»/5 
American Agriculturist, mi 
The sure road to 
poultry success 
five weeks old 
G UIDE chicks safely through 
the critical first five weeks— 
save the chicks most poultrymen 
lose—and you’re traveling the 
sure road to poultry success. 
Life-Saver Steam-Cooked Chick 
Feed actually does save chicks’ 
lives. It’s a na tural food—made 
from a combination of choice cut 
oatmeal, cracked corn, cracked 
wheat, cracked kaffir-corn and 
cracked peas, with just the gran¬ 
ular firmness needed to develop 
baby chicks’ digestive systems. 
It’s more digestible, too, because 
it’s steam-cooked and dried by 
an exclusive H-O process that 
eliminates entirely fatal bowel 
disorders. It does not become 
sour or musty. 
Chicks fed on it from the first 
48 hours to five weeks grow 
faster, lay quicker and are ready 
for market sooner Mail the 
coupon for sample and literature. 
Manufactured only by 
Feed Dept. 3 
THE H-O CEREAL CO., INC. 
Buffalo New York 
STEAM-COOKED CHICK FEED 
Saves the Lives of Baby Chicks ” 
The H-O Cereal Co., 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
SEND ME FREE sample, price and literature on your Life-Saver Steam- 
Cooked Chick Feed. 
Name. 
Address. 
3-5-2 4 
Roofing! 
Buying the best dBSOOSOSBaOtg 
is greater economy today than ever before. 
ARMCO INGOT IRON 
is pure rust resisting iron and lasts from five 
to ten times longer than ordinary steel roof¬ 
ing. It is by far the most economical roof in 
years of service you can buy. (We make stock 
tanks.) Write for illustrated catalog. 
American Iron Roofing Co. Sta. 77, Middletowu,0. 
trnn Patolncf in colors explains 
T ree uaiaiog how you can save 
money on Farm Truck or Road 
Wagons, also steely or wood wheels to fit 
anyrunning 
gear. Send for 
it today. 
Electric Wheel Co. 
2 Elm St., Quincy, 111. 
SELDOM SEE 
a big knee like this, but your horse may 
have a bunch or bruise on his ankle, hock, 
■ j stifle, knee or throat. 
m3 
*nT*v 
j* 
will clean it off without laying up the 
horse. No blister, no hair gone. 
Concentrated—only a few drops required 
at an application. $2.50 per bottle delivered. Describe 
your case for special instructions and Book 8R Free. 
W. F. YOUNG, Inc., 579 Lyman St., SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
G D Sanitary Seamless Strainew 
Improved filter removes dirt. Solid 
drawn steel. Easy to keep sweet and 
clean Full twelve-quart capacity. Will last 
« lifetime. 'Send oo money Pay S200 and 
postage on receipt. Money bach if not satisfied. 
Write for our free Dairymen’s Supply Catalog. 
GOW1NC D1ETR1CH CO., Inc. 
207 W. Water St. Srr»cm«. N. Y. 
'"'■■■■I.Will CutYourBacteHaCount 
How an Egg Auction W orks 
An A. A. Radio Talk Broadcast From IVEAF 
T HE marketing of 
r 
eggs in New York 
City is based on prin¬ 
ciples which have 
been in effect ever since the beginning of 
life, supply and demand, but the detailed 
methods to be practiced must change to 
suit the times. My experience during the 
past two years has been with the market¬ 
ing of eggs from the Pacific Coast Cooper- 
By E. W. BENJAMIN 
Sales Manager, Pacific Egg 
Producers Cooperative 
of 
pressed his choice the 
bidding begins again. 
Occasional shifts are 
made from one group 
to another so as to 
distribution and 
grades to anuLiier so as to assure 
maximum distribution and minimum 
delay for those buyers who are waiting 
for one particular line. 
At times the bidding may stop below 
the price which the seller is willing to ae- 
I trust you will pardon me for illustrating 
my points by references to the work and 
product of these Associations. 
The Poultry Producers Cooperative 
Associations on the Pacific Coast are 
composed of about 8,000 commercial 
poultrymen and women, owning nearly 
5,000,000 hens. Most of the farmers 
producing thes’e eggs are specialized 
poultrymen with flocks of one thousand 
to 40,000 hens. 
Buy Day-Old Chicks for Stock 
In most instances the flocks are renewed 
ative Poultry Producers Associations, so cept; in such a case a withdrawal price is 
announced, and the bidders may start 
bidding at that level or the eggs will be 
held by the owners for later offering. 
An Opportunity for the Seller 
With one hundred or more real buyers 
on the auction, including wholesalers, job¬ 
bers, chain-store buyers, and retailers, 
there is a tremendous buying capacity 
available and the sellers have a fine oppor¬ 
tunity to measure supply and demand and 
to hold the prices as high or low as seems 
best. 
