1 Ocr., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAT AOL 
PRESERVING EGGS. 
Lxcluding Air. 
The substances suggested and the methods tried for excluding air conveying 
micro organisms to the eggs, and for killing those already present, are very 
numerous. An old domestic method is to pack the eggs in oats or bran. 
Another consis!s in covering the eggs with limewater, which may or may not 
contain salt. The results obtained by such methods are aot by any means 
uniform. Some twenty systems were recently tested in Germany, the eggs 
being kept for eight months. In the result only three lots of eggs were found 
to be all good—viz., those which were varnished with vaseline, and those which 
were preserved in limewater or in a solution of water glass. Of these three, 
preservation in a solution of water glass is especially recommended, since 
varnishing the eggs with vaseline takes time, and limewater sometimes com- 
municates a disagreeable odour and taste. 
Several other methods have been tested in various countries. In Canada 
it was found that when packed in bran infertile eggs kept better than fertile. 
German experiments with brine yielded inconclusive results; in some cases the 
eggs so preserved were quite good, but in other instances the salt penetrated. 
the eggs. . ; 
Preserving in Water Glass. 
The preservation of eggs in water glass has often been tested of late in the 
United States, particularly at the North Dakota Experiment Station. Water 
glass or soluble glass is the popular name for potassium silicate, or for sodium 
silicate, the commercial article often being a mixture of the two. Itis sold in 
two forms—as a syrup, of about the consistency of molasses, or as a powder. 
According to the results obtained in North Dakota, a solution of the desired 
strength for preserving eggs may be made by dissolving 1 part of the syrup in 
10 parts, by measure, of water. If the powder is used, a smaller amount is 
required for a given quantity of water. The water glass offered for sale is 
sometimes very alkaline ; such material should not be used, as the eggs will 
not keep wellinit. Only pure water should be used in making the solution, 
and it is best to boil it and cool it before mixing with the water glass. The 
solution should be carefully poured over the eggs packed in a suitable vessel, 
which must be clean and sweet ; and if wooden kegs or barrels are used, they 
should be thoroughly scalded before packing the eggs in them. The packed 
egos should be stored in a cool place ; if they are placed where it is too warm, 
silicate is deposited on the shell and they do not keep well. It was found best 
not to wash the eggs before packing, as this removes the natural mucilaginous 
coating on the outside of the shell. One gallon of the solution was found to 
be sutticient for 50 dozen eggs if properly packed. It is stated that the shells 
of eggs preserved in water glass are apt to crack in boiling, but that this may be 
prevented by puncturing the blunt end of the egg with a pin before putting it 
into the water.— farmer and Stockbreeder. 
THE BELGIAN EGG TRADE, 
Belgium (writes the Cold Storage Journal) is a small country, having an 
area of 11,878 square miles, with a population of 23,895,413, and on the 
increase, so making one of the most thickly populated countries in the world, 
while 67 per cent. of the soil is under cultivation, 17 per cent, being under 
forest. No country offers a better example of the value of small holdings 
inland, inasmuch as the average farm does not exceed one hectare, or about 
2; acres. Every means is utilised to improve agriculture by a system 
of education at experimental stations, with the result that the produce 
from the land is yearly on the increase in the markets of Kurope. England 
takes about one-quarter of the exported products of the country. The more 
