School: Gowna
- Location:
- Scrabby, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: Hugh Murray
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0986, Page 066
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- (continued from previous page)then grown. It was of course a usual practice to skin the field of sods - place the sods in heaps to dry and burn. The ashes of these were used as manure. You can easily point out a field that went through this process at one time.
Now over a hundred years ago it was found out in some way that his was a wonderful thing to promote growth. News of its wonderful properties carried over the land with the result that kilns were erected on every small farm. Lime was applied as a dressing for potatoes and the result was so good the potatoes as big that they burst the ridges. Next year the same was done with disastrous results. There was a very poor crop. The peasants thought that lime was a wonderful manure, but now it was plain that it was no such thing. However its use remained. Drains were filled with bog-mud. It was [soured?] there during the winter and in early spring was thrown up in a heap and covered with lime.
This made a wonderful dressing for practically any kind of land.
The [?] manure finally nailed the fate of the poor old lime kilns.
