22 BULLETIN 775, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
with, this added expense there was a saving of 37.5 cents per case in 
favor of the carefully packed eggs which amounts to $140 per carload 
of 400 cases in spring stocks stored until after November. 
In the summer commercial firsts and seconds careful packing did 
much to reduce the number of bad eggs developing during storage, 
but it did not offset the losses due to the lower initial quality of the 
entering material (Table 9 and fig. 7). 
It is believed with a little attention given to the checking of the 
accuracy of the sorting of eggs for storage, the number of cracked 
and dirty eggs missed could be greatly lessened without materially 
reducing the amount of work accomplished. In addition, since the 
detection of cracked eggs depends upon hearing distinctly the sound 
emitted on tapping the eggs together, noises in the work room should 
be eliminated as far as possible. Far greater efficiency, however, 
j<//V£r^/K4/.£ 4/M> &/#rr &GGS (£*/> <s/s/s) 
\33 ?<9 
Pig. 7. — Relation of care in initial sorting to number of bad eggs in refrigerator seconds (data given as bad 
eggs per case from Table 9). 
would be obtained by candling all eggs entering storage. Realizing 
the importance of having a uniformly graded product, some of the 
more progressive western houses make a practice of candling all eggs 
stored, at the same time enforcing a checking system 1 to see that the 
work is accurately done. This is a big step forward, for by candling 
the cracked eggs can be more accurately eliminated, and low quality 
and bad eggs may be detected and discarded. Under such a system 
the graders become so skilled that their work is as accurate as that of 
the carefully packed stocks of this investigation. 
Such eggs, being practically free from mold after several months 
in storage, are an advertisement to the firm selling them, and in 
practice it has been found that their more uniform quality has 
secured for them special outlets with higher prices. According to 
the present system of marketing, storage packed eggs may pass 
through several hands before they are finally consumed, with the 
i TJ. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 702. 
