ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 193 



UPPER OR FIRST CLASS DEPARTMENT. 



"Arrangements will be made for opening- this branch of the institution for 

 the education of the sons of gentry, as soon as it shall appear that such would 

 be likely to be supported. The course of education in this branch is proposed 

 to embrace the Classics, Mathematics, Mechanics, Drawing-, Engineering-, as 

 connected with the improvement of landed property, and the French and 

 German Languages. The sciences more immediately bearing on agriculture, 

 such as Chemistry, Geology, Botany, Physiology, and the treatment of the 

 diseases of Cattle, will be taught by competent lecturers, and an intimate 

 knowledge of the practice of improved agriculture will be acquired by the 

 pupils in their walks for exercise and by attending the lectures on the theory 

 and practice of agriculture, common to all classes. 



FORM OF APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION. 



"I do beg to recommend aged as 



a fit and proper person to be received as a pupil in the Leopardstown Agri- 

 cultural College, and I hereby undertake that he shall be amenable to the 

 rules and regulations of the institution, which I have read. 



" Application for Admission to be addressed to the Secretary, at the 

 Farmers Gazette Office." 



As might be expected the year 1845 proved an intensely anxious one for 

 the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society. From its formation the 

 Society had a run of splendid successes ; its connection with Local Societies 

 brought it into touch with all parts of the country. Its Provincial Shows, 

 of which four had already been hela, had stimulated a desire for Agricultural 

 improvement. The prizes offered for land reclamation, drainage, and good 

 tillage, were earnestly competed for. The reports received from Local 

 Societies contained matter of the most interesting and important character, 

 which was disseminated by Press reports and subsequently in the published 

 transactions of the Society. But '45 arrived and with it the fearsome 

 " blight." The Society took early action. Special meetings of the Council 

 were held, the situation discussed, and remedial measures suggested. Lest 

 a panic might be created, by the publication o^ alarming reports that had 

 reached it, the Society, in spite of frequent suggestions, refrained from 

 making public the information that had been received regarding the myste- 

 rious disease. Professor Kane (afterwards Sir Robert) reported proceed- 

 ings of sub-committee that had been nominated to watch the progress of the 

 disease, and a number of experiments were suggested as to treatment of 

 potatoes that were slightly affected. Treatment by salt, hme, chloride of 

 lime, drying by artificial heats, parboiling, crushing and drying the meal 

 (farina), covering up tubes in ground with earth or straw in order to keep 

 them dry, all these were suggested, but needless to say their adoption was 

 not successful in result. Considerable attention was given to the idea of 

 securing by crushing and drying the potato starch, and prizes were offered 

 by the Society for machines suited to this purpose ; but although several 

 machines were sent in for competition, the process did not appear to be 

 taken up generally, probably because of the absence of adaptability of the 

 people to meet such exceptional circumstances as now existed. Viewed by 

 the light of subsequent events, and the knowledge afforded by scientific 

 research and teaching, there can be little doubt that much of the dreadful 

 suffering that occurred during the famine years in Ireland might have been 



o 



