THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 73 



spruce fir and two-thorned acacia. A foreign firm, 

 (Beaune and co. of Brussels, who manufactured super- 

 fine cloth at Amersfort, in Utrecht), made overtures 

 to the Society, sending over samples and proposing, 

 if encouraged, to come over to Ireland and exercise 

 their art for the benefit of the kingdom. Nothing 

 appears to have been done ; in the \ matter. David 

 Bosquet, probably a Huguenot, laid before the Society 

 samples of sheet lead and' copper' rolled by him at his 

 mills on the Dodder, and the Society agreed that he 

 was worthy of every encouragement. 



A premium was granted in 1785 to Messrs. Chamney 

 and co., for bringing to Dublin, by the Grand Canal, 

 a boat loaded with twenty tons of potatoes for sale 

 they being of the growth of the year 1784. 



In 1786, premiums for planting trees were awarded, 

 among others, to Francis Madden, for 240,000 ; George 

 Cottingham, for 121,000; and to Robert Power, for 

 102,000. A very large number of premiums, in sums 

 varying from £1 to ^18, were awarded to claimants 

 who had planted beans within four miles of Dublin. 

 To show the increase in acreage and trees, the following 

 particulars are given in one of the Society's publications. 

 In 1784, plantations on only 90 acres were claimed 

 for, when the premiums amounted to ^468. In 1788, 

 the acreage had risen to 9664, and the amount of 

 money distributed was ^4876. Between the years 1766 

 and 1806, premiums for planting amounted to ^18,460, 

 and (exclusive of 60 nurseries) the number of trees 

 planted, for which premiums were granted, was 

 55,137,000. A sum of ^6000 was also paid for 

 such trees as poplars, quicks, sallows, willows, and 

 Scotch firs. 



In February 1787, the Society took a new depar- 

 ture in instructing the' Committee of Agriculture to 



