The Potato Boom 



Evergood and Royal Kidney were flourishing 

 still, spreading everywhere and producing enor- 

 mous crops, outdistancing the older sorts and well 

 repaying those who had been bold enough to seize 

 them first. This encouraged growers to rush for 

 the " latest out," which were advertised to be far 

 ahead of Evergood and Royal Kidney, and 

 the buyers of Northern Star resold at a high 

 premium. 



A small gardener in Lincolnshire obtained 

 15 lb. of Discovery, which he propagated after 

 the nursery fashion, placing each tuber in a 

 forcing bed, potting off sprouts, hardening in 

 a cool house and finally planting in a garden, so 

 that he obtained nearly 5 cwt. in the autumn. As 

 the boom was still rising, he sold them at 15s. a 

 pound — a profit of between three and four hun- 

 dred pounds. This was enough to madden the most 

 sober, of course. Northern Star paid its growers a 

 thousand per cent, and as every one wished to be 

 in the movement the supply was too small for the 

 demand. Prices rose continually. Discovery 

 went from ten to thirty shillings a pound in a few 

 months, and every one who touched them handled 

 gold. Small holders, allotment and garden owners, 

 found their modest sovereigns turned into hun- 

 dreds, and the most cautious were drawn into the 

 whirlpool. 



83 G2 



