WHEN eggs are their cheapest and best, in May or early June, and before the really hot weather has come, the wise householder will put away, in water glass, a liberal quantity. If possible, " put down " enough to carry the family through the months when eggs " soar." If carefully packed, and if there are not more than three or four dozen in a crock, and again if they are kept covered with the water glass, they will keep well.

The present writer is now using the first of a hundred dozen thus stored, and finds them good, not only for cooking, but for omelets and scrambled eggs. These particular eggs cost, including water glass, twenty-two cents a dozen.

Thus it seems only necessary for us as housekeepers to look ahead a bit, and there would be less need of " egg-less " cookery. The nourishment to be obtained from eggs is so desirable, that it is a pity to be under the necessity of economizing in eggs.

Repeated tests at the various state experiment stations have demonstrated that eggs properly packed in water glass after three and one-half months still appeared to be perfectly fresh. For in most packed eggs the yolk settles to one side (a sure test of an egg not fresh laid), but when packed in water glass, the yolks remained in their original position as when fresh; they lost no weight; they would " beat up well " for cakes or frostings; and would keep four weeks after removal from the preservative solution. In other words, water glass adds no flavor to the eggs, and takes away no flavor from them.

Dr. Wiley is authority for the statement that the shell of an egg preserved in water glass is apt to burst in boiling water. The trouble may be avoided by pricking the shell carefully with a needle.

When eggs are cooked in water below boiling, I have experienced no trouble with their breaking.

Water glass or soluble glass is the popular, name for potassium and sodium silicates. Commercial water glass, often a mixture of both silicates, is much cheaper than the chemically pure article, and is just as efficient for preserving eggs. It is sold in two forms, a sirup thick as molasses, and a powder.

The cost varies. Water glass sometimes sells as low as a cent and three-quarters a pound in large quantities. The retail price is commonly ten cents a pound. Some of the water glass is extremely alkaline in reaction. Eggs preserved in such water glass will not keep well, so purchase as nearly neutral water glass as possible. However, it is perfectly safe to use the ordinary commercial water glass, provided the dealer understands for what purpose it is purchased. It is true that lime water may be cheaper and just as effective as a preservative, but the water glass is far preferable from the standpoint of flavor.

To Preserve Eggs In Water Glass

If the following directions are carefully observed, fresh eggs may be eaten during the winter months at approximately June prices:

Use clean receptacles of glass, earthenware, wood or of most any material, if same is paraffined inside, and can be sealed hermetically. I found one-half gallon screw-cap glass jars, which will hold fourteen or fifteen eggs, most satisfactory, and in every way advisable.

Common silicate of soda or water glass, a sirup thick liquid, gives good results. It should be kept well sealed by paraffined or vaselined paper, pasteboard or cork stopper, or other cover impermeable to air and moisture, to prevent it from hardening. Glass stoppered bottles, however, should not be used, as a little silicate may find its way to the ground neck, and it will be impossible to remove the stopper, later on, as silicate of soda will cement the stopper to the neck of the bottle.

The water should be pure, boiled water being preferable.

One part of silicate of soda should be very thoroughly mixed with ten parts of water.

The eggs must be clean, with strong, sound shells, but they should not be washed, as this removes some of the natural mucilaginous coating. They should be put into the preserving fluid, if possible, the same day they are laid, especially in summer, but this is not imperative. Unfertilized eggs are not likely to spoil, even if they are not so fresh. However, it is one of the strongest points of this preserving method that fertilized eggs will keep perfectly well, if the above precautions are taken. (Incubation is said to start on fresh, fertile eggs, if they are kept for about twenty-four hours at a temperature of at least 80 degrees F., but if the proper incubating temperature - about 102.5 degrees F. - is not reached soon and maintained, the egg germs will die and cause the eggs to decay.) Hence the necessity for immediate immersion in the case of fertilized eggs.

As soon as the eggs are packed in the preserving liquid, the receptacle should be carefully sealed with a paraffined or vaselined paper or pasteboard, or with a screw cap or other reliable and tight cover. This is necessary not only to prevent water from volatilizing, which would finally expose the upper eggs to the atmosphere, but also to prevent the carbonic acid of the air from decomposing the silicate.

The eggs packed in well-sealed jars should be stored in a cool place, especially at first, that is, before the egg germs have lost their vitality. However, the temperature must not drop below the freezing point.