School: An Corr Dubh (roll number 14339)

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1. More about the Famine (continued)

   

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   helped the people to get into good seed again and advised the people to get bluestone and lime or soda and spray the potatoes while in bloom which helped the crop very much; it prevented the blight and there were very good crops after. The government also engaged ships to bring crowds of poor people to America. This was called The Free Emigration.

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2. Famine Times

   

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   In the year 1846 a great famine came upon Ireland, blight appeared for the first time upon the potatoes. The stalks were all destroyed in one night. The potatoes grew no more after that night; they were only the size of cherries. Ireland in '46 had seven million of a population and the corn-crop that year would feed twice this number. The people had to sell their corn in order to pay their rents. This left them without any food for the following year. The people died in hundreds along the roads and in the fields in search of food.

   In '47 my grandfather Thomas O'Reilly, accompanied by two other neighbours set out for the fair of Leitrim. When they

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