630 



Californian Poultry Raising and Marketing. [Oct., 



The depot consists of a large rectangular building of one 

 storey, situated near the railway station, and having sfdings and 

 loading platforms along both sides, a third platform being 

 provided at one end of the building for the convenience of 

 automobiles. 



Eggs are delivered in boxes of 30 dozen each from the rail- 

 v^ay truck, or, if the farmer lives in the vicinity, from his 

 motor car. The quantities marked on the card attached to the 

 box by the farmer are compared with those entered on a card 

 inside the box, which is then re-nailed lightly. The boxes are 

 stacked upon a small platform very much like a sled and sent 

 to the re-sorting men upon an ingenious four-v^heeled trolley. 

 This is run underneath the loaded sled and jacked up by a 

 single movement so that the sled runners are clear of the 

 ground. Piles of boxes are kept upon the sleds so that they 

 can be conveniently moved at any time with very little labour, 

 and with practically no risk of breaking the eggs. The boxes have 

 already been marked by the farmer according to the grade of 

 eggs which they contain. If a box contains eggs of more than 

 one grade they are resorted and made up into full boxes by the 

 re- sorters. 



The complete boxes are then inspected to ensure that their 

 contents reach the standard required for the grade. The eggs, 

 which are packed in cardboard frames of 3 dozen each, are 

 transferred in one movement to somewhat similar metal frames 

 running on a grooved table. They are swiftly looked over by 

 experts who pick out any which are over or under size, dirty 

 or of a bad colour. The frames are pushed along the table 

 by the inspectors and the eggs are re-packed in boxes as they 

 reach the end, the w^ire frames being shut up and returned 

 along an overhead rack. 



The re-packed boxes are nailed up on the spot and removed 

 on the sleds above described for shipment. 



The extreme simplicity and effectiveness of this grading pro- 

 cess is due almost entirely to the education of the individual 

 farmer in the methods of the institution. The great majority 

 of the members can be trusted to gxade their own eggs with 

 considerable accuracy, and the inspection is actually only neces- 

 sary to ensure a standard common to all the consignments and 

 to detect occasional errors. 



For the same reason, candling is very little done, except in 

 the case of new^ members or for other special reasons. All the 

 farmers whose eggs pass through the depot are themselves 



