The Fortune 



less, but his shrewd eye saw its probabilities. 

 He imported early potato seed from Scotland, 

 chitted it in boxes, gave the land several pounds' 

 worth of manure (not shillings, but pounds), 

 dug them in the early summer, and cleared a 

 profit amounting to more than the freehold of the 

 land had cost him. Let this be noted. 



Wherever the new culture has reached, the 

 character of farmers has changed; they become 

 wide-awake business men, earnest to seek anything 

 that may increase their profits, and ready to lay 

 out their money freely for that end. It was lately 

 discovered that potato seed from Scotland gives 

 better results than home-grown seed, being more 

 vigorous and productive, and a trade has been 

 built up to the east coast ports, amounting to 

 many thousand tons annually, the heavy freight 

 being cheerfully borne by the users. It was found 

 that potato seed keeps better and is more profitable 

 when exposed to the light, and to-day nearly 

 every grower packs them in chitting boxes at 

 considerable outlay. Further, the most ener- 

 getic build greenhouses on their farms on a 

 gigantic scale to store them. This is enterprise! 

 It extends from the Boston district down to Ely, 

 to Peterborough, into Cambridgeshire and Bed- 

 fordshire, up to Yorkshire, it crops up in the 

 Scilly and Channel Islands, in Cheshire, in parts 



S 



