School: Cill Ruis Íochtair (roll number 4106)

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1. How to Sow Potatoes (continued)

   

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   shrink after they are cut. If you cut them too near the eye it will injure the eye. The ground is prepared in Spring. They make drills or ridges in the field but they usually make drills because they are easier made than ridges. The drills can be moulded with the horse and plough but the people have to mould the ridges themselves with the shovels. After the ground is ploughed it is harrowed until it is very fine. Then it is divided into drills or ridges with two horses and a plough. When they are going ploughing new ground they usually make ridges of it. There are five or six scrapes ploughed near one another and a furrow left between the next five scrapes.
   When planting potatoes in drills we put the splits about fourteen inches apart on the drill. Then half of the drill is turned over on top of them with the shovel. In ridges the potatoes are left on top of the ridge and a person with a steeveen will make holes beside the potatoes and put them down into the holes. Then another man will come along and cover the potatoes with clay which he gets in the shough.
   A steeveen is a strong piece of a stick with a strong bit of iron stuck in it about three or four inches from the bottom. This bit of iron is for your foot to help you to push the steeveen into the ground.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. agriculture (~2,659)
            1. potatoes (~2,701)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Brendan Keane

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Skreen, Co. Sligo

   Informant

   John Furey

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   57

   Occupation

   Farmer

   Address

   Skreen, Co. Sligo