The auction sells eggs more rapidly 
each year by purchasing day-old chicks than the old method of private trading 
hatched in commercial hatcheries. No with the usual bickering between tbe 
roosters are kept with the flocks laying buyer and seller, and it automatically fixes 
a price at which the available quantity 
of eggs will just meet the demand. No 
eggs can be sold on auction at much less 
than their value because there are always 
enough bargain seekers among the buyers 
to bid the price above a sacrifice level. 
Low prices one day usually attract 
enough buyers the next day to give the 
market satisfactory support. 
With a fairly steady supply of various 
grades coming to the auction, a consider¬ 
able following of customers will come to 
the auction to obtain their regular sup¬ 
plies. They come, planning on their ten 
to 500 cases, not knowing what they will 
pay for them but knowing from experi¬ 
ence that the auction price is bound to 
be equitable for both buyer and seller. 
the market eggs, so these are infertile. 
The uniformity and mild sweet flavor 
of these eggs are undoubtedly due to 
grain feeding and modern methods of 
handling as usually exist on henneries 
whether near by or on the Pacific Coast, 
but the high degree of standardization of 
the breed, and methods on the Pacific 
Coast, probably account for the excep¬ 
tional uniformity of these eggs, case after 
case being just alike. 
Soon after the poultry industry on the 
Pacific Coast attained importance, the 
local Pacific Coast markets became 
glutted and the competitive buyers there 
seemed unable to meet the situation sat¬ 
isfactorily. From force of circumstances, 
which is, I believe, the most vital factor in 
all cooperative successes, the producers 
formed several sectional- associations, 
beginning in 1916. These separate asso¬ 
ciations worked independently in develop- 
Satisfactory to Seller and Buyer 
The seller can not hope to obtain more 
than his eggs are worth; and the wise 
ing their local markets and establishing buyer does not expect to buy at less than 
their product in the Eastern markets, 
particularly New York, but they soon 
discovered that they were duplicating 
their efforts and competing with each 
other. In 1922 the Associations agreed 
to market their eggs jointly in the East 
and the result was the Pacific Egg Pro¬ 
ducers Cooperative, Inc., a New York 
Corporation. 
Practically a Thousand a Minute 
During 1923 the Pacific Egg Producers 
in New York owned by the farmery sold 
51 per cent, of all the shipments from the 
entire Pacific Coast to New Tork, which 
comprised about 10 per cent, of all of New 
York City’s receipts from all sources dur¬ 
ing that year. In moving such a volume 
of eggs, it was necessary to base prices on 
an accurate measure of value as deter¬ 
mined by supply and demand; the auction higher prices, before an individual dealer 
method of selling was believed to best would be able to convince his segregated 
serve this purpose and was adopted No- group of private buyers that values were 
vember 24, 1922. During the first year’s higher, 
operation 203 auctions were held, at , A 
which 188,000 cases of 30 dozen eggs each Responds Quickly to Influenc 
were sold; 5,800 sales tickets were deliv- It is contended that the auction, with 
ered to customers during the auction sell- its quick response to every influence, 
ing, and the average rate of selling for the and its equal attractiveness to both large 
year was 940 dozens per minute. 
The attendance has varied from one 
hundred to over two hundred bikers. 
real value. The auction is-the most ac¬ 
curate and most practical method of ar¬ 
riving at correct values we have ever 
found. 
When there is an over-supply of eggs 
in the market the only cure is to increase 
buying. Holding up the prices makes 
matters worse. It is to the producer’s 
best interest under such conditions to 
lower the price quickly before an accu¬ 
mulation has resulted, and begin to in¬ 
crease the buying in the early stages of the 
probable decline. The auction does this, 
and while doing it, eggs are sold and a rea¬ 
sonable average price obtained while 
otherwise the eggs might be held until 
after the decline has come. 
It is also found that with the first ap¬ 
pearance of firmness, the auction ex¬ 
presses this condition in the form of 
How the Auction Operates 
An auction catalog is published each 
morning listing the various brands and 
quantities offered by each shipper; a 
twelve-case sample for each line offered 
is ready for inspection at noon. After the 
buyers have inspected the samples for 
size, color and quality, they congregate 
in the salesroom at 2 P. M. and the auc¬ 
tioneer begins his work. The successful 
bidder is given his choice of the best lines 
and small buyer, will, if properly handled, 
by shortening the offerings and using 
withdrawal prices during abnormal de¬ 
pressions, and increasing the offerings as 
much as possible during firm periods, tend 
to equalize the market; this serves a most 
important function for the buyers and 
consumers. In a weak market, by causing 
prices to decline quickly, the auction 
lessens the magnitude of the decline and 
similarly, on the advances, it helps to 
avoid the radical advances. A radical 
decline usually means that many eggs will 
be-unduly sacrificed and a radical advance 
curtails consumption abnormally and 
and can take any quantity from ten cases both the producers and consumers suffer, 
to all of any one line. After he has ex- (Continued on page 487) 
