School: Ballyvaldon (roll number 10792)
- Location:
- Ballyvaldon, Co. Wexford
- Teacher: Máire, Bean Uí Shúilleabháin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0885, Page 302
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- XML School: Ballyvaldon
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- XML “The Potato Crop”
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- Potatoes are grown on all the farms around the district. The land is first top-dressed commonly with farmyard manure, then the fences are cleaned + cut to allow the sun at the crop.
After this it is harrowed to break the lumps with a chain harrow and then a spring tooth harrow is used to clear the field of any grass. Now the drills are made, farmyard manure put into them and the potatoes sown.When the potatoes are above the ground the second clay is put to them Special attention must be given to weeds and it must be kept clean.
When October comes the farmer is busy getting out his crop of potatoes
The ploughman is seen with his plough and the women pick the potatoes as still as they are ploughed out. This is called "scrabing prates" They are "pitted" in the potato field as still as they are picked.Long ago potatoes were sown in a far different manner. Lea land the farmer chose to sow his crop. First the gripes(continues on next page)
