40 BT7LLETI1^ 51, r. S. DEPAETMEXT OE AGEICITLTrEE. 
mixed by shaking, and a small j)ortion of the mixture was trans- 
ferred to a sterile 4-ounce bottle containing pieces of sterile glass; 
the large sample was for chemical analyses, the smaller one for 
bacteriological examination. If the specimen rej)resented 9 or more 
eggs, the eggs were collected in a suitable container and mixed, a 
bacteriological and a chemical sample being taken. The samples 
were frozen in a sharp freezer 12 hours or less, packed in chilled, 
cork-insulated boxes especially constructed for the i^urpose. and 
shipped by express to the la]x)ratory, where they arrived hard 
frozen. About 3 hours were required for transj)ortation from E 
house and about 12 hours from D and F houses. 
The samples were taken on the successive weekly visits made at 
D. E. and F houses during the season of 1912. A section in each of 
the tables containing the laboratory results of this research indicates 
the time and place of sampling. For example. F-5. in Table 14. 
signifies that the samjDle was taken on the fifth visit to F house. 
The number of eggs represented in each sample varied from -1 to 
360. 
JULY AXD AUGUST FIRSTS. 
Since strictly fresh eggs are not used in the United States for the 
preparation of frozen and desiccated eggs, no studies were made of 
this grade opened under commercial conditions. During the latter 
X^art of July and August, however, when receij)ts are not only light 
but also low in quality and cheaj), eggs commercially graded as firsts 
are sometimes used to piece out the regular supply of breaking" stock. 
The firsts of the summer and autmnn months differ before the candle 
from the firsts of the sj^ring months in that the former are much 
more shrunken, the yolks more opaque, and the wliites are less firm. 
Firsts, also commercially termed '* storage-packed Xo. 1 eggs," con- 
stituted a large j>ercentage of the breaking stock used in F house 
during the season of 1912. They were graded from the daily re- 
ceiT>ts and held in chilled rooms until needed to fill out the regular 
quota of eggs for the breaking room. 
On the last two visits to F house samples were taken of the liquid 
egg broken from five lots of firsts, each rexDresenting 15 dozen eggs 
(see Table 14). Care was taken during the process of breaking to 
eliminate all eggs which might have a deleterious effect on the liquid 
product. For example, from one sample an egg with a green white 
was discarded and from a second an egg with a broken yolk which 
at one time had been adherent to the shell. Some of the firsts had 
cloudy whites, but such eggs were not discarded in the preparation 
of tliese samj)Ies because laboratory studies proved that they were 
not infected. 
