What is so rare as a ·good egg in in September or October! If ever there come perfect eggs, it seems my tough luck to miss them. 
This thought no doubt comes thru the mind of many a housewife as she breaks open a dozen or more high-priced eggs, and finds only a few that are usable

Plunkett, C. H.

English

"What is so rare as a ·good egg in in September or October! If ever there come perfect eggs, it seems my tough luck to miss them."
This thought no doubt comes thru the mind of many a housewife as she breaks open a dozen or more high-priced eggs, and finds only a few that are usable.</p

Plunkett, C.

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University (ISU)

work was done and at one o'clock school was called again. "An inspection of the improvised kit-chen showed us a row of tincups hanging on one side of the wall. Each child had his own drinking cup and used it. Drink-ing water was kept in a cooler in one corner. The water pails contained water for washing. Each child emptied his own basin and kept an individual towel on a hook just inside the school door. In some cases where more than one child came from a family the children had a 'family towel'. "In the cupboard were few utensils. Two pails which could be used as a double boiler in making cocoa, some tin cups for serving, a baking pan, a box of scouring powder and some large spoons had been found adequate. "Mrs. Schultz told us that every morn-ing a nearby farmer left several quarts of milk at the school and the cost was divid-ed among the childrens families at the end of every month. Eggs, potatoes or other special food planned for the day, was donated. "One of the most noticeable things about these children was that they had as much life in the afternoon as they had had in the morning. They did not be-come listless and restless toward the end of the day as children who have lunched on a cold pork sandwich and a banana or a pickle are certain to do. "A visit around the community showed us that the parents were enthusiastic THE lOW A HOMEMAKER Three Children Wash at a Time Each Child Has His Own Towel Which Hangs Just Inside the Door about the whole arrangement. One moth-er who had five children in school said that she had noticed an improvement in the health of every one of them since 'hot lunch had been started at school'." 7 The country schools which are still tolerating cold lunches and those in which a hot lunch has deteriorated into the mere setting of a coffee pot on the stove at noon, may use the Big Springs school as an example. A HOME SCORE CARD. For many years farm and home pro-ducts have been scored at fairs. In recent years babies have been scored at Baby Health Contests and now Dr. Caroline Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund, Hedger in charge of Child Welfare Work, Chicago, has prepared a health score card for children of different ages so that the parents can score them at home. This score card is -prepared in booklet form with full directions for use and kindly admonitions to parents to play the game squarely. First of all there is a score for parents in care of childen; not a score for pa-rents health, but a score for the care they give their chidlren. Then there is a score card for the baby from birth to nine months, and from nine months to two years. The child from two to six years, the school child, the adolescent boy and the adolescent girl, each have sep-arate score cards. It has been necessary to charge a small fee to cover cost but the entire booklet can be procured for 25c. Each page alone is 2c. This can be ordered through Mar-garet M. Baker, Specialist in Foods and Nutrition, Extension Service, Ames, Iowa. The Reason for the Addled Egg " W HAT IS so rare as a ·good egg in in September or October! If ever there come perfect eggs, it seems my tough luck to miss them." This thought no doubt comes thru the mind of many a housewife as she breaks open a dozen or more high-priced eggs, and finds only a few that are usable. Eggs rank with bread, milk and pota-toes as one of the well nigh indispensible items of food. Since they are such an important part of the family food budget, the housewife is vitally concerned about a steady and continuous supply of them at reasonable prices and of good quality. Price and quality long since have been divorced. Price changes from time to time but quality in so far as the house-wife who buys her eggs is concerned, re-mains ever the same- "punk." These conditions exist but what can she do about them? Scold the baby and complain to "hubby" when he comes home? Well yes, but how far will that get her toward a remedy? To point out a few remedies, for prevailing conditions, is one of the main objects of this story. There is no secret about egg market-ing processes, and no law against the housewifes' studying them with the full purpose of finding out where the trouble lies and what she can do toward making it right. Figures from city markets show that egg production exceeds consumption only during the months of March, April, May, June and July, leaving a period of seven months when normal consumption is greater than supply. That