72 A HISTORY OF 



their efforts. No less than 42 pages of the minute 

 book for July and August are occupied with lists of 

 such renters in the various counties, when a sum of 

 ^960 was distributed among them. Arthur Young 

 says that this design was meritorious, but that abuses 

 and deceptions were numerous. 



Captain Francis Blake of Galway informed the 

 Society that he had discovered that sea wrack or weed 

 might be made into good kelp, without drying and 

 saving. A great quantity was thrown up on the shore 

 at Galway, which he burnt while wet, a process that 

 enhanced the value and reduced the price. He prayed 

 aid towards erecting a furnace, but the Society was 

 unable to help him, as the Linen Board was the autho- 

 rity to which application should have been made. 



The premium of ^200 for establishing a new 

 brewery in the province of Ulster in 1780 was granted 

 to Edward and Nicholas Peers, Lisburn, who brewed 

 115 barrels of ale. 



In 1781, premiums to the amount of ^250 were 

 awarded to Robert Brooke, the Hon. Baron Hamilton, 

 and others, for cotton, velvets, velveteens, fustians, 

 &c. ; and William Allen, of Coleraine, was granted 

 60 for having tanned hides on Dr. MacBride's 

 method (see p. 144). Allen's memorial contained 

 full information as to his experiments. 



Premiums were offered in 1782 for white cottons, 

 Marseilles quilting, and corded dimity, when Messrs. 

 J. G. Kennedy and William Nicholson, skilled in such 

 manufactures, assisted the Society in determining them. 

 Samuel Lapham, William Summers, William Browne, 

 and Messrs. Joy, McCabe, and McCraken were awarded 

 prizes. A gold medal was voted to Richard Reynell, 

 Reynella, co. Westmeath, for having planted a very 

 large number of cedars of Lebanon, Newfoundland 



