130 SPECIAL VEGETABLE CROPS 



Some five-and-twenty years ago, during one of 

 the worst phases of agricultural depression in this 

 country, a farmer from the outskirts of Leeds met two 

 friends, who, in the course of conversation, asked how 

 he was going on. ' Oh,' he replied, ' I shall have to 

 give up my farm ; I can't make it pay.' A year or so 

 later he met the same two friends again, and they asked 

 if he had carried out his intention of giving up his 

 farm. 'Yes,' he said, 'I am sorry to say I did, for 

 a man came along, took it up, planted it with rhubarb, 

 and is making a pot of money.' 



Since those days, in fact, the production of rhubarb 

 has become a speciality in and around the city of Leeds, 

 and, although it is difficult to obtain reliable figures, 

 a moderate estimate of the business done shows that, 

 apart from the local consumption, the quantities 

 despatched from Leeds during the season will represent 

 a total of from 5,000 to 6,000 tons. Certain it is that 

 in a good year as much as 250 tons of rhubarb have 

 been sent from Leeds to London alone in the course of 

 a single week. Every night, except Saturday and 

 Sunday, for a period of about three and a half months, 

 beginning towards the end of January, a special 

 ' rhubarb train ' runs from Leeds to King's Cross to 

 take supplies to the London markets. Rhubarb from 

 Leeds is also carried in large quantities to Manchester, 

 Liverpool, and Glasgow. It is much appreciated, too, 

 in the colliery districts of South Wales. It goes to 

 Plymouth and to the Channel Islands; and it goes even 

 to Hamburg, for distribution to various places on the 

 Continent. 



The ' rhubarb special ' here referred to is an ' express 

 goods,' consisting of special vans fitted with the auto- 

 matic continuous brake (similar to that in use on 

 passenger trains), so that a speed of up to sixty miles 



