The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-10-13
IRISH FAIR HELD
TN LONDON S CENTER.
Lads and l.assies OF Emerald Isle
Display Products of Their
Native Sod. |
itNs MD GOOD WORK

.NliNS MD GOOD NOlSlN
LONDON. Oct IL.
across the pleasant greensward OF VIM
cen satiare. Westminster was 10 ne
seen throughout Yesterday an emerald
nag i,oatins over the Royal Horticultural
Hail and bearing upon IT the counterfeit
presdntmenl of an Irish harp Nearer at
hand the skiriing of the Irish pipes testl-
lied with further surety to the fact that
within was In full progress London's an
nual "crunach.' or Irish fair, the big
gest and brightest alike socially ana
practically ever vet held.
The "CronBcir."- originally started by
the Gaelic League to help Irish industries,
has this year for the first time enlisted
the aid of the Irish Agricultural Depart
ment 1t has become to some extent
state matter, and is more than ever an
event of Importance to every lover
of Ireland. Although the fair Is to last
I'LL the end of the week, there were EVIL
dences even yesterday OF the effect or
this larger scope. Motors and carriages
lined the curb and there arrived quite
an unwonted number Of smart West End
foIk-for wealth and the brogue have
not been very constant friends as yet!
n one the less, Tie itSSiL' tthosSA'
more crowded than ever, had the same
old air of homely. kindly Irish gaietS.
Around the stalls were to be seen bevies
at fair trattickers fresh-come from Ire
land. with soft Irish voices and faces
That betrayed convincingly enough that
Complexion OF the lily and the rose
which, as Lord DuHerin said. lis to be
found nowhere in the world save IN Ire
land
Band of Irish Nuns.
Here. characteristicaly enough. was to
he seen little band OF Irish nuns. They
had iourneyed all the way from County
Roscommon with carpets to sell. made
by the hands of the actual peasant girls
of the district Quiet and tinid though
they seemed, these same nuns had OF
themselves turned an Old manor house
On Lord Dillon's estate into prosperous
farm, doing even the toughest work with
their own hands They mad learned tneir
craft of carpet-Inaking In Belgium. and
taught 1t to the Roscommon girls. And
here were the actual carpets to, bear wit
ness to the result. wonderfully cheap. and
admirably made. and all charmingly de-
signed in Irish patterns.
Itard by one might see dark-browed
Spanish-ookins boys from the south,
guardians over piles of canned delica-
cies-a new and splenddly progressive In
y
looking Irish bacon. The old complaint
of the London householder that it Is next
to Impossible to get satisfactory shop
bacon, even at the orthodox shilling
pound, need never trouble any one who
has tasted the genuine rolled bacon OF
rerse-famed Limerick.
Everywhere the cheapness OF these
home grown wares was remarkable.
There was for instance, any amount of
quite exquisite lace = displayed by the
most delicate fingers to be found the
world Overlooking sold for about n quar-
ter OF what would be paid in Regent
street Then there were wooden railway
rugs-splendid ones for II shillings-and
shawls innumerable, all the work of the
Irish peasants: art work of all kinds IN
wood and metal and true Irish gypsum;
bog oak and other trinkets galore; Irish
tweeds on every hand: and, not least,
Irish furniture made from Irish timber
at Navap-another new industry-and ex-
hibited by the postmaster of that town
out of sheer patriotism.
Yet another new Irish industry was to
he noted, too, namely, the manufacture
of brown paper out of peat. At one stall
picture postcards made of the peat from
the famous Bog of Allan were in particu-
lar demand This was due, perhaps.
largely to the affirmation of the Irish
Autolycus that sure it's slice of the
auld country I'm selln' you"
Progress in Irish Farming.
Above all. however, the real Importance
of the fair centered round the magnifi-
cent exhibit of butter, eggs. apples, fruit
and farm produce generally. sent by the
Irish Agricultural Department and ar
ranged by one%of TN. Russell's most
energetic officials.
You may know said he yesterday.
that in,the Importation of eggs into this
country Ireland is now second only to
Ruasia. Our export in 1866 was over l.
it1 600 900 eggs, representing some G3,OD0,-
600. In the sale of Irish butter in Great
Britain there has been an increase In the
Year of .e162,ooo. and much the same has
happened with poultry and bacon.
But the great advance of the future"
he continued lis in the matter of fruit.
There is no question about the Irish
farmers being able to grow fruit-they
could always do that. The difficulty has
been in getting it to the market under
proper conditions. Now that Is where we
can, and do help them. We not only
publish free leaflets giving exact mstruc-
lions as to the all-important points OF
packing and grading or sorting for the
English market. but our instructors go
round and teach the farmers every detail
of the business, while We do all in our
power to facilitate transit. The result is
iIltL tlllS very year tHe best irish apples
were sold in Coyent Garden at as. dozen
Then We do all we can to encourage
bS-prolucts, and the canning of such fruit
as issnot sent fresh TO the market. This
has been enormously successful too Our
Irish canned fruit is already showing It's
superiority to the Continental import,
largely because, under our instructions,
the proper cooking varieties are chosen,
and not merely the surplus of the eating
varieties"
1t need hardly be said that all these
ancomiums were fully borne out by the
display of Irish fruit and poultry, and
the rest OF it. upon the departments
benches at the horticultural Hall yes
terday. Another Irish industry admirab-
Is exemplified there was that of the
growth and manufacture of tobacco, for
which the Irish climate appears peculiar
" suited.
So. altogether, there was profounder
triumph about this Irish fair than was
10 be gagged merely by bright faces and
the marching of the killed pipers up and
down the hall, and the Irish