Editing Lazy bed (section)

== History ==
The name of the practice may derive from “lazy root”, an English nickname for the [[potato]] that was often grown in lazy beds.{{sfn|Mann|2011|loc=Lazy Beds}}  An early 20th-century observer in [[Connemara]] noted that the "term 'Lazybed' would seem to be a misnomer, for, in fact, the system calls for a great deal of labour."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O Buachalla |first=Liam |date=1937 |title=Some reflections on the social and economic organisation of Connemara |url=https://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/4937 |journal=Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=31–46}}</ref>

Exact origins of the practice are uncertain. There is archaeological evidence of lazy-bed type cultivation at a [[Romano-British culture|Romano-British]] settlement at [[Tottenham]] in [[Cambridgeshire]], with similarly-narrow ridges resembling lazy-beds, dating to circa 600 BC, found in [[Holland]], others in [[Norway]], and on a [[Viking Age]] site in [[Denmark]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fenton |first=Alexander |date=1977 |title=Team cultivation with the spade in Scotland |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/jatba_0183-5173_1977_num_24_2_3271 |journal=Journal d'agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquée |volume=24 |pages=77–86}}</ref><blockquote>In Ireland, there is archeological evidence that Celtic farmers grew crops in lazy beds long before the potato. By the late eighteenth century, highland Scotland, Wales and most rural gardens in England's west country also spaded their potatoes into beds.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>Lazy beds have been identified in archaeological contexts from 17th and 18th century farms in [[Clydesdale (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Clydesdale]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Tam |url=https://biggararchaeology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/UPPER_CLYDESDALE-M74_PROJECT-sm-1.pdf |title=Upper Clydesdale Through The Ages - The M74 Project (Archaeology) |date=1992 |publisher=Biggar Archaeology Group |isbn=0 9520145 0 5}}</ref> and have also been uncovered as part of archaeological excavations in Newfoundland.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope |first=Peter E. |date=2008 |title=An Archaeology of the Petit Nord - Summer 2007 |url=https://www.gov.nl.ca/tcar/files/Vol6-2008.pdf |journal=Provincial Archaeology Office 2007 Archaeology Review |location=St. John's, NL |publisher=Department of Tourism, Culture & Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador |volume=6 |pages=54–59}}</ref>

A rare 1757 copy of "Plain Directions for Raising Potatoes on the Lazy Bed" by John Fraser is held by the National Library of Scotland.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.nls.uk/media-u4/22512/areport02.pdf |title=National Library of Scotland Annual Report 2001 2002 |date=2002 |publisher=National Library of Scotland |location=Edinburgh |pages=17}}</ref> Historically, lazy beds were reported in Orkney by 1795,<ref name=":2" /> by 1801 in [[Cavan]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coote |first=Charles |url=https://www.cavanlibrary.ie/cavan-history/history-online/digitised-material/statistical-survey-of-the-county-of-cavan.pdf |title=Statistical Survey of the County of Cavan |date=1802 |publisher=Dublin Society}}</ref> and by 1808, the practice had "taken great root" in [[Devon]]shire.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Harrod |first=TR |url=https://www.landis.org.uk/downloads/downloads/R117%20Soils%20in%20Devon%20IX.pdf |title=Soils in Devon IX - Soil Survey Record No. 117 |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-9998453-0-8 |pages=103}}</ref> The abandonment of the method may have exacerbated the later [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] in Ireland.{{sfn|Mann|2011|p=229}} Following the Famine, it was one of the practices suggested for the reutilization of reclaimable wastelands.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Malley |first=George Orme |date=1870 |title=The Utilization of the Reclaimable Waste Lands of Ireland |url=https://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/5844 |journal=Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland |volume=5 |pages=168–183}}</ref>