School: Calry (roll number 10473)
- Location:
- Colgagh, Co. Sligo
- Teacher: Róisín Mhig Ualghairg
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0159, Page 227
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- XML School: Calry
- XML Page 227
- XML “Potato Digging”
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- Long ago the farmers did all their work with the spade and loy. When they wanted to set potatoes they first coped the land with a loy. Then they spread manure on top, after which they stuck the seed. Then they dug the furrows and broke the lumps with the spade. Next they covered the manure with clay. When the stalks came up they covered them again.
When the stalks grew high they sprayed them with bluestone and washing soda. In October they dug them with spades and made heaps of them in the field. They covered them with rushes and afterwards with clay. They were thus preserved from the frosts of Winter
Farmers plant and store their potatoes in the same way Sometimes they plough the land. They used wooden ploughs in the olden times Our ploughs are made of iron and steel and are manufactured in Wexford Rich farmers use potato diggers for digging potatoes.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- James Sheridan
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Formoyle, Co. Sligo
