• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

50 Impact of fertilizers: Smil 2001 (two out of five, xv). Population change: Livi-Bacci 1997:31, World Bank Development Indicators (http://data.worldbank.org/).

51 Guano averts disaster (footnote): Pomeranz 2000:223–25 (“century,” 224), 240, appendix B.

52 Two million dead: Zadoks 2008:20–27; Ó Gráda 2000:84–95. Zadoks estimates 750,000 dead in continental Europe, Ó Gráda argues that most estimates of the Irish tally are “one million, or slightly above it” (85). Vanhaute et al. (2007:26) suggest a tally for Europe of “a few hundred thousands” but are not as thorough as Zadoks.

53 Life cycle of blight: Mizubuti and Fry 2006:450–58 (dispersal, 454–55); Judelson and Blanco 2005; Sunseri et al. 2002 (zoospore travel); Jones et al. 1914:11–13, 30–37.

54 Peru initially viewed as blight source: Abad and Abad 2004:682; Andrivon 1996; Bourke 1993:148–49.

55 Mexico as center of diversity, origin: Abad and Abad 2004:682; Grünwald and Flier 2003 (oospores, 174–75); Goodwin et al. 1994 (Mexico to U.S., 11594); Fry et al. 1993:653–55; Hohl and Iselin 1984 (discovery of other type of blight in Europe).

56 Lack of potato in Mexico: Ugent 1968; Humboldt 1822:vol. 2, 76, 399, 439–40, 443–50.

57 Ristaino studies: Gómez-Alpizar et al. 2007 (“the famine,” 3310–11); May and Ristaino 2004.

58 Guano ships: Mathew 1977:49; Peck 1854a:159.

59 Blight appears in Europe: Zadoks 2008:9–17 (order more potatoes, 16); Vanhaute et al. 2007:22; Bourke 1993:129–30, 141–49; Decaisne 1846:65–68 (1844 observation); Dieudonné et al. 1845:638 (1845 appearance).

60 Spread of Irish blight: Donnelly 2001:41–47 (one-quarter to one-third loss); Ó Gráda 2000:21–24 (2.1 million acres); Kinealy 1995:31–35 (mid-October), 42–43; Salaman 1985: 291–93.

61 Ireland as post-apocalyptic landscape: O’Donnell 2008 (murder rate, 81); Donnelly 2001 (disease, 171–76); Ó Gráda 2007 (rape, 46), 2000 (“jail,” 40–41; disease, 91–95; theft, 187–91); Zuckerman 1999:187–219 (lining roads, 193; mantraps, 194–95; diet, 195); Kinealy 1995 (dogs, 173; “creatures,” 198).

62 Emigration: Donnelly 2001:178–86 (“in heart,” 180); Ó Gráda 1999:104–14, 228–29; Kinealy 1995:chap. 8.

63 English aid, culpability: Reader 2009:176 (“re-established”); Donnelly 2001:233 (Mitchel); Ó Gráda 2000:122–25 (export figures, argument). I am grateful to Charles McAleese for good discussions about this issue.

64 Population impacts: Donnelly 2001:178 (emigrant total); Ó Gráda 2000:5 (worst in history), 229–30.

65 Limits of spores and Irish weather: Aylor 2003:1996 (thirty miles); Sunseri et al. 2002 (5 percent, 444; seventy miles, 449). Not a drop of rain fell in northern Ireland between August 28 and September 13 (Butler et al. 1998). Because the spores could not have survived the sunlit crossing of the Irish Sea, they must have traveled by night.

66 Lumpers and clachans: Donnelly 2002:8–10; Zuckerman 1999:141–42; Myers 1998:293, 300–01; Ó Gráda 1994 (about half); Bourke 1993:21 (distribution), 36–42; Salaman 1985:292. Historical descriptions of the Lumper complain of their poor taste; modern descriptions extol their “excellent and rich flavor” (Myers 1998:293). Either tastes have changed or, as one farmer suggested to me, modern plant breeding has produced such tasteless spuds that they are superseded by even the worst past varieties. Using nineteenth-century techniques, Lumpers outproduce modern hybrids (ibid.: 363).

67 Ridged “lazy-bed” fields: Omohundro 2006; Doolittle 2000:chap. 12; Myers 1998 (dimensions, 65; erosion, 88–90); Salaman 1985:232–36, 524 (“lazy root”), 586; Denevan and Turner 1974:27 (temperature difference). I am grateful to Bill Doolittle for many useful talks.

68 Attack on ridged fields: Myers 1998:44, 55–60, 85–86.

69 Disappearance of lazy-beds: Myers 1998:61–66; Murphy 1834:556 (“more clearly”).

70 Myers’s experiments: Myers 1998 (water in furrows, 153–56; setup, 235–36; blight units, 360; temperature/humidity effects, 365–66, 379–84). Grass grew on the sides