School: An Gleann (roll number 14113)

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1. The Potato Crop

   

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   Márta 24adh 1938.

   In the month of march the land is ploughed. My father sets five roods of potatoes each year; he spreads manure on the field in which he intends to grow potatoes. Two ploughmen come and plough the field, which generally takes them two days; the furrows are ploughed with two horses and a plough which is made of iron. One man works the plough and the other man leads the horses. One man stands on the sod.

   When the ploughing is finished the splitting of the potatoes begins; the potatoes are brought in to the kitchen; I bring in bucket after bucket of potatoes to my mother who is cutting the seed. Carefully she waters each potato and cuts it so as to have an eye in each split. In one vessel she puts the splits; in another she puts what are called “liauns”, which are the remainder of the potatoes after the slits are taken from them. When she has one bucket of splits cut, I put them in a bag and bring back a bucket of potatoes which are left in a house near the kitchen, and so on until eventually, the potatoes are split and ready to be set in ridges. Lime is shaken on the splits to keep them good if the ridge is not prepared for

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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

   Lizzie Conway

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Drummacool, Co. Sligo

   Informant

   James Conway

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   74

   Address

   Drummacool, Co. Sligo