Families who relied on the potato to keep them alive were left with nothing. Families who grew grain or barley had to either sell the food to pay the rent or eat the food and be evicted. The average man before the famine ate between seven and fifteen pounds of potato a day. Children even took potatoes to school for lunch. People would leave one thumbnail grow long because without knives, that was the best way to peel the potato. When the potatoes were boiled the pot was turned into a basket outside the door and the water drained off. They would put the basket in the middle of the floor and all sit around and eat. On a three legged stool nearby they would leave a bowl of salted water or just salt. They dipped the potatoes in the bowl before they ate. This was called "dip at the stool." Drinks of buttermilk or skim milk would complete their meal. Several different dishes could be made from the potato such as boxty bread, champ and fleatair. Among the peasant class, married men dressed better than women and their clothes were provided for first. Women had equal input in the economy of the household. Women did the daily work of cooking, cleaning, and rearing the children. Women of all were responsible for the fowl, pig, and making of butter. On market day better off farming girls and women would drive the horse or donkey to town with products of butter, eggs, and fowl and return in the evening with the goods they bought. Peasant families ate potatoes for every meal, except during the summer when their stock was exhausted. Most of the beggars were wives and children of able-bodied laborers. The husbands themselves rarely begged. In the very poor laboring families, while the husbands went to the east of the country or to England to find work at the harvest, women and children supported themselves by begging. They would travel away from their localities for prides sake. The greatest numbers of beggars were found during the summer months when there was little work to be found for the laboring men, who rarely begged. The population of Ireland had greatly increased in the years preceding the famine and this helped lead to a catastrophe (Taylor, 1962). Two-thirds of the population of 8.25 million Irish lived off the land.