these industries for themselves. With
the somewhat unique experiment carried out for this object, I will
conclude the story of the new Department's activities in its early
years.

The part we took at the Cork Exhibition of 1902 was well understood in
Ireland, but not perhaps elsewhere. We secured a large space both in the
main Industrial Hall and in the grounds, and gave an illustration not of
what Ireland had done, but of what, in our opinion, the country might
achieve in the way of agricultural and industrial development in the
near future. Exhibiting on the one hand our available resources in the
way of raw material, we gave, on the other hand, demonstrations of a
large number of industries in actual operation. These exhibits, imported
with their workers, machinery and tools, from several European countries
and from Great Britain, all belonged to some class of industry which, in
our belief, was capable of successful development in Ireland. In the
indoor part of the exhibit there was nothing very original, except
perhaps in its close relation to the work of a government department.
But what attracted by far the greatest interest and attention was a
series of object lessons in many phases of farm activities, where, in
our opinion, great and immediate improvements might be made. Here were
to be seen varieties of crops under various systems of treatment,
demonstrations of sheep-dipping, calf-rearing on different foods,
illustrations of the different breeds of fowl and systems of poultry
management, model buildings and gardens for farmer and labourer; while
in separate buildings the drying and pressing of fruit and vegetables,
the manufacture of butter and cheese, and a very comprehensive forestry
exhibit enabled our visitors to combine profitable suggestion with, if I
may judge from my frequent opportunities of observing the sightseers in
whom I was particularly interested, the keenest enjoyment.

We kept at the Exhibition, for six months, a staff of competent experts,
whose instructions were to give to all-comers this simple lesson. They
were to bring home to our people that, here in Ireland before their very
eyes, there were industries being carried on by foreigners, by
Englishmen, by Scotchmen, and in some instances by Irishmen, but in all
cases by men and women who had no advantage over our workers except that
they had the technical training which it was the desire of the
Department to give to the workers of Irelan