The writer was in the New York market at the time and saw many cases of White Leghorn eggs sell wholesale at as high as 55 cents.  These were commonly retailed at 5 cents each.  There were a good many brands retailing at 65 cents and one of the largest high class groceries was selling for 70 cents.  This is practically double the official quotations and three times that of cold storage stock.

The above prices represent a fair sample of the fall prices of 1908.  It should be noted that the 1908 fall prices were relatively somewhat better than the rest of the season.

The time of high prices is also the time of the greatest variation in the price of the different grades.  In the springtime all eggs are fairly fresh and good, and the fanciest eggs bring wholesale only two or three cents above quotations.  There are a few retailers who hold the spring prices to their customers up above the general market.  One New York firm that does a large high class egg business never lets their price at any season go below 40 cents.  This, of course, means big profits and sales only to those who, when they are satisfied, never bother about price.

In the fall any man who has fresh eggs can sell them at very near the highest price, but in the spring only a small per cent. can go at fancy prices and the great majority of even the high grade eggs must go at very ordinary prices.  In the summer months there is not so much demand in the cities, as the wealthy are not there to buy.  The coast and mountain resorts are then good markets for fancy produce.

CHAPTER XIII

BREEDS OF CHICKENS

I do not place much dependence on the results of breed tests.  Indeed, I consider the almost universal use of the Barred Rock in the most productive farm poultry regions in the United States, and the equal predominance of S.C.  White Leghorns on the egg farms of New York and California, as far more conclusive than any possible breed tests.

Breed Tests.

In Australia there has been conducted a series of breed tests so remarkable and extensive that the writer considers them well worth quoting.  The Hawkesbury Agricultural College tests extend over a period of five years, the pens entered were of six birds each, and the time one year.  The results were as follows: 

No. of Pens    Yield of     Average Yield
Competing     Highest Pen    of All Pens

1903 ... 70 218 163 1904 ... 100 204 152 1905 ... 100 235 162 1906 ... 100 247 177 1907 ... 60 245 173

The winners and losers for five years were as follows: 

Winning Pen Losing Pen

1903 Silver Wyandotte Silver Wyandotte 1904 Silver Wyandotte Partridge Wyandotte 1905 S.C.W.  Leghorns S.C.W.  Leghorns 1906 Black Langshans Golden Wyandotte 1907 S.C.W.  Leghorns S.C.B.  Leghorns

As a matter of fact, the winning pen means little for breed comparison.  This is shown by the winning and losing pens frequently being of the same breed.