School: Abbeytown Convent N.S. (roll number 15043)

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1. Famine Times (continued)

   

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   famine people lived almost entirely on potatoes and buttermilk. A song of the period says:-
   "Potatoes by night,
   Potatoes by day,
   And if I were to rise at midnight,
   Potatoes I would get!"
   The use of the potato became general in Ireland in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. Potatoes were so easily raised that they ensured the people against actual starvation, except when the crop failed. But they also encouraged idleness, since the labour of man could produce enough food for twenty people, and they also hindered the raising of more profitable crops.
   During the time of the famine in Boyle, the government gave work to the people, such as

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. the great famine (~4,013)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Dell Kivlehan

   Address

   Ballinameen, Co. Roscommon

   Informant

   Mr James Kearns

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Erris, Co. Roscommon