School: Teach Mhic Conaill (roll number 15614)
- Location:
- Taghmaconnell, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: M. Ó Tuathaig
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0270, Page 049
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- XML School: Teach Mhic Conaill
- XML Page 049
- XML “The Potato Crop”
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- (continued from previous page)of the potato which contains no eye, and such a part is not sown as it would not grow. Those parts are left aside and are called "Chrihas".
The local people usually help one another when sowing the potatoes. One farmer lends his horse to another for a couple of days, and when the latter has his crop sown, he in turn lends his horse. Some-times one man helps another for a few days, and then the latter helps the former on the following few days.
While the crop is growing great treatment is given to it. It is wed, hoed, bush-harrowed and sprayed to keep away a disease called"blight". The potatoes are usually dug in Autumnwith a spade. Only one or two local farmers have potato-diggers. Some of the potatoes are ploughed out with a plough, but this covers a lot of them under the ground.
The young boys and girls pick the potatoes from the earth. First the large, sound potatoes are picked, and the small, black ones are left behind. The large potatoes are stored in the potato-field in pits. First they are covered with straw, and then with clay. They are drawn into the haggard after a few months, and there are covered in pits with scraws.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Mollie Costello
- Gender
- Female
