14 
BULLETIN 1385, I T . S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Europe, however, where the farmers live on the farms the poultry- 
gathering methods are similar to those followed under the same con- 
ditions in this country. Plucksters go from farm to farm (fig. 8), 
gather the poultry in crates or baskets, pay for it as gathered, and 
take it to country dealers, who concentrate it in large numbers for 
shipment to market in coops or in carloads. 
In the thickly settled portions of Belgium, the Netherlands, Eng- 
land, France, and Germany there is a much larger percentage of 
direct selling than in this country. The farmers themselves ma}*- 
take the birds to an open market and sell them direct to the con- 
sumer, or the huckster who buys from the farmer may take them 
direct to the large market and sell them to a wholesaler, or he may 
sell them in his own stalls on the public market, or, as is prevalent 
in southern Italy, the huckster may peddle them from house to house. 
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FIG. 8. — Huckster wagon in northern Italy. Eggs in boxes; chickens in crates 
In Denmark most of the eggs are gathered by collectors of coop- 
erative societies or private dealers and are paid for by weight at a 
price set at the beginning of the week. 
VILLAGE MARKET DAYS AND AUCTIONS 
Because the poultry and egg production is often localized in vil- 
lages, a system of village market days has been developed in certain 
sections of Europe. These markets occur usually on a certain day 
of each week. The villages may form, as in southern Italy, a circuit 
of market days, one village having Monday, the next village Tues- 
day, and so on throughout the week. At these village sales the 
larger buyers bargain direct with the villagers for their produce or 
