School: Láithreach
- Location:
- Laragh, Co. Monaghan
- Teacher: Mrs Duffy
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0939, Page 180
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- XML School: Láithreach
- XML Page 180
- XML “The Potato Crop”
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- As long as I remember potatoes were grown on our farm. Each Spring an acre of them is sown and about ten or eleven hundred weight of seed is put in the ground.
My father prepares the ground by ploughing, so as to turn the sod. It is then cross-ploughed and harrowed. The drills are then ploughed again. Horse, cow, and hen manure is spread evenly in the alleys and the seed is sown by women and children.
A plough is always used in this country to prepare the ground for the crop. About twenty years ago wooden ploughs were very common in this district but I think there are none left in this neighbourhood. Spades are always bought in shops.
Women usually cut the seed with a sharp knife. Every seed must have an "eye", for without it the stock cant appear. In other places the potatoes are not cut at all, just nice round potatoes are picked and put in the ground. The drills are then closed. Before the stocks appear over the ground the drills are "topped" which means taking clay of their tops.(continues on next page)
