THE POULTRY AXD EGG INDUSTRY IX EUROPE 37 
The huckster who operates on his own capital and sells wherever 
he thinks he can find the best market is not so widely prevalent as 
in the United States. He is confined largely to sections of rural 
England. Ireland. Scotland. France. Italy, and Austria. In Den- 
mark, and the Netherlands, where farms are scattered, the huckster 
is replaced by the collector, who gather- eggs for a cooperative 
society or for a large retail dealer. In Denmark this collector is 
employed by the local cooperative societies or operates from a branch 
of some large egg collector. 
In countries which have the village and " strip " system of agri- 
culture, poultry is neces>arily confined to the villages, and the • 
are easily gathered in large lots. Thus, because all of the egg> are 
closely produced, they are often assembled by one person who may 
represent the farmers cooperatively or who may be a dealer in >•_ 
and they may be collected from several villages by a collector oper- 
ating from a larger town. It is not infrequent for the dealers in 
these .-mall villages to preserve eggs in limewater during the flush 
>ea>on for sale during the fall and winter. This concentration in 
villages also encourages the selling of egg> by auction or to private 
buyers on established market days. This system of community 
gathering and selling probably reaches its highest development in 
certain sections of France. Italy. Czechoslovakia, and Austria, but 
it is also customary in parts of other countries. 
In Hungary. Rumania. Bulgaria, and Poland there are few con- 
suming cities in proportion to the rural population. Distances are 
greater, farms are larger, and production of egg< more widely dis- 
tributed than in the more densely populated sections of continental 
Europe. Large percentages of the eggs produced in these countries 
are therefore exported, and the eggs flow in more well-defined chan- 
nels from producer to consumer. The trade is more generally organ- 
ized through large exporting firms which maintain their branches 
in various towns at which the egg> are concentrated, tested, graded, 
and packed for shipment. This system is similar to that of the large 
egg packers in the United States. The branch stations receive eggs 
from hucksters, country storekeepers, or farmer.- and ship them to 
larger packing houses for preparation for shipment. 
QUALITY BUYING 
Eggs are bought in Europe by weight and by weight and edi- 
bility, and by straight count: that i.-. without attention to interior 
quality, size, or cleanliness. In central and southern Europe eggs 
are ordinarily purchased without examination and at certain pi 
per dozen irrespective of size. The same method prevails in Great 
Britain and Ireland. 
Purchases on a strict quality basis are confined to the cooperative 
societies, which require each member to mark his egg- before de- 
livery. Their control extends to the nests of the hens, and their 
methods even affect the breeding for increased size of eggs. Their 
rules require that the egg> be gathered frequently and sold at least 
once a week. Their grading for size, as far as the producer is con- 
cerned, is done automatically by paying for eggs according to their 
weight, so the heavier the eggs the greater the return per egg to the 
member. Testing for interior quality is done by candling the eggs. 
