The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
755 
Making Transportation Safe for Eggs 
[The following facts have been obtained from the 
American Railway Express Company as giving their 
side of the many troubles which occur in the express 
shipments of eggs. Our own comments on this impor¬ 
tant matter are given on another page. J 
Much egg 
IIILE every effort is being made to educate 
shippers and express employees on the hand¬ 
ling of all perishables, special stress is being laid on 
the protecting of eggs in transit. Eggs are perhaps 
the most fragile article of food that travels by ex¬ 
press, even more so than glass, and it has been found 
upon investigation that only a small 
part of the enormous loss of this com¬ 
modity can be attributed to careless 
handling; most of the trouble lies in 
the packing. 
The American Railway Express Com¬ 
pany has paid out, to date, for the year 
1020, to shippers or receivers of eggs. 
$1,207,000 in settlement of claims. Tt 
is estimated that in excess of 24,000,000 
eggs, or 66,666 “30-dozen” cases of eggs, 
with this commodity selling at 50 cents 
a dozen, were practically worthless 
when arriving at destination. Statis¬ 
tics show that the annual egg produc¬ 
tion of the United States during the 
past year was worth $1,206,000,000 and 
comprised 67,000.000 cases, or 2,010.- 
000.000 eggs. 
In experimenting with the honeycomb 
fillers Government tests have proved 
that after one trip they become very 
much weakened, the tips of the fillers 
are softened, bent and broken, and the 
filler absorbs moisture from the eggs. 
It is estimated that after one trip the 
strength of the honeycomb filler is re¬ 
duced to about one-fifth. The express 
authorities advise that no second-hand 
strawboard honeycomb fillers of any 
sort should be used in the shipping of 
eggs, and the express company does 
not pay claims in case of breakage 
when such second-hand fillers have 
been used. 
There are a number of contributory 
causes in the preparation of eggs for 
shipment that make it almost impossi¬ 
ble to handle them without consider¬ 
able breakage. A very common cause 
is the use of newspapers in place of 
cushions with honeycomb fillers. For 
cushioning material newspapers offer 
no protection at all. The use of excel¬ 
sior pads at both the bottom and top 
of the crate and between the first and 
second layers is advised by the express 
company. About 00 per cent of egg 
breakage occurs in the top layer. 
Farmers often bring egg cases to the 
express office in their buggies or autos 
and standing on end. Upon inspection 
at shipping points it has been found 
that a number of the eggs have been 
broken. An egg in transit is handled 
on an average of 22 times from the time 
it arrives at the express office until it 
is delivered to the consignee. There is 
a possibility of breakage each time the 
case is handled, which makes it more 
necessary to see that this highly per¬ 
ishable food product is properly packed. 
Good packing not only protects the 
eggs, but often makes the product more 
marketable. For instance, eggs should 
he packed in fillers with the little end 
down, as the air cell is at the big end, 
and the eggs look much better. This 
naturally will help the product to bring 
better prices. Likewise, small eggs 
should be packed together and the 
larger ones together. 
Standard egg cases or carriers, some¬ 
times termed “gift” cases, should be 
made of hard wood and with dimen¬ 
sions not less than the following: 
Sides, top and bottom, three-sixteenths 
of an inch in thickness, and end cleats 
one and one-half by seven-sixteenths of 
an inch in thickness. In marking egg 
cases put the exact number of eggs, the 
shipper’s name and address and the 
consignee’s name and address on the 
end of each case shipped. Mark 
with stencil, good substantial tags, or 
heavy address card, firmly tacked 
down. If labels are used, paste them down securely. 
In the shipping of eggs the Chinese are really 
ahead of this country in providing safe methods for 
getting their product to market. They use the 
honeycomb filler, but it is of a superior material, 
doubled, each partition consisting of two strips, and 
each egg is held in a bed of soft rice hulls, which 
prevents it from touching the filler from all angles. 
This leads us to believe that the fragile, oval-shaped 
egg should not be shipped in a square container, but 
in one the shape of the egg itself. 
