THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 349 



the show. The number of entries at this show was 

 183, and at the corresponding shows held in the suc- 

 ceeding nine years the average number has been 164. 



Since the year 1896, Winter shows have been held 

 at Ballsbridge in the month of December. These shows 

 had their origin in the exhibition of farm produce 

 which commenced in 1845, anc ^ they were held in the 

 Agricultural Museum, Kildare street. In 1858 the 

 Agricultural Hall, then newly erected in Kildare street, 

 enabled the committee to add sections for fat stock 

 and poultry. In this form the shows continued up to 

 1879, with the exception of the year 1871, when the 

 cattle sections were omitted in consequence of foot 

 and mouth disease. The winter shows were not re- 

 sumed at Ballsbridge until 1890. The attendance at 

 the show was discouraging ; in 1891 the expenditure 

 exceeded the receipts by ^533, and the shows were 

 discontinued for several years. Since the shows were 

 resumed in 1896, the expenditure on them has exceeded 

 the receipts by ^7418, an annual loss of ^412, which, 

 however, the Society considers justified mainly in the 

 interests of the fat stock and poultry industries. 



The Society is indebted to a number of gentlemen 

 interested in promoting improvement in malting barley, 

 and known as the Barley Committee, who, for some 

 years contributed annually two or three hundred 

 pounds to be awarded in prizes varying from 2 to 

 5, which were allocated to counties according to a fixed 

 scheme. At the show of 1913, there were 288 entries 

 for these prizes. 



No enterprise in which the Society ever engaged 

 has attracted so much public notice as the annual event 

 now known all over the world as the Dublin Horse 

 Show, which opens at Ballsbridge with unerring regu- 

 larity on the Tuesday preceding the last Friday in the 



