PRESERVATION OF EGGS BY COLD STORAGE. 23 
result that the original shipper seldom sees the condition of his goods 
when they are withdrawn from storage. For example, the packer 
in the producing section may sell to a commission man in the East, 
who in turn may sell to another dealer. Upon withdrawal from 
storage the eggs may go into another buyer's hands before they are 
finally graded for the retail market. In addition to buying accord- 
ing to shrinkage before the candle and weight, dealers in storage 
packed eggs should demand that the cases be practically free from 
cracked eggs. This factor has received too little attention in the 
past, taking into consideration the fact that the average of 19 cracked 
eggs per case as the eggs leave the shipper's hand frequently furnishes 
half of the bad eggs developing during storage. In the final analysis, 
the original packer must bear the burden of expense of the stale, 
dirty, cracked, leaking, and bad eggs included in the storage grade, 
for, in order to play safe, buyers must pay a lower price for the whole 
package than they would if sure of receiving cases containing only 
large, clean, fresh eggs with whole shells. If there is no direct 
market for the cracked, dirty, shrunken, and leaking eggs in the shell, 
their initial quality can be conserved by breaking and freezing in 
cans. Ordinarily there is a good market for frozen egg products 
of high quality. 
SHRINKAGE OF EGGS AND ABSORPTION OF MOISTURE BY CASE AND FILLERS. 
The changes in weight of eggs, case, and fillers were studied in 
three different storage rooms. All the weighings were made in the 
room where the eggs were held, because it was found that the cases and 
fillers frequently gained in weight if removed to a higher temperature. 
A sensitive scale was used. First the gross weight w as found ; then 
the eggs were transferred to a second case, and the fillers and the 
case weighed. The net weight of the eggs was determined by differ- 
ence. After weighing, the eggs were returned to the original cases 
and fillers, so that the periodical weighings during the storage period 
were made on the same cases, fillers, and eggs. 
There was an almost regular decrease in the net weight of the eggs 
during the course of the storage period, amounting to an average of 4.48 
ounces per case per month for eggs stored in Room 1, and 3.46 ounces 
per month for eggs stored in Rooms 2 and 3. In Room 1 the decrease 
in the gross weight of a case of eggs weighing initially 56.84 pounds 
gross and 45.80 pounds net was 25.29 ounces and 38.20 ounces, 
respectively, during a storage period of 9.2 months. In Room 2 a 
case of eggs weighing 57.33 pounds gross and 45.01 pounds net at 
the beginning of the season lost 12.73 ounces gross and 26.14 ounces 
net after 9 months in storage. These typical results show, then, 
that attempts to determine shrinkage of eggs by finding changes in 
weight of the total package alone, a procedure frequently followed 
commercially, give misleading figures (Table 10 and fig. 8). 