There are many ways in which shippers can assist 
in the general effort to bring about better handling 
of eggs by express, and the express company feels 
that with the co-operation of each and every one this 
great evil of eg 
breakage will 
be greatly reduced. 
breakage is caused by second-hand straioboard fillers, 
happened to the case of eggs in picture above. 
'**#mM*. 
A new type of filler which has proved successful. The substantial material of the 
filler, and the upright position in which each egg is securely held, keeps the strain 
off the side wall, its most vulnerable spot. 
90 
Newspapers, used as cushioning, do not afford ample protection for eggs. This 
method of packing is a violation of the express classification on egg 1 packing, and 
claims resulting from this practice are not paid by the American Railway Express 
Company. 
Planting Sprouts and Staking Potatoes 
S PROUTS ALONE.—Some discussion of the mat¬ 
ter of “sprouting” seed potatoes prompts me to 
report a few experiences that I have had in three 
years past, partly by chance, partly for demonstra¬ 
tion, in the growing of potatoes. My first report has 
to do with the planting of the sprouts 
themselves, with no part of the tuber 
attached. This I have practiced five 
years; first, for the sake of the oddity; 
next for the saving of high-priced seed : 
finally, because of the science involved 
and the almost startling results 
achieved. Of course our first trials of 
this new method gave no satisfactory 
fruits, for the sprouts were planted 
carelessly in the open beds, and they 
generally dried up without rooting. 
Then I began by starting the tiny 
plants in hotbeds and the greenhouse, 
keeping them there till each had a good 
handful of roots, when they were set 
out like tomato plants. In the seed bed 
we set the sprouts about 2 in. apart 
each way; in the garden or field about 
12 in. in the row. 
TIIE RESULTS. — Now for conse¬ 
quences: a full crop of the best tubers, 
entirely free from scab. As for yield, 
I might say that in conjunction with 
my second suggestion on culture we 
have had a yield as high as three bush¬ 
els to the rod. Bearing in mind that I 
am simply importing, not disputing, T 
ought to say little as to the why of 
this freedom from skin disease. The 
authorities all tell us that the germs 
of the disease are in the soil, and will 
attack our crop, even when the seed 
has been sterilized. My experiment 
makes me a heretic, for I have found 
that potatoes grown three years in suc¬ 
cession on the same ground are free 
from scab if no part of the potato skin 
has been planted as seed. 
STAKING POTATOES.—My further 
report, or suggestion, has to do with an 
operation that will start smiles of 
derision. I find that if we stake up 
our potato plant, whether it grew from 
sprout or tuber, we entirely solve the 
problem of small potatoes. Of course 
I am again preaching heresy, for do 
not all the doctors tell us that size and 
uniformity are a matter of heredity? 
Hill selection of seed at harvest time 
is supposed and declared to be the only 
remedy for small potatoes. I have for 
many years believed, against all the 
declarations of Die doctors, that the 
runt in potatoes, as in pigs, is largely 
a. result of accident in growth. Let the 
potato vine reach a height of a foot 
and it generally falls over. In doing 
this the functions of the stem are 
greatly interfered with, and the tubers 
on its roots are checked in develop¬ 
ment. Within a few days you may find 
a half dozen new stems starting below 
the point of the plant’s bend or frac¬ 
ture. These go on making stem and 
root growth, and of course new sets of 
tubers are formed, to the detriment of 
the original brood. Late in the season 
these secondary stems may be crinkled 
over, and the process of renovation 
(and probably resetting of tubers) is 
again started. Result: Several broods 
of imperfectly grown tubers, some 
small, some ill-shaped and an unsatis¬ 
factory general result. I can say from 
three years’ experience that I have 
never found an undersized tuber from 
a vine that has been kept from break¬ 
ing down. 
FURTHER RESULTS.—Now let the 
doctors have their laugh. Of course 
mv suggestion does not lend itself to 
practical application. Nobody could 
think of staking up an acre of potatoes. 
Never mind. We simply know what 
has been happening and what can be 
