Shipping Eggs.

This will yet be a more important industry than the raising of bird for shipment. The production and sale of eggs pays the poultryman much better than selling his birds, and there is an inexhaustible market for egg in London at the very time of the year when they are cheapest and most difficult to sell here. They could be shipped up to the end of November, to arrive in London in November, December, and January, when eggs an dearest there. After January eggs are plentiful, and prices fall.

Eggs cannot he shipped frozen, as they mostly burst in the process of thawing. There should not be any great difficulty in shipping successfully in a cool chamber. Six weeks on board ship is not a long time would be easy to keep eggs good for double that length of time ashore i as low a temperature. Unfortunately there are no cool-chambers so early in the season as October, though if the trade were once developed cool-chambers would soon be available.

The hints here given, it must be understood, are not the result of actual experiment in shipping long distances. They are the result of experience in preserving and shipping short distances only.

The points to be observed in preparing eggs for shipment, to be sold as preserved eggs, are:—

1.	To have them perfectly fresh and new laid when preserved, packed and shipped, A most essential point.
2.	To close the pores of the shell. This is a safeguard against decay and prevents shrinkage of the contents of the egg by evaporation. It also prevents its taking a taint from its packing, or from other carge placed near it. Dip in melted beeswax or rub with lard or salt butter In either case no more should be used than will close the pores, Wax is better than lard, butter, or fat, but much dearer. Dipping in a solution of gum arabic does very well.page 23
3.	To pack so that the eggs do not touch, and, if it can be done to advantage, to pack in an upright position. The upright position tends to prevent the yolk sticking to the shell, but increases the risk of breakage.

Any strong case or barrel will do to pack in. Well ripened oat or barley straw, free from damp or taint, may be used, 2in, of straw at bottom sides and top, and 1in. between each layer of eggs, A finer quality should be used to wrap the eggs, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty dozen in each case. To insure well-formed shells the hens should have a plentiful supply of lime-forming material, and no cracked or dirty egg should be packed.

There are two methods of assisting the eggs to keep fresh that I should like to mention. Both are preventive of the germs of decay. One is to wrap each egg in tissue-paper, prepared with salicylic acid the other is to smoke with sulphur : this may be done by filling a tight barrel two-thirds full of eggs without packing, and firing a pound of sulphur in an iron shovel in the vacant space, then closing the top for an hour.