Eggs, an important product of the poultry yard. Commercially speaking, the world's annual production of eggs yields more money than all the gold mines several times over. The value of the eggs consumed in Great Britain in 1903 is estimated at $63,000,000. According to United States Consul Mahin, the incredible number of 2,361,867,640 eggs, selling at from 24 to 48 cents a dozen in the cities, were imported into England during 1903. The small farmers of Denmark, living on two and three acre farms, lead the world now, it is said, in the scientific production of eggs. Their sales have risen from 50,000 dozen in 1870, the year of the Franco-Prussian War, to 35,967,000 dozen in 1908. The Danish Cooperative Egg Export Association has a membership of 33,500 egg raisers, divided into 500 local circles. Each circle collects the eggs produced on the farms of its members, and ships to the general association. All profits of the association are returned to the circles and by them to the members. Each egg must be clean, and be marked with a rubber stamp with the number of the circle and the number of the member delivering it. In this way, bad eggs may be traced to the original seller, who is fined $1.34 for the first offense and double that for the second. Eggs must be delivered to the association before they are seven days old. A producer is required to gather every day, and, in hot weather, twice a day. The association receives eggs at eight shipping centers. All eggs are tested with electric light and assorted by quick-fingered women into six sizes. The favorite weight in the market is that of 7 1/4 eggs to the dozen. The entire cost of handling eggs from the nest until they are on board the steamer, en route for England, is 1 1/2 cents per dozen. In this way the Danish housewife gets all her eggs are worth, and consumers receive eggs of excellent quality. The Koreans have a queer way of bringing eggs to market. The eggs are laid end to end on a wisp of grass. Another wisp is laid on top. A shred is wrapped about and tied between each two eggs. These eggs are sold by the roll or stick. American farmers formerly took eggs to market packed in oats or bran. The egg-case now in use holds thirty dozen. Sheets of pasteboard with slips of the same material form cubical compartments, one for each egg. In the egg-laying season, a large part of the American product goes into cold storage for winter sale. According to Mr. Hastings of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture, the total loss to the egg trade caused by needless deterioration runs into large figures. The causes of the losses and their estimated proportion to the total crop value are summed up as follows: Dirty eggs, 2 per cent; breakage, 2 per cent; chick development or heated eggs, 5 per cent; shrunken or held eggs, 5 per cent; rotten eggs, 2.5 per cent; moldy or bad flavor, 0.5 per cent; total 17 per cent. The corn belt is the center of egg production. Eggs are shipped eastward and westward, not by the case or car, but by the train load. Canadian eggs brought over the border pay a duty of five cents a dozen. The annual value of the eggs produced in the United States varies from $145,000,000 to double that sum. Iowa leads with 100,000,000 dozen, closely followed by Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri. The average price paid producers is between 15 and 20 cents a dozen. The production of eggs is so distributed that it is hard to realize that, if all the eggs of the United States for a year were packed properly in cases and put aboard cars, a train of over 800 miles in length would be required to transport them. Our eggs for 1905 were worth $280,000,000 or more than our wheat or hogs or sheep or sugar. Cattle, cotton, and corn are the only rivals of the American chicken. A hen's egg is reputed to contain six parts of white, three parts of yolk, and one part of shell. It is composed of lime, fat, salt, albumen, and water. The fresher an egg, the heavier it is. If kept cool and dry, shut in from air, an egg will keep sound, though not fresh, indefinitely. The egg of a duck is richer and more strongly flavored than that of a hen. The eggs of geese and turkeys are too valuable for the ordinary market. The variation in the price of eggs at the large distributing centers may be noted in the following tables of prices. All prices are here given in cents per dozen: New York Chicago Boston Year Apr. 1 Sept. 1 Dec. 1 Apr. 1 Sept. 1 Dec. 1 Apr. 1 Sept. 1 Dec. 1 1908 . . . . . 17 30 52 16 21 29 20 31 48 1907 . . . . . 17 1/2 22 38 16 19 28 18 23 40 1906 . . . . . 21 25 40 18 20 30 22 26 42 1905 . . . . . 19 26 39 16 21 27 19 27 39 1904 . . . . . 19 24 38 18 21 27 19 25 38 1899 . . . . . 14 1/2 21 24 13 16 1/2 20 13 1/2 17 25 1894 . . . . . 12 19 27 10 15 21 13 22 30 1889 . . . . . 14 1/2 16 1/2 29 10 1/2 14 1/2 24 15 22 32 See CHICKEN; BIRD; DUCKBILL; POULTRY; NEST; FEATHERS.