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The Museum Gazette 



the egg be at all stale, this method does not appear to have the same 

 power of protecting it against further decomposition as the lime method- 



With any egg which has been pickled either by lime or waterglass, 

 it is necessary to pierce the shell with a needle or some fine instru- 

 ment before boiling, or the egg will burst when it becomes hot. 



The process of cold storing or cool storing eggs was very largely 

 attempted several years ago, and has resulted in considerable loss 

 to some who engaged in it. The eggs were repacked in special cases 

 with specially dried and cleansed packing material, either wood, wool, 

 or straw, and then placed in a cold store and kept some two or three 

 degrees above freezing. Should the egg be actually frozen it will burst 

 and be useless, but the effect of the cool storing hindered the develop- 

 ment of decomposition, and in some instances the eggs were kept some 

 months with satisfactory results. I have had no personal experience 

 of this method, but have understood that commercially it has not been 

 successful. Any eggs which were damaged or stale and became bad 

 affected those around them, and the result very frequently was a large 

 percentage of loss when the eggs were used. 



The practice of breaking the eggs in their fresh condition into cans 

 and freezing them is of American origin, Armour and Co., of Chicago 5 

 being, I believe, the first to start this process commercially. The egg 

 is broken in the ordinary way, and the white separated from the yOlk 

 or mixed, as is desired, and afterwards frozen in cans containing, say, 

 2 to 4 gallons each in a ordinary refrigerator. Treated in this way 

 the eggs will keep perfectly fresh for an almost unlimited time. In 

 twelve months there appears to be no deterioration, but where the 

 yolks are not broken along with the whites, there is certain tendency 

 to dryness, which in some cases has been troublesome to deal with 

 when the eggs are thawed. This is, however, a matter which 

 experience will largely rectify, and the process of freezing in this 

 way appears to be the one most likely to result in a satisfactory 

 preservation of eggs where cold storage is available. 



A large number of eggs from Canada are annually imported into 

 England glycerined, the shell having been annointed or the eggs 

 dipped in the glycerine. This process appears to have some advan- 

 tages, and the eggs are sold during the early spring months in 

 England in large quantities. 



Vaseline has also been tried in the same way, but does not appear 

 to have been so successful. I have no personal knowledge of the 

 methods in which either glycerine or vaseline is employed. 



A few years ago a patent was taken out for the preservation 

 of eggs on an entirely different principle. The eggs were placed in 

 corrugated racks, the racks separated from one another in boxes, and 

 the whole box closed by a hinged lid. The boxes were kept in 

 an ordinary warehouse, and were turned over every day. The action 



