Fortunes for Farmers 



During the summer of 1903 excitement was 

 intense, and no one could talk of anything but 

 the boom throughout the potato districts of Lin- 

 colnshire and Yorkshire. Every market ordinary, 

 every train, and every public-house knew but one 

 theme — the fortunes accruing from bold specula- 

 tion and the methods by which money could be 

 minted wholesale. At this time it was whispered 

 that Findlay had a potato that was to eclipse all 

 forerunners in vitality, in productiveness, in disease 

 resistance, and that was to prove so rich a gold 

 mine to its happy possessors that he had named it 

 " Eldorado! " Mr Findlay would not sell any at 

 that time, stating that he had not sufficiently 

 tested it, but he had allowed the previous year a 

 few friends to try some, and the produce of these 

 came into the market. A determined onslaught 

 was made on them, fabulous prices were offered, 

 and a pound of them was sold for .£20 ! There were 

 only a few available, and every one was determined 

 to have them, so that the price per pound went 

 rapidly to ^30, £50, £80 — and at last a stone 

 (14 lb.) changed hands for .£1,400 — a hundred 

 pounds a pound! This cheque was shown in a shop 

 window in Spalding Market, and proved a centre 

 of the most exciting scenes. 



Unheard of prices were realized. Not only were 

 values inflated, but they seemed capable of infinite 



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