The Opelousas courier., 1891-01-03
THE HOMES OF PRIVATION.
HARD STRUGGLE OF THE IMPoV-
ERISHED ARRAN ISLANDERS.
Girls Who Garry Sanded SeaWeed
to Make a Poor Soil, in Which to
Grow a Scanty Crop OF Potatoes.

to Make a Poor SOIL, III Rfcn TO
Grow a Scanty Crop OF Potatoes.
Perhaps in no quarter of the globe is
agriculture carried on under more dis
h~eartenlng conditions than in the Arran
Islands. These islands, three in number,
lie about ten miles off the west coast of
Ireland, in the mouth of the Bay of Gal
way. They are simply three limestone
rocks thrown up by some CONFUSION of
nature long before the memory of man.
During the ages a light deposit of soil
has accumulated on the bare rocks in
spots, particularly in the valleys, and
peculiarly nutritious grass has sprung
up. The blades of this grass are not
fiat, such as is the grass of this country,
but perfectly round. The finest beef in
the British isles is raised upon the seanty
product of these sea-girt islands. But
very little of this beef is eaten by the
men who cultivate the juicy tenderloins
and s~irloins. 1t all goes to pay the rent,
that gaunt spectre, ever feeding, yet ever
hungry and greedy, which has stalked
over the beautiful island of Erin for 800
years, drinking the milk of the COWS, de-
vouring the sheep and lambs, and leav-
ing only the potatoes as a feeble barrier
between existence and starvation.
But raising potatoes on the islands of
Arran is quite a different thing from
raising them in the State of New York.
A large proportion of the arabic land is
reserved from necessity for grazing pur-
poses. The soil in which the potatoes
are cultivated is all artificial. 1t is made
of a queer compost of sand and seaweed.
The sand is carried from the seashore on
the backs of donkeys and Irish girls to
the spots selected for a garden. It is q
common occurrence for a young woman
of sixteen or eighteen years to carry bas-
ket loads of sand weighing 100 pounds
from one to three miles all day long and
then come home and Go the household
work before going to bed. 1t will read
lily be seen that the soil thus made must
be very light. Whatever fructifying
properties it possesses from the
seaweed. In this manner every foot of
tillable soil on the Arran Islands has been
made for centuries. As only a very small
portion of the surface of the islands is
sufficiently SMOOTH to permit of the de-
post, the area under cultivation is neces-
sarily very small. When the seed pota-
toes have been planted the Arraner be-
gins to pray for rain. He prays that
water may come down in %bucketfuls, so
that his little plot will be soaked all the
time. For the limestone rock Hneath
his artificial garden contains at al times
a frightful amount of latent heat Stored
in it from the suns fiery rays, and, unless
there is a wet season. such as prevails in
the tropics, the seed potatoes will be
fried into Saratoga chips in the earth.
If the season has been a good n from
an Arran Island standpoint, the product
would excite smiles on the part of a New
Yorker, were it not so pitiful. The yield
is a veritable example of the old saying,
'ssmall potatoes, and a few in a hill" A
potato as big as a hens egg would be the
exception. The majority would be no
bigger than an old fashioned "dodo,"
such as the boys used to play marbles
with. One crop exhausts the strength
of the soil, and the same process must be
resorted to each year as far as the sea-
weed is concerned, in order that another
crop may be raised. And SO, during the
centuries, the people have learned by bit
ter experience the value of seaweed as a
fertilizer, and they consequently look
Upon it with the same jealousy as a New
York farmer views his expensive guano.
In this way rude customs which have
grown into laws have sprung up with re-
gard to the division of the precious fer
tilizer. No landowner can go down to
the beach and gather seaweed whenever
the notion strikes MIN to do SO. He must
go down to the sea in the spring of the
year, when a certain weed which grows
at the bottom of the sea begins to lose its
hold, and join in the harvest of the sea-
weed. He must get into his little cookie
shell boat, called a eunagh, made of ash
ribs covered with canvas, and go at low
tide to gather the weed. This Htorn
from the sottom by the aid of a rake six
teen feet long and carried ashore in the
frail boat. 1t is then piled upon the
beach in a heap. When the harvest is
over two of the most important men on
the island are selected t. divide the
weed. All the inhabitants, men, women
and children are present on this occa-
sion, to the number of between 5000 and
1000. The heap of seaweed is usually
about 300 feet long, fifteen feet wide
and ten feet high. The two men look
the heap carefully over and agree on the
place where it is to be divided. A mar
row lane is then cut crosswise through
the heap, dividing it into two piles.
These heaps are in turn ~subdivided, un
til a hundred little heaps scattered over
the beach indicate that eseh landowner
has been allotted his shall. The weed
is then taken away at the leisure of the
owner. u
The Arraner, like the peasantry in
other portions of Ireland, is asprimitive
to-day in his cooking of the potato as he
400 years ago. He knows of only one
way to cook his favorite vegetable, and
will listen to the explanation of no other
mode. He simply washes the potato and
boils it just as it comes from the earth,
with its jacket N. After cooking the
potatoes are turned out into an oval
shaped wicker continuance, closely re-
sembling the lid of a champagne basket.
After all the water has been strained off
the potatoes are dumped from the "skib,"
as it is called, upon the middle of the
table. The family then gather around
the table and eat potatoes, with a little
salt, until hunger is satisfied. The Ar