To judge properly of an egg, put the greater end to your tongue, and if it feel warm it is new; but if cold, it is stale; and according to the degree of heat or cold there is in the egg, you will judge of its staleness or newness. Another method is, hold it up against the sun or candle, and if the yolk appear round and the white clear and fair, it is a mark of goodness; but if the yolk be broken, and the white cloudy or muddy, the egg is a bad one. Some people, in order to try the goodness of an egg, put it into a pan of cold water: the fresher it is, the sooner it will sink to the bottom ; but if it be addled or rotten, it will swim on the surface of the water. The best method of preserving eggs is to keep them in meal or bran; though some place them in wood-ashes, with their small end downwards. When necessity obliges you to keep them for any length of time, the best way will be to bury them in salt, which will preserve them in almost any climate; but the sooner an egg is used, the better it will be.