2 2 4 A HISTORY OF 



of their successful labours, and the former was granted 

 a pension from the Royal Literary Fund. Hickey had 

 early been impressed by the poor condition of Irish 

 farms, and began to study improved methods for such 

 of them as consisted of a few acres. In 1817, he pub- 

 lished The State of the Poor in Ireland. His first 

 work on farming — Hints to Small Farmers — was pub- 

 lished under the pseudonym of " Martin Doyle," under 

 which name he continued to print a large number of 

 pamphlets on cattle, planting, gardening, roads, &c. 

 He also conducted the Irish Farmer s and Gardener s 

 Magazine. 



In May 1801, Philip, Earl of Hardwicke, was 

 elected President in the room of the Marquis Corn- 

 wallis, resigned. A new seal was ordered from Mr. 

 Mossop, who also received a commission for a figure of 

 " Hibernia," to be affixed to a wand carried by the 

 Society's hall-porter. A large steel-press seal, with the 

 figure of "Hibernia" (the Society's "arms") executed 

 by John Milton, was sent from London, for which he 

 was paid £31, 10s. 



Two special communications on the culture of 

 potatoes from the shoots, received from R. Griffith and 

 George Grierson, were highly commended, and their 

 plans recommended for general adoption. The Rev. 

 Dr. Maunsell was voted a medal in Irish gold for his 

 services to the same art of potato culture. 1 



During the previous eight or nine years, Dr. Walter 

 Wade ; Sir John Sinclair, bart., president of the Board 

 of Agriculture, London ; Mr. Secretary Pelham ; and 

 Benjamin, Count von Rumford, of Bavaria; the Duke of 

 Argyle, president of the Highland Society, and William 

 McDonald, its secretary ; the Duke of Norfolk, pre- 

 sident of the London Society of Arts, and Charles 

 1 See his Essay, Haliday Pamphlets, 1802, mcccxxxiii. 6. 



