MARKETING EGGS 



467 



for thirty-three cents a dozen on the retail market and number 

 two for twenty-eight cents, while checks, or those found broken 

 but not leaking, and yet in candhng showed the contents to be 

 fit for food, sold for twenty-three cents. Why different 

 grades? It must be because of improper handling before 

 being placed in cold storage else they would have all been of 

 one grade. 



If the following rules were carried out by the different 

 parties handhng the eggs from the hen to the consumer, there 

 would be a greater part of the 17 per cent, loss saved, which 

 percentage runs into an economic saving of millions of dollars 

 a year in the United States alone. 



The farmer should keep only pure-bred stock of the gen- 

 eral purpose breeds, as the Rocks, Wyandottes, Reds or Orping- 

 tons, unless he intends to enter the commercial egg-production 



|/0^^^^st;;Qijaiilyyew^^ 



Fig. 192. — The proper way to pack and deliver eggs. These cartons can 

 be bought on the market very cheaply, about one-half of a cent a piece. 



field, in which case the Mediterraneans, as White Leghorn or 

 Minorca, may give better results. He should not keep stunted 

 birds in his flock, or breed from birds that have gone through 

 serious illness. Strength and vigor in the birds must be kept 

 in mind in making selections in egg as well as for other 

 production. 



The house must be kept clean, the birds free from vermin, 

 and only good clean food given. 



Pullets for early laying should be hatched early. For the 

 heavy breeds February and March, and for the smaller breeds 

 the last week in March or first week in April. Poultry on the 

 farin must be given the care and attention it deserves, not log- 



