THE POTATO 485 



potatoes in bulk, are entitled to a little consid- 

 eration here. Guernsey and Jersey are the chief 

 islands concerned in the potato trade, the bulk 

 of the Guernsey crop being raised under glass. 

 Jersey has also taken up glass culture to some ex- 

 tent, but still relies almost solely upon outdoor 

 crops. These are grown everywhere — by road- 

 sides, on railway platform gardens, on the slopes 

 of valleys so steep that one wonders how the soil 

 keeps in position, and even up to the very walls of 

 Jersey's most famous 'lion,' Mount Orgueil Castle. 

 "Digging begins in the more favored parts, 

 such as L'Etac and St. Aubyn's, at the end of 

 April, an army of Breton peasants, with their 

 wives and families, being imported for the purpose. 

 The potatoes are packed in barrels, and taken to 

 the one Jersey port, St. Heliers, whence they are 

 shipped to England. Prices fluctuate enormously 

 even in a single day, but the returns have aver- 

 aged some £400,000 ($2,000,000) for several years 

 past. The variety grown is the old International 

 Kidney, raised nearly forty years ago by Mr. 

 Robert Fenn, and in its day the leading exhibi- 

 tion variety." 



