uct depends upon the purpose for which it is intended. As 

 was pointed out in the first chapter, there are numerous 

 channels through which poultry and eggs may reach the 

 consumer. In general, however, both products may be 

 designated for our present purpose as intended for imme- 

 diate or for future consumption. Immediate consumption 

 refers to those products which are delivered to the actual 

 consmner by the producer without the aid of any interme- 

 diate agency. This means retailing by the producer, unless 

 the producer is also the consumer, and is usually referred to 

 as "private trade." When the products are to reach the 

 consumer by any channel less direct, they must be considered 

 as intended for future consumption. 



In any discussion of proper methods of preparing poultry 

 products for consumption in those sections where production 

 is greater than consumption, the producer should have two 

 points clearly in mind: (1) the possible distance of the con- 

 sumer from the place of production and (2) the time that 

 may elapse before consumption. It is the quality of the goods 

 when they reach the table of the consumer, not when first 

 produced, that quickens or depresses consumption and has a 

 marked influence upon the price paid the producer.^ 



' It is not within the province of this work to discuss marketing save 

 in so far as an understanding of marketing conditions affects the prepara- 

 tion of the products. It may sometimes appear to the producer, however, that 

 as his products are likely to be marketed in a distant city after months 

 in cold storage, his pains in preparing poultry or eggs for consumption 

 are likely to be wasted. If his efforts are not spoiled by the blunder or 

 carelessness of some middleman, it is the middleman who receives the 

 added profit. 



Under the present systems of marketing farm products, this is undoubtedly 

 frequently true for all classes of goods- With the growth of the poultry- 