we do not go more or less eggless during these month s By C. H. PLUNKETT is due to modern cold storage methods, whereby the spring surplus can be stored and used during periods of scarcity. Eggs, when laid, aside from variation in size, are a very uniform product. But between the new laid egg and the egg that the housewife buys on the market, there is a vast discrepancy, as she knows only too well from bitter experience. A few of the basic factors which cause eggs to deteriorate while on their way to mar-ket, will be given below. The actual age of an egg is of much less importance than its environment. Wetting an egg shell is apt to result in the dissolving of the gelatinous coating by which it is normally protected. The con-tents will evaporate and leave the egg stale. Odors are absorbed, giving it a bad ftavor. Bacteria creep in and cause rotting. Molds begin to grow and give the egg a musty ftavor. Heat hastens all these processes, in addition to causing the development of blood rings in fertile eggs. Incubation goes on slowly between 68 o and 103 o Farenheit and rapidly be-tween 103° and 107° F . Strawboard fillers which hold eggs in cold storage are largely responsible for the characteristic "cold storage taste" of cold storage eggs. Moreover eggs, when taken from cold temperatures into warm-er ones, will "sweat" or collect moisture and odors from the surrounding air. It is apparent, then, that if the consum-er is to have a good edible egg, it must be guarded from the time it is laid, against excessive moisture, heat and strong odors. This means a revision of the habits of, first, the fanner who lets his hens have nests in the open air, and hauls his eggs to market without protec-tion from rain and sun; second, the small dealer who leaves eggs in the sun at the railroad station ; third, the retailer who leaves them in his store window exposed to room heat and the sun's rays; and fourth, the housewife who keeps them in a moist cellar, an odiferous ice box or a warm kitchen. The country merchant who buys eggs from the farmer to get his trade buys on case count basis and sells to surrounding buyers on the same basis. As a result, no effort is made to secure good eggs. The wholesaler or buyer usually repacks the rggs but may or may not grade or candle them. He gets quotations from city mar-kets, and sells by wire, usually in car load lots. Eggs are graded according to size, cleanliness, cracks, color, freshness and firmness of body. First grade eggs are fresh, large weight, 45 pounds per case of 30 dozen, clean and sound-shelled. Second grades may be any one or a mix-ture of the following: small, clean, sound-shelled, fresh eggs; clean, large, sound-shelled, stale eggs, or eggs with incipient chick development, not yet developed to the point of blood rings. Dirties are all variations of size and freshness and are sold at low prices. Discards are spots, blood rings and checks. There is a decided loss due to careless handling by collectors and wholesale dealers. Records kept in New York City for one year, according to the New York Bureau of Markets, show that 85 shippers from 9 states shipped into New York as fresh eggs, 64.4 percent firsts, 10.5 per-cent dirties, 9 percent cracks, and 3.5 per-8 cent rots. A total of about nine million eggs were dumped after storage and freight had been paid on them. Who pays th.e bill? After reaching the city markets eggs go thru the hands of wholesalers, com-mission men, jobbers and retailers, be-fore they reach the consumer at a price from 50 percent to 100 percent more than was paid the producer. Fraud and misbranding in the sale of eggs, by retailers and others, are wide-spread. But because of the nature of the egg itself, and of the lack of recognized legal grades for eggs, these are difficult matters to correct. Cold storage eggs are sold as fresh eggs. Old and deteriorated "fresh" eggs are sold as cold storage eggs, and stale, shrunken or deteriorated eggs are sold under some fancy name which gives the impression that they are of superior quality. There are laws against such practices, of course, but to enforce them would necessitate a special fund for that purpose. The function of cold storage in egg pro-duction is to hold over a surplus of eggs to the time of scarcity. There exists, however, in the minds of the aver-age consumer a real prejudice against cold storage eggs. This prejudice has some real basis. On the other hand there is a strong argument in favor of cold storage eggs provided they are stored in the proper season, under proper condi-tions. The real seat of the trouble with eggs is not to be found in cold storage practices, but in the methods of handling and marketing. Sensational newspapers have waged campaigns against cold storage. Consum-ers recall earlier experiences with eggs when cold storage had not reached the present stage of development. Unscrup-ulous dealers have sold cold storage eggs as fresh eggs, and deteriorated "fresh" eggs as cold storage eggs. Probably the best founded prejudice is the one based on the matter of fiavor, due to foreign odors taken from the boxes in which eggs had been