School: Valleymount
- Location:
- Valleymount, Co. Wicklow
- Teacher: Dll. Ó Cochláin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0917, Page 125
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Valleymount
- XML Page 125
- XML “Growing of Potatoes”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- In the old days the ground was dug with a spade before sowing potatoes. This was very laborious work, and took a long time. Nowadays people loosed the ground with farrows and then plough it.
The plough would do in two or three hours whan would be done in two days in the olden times. Old people will tell you that the best preparation is by digging with the spade.
In the old days the manure was brought to the fields on donkeys' backs, and carried from there to the ridges in smaller baskets on people's backs. Nowadays horseloads are brought from there to the ridges on wheelbarrows.
In olden times, ridges were made, never drills. The is because the ridges were easier dug.
Drills are much healthier for potatoes than ridges. The reason for this is that potatoes have much more air and light in the drills.
- Collector
- May Quinn
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Valleymount, Co. Wicklow
- Informant
- Mr James Quinn
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 50
- Occupation
- Farmer
- Address
- Valleymount, Co. Wicklow
