The Potato Famine

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          In 1861, John Mitchell wrote: “The Almighty indeed sent the potato blight but the English created the famine” (6). The Irish Potato Famine, or "The Great Famine" wiped out almost all of the potato crop in Ireland from 1845- 1847. The potato in Ireland fed most of the lower class, as the other crops were sent to England. The Irish sent wheat,corn, oats, barley, and rye. The amount of wheat alone could have fed the entire Irish population. When their entire crop was ruined many were evicted from their homes and over a million Irish starved to death.

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             The Irish used bat guano from Peru as a natural fertilizer to the potatoes. The guano carried the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, which caused Late Blight.  Once the spores reached Ireland the wet climate and rain cause them to travel over  50 miles a day.

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​         “The next morning, a great stench filled the air.  Farmers and laborers hurried to their fields.  With dismay, they saw their plants were covered with black spots… desperately, the people tried to save the potatoes… the potatoes were rotten, black, and slimy… the plants could not be saved” (Bartoletti).