<P> Landlords in Ireland often used their powers without compunction, and tenants lived in dread of them . Woodham - Smith writes that, in these circumstances, "industry and enterprise were extinguished and a peasantry created which was one of the most destitute in Europe". </P> <P> In 1845, 24% of all Irish tenant farms were of 0.4--2 hectares (1--5 acres) in size, while 40% were of 2--6 hectares (5--15 acres). Holdings were so small that no crop other than potatoes would suffice to feed a family . Shortly before the famine the British government reported that poverty was so widespread that one - third of all Irish small holdings could not support their families after paying their rent, except by earnings of seasonal migrant labour in England and Scotland . Following the famine, reforms were implemented making it illegal to further divide land holdings . </P> <P> The 1841 census showed a population of just over eight million . Two - thirds of those depended on agriculture for their survival, but they rarely received a working wage . They had to work for their landlords in return for the patch of land they needed to grow enough food for their own families . This was the system which forced Ireland and its peasantry into monoculture, since only the potato could be grown in sufficient quantity . The rights to a plot of land in Ireland could mean the difference between life and death in the early 19th century . </P> <P> The potato was introduced to Ireland as a garden crop of the gentry . By the late 17th century, it had become widespread as a supplementary rather than a principal food because the main diet still revolved around butter, milk, and grain products . However, in the first two decades of the 18th century, it became a base food of the poor, especially in winter . Furthermore, a disproportionate share of the potatoes grown in Ireland were of a single variety, the Irish Lumper . The expansion of the economy between 1760 and 1815 saw the potato make inroads into the diet of the people and become a staple food year round for farmers . The large dependency on this single crop, and the lack of genetic variability among the potato plants in Ireland, were two of the reasons why the emergence of Phytophthora infestans had such devastating effects in Ireland and less severe effects elsewhere in Europe . </P>

Where did the irish go after the potato famine