THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 323 



In August 1891, the Act for the improvement of 

 the congested districts in Ireland received the royal 

 assent, and large sums of public money became avail- 

 able for carrying out such work as the Society had 

 initiated, and carried on at its own expense. The few 

 years during which the Society's scheme was in opera- 

 tion sufficed to show the utility of the method adopted, 

 and the possibility of effecting a vast improvement 

 with comparatively little expenditure. 



POTATO CULTURE 



While the effort was being made to improve agri- 

 culture in the Swinford district by means of itinerant 

 instruction and example holdings, experiments were 

 carried on in Ireland generally with the view of im- 

 proving the potato crop. In the years 1891-2-3, 

 experiments on different varieties of potato were tried 

 in nearly every county in Ireland, and the results were 

 published in detail. The general conclusion was that, 

 in addition to the Champion, other main crop varieties 

 were well suited for cultivation in Ireland. 



In 1893, the experiments were mainly directed to 

 testing the efficiency of spraying with copper prepara- 

 tions. It was in June 1891 that the Society first 

 decided to put spraying to practical test in the Swinford 

 district. The first report which refers to the use of 

 copper sulphate preparation in the form of powder was 

 discouraging, as it states that no " beneficial influence 

 could be traced to the powder." Experiments carried 

 out on the Society's own ground at Ballsbridge 

 proved abortive, as no disease appeared. The experi- 

 ments conducted in 1893 showed conclusively the 

 value of spraying, the increased profit being estimated 

 at from 22s. to 483. per acre. In 1894, experiments 



