Heading: (Ireland)
Author: Foley, Samuel
Title: Letter from 17th century Ireland discussing potatoes and the best means of growing them
Place Published: Mountmoore near Dublin
Publisher:
Date Published: April 3, 1688
Description:

Autograph letter signed Saml. Foley, addressed to Robert Foley in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England. 1 page, on 4-page stampless lettersheet, addressed on p.4, with red wax seal. ;

Samuel Foley opines on the marvels of the potato, introduced into Ireland about 90 years early but just becoming entrenched in the agricultural economy, and their cultivation, and also family matters, etc.

"Last week I sent Chester... a little barrel of potatos directed to you... They are of ye best stock & ye best we could et in Dublin. Sandy land agrees best with them. You must dig in & make a small trench about it. You must set them about ye end of this month or ye beginning of May, about half a foot deep & plant them within half a foot of one another. After Michaelmas you may begin to dig them. They will not increase so much ye first year as afterwards. If you find them then not so big as they are now, let them alone till all holland tide. You may leave half of what you find this winter in ye ground & every year after you may take as much as you want (?) & yet still there will be __? enough. Only in April every year you must seow your trenches & dig up earth & lay it smooth over them .From michaelmas to April they are generally very good... They are a most wholesome root & after a year or two every one will be very fond of them..."

Marginal chip where unsealed, a little soiled; very good.