Preserving Eggs for Use. 
43 
the bottom. Screw each egg in paper, rather loosely, so that the paper may present edges and 
folds, which will keep them from moving much in the bran, and bed them so that there is a clear 
inch between them, and also to the sides of the box. Fill in bran level with the eggs, after which 
cover with a sheet of paper, and add an inch of bran as in the bottom. If a second layer of eggs 
is necessary, cover with a third sheet of paper and proceed as before. The bran must be bedded 
in rather tightly, or as it settles it will get very loose. The well-known biscuit tins, of the size 
which contain about a cubic foot, make capital boxes for eggs packed in this way, and the covers 
only need tightly cording down. Wooden boxes must be either corded or screwed, nails being 
on no account used for fastening the cover, as the jarring of the hammer is very injurious. 
Sawdust may be employed in the same manner as bran, and in an emergency oats may be used, 
but other grain is too solid. Bedding in moss is perhaps the best method of all where it can be 
be obtained ; and where it cannot, for fragile Bantam eggs cntton-wool or wadding should be 
employed. For other kinds, when moss cannot be had, we preferred to send our own eggs 
in small round baskets or hampers made for the purpose. The proper size for ten Brahma eggs is 
ten inches across and six inches deep. Two inches of soft hay are put in the bottom, and a circle 
of hay an inch thick round the circumference. The eggs are then to be loosely wrapped in paper, 
leaving the ends square and not tucking them round, and each one being separately wrapped 
in a good wisp of soft hay, they are bedded in, by no means tightly, but only solid enough to 
keep them in position. Some more hay on the top completes the packing, after which the cover 
is tied down with a packing-needle. For sending a long voyage we would pack the same way, 
only using a strong wooden box with a screw-down cover or slide instead of the basket, and 
allowing more hay round the sides ; we would also pack rather tighter. A package much 
recommended by some American fanciers consists of a wooden box, with a hay-cushion outside 
the bottom, formed by standing the box on a piece of canvas, then gathering the latter up at the 
edges, tacking it round the box an inch from the bottom, and stuffing with hay. A handle on 
the top is also added, and is a really good thing ; but we believe the cushion part of the arrange- 
ment to be bad. The only consignment from the States we ever received which was packed on 
this system failed ; and while we would build no conclusion on this alone, we would add that we 
made many and careful dynamical experiments on the empty box afterwards, which demonstrated 
beyond a doubt that, whatever might be the effect on the eggs, the mechanical effect of the outside 
cushion was greatly to increase the effect inside the box of any exterior concussion. The cushion 
in reality acts like the spring-board employed by acrobats, and the interior of the box is far more 
violently shaken than if none at all were employed. Hence we conclude unhesitatingly that 
whatever jars or concussions are to be encountered should be received by the rigid box itself, 
as “ dead ” as possible, and be neutralised by proper packing within. The most perfect way of 
transmitting by rail, beyond a doubt, would be to suspend by a string or from a handle ; but the 
authorities will very rarely take the trouble. The too common practice of packing in small 
« pottle” baskets eggs simply wrapped in paper, or loosely bedding in bran eggs almost touching 
each other, cannot be too strongly condemned. It may be done through ignorance, but with 
regard to eggs for which a high price is paid is really little better than a swindle. 
It is often worth while to preserve eggs for winter use, and there are several methods of doing so. 
One of the best, much used in France, is to smear them with olive oil, in which a little beeswax has 
been melted. Many persons use butter, but this is apt to turn rancid, which the oil and wax varnish 
never does. Another method is to pack them in brine ; and thus kept they answer for many 
purposes, but the yolks become too hard and the whites too salt to be palatable boiled. Packed 
tightly in dry, white salt, they do better, and are pretty good even for boiling after six or eight 