packed and stored. Climatic conditions which prevail dur-ing the months of March and April in the cent ral states, are ideal for producing eggs and getting them to market without TilE lOWA JIOMEMAKER A Well Packed Portable Case of First Grades Notice the Uniformity in Size and Color deteroriation. As a consequence, it is at this time of the year that eggs are best for cold storage. They are plentiful on the markets, with prices comparatively low. As the season advances, bringing warmer weather, production decreases, eggs deteroriate more rapidly, and as a result reach the markets in poor con-dition. Eggs in good condition when stored, kept at a temperature just above the freezing point, placed in proper contain-ers, and put away from excessive mois-ture and bad odors are good for a period of nine months. It is evident, then, con-ditions after storage being the same, that April storage eggs are better in Septem-ber, October and November, than are July, August or even September eggs. By going to market occasionally rather than using the telephone all the time, the housewife can spot the grocer who pro-tects his eggs from bad odors, room heat and sunlight. It behoves her to trade with him, insisting that he candle his eggs before delivering them to her. In case she still should get bad eggs, she can candle them herself immediately up-on delivery, and return to her grocer, the ones that show dark centers or excessive evaporation rings. As has already been pointed out, re· tailers are only partially to blame for the bounteous supply of bad eggs on the mar-ket. But if each housewife demands good eggs from her grocer, he will do the same for his wholesaler, who in turn must have good eggs from his collector who buys from the producer. The housewife can in a way protect herself by giving up her prejudice against cold storage eggs, provided they have been stored during the proper season under proper conditions. Since women have the privilege of suf-frage, the housewife can well afford to use her influence for the enforcement of effective legislation on practices connect-ed with egg marketing. Ringgold County's Health Campaign l OW A WAS THE first state to put on a baby contest at a state fair. And now Iowa, by putting on a three month's nutrition campaign, is "first" again. Ringgold county is first of all the counties to take up the work. Last year the Red Cross county nurse weighed and measured all the youngsters in the schools over the county and found 24 percent of them to be seriously under-weight. A large percentage of them were country children. The fathers and moth-ers looked at each other and then at their children and said, "How come? Our hogs top the market but our children are un-der weight!" It was plain that the feeding problem had become commercialized. Now the farm bureau in Ringgold coun-ty put their heads together and decided that their county should have a nutrition campaign with a specially trained leader for three months. The county agent, J. A. Bliss, went to the Extension Depa~;t­ment of Iowa State College and asked fm• f; uch a leader . The Extension Depart-ment immediately made plans for the first county wide nutrition campaign ever put on in Iowa or any other state. After the county agent and the Red Cross and several other organizations had paved the way by diligent advertising for the preliminary meetings, Miss Elizabeth Storm, an Lowa State College graduate, went to Ringgold county September first to start the campaign. In the first week she made eighteen talks, organized classes in food study, made arangements for exhibits, visited schools and held private conferences. Since then the days have been full of meetings and school visits. Sometimes Miss Storm goes out with the county agent for his poultry culling demonstrations and after the men and women have learned to know a good healthy, profitable hen when they see and feel one, she explains how to discover malnutrition in children, how it is caused and how it may be cured. At the town ship farm bureau picnics Miss Storm stretches a cord from the Ford to a tree and hangs up her educa-tional posters. On the running board of the same handy Ford are displayed the free bulletins on child health, food for the family, milk, etc. While the older boys play ball and pitch horseshoes and the parents visit, the youngsters walk solemnly around the pesters, reading and explaining to their younger brothers and sisters that this poor little rat didn't have any milk protein and this nice fiuffy rat had all he wanted. Then the mothers come up and talk, too, about what their boys and girls need and how they coax them to eat it. One mother not long ago said, "James was so anxious for milk that he carried his cup and a macaroni stick down to the barn and his daddy milked right into his cup for him." One little school ten miles from a town, is especially proud of its nine scholars, for none of them .are seriously under-(Continued on page thirteen) 

The Reason for the Addled Egg

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The Reason for the Addled Egg

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