RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
I  I  I  I 
The  True 
of  White  E 
I  have  been  sending  poultry  products  to  New  York 
for  about  10  years,  but  I  must  say  that  this  feeding  for 
white  yolks  is  a  new  one  on  me.  I  know  of  no  better 
place  to  go  for  information  than  to  The  R.  N.-Y. 
New  York.  j.  M.  ackley. 
R.  ACKLEY  sent  us  a  letter  from  a  New 
York  dealer,  who  says,  among  other  things : 
In  reply  to  your  letter  asking  us  to  inform  you  why 
on  your  last  shipment  of  eggs  we  paid  you  31c  and  32c 
per  dozen  when  New  Jersey  eggs  recorded  45c  and 
other  nearbys  40c  and  42c,  we  state  it  isn’t  the  States 
that  are  recorded,  only  the  quality  of  the  eggs.  From 
the  State  of  New  Jersey  the  eggs  are  coming  in  strictly 
new-laid  white  yolks,  and  therefore"  they  are  worth 
more  money  than  poor  New  York  State  eggs.  It  seems 
to  us  that  (he  New  Jersey  farmers  pay  more  attention 
to  their  chickens  and  give  them  a  special  food  which 
makes  the  eggs  being  produced  with  white  yolks,  so 
therefore  they  are  getting  more  money  than  anybody 
else. 
It  appears  to  me  that  the  statement  is  somewhat 
misleading  when  he  says  the  Jersey  producers  feed 
Second,  size.  The  eggs  must  be  fairly  uniform 
size  and  weigh  not  less  than  24  ounces  to  the  dozen. 
They  often  run  as  high  as  2G  and  even  2S  ounces 
per  dozen. 
Third,  color.  The  shells  should  be  pure  white. 
Any  yellowish  or  brownish  tints  must  be  placed  in 
the  second  grade,  and,  fourth,  the  color  of  the  yolk 
should  he  a  light  yellow  instead  of  a  dark  or  reddish 
yellow  color.  Of  course  the  eggs  must  be  clean. 
Now  that  we  know  the  requirements,  the  question 
is,  why  are  these  qualities  demanded  by  people  who 
buy  the  best  eggs?  The  reason  is  obvious  that  peo¬ 
ple  should  want  large  fresh  eggs,  hut  it  would  nat¬ 
urally  appear  that  the  color  of  the  shell  and  yolk  are 
of  minor  importance.  This,  however,  is  not  a  fact, 
as  the  best  white  eggs  are  quoted  all  the  way  up  to 
24c  or  25c  per  dozen  more  than  brown  eggs  at  cer- 
way  into  cold  storage,  as  a  rule,  are  farmers  and 
farmerette?  who  keep  poultry  as  a  side  line  only, 
and  produce  eggs  from  mixed  flocks  principally  for 
home  consumption,  but  market  quite  a  large  surplus 
during  the  months  of  March  to  June,  when  they  are 
only  wanted  for  storage  purposes.  So  the  New  Yrork 
consumers  have  learned  that  cold  storage  eggs  are 
mixed  colors,  and  they  naturally  reason  that  mixed 
colors  are  cold  storage,  which  of  course  is  not  always 
the  case,  but  the  only  way  to  fool  them  now  is  to 
put  the  white  eggs  in  storage. 
