School: Drom an Mhadaidh
- Location:
- Drumavaddy, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: S. Ó Murchadha
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0990, Page 041
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- (continued from previous page)were now black and gave off a stench.Very soon the whole country was up and about lamenting the loss of their crops. When the digging was done the tubers [?] were no bigger than marbles. A man digging from morning to night could scarcely get as many as could fill a bucket. Potatoes that in the ordinary course would be ignored owing to their smallness were now eagerly picked up. Strangers were know to re-dig a field four times seeking a potato that might by chance have been overlooked in previous diggings.
The crops in moory soils fared better than those in upland soils and it was from the boggy land that the seed for the following year's crop came. Any farmer with seed - and no-one had more that 4 or 5 stows [?] - would get whatever price he asked for his produce.
Classes of potatoes then common were - "Cups", "Scotch Downs", "Scotch Greys", "Toelies"(?) (a pink potato, similar to the present day Kerr's Pinks), "Lumpers". The "Cups" were those most commonly grown, and also resembled the modern Kerr's Pinks.
The people grated turnips instead of potatoes in the making of "boxty". A plant called "ramps" to be had only in the wood that at that time grew(continues on next page)
