THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 347 



At the show of 1852 an entry fee of 25. 6d. was 

 charged on each head of cattle entered by a non- 

 member; this was done with the view of "excluding 

 cattle of an inferior class." 



In the report of the show of 1855, it is pointed out 

 that there were 290 shorthorns, whereas the number 

 at the Lincoln show of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England was in, and at the Berwick-on-Tweed 

 show of the Highland and Agricultural Society the 

 number was 223. 



Mr. Henry Smith of Dease Abbey, Yorkshire, in 

 reporting on the show of 1856, says: — "The county 

 of Durham has been called the land of shorthorns ; 

 Ireland is that country now. I say, as an Englishman, 

 and an English shorthorn breeder, that Englishmen 

 must look to themselves, for, unless they improve in a 

 very short time, Ireland will beat them. . . . The 

 progress that has been made in the country in the 

 breeding of shorthorns is something most extra- 

 ordinary." Other reports of this period are even more 

 laudatory, but enough has been said to afford some 

 idea of the stimulus that was given to cattle breeding by 

 the Spring show, in the first quarter of the century. 



The erection of the Agricultural Hall (now the 

 south hall at Ballsbridge) in Kildare street in 1858, 

 was the first important step in the direction of perma- 

 nent buildings for the shows. It was a necessity at 

 the time, because the erection of the Natural History 

 Museum and the National Gallery had greatly en- 

 croached upon the space available for agricultural 

 exhibitions. In 1862, it was ordered that the Lawn 

 should no longer be used for shows, and space had to 

 be found elsewhere on the site now occupied by the 

 Science and Art Museum. 



During the last twenty years of the Kildare street 



