THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 333 



century. Recognising the value of this important 

 invention, the Society offered space, free of charge, 

 at the Spring cattle show of 1888 for the exhibition of 

 hand separators in operation. 



The fact that milk production is widely distributed, 

 the dairy cattle being owned by numerous farmers 

 who could not individually undertake butter-making 

 on a large scale, rendered some system of combina- 

 tion necessary. The conditions were peculiarly favour- 

 able to the co-operative system, which was soon taken 

 up extensively in Denmark. In Ireland, Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir Horace) Plunket, and his colleagues of the 

 Agricultural Organisation Society, laboured assidu- 

 ously, and with marked success, in introducing co- 

 operation in butter-making, and in agriculture generally. 

 The Royal Dublin Society was approached on the 

 subject in 1891, but the committee of agriculture 

 recommended that the Society should not advocate 

 one system of trading over another, while they fully 

 recognised the importance of the movement, and ad- 

 vised that the Society should rather devote attention 

 to promoting technical instruction in dairying. 



The new methods of butter-making, once intro- 

 duced, needed no artificial stimulus. The market 

 demanded a uniform and cleanly-made article, of high 

 quality; and this the mechanical method alone could 

 supply on a large scale. The method in the ordinary 

 course of trade competition soon captured the market. 



FISHERIES MARINE LABORATORY 



From the first year of its existence, the Society had 

 made efforts to promote the fishing industry, and the 

 subject was often discussed at the evening meetings of 

 a comparatively recent period, but it was not until our 



