COMMEECIAL EGGS IX THE CEXTEAL WEST. 
Table 13. — Black rots — individual eggs — Conrimied. 
39 
Tq'&I numcer o: bi.c:e- 
ria per gran on plain 
Sample ^' '"■ ' agar incubaici ar— 
Deseription. 
■2y- c. 
1911. 
4059rjuly 13 
..do..... 
Oct. 9 
Nov. 7 
67,000,000 1,000,000 
11,000,000 5,400,000 1,000,000+ 
660,000,000; 180, (KX), 000 
160,000,000^ ^0,000,000 
Black under candle; contents -w-ere veiy ga^sy 
and had a frightful odor; clean shell: marked 
shrinkage; movable air celL 
Black under candle; bad odor on opening; 
clean shell; marked shrinkage; movable air 
celL 
Black trndCT- candle: shell dirty and stained in 
one spot with a damp feather, imdemeath 
which was a mold spot; balance of the e^ 
was a black rot. 
Black nnder candle: strong odor of hydrt^en 
solphki: inside of sheE and shell membrane 
black: shell not fresh looking; one-third 
sliririkji?. 
The maximum bacterial count was 6.300.000.000 per gram : the 
miiiimimi 5.400.000. B. col? were looked for five times and found futir 
times — in veiy large nimiber- except in one sample. 
COMPOSITE SAMPLES OF EGGS OPENED COMMERCL\LLY 
L\ THE PACKING HOUSE. 
The stndv of eggs oj)ened asei^tioallv in the laboratory is logically 
followed bv a stndv of eo^o^s broken comnierciallT in the packing 
hotise. For this investigation a large nnniber of samples were taken 
of the various types of eggs encotintered throtighont the egg-break- 
ing season of 1912. Tc was hoped that the laboratory results, to- 
gether with the characteristic appearance and odor of the diiferent 
classes of eggs, wotdd give a practical working basis for the grading 
of eggs tised hi the preparation of frozen and desiccated eggs. 
The commercial conditions imder which the eggs were broken 
are described in the discussion oi D. E. and F houses for 1912, 
in a forthcoming Department of AgTiciiltiire bulletin. The method 
of opening was in li-rief as follows : The eggs were broken on a ster- 
ilized knife edge, the two sections of the shell prdled apart with the 
thumb and first and second fingers of each hand, and the contents of 
the egg allowed to drop into a sterile ctip. After every infected egg 
which could be detected by the senses, the operator replaced the knife 
and cup with sterile ecpaipment and washed and dried her hands. 
The fingers were kept dry by means of tisstie pa|3er cr small towels. 
which were used btit once before latmdering. By this method the 
contamination of the liquid egg dtiring the process of breaking was 
reduced to a mmmium. 
If the sample consisted of less than 9 eggs, the licpiids were poured 
directly from the cups to a sterile 16-ounce salt-mouthed bottle, 