In  regard  to  white  or  light-colored  yolks,  commis¬ 
sion  merchants  jump  at  every  possible  chance  to 
criticize  the  quality  of  the  eggs  which  are  entrusted 
to  their  tender  mercies,  and  light-colored  yolks  are 
the  latest  fad.  I  will  try  to  explain  why  this  is 
true.  White-shelled  eggs  which  are  produced  under 
Harvesting  Early  Apples  in  Southern  Ncio  Jersey 
their  hens  a  special  food  which  makes  the  eggs  be¬ 
ing  produced  with  white  yolks.  The  New  York  com¬ 
mission  men  never  dreamed  that  Jersey  eggs  were 
worth  any  more  than  other  eggs  until  the  producers 
organized  and  graded  their  eggs  up  to  a  fancy  ar¬ 
ticle,  which  is  sold  in  sufficient  volume  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  time  to  demand  a  special  quotation  in  the  mar¬ 
ket  reports.  Previous  to  this  California  eggs  usu¬ 
ally  sold  for  more  than  those  produced  in  New  Jer¬ 
sey.  Other  producers  who  look  at  these  quotations 
and  figure  how  much  money  the  Jerseymen  are  mak¬ 
ing  should  realize  that  only  a  comparatively  few, 
20  to  40  per  cent,  of  the  Jersey  eggs  are  good  enough 
for  the  best  grade,  and  all  the  remainder  must  be 
sold  at  lower  prices,  so  it  is  unreasonable  for  any¬ 
one  to  expect  top  quotations  for  ungraded  eggs.  The 
qualities  which  are  considered  cf  most,  importance 
on  the  New  York  market  are,  first,  freshness;  the 
eggs  must  be  gathered  promptly  as  soon  as  laid,  and 
kept  in  a  cool  place  not  more  than  a  week  before 
being  sold. 
tain  seasons  of  the  year,  and  unless  the  yolks  are 
reasonably  light-colored  the  wholesale  price  will  be 
cut  accordingly.  I  had  been  selling  white  eggs  on 
the  New  York  and  nearby  markets  for  several  years 
before  I  found  the  real  reason  why  people  prefer 
the  white  shells.  At  last  I  found  that  the  consum¬ 
ing  public  have  been  fooled  and  cheated  so  often  by 
retail  dealers  selling  them  cold  storage  eggs  as  fresh 
laid,  they  have  learned  by  experience  that  prac¬ 
tically  all  cold  storage  eggs  are  either  brown  or 
mixed  colors.  Of  course,  during  the  past  three  or 
four  years  there  have  been  some  white  eggs  processed 
by  the  Fairmont  .system,  and  held  in  cold  storage 
until  the  Fall  and  Winter  months,  but  even  these  are 
mostly  sold  as  fresh  by  the  last  middleman  who 
handles  them.  The  production  of  white  eggs  has 
gradually  been  developed  both  in  the  Eastern  States 
and  on  the  Pacific  coast,  by  commercial  poultry  farm¬ 
ers,  to  such  an  extent  that  there  are  always  fresh 
white  eggs  of  the  best  quality  on  the  market,  while 
the  producers  of  mixed  colored  eggs  which  find  their 
normal  conditions  on  most  of  the  Jersey  poultry 
farms  have  light-colored  yolks  naturally,  because 
poultrymen  have  learned  that  a  ration  containing  a 
fairly  large  proportion  of  wheat  produces  the  best 
results,  and  the  amount  of  green  feed  is  somewhat 
limited,  while  on  the  general  farm  a  corn  diet  is  too 
often  the  only  grain  feed,  supplemented  with  all  the 
grass  and  other  green  feed  the  hens  can  find  on  free 
range,  all  of  which  tends  to  produce  a  dark  yolk,  but 
the  worst  thing  a  person  can  do  is  to  follow  the  ad¬ 
vice  of  writers  who  advise  feeding  rape  to  laying 
hens  as  green  feed.  They  will  often  eat  so  much 
as  to  cause  the  yolks  to  be  very  dark  colored,  mak¬ 
ing  them  very  objectionable  to  anyone  who  wants 
good  eggs.  The  poultry  producers  of  Central  Cali¬ 
fornia  will  not  take  eggs  from  any  member  who 
feeds  his  hens  rape,  and  that  is  one  reason  why  the 
Pacific  coast  eggs  mostly  have  fairly  light-colored 
yolks. 
Again,  it  is  easier  to  candle  eggs  with  light  yolks, 
and  detect  the  blood  spots,  which  must  be  removed 
