SPECIAL VEGETABLE CROPS 



the traffic, even in these conditions, I may mention the 

 fact that, on a certain day in July, a total of 52 waggon- 

 loads of potatoes sent from Kirton Station were con- 

 signed to no fewer than 28 different towns, situated 

 between Weymouth in the South and Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne in the North. King's Cross and Bradford took 

 between them 17 of the 52 waggons, so that 37 were 

 left to be despatched to 26 different destinations 

 throughout the country, the consignment to no fewer 

 than 18 separate towns being represented by a single 

 waggon-load each. Although, therefore, the traffic 

 is considerable in regard to total bulk, it involves a 

 good deal of clerical work, shunting, and so on. 



During the season two special vegetable trains a day 

 are started from Boston where consignments from a 

 district extending ten miles or so to the north will 

 have been received and they pick up fresh loads of 

 potatoes, cabbages, or other produce at Kirton, Algar- 

 kirk, etc. The Kirton growers alone send away about 

 15,000 tons of vegetables in the course of a year, and 

 the output of those at Sibsey in vegetables (including 

 potatoes) and grain is probably 11,000 tons a year. A 

 Holbeach grower, again, is said to have sold for 7,000 

 a field of 370 acres of potatoes. 



From the West Cornwall district the consignments 

 of potatoes for a series of years have been as follows : 



1896 

 1897 

 1898 

 1899 

 1900 



Tons. 

 3,685 

 5,159 

 5,978 

 5,082 

 5.I58 



1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1904 

 1905 



Tons. 



4,550 

 6, 1 08 

 6,276 

 5,156 

 4,633 



The growing of new potatoes on the Ayrshire coast 

 is the more noteworthy because that industry has been 

 directly fostered by the Glasgow and South-Western 



