School: Ballycastle Boys' (roll number 14290)
- Location:
- Ballycastle, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: Mícheál de Búrca
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0140, Page 112
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- XML “Potato Crop”
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- (continued from previous page)"setting up" the drills.
The next thing to attend is the spraying of sulphate of copper and lime (The preventative for blight). The earlier the farmer can get this done after the stalks are well over ground the better. Blight falls sometimes as early as St John's day. 24th June but it is sure to fall in July and August. The watchful farmer keeps his crop quite safe by attending in time to the spraying. The farmer keep one another as "labourors" of the past.
Some farmers have potato diggers and they get the boys of the neighbourhood and elsewhere to pick the potatoes but in most farms the spade is still used. Large pits are made for the potatoes and these are carefully covered with straw or rushes with a good covering of clay. This is clapped with spades and shovels and made water-tight. The names of the potatoes grown here are Kerr's Pink, Arran Victor, Arran Pilot (a very early variety) Arran Banners and(continues on next page)
- Collector
- John Lenihan
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Ballycastle, Co. Mayo
- Informant
- Mrs Polke
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 63
- Address
- Ballinglen, Co. Mayo
