FROM 1830 - 1860 > FARMING                 1-10 11-20 21-30                 Clothes being distributed at Kilrush Some idea of the poverty and destitution of poor farmers in the west of Ireland during the Famine is conveyed by this 1849 illustration. ...     Setting Potatoes This photograph was taken in the Glens of Antrim in 1900. It shows how potatoes were sown in rigs or ‘lazy beds’, and this was a very ...     Potato Ridges This aerial photograph of Clare Island shows how every available piece of land – mountains, bogs, cliff-tops, etc. – was used to ...     Pig Fair Up to the 1840s pig fairs were a very common sight in most small Irish towns, but during the Famine pig numbers dropped by more than a ...     Pigs and Poultry The early 19th century saw a big rise in the numbers of pigs and hens in Ireland. These animals could also be fed on potatoes and even ...     Rotary Spinner - Digger This machine was invented in 1855 in Co. Antrim. It allowed potatoes to be dug mechanically as the iron lugs spun into the earth ...     Potato Field This sketch shows women digging a potato field in the middle of the 19th century. Women and children often worked at planting, weeding ...     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, ...     <>               1-10 11-20 21-30