On Nov 4, 3:35*am, Dave Smith > wrote:
> 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.

Old Ireland was a great cattle-raising country. Later, English and
Anglo-Irish landlords needed the labourers but wanted to use the least
possible area of land to feed them, and potatoes were the answer. The
Irish became dependent on potatoes because they had no choice, not
particularly because they found them irrestistible.

LW