| In the early decades of the nineteenth century, | | | | depended on the continued prosperity of the |
| Irish people were growing and consuming the | | | | potato. The potato cannot be stored like grain, so |
| potato - an abundant and healthy food which | | | | if anything were to happen to the harvest there |
| yielded more per acre than any other grain crop. | | | | would follow immediate disaster. |
| It was an ideal crop as it enabled farmers to | | | | In 1845, a potato blight began to spread across |
| produce grain purely as a cash crop and charge | | | | Ireland, by 1846 the blight was throughout the |
| higher rents, nor did they need to pay laborers, | | | | country. To compound the problem, the British |
| they were satisfied with a patch of ground on | | | | authorities did not provide widespread relief nor |
| which to grow potatoes for themselves. | | | | did they bear any of the costs. In addition the |
| Those who managed to possess sizable portions | | | | winter of 1846 was one of the worst in living |
| were able to sub-let portions of land, fathers | | | | memory. Hungry mobs roamed the countryside, |
| subdivided holdings to provide for their sons. Even | | | | pouring into the over-crowded relief works. By |
| landless men benefited as they reclaimed | | | | February 1847, the country was in complete |
| mountain land and bog and sowed the hardy | | | | chaos, covered in snow, bombarded by mighty |
| potato. The population boomed, from five million in | | | | gales, the hungry masses being ravaged by a |
| 1800 to over eight million in 1841. However this | | | | fever epidemic. People began to leave the country |
| rapidly increasing population was insecure, only | | | | in their droves, boarding the over-crowded |
| seven per cent of holdings were over thirty acres | | | | 'coffin-ships' bound for America, Canada and |
| and forty-five per cent were under five. In | | | | England. By 1851, one million had emigrated and |
| addition, over two-thirds of the population were | | | | another million had perished. |
| dependent on agriculture for a living, their survival | | | | |