Eggs of all Mediterranean breeds are white. Those of Asiatics are brown. Those of the American breeds are usually brown, but not of so uniform a tint.

The size of eggs is chiefly controlled by the breed or by selection of layers of large eggs. In a number of experiments published by various experiment stations, slight differences in the sizes of the eggs have been noted with varying rations and environment, but this cannot be attributed to anything more specific than the general development and vigor of the fowls. Pullets, at the beginning of the laying period, lay an egg decidedly smaller than those produced at a later stage in life.

The egg size table below gives the size of representative classes of eggs. These figures must not be applied too rigidly, as the eggs of all breeds and all localities vary. They are given as approximate averages of the eggs one might reasonably expect to find in the class mentioned.

EGG SIZE TABLE.
GEOGRAPHICAL CLASSIFICATION BREED CLASSIFICATIONS Net Wt. Per 30 Dozen Case Weight Ounces Per Dozen Relative Values Per Dozen
Southern Iowa's "Two ounce eggs" Purebred flocks of American varieties of "egg farm Leghorns." 45 lbs. 24 25c.
Poorest flocks of Southern Dunghills Games and Hamburgs. 36 lbs. 19 1-5 20c.
Average Tennessee or Texas eggs. Poorest strains of Leghorns. 43 lbs. 21 1-3 22 1-3c.
Average for the United States as represented by Kansas, Minnesota and Southern Illinois. The mixed barnyard fowl of the western farm, largely of Plymouth Rock origin. 40 lbs. 23 23 9-10c.
Average size of eggs produced in Denmark. American Brahmas and Minorcas. 48 lbs. 25 3-5 26 2-3c.
Selected brands of Danish eggs. Equaled by several pens of Leghorns in the Australian laying contest. 54 lbs. 28 4-5 30c.

How Eggs Are Spoiled.

Dirty eggs are grouped roughly in three classes: (A) Plain dirties, those to which soil or dung adheres; (B) stained eggs, those caused by contact with damp straw or other material which discolors the shell (plain dirties when washed usually show this appearance); (C) smeared eggs, those covered with the contents of broken eggs.

For the first two classes of dirty eggs the producer is to blame. The third class originates all along the route from the nest to consumer. The percentage of dirty eggs varies with the season and weather conditions, being noticeably increased during rainy weather. In grading, about five per cent. of farm grown eggs are thrown out as dirties. These dirties are sold at a loss of at least twenty per cent.

The common trade name for cracked eggs is checks. Blind checks are those in which the break in the shell is not readily observable. They are detected with the aid of the candle, or by sounding, which consists of clicking the eggs together. Dents are checks in which the egg shell is pushed in without rupturing the membrane. Leakers have lost part of the contents and are not only an entire loss themselves, but produce smeared eggs.

The loss from breakage varies considerably with the amount of handling in the process of marketing. A western produce house, collecting from grocers by local freight will record from four to seven per cent. of checks. With properly handled eggs the loss through breakage should not run over one or two per cent.

Eggs in which the chick has begun to develop are spoken of as "heated" eggs. Infertile eggs cannot heat because the germ has not been fertilized and can make no growth. That such infertile eggs cannot spoil is, however, a mistaken notion, for they are subjected to all the other factors by which