Scythe Increasingly the scythe was used for cutting grain crops such as oats. It could be ‘set’ to suit the size of the user.
Horse-drawn Reaper Horse-drawn reapers gradually replaced the scythe for cutting grain crops. Still, small farmers used the scythe and even wealthy farmers ...
Horse-drawn Thresher The development of the horse-drawn thresher in the mid 19th century mechanised the process of removing grain from the stalks. Again, ...
Farm sizes before the Famine The most comprehensive study of Irish agriculture before the Famine was the Devon Commission which reported in 1844. It illustrates the ...
Consolidation of Holdings This chart illustrates the process of consolidation which began during the decade of the Famine. Landlords recognised that by creating ...
Bog Village In the years before the Famine, land-hungry tenants spent weeks of back-breaking work reclaiming bog land to make it fit for potato ...
Potato Picker This intriguing photograph was taken in Tempo, Co. Fermanagh in 1899. It is of a female potato picker who was obviously malnourished ...
Scotch Plough In the mid 19th century well-to-do arable farmers were switching from the old Irish wooden plough to this new type of Scotch iron plough.
Potatoes for Sale While a lot of farmers were subsistence farmers, growing potatoes exclusively for their own use, many grew extra potatoes for sale in ...
