Incidentally, the potatoes most commonly planted in Ireland as the main staple food, and for a huge proportion of people the only food, with milk and herring, during the famine years of 1845 to 1852, when the crop repeatedly failed, was the lumper, which grew to a size where one potato would be cradled in the arms. Lumpers are particularly subject to infection by the blight. In recent years there have been experiments in growing them, and their flavour was critically received… however, in a country and time when a man's typical diet was two stone (nearly 13 kilograms) of potatoes a day, they grew reliably.
The blight hit all over Europe, including Scotland; it was particularly severe in Ireland because the British government - then the occupying power - refused realistic aid. In Scotland, where aid was provided, famine did not ensue.