For hundreds of years it had been quite a common practice to preserve eggs in various ways. By packing them in salt, or in salt brine, or in limewater, eggs may be kept in very good condition for several months, and sometimes for nearly a year. As limed and pickled eggs were regularly sold in the markets, every dealer in eggs at once saw the possibilities of cold storage as a factor in the market egg trade. Wherever there was a storage house, dealers began to buy eggs when prices were low, and store them to sell when prices were high. At first a great many of those who stored eggs lost money on them, either by the eggs spoiling in storage or because they kept the eggs too long, but after a few years' experience the operators of cold-storage plants learned the best temperatures for keeping the different kinds of produce and the best methods of arranging different articles in the chambers of the storage warehouses. They found that eggs kept best at 34 degrees Fahrenheit, that poultry must be frozen hard, and that the temperature in a storage chamber must not be allowed to vary. Those who were putting eggs and poultry in cold storage found that it did not pay to store produce that was not perfectly sound and good, and that products which had been in cold storage must be used promptly after being taken out, and also that they must plan their sales to have all stored goods sold before the new crop began to come in, or they would lose money. [Illustration: Fig. 232. Dressed fowls cooling on racks in dry-cooling room. (Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture)] The development of cold-storage methods and their extensive use have been of great benefit to producers and consumers, as well as to distributors of perishable food products. The storing of such products is a legitimate form of speculative business. It prevents waste and loss. The demand for eggs and poultry to go into cold storage raises the price at seasons of plenty and makes a good market for all eggs and poultry that are fit to store. The eggs and poultry that have been stored furnish consumers with supplies at reasonable prices for much longer seasons. As a rule supplies in storage are not kept there for very long periods. Speculators who want to be on the safe side plan very carefully so that most, if not all, of the stuff that they have stored shall be sold before new supplies become abundant in the market. To do this they have to watch very closely every condition affecting the markets, and to use good judgment in selling. Most of them do not, as is popularly supposed, hold their entire stock for the period when prices are highest. If they did, all would lose. Eggs begin to come out of storage about midsummer, and are withdrawn gradually for about six months. By far the greater part of the poultry stored goes into the warehouses in the fall and begins to come out soon after the winter holidays.