On 29/10/2010 9:10 PM, gloria.p wrote:
>>
> I have always read that the Irish emigrated because of a widespread
> potato blight that resulted in "the great potato famine", not from a
> surfeit of boiled potatoes.


That's the way I understand it too. They grew a lot of potatoes because
they could produce enough spuds to feed a family on a small plot of
land. Then the blight hit. Not only did their potatoes go bad, but they
had used up most of their garden space for this crop which had failed so
they had nothing else to fall back on. Meanwhile, the large farms had
enough to export, but the Irish could not afford it.