School: Drumbibe (roll number 10765)
- Location:
- Drumbibe, Co. Leitrim
- Teacher: Tomás Searplaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0223, Page 302
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- XML “The Potato Crops”
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- Potatoes are grown on our farm. About one acre is planted each year, and this amount seldom varies. The men-folk prepare the ground. The chosen field is cleared of rushes, and then the width of the ridges is marked out with a plough or a loy (láide) The manure is then put out, with asses and pordogs (pardóga) if the ground is hilly, or with carts if level. One side of the ridge is turned in with the plough and the other side with the loy. The ridges are two feet wide.
The medium sized potatoes are picked for seed, and are cut into splits. Before the splits are planted, they are covered with lime to prevent the slugs from eating them when they are in the ground. The splits are planted with a "stivin" stíbhín, which consists of a long stout pointed stick for making the holes. At the pointed end is a small peg on which the foot may be placed if the ground is hard and difficult to hole. As each hole is made, a child, (called a "guggerer") places a split in each hole. These holes are closed in the evening. Having a "meiceal" is not so much the custom at this particular branch of work, as at the digging out of the(continues on next page)
