The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-24
THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1904.
SOME HISTORIC MAN1As.

Many or our readers doubtless remem- Der reading of the famous Tulip Mania" which prevailed for a while in Holland about the middle of the Seventeenth Cen tury, and which drove many of the usu- ally phlegmatic Dutchmen wild. Whether it was a genuine delusion or a species of gambling matters not, but it seems to have been somewhat akin to the booms in real estate or mining property which sometimes strike community and appa- rently cause people to take leave of their senses. In this case 1t was perhaps genuine craze for especially valuable bulbs. and such was the competition that one. bulb of an unusually valuable tulip sold for 1900 horins. Of course this couldn't last, but many persons were ruined. on the same principle that dealers in cotton futures are sometimes caught and ruined because of the impossibility of delivering what they have sold. The tulip craze had the same effect: though it was years before the excitement en- tirely subsided.
 There are many who remember the ''Morus Multicaulis" mulberry craze which caught some parts of the South in the first half of the last century. People were going to get rich raising silk worms, and to do this they must have this pecu- liar species of mulberry. The result was that many people became silk-worm and mulberry mad but the craze was not as extensive or enduring as the tulip frenzy.
 Lately they have had a potato mania in England. and 1t is still going on. We refer to Irish potatoes, of course, for our sweet potatoes are not so much in evil dence over there as here. In order to get at 1t in few words, We copy this from The Portland Oregonian.
 Radium has of late become a byword on account of its fabulous price but po- ia toes at Sl635l4 a ton are not to be de- spised According to The Sheffield Daily TeIegraph, firm of pOtato-growers ex- hibiting at the Royal Agricultural Soci- etys Smithtield show. sold four pounds of ''Eldorado" potatoes at SIPS a pound. Besides these figures the purchase of a quantity of "Suttons New DIscoverv'' potatoes at &20 a pound is hardly worthy of mention. especially as the vendor re- fused $l46 for a single potato of the "E1 dorado" species, and a Yorkshire man would not part with one of these same precious potatoes although offered $3n for a single specimen. Just what prices the new Burbank potato is likely to com mand is a question of interest, in view of these figures. The Burbank creation has been pictured to the public by enthusias- tic correspondents as a tuber of blushinr pink. with a flavor more delicious than strawberries. and a delicate odor of musk The blossoms are the same as roses. anl the stalks. 1t is expected, will make good hay. Even withut the wonderful quali- ties in the new potato, 1t Is interesting to note that such efforts are being made tu improve the humble spud.
 Not protesting to expertness in the science of potatology, We shall not ven- ture an opinion on the relative merits ol these varieties, but when they get to sell. ing at $146 each. and at SIPS a pound we must admit that there is something extraordinary in them or that the Britons have got a craze good and hard. It must be acknowledged. though, that a potato which combines strawberries, roses, musk and good hay, must be a wonderful varl- ety of one of our most common vege. tables. We grow number of varieties in this country and find them quite a vel come addition to bills of fare, but none of them has occupied place among toilet accessories or as parlor ornaments. Like as not this will go like the other crazes, and our English cousins will get down to the ordinary tubers and will wonder whaT possessed them to pay such extravagant prices for newly exploited variety.