470 POULTRY CTTLTURE 



The consumer should demand: 



New-laid eggs of good size and color, and insist that they be 

 clean. They should learn to distinguish a new-laid egg from a 

 stale egg, and a fresh egg from a storage egg. Demand com- 

 pensation for the bad eggs supplied by the seller. One should 

 be willing to pay a small premium for a strictly first-class prod- 

 uct, and in the cities they do. When eggs are purchased not to 

 overlook the fact that they are perishable, and that they, like 

 milk and butter, absorb odors, and keep them in proper refrig- 

 eration as pointed out before. 



Car Lot Shipment. — Eggs may be shipped in car-load lots. 

 Thirty dozen cases are used. The cases are so packed in the 

 car as to allow a free passage of air around the boxes. A scant- 

 ling holds the cases off the floor and allows a free circulation 

 of air under the cases. The average size car will hold about 

 400 cases. The bunkers are filled with ice but no salt is used. 

 The temperature must be about 33° F. to obtain the best 

 results. Salt in the ice will cause the temperature to fall too 

 low, which if it reached a point below 30° would be injurious to 

 the best quality of the egg since the egg freezes at about 

 28° F. 



Dressed poultry may be shipped in car lots. The boxes 

 are so placed that there is a free circulation of air around the 

 boxes. In dressed poultry the ice is often salted. The addi- 

 tion of 10 to 15 per cent, salt will cause a very low temperature 

 often as low as 7° above zero at the lower border of the bunker. 

 A new scheme in bunker construction has resulted in better 

 results in shipping dressed poultry. There is in this new 

 method, a metal net which receives the ice so that there is 

 a free circulation of air around the ice, and as a result the 

 temperature can be kept below 33° in the warmest part of 

 the car. 



The bunker is the compartment for ice at the end of the car, 

 the top opening is the hatchway, the side or wall of the bunker 

 next to the inside of the car is the bulkhead. The water is 

 drained from the car by a trap which prevents hot air from 

 rushing into the car. The car is insulated. 



How to Load Cars of Eggs. — ^Much of the heavy loss in 

 shipping carloads of eggs is caused by the cases being im- 



