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wholesale merchant. We have seen that there are
about 2130 fowls in this village. Taking on an average
that each hen lays about 30 eggs per year, of which 5 are
reserved for hatching, 3 are wasted and 22 remain for
sale, and assuming that of 2130 fowls 2000 are females,
we get an estimated figure of 440x30 eggs that are prob-
ably available for sale in this village per annum. If
24000 eggs are, as gathered from local sources, taken to
be consumed in the village, about 20000, worth
Rs. 312 at one pice per egg, can be exported. If this
number is augmented by collecting eggs from some
of the surrounding villages, we believe a co-operative egg
sale society can be run on business lines with a profit to
the farmer. We may note that a Mahomniedan of Kher-
gam is at present regularly sending to Bombay, by railway
parcel, three to four big earthen pots each containing
from 150 to 200 eggs, at intervals of every two or three
days. This shows that our suggestion is not an unwork-
able proposition.
(2) Purchase or sale through a middleman. This is
the other way of indirect marketing. Many Kaliparaj, as
well as some Ujaliparaj cultivators, usually purchase cattle
through a middleman.
This function of a middleman or a commission agent,
is however, not regarded as a reputable source of earning
because it generally lends itself to fraud on the part of the
middleman, who may be influenced in favour of the party
giving him a larger commission.
Selling through a middleman is generally resorted to in
the case of gul, which is the product of the principal com-
mercial crop of this village. No doubt, to all intents and
purposes, the farmer looks upon the Bulsar dealer as the
man finally resposible for the value of his produce. But
this is not true, because the Bulsar dealer is invariably an
agent of some outside merchant and therefore this would
come under the category of sale through a middleman,
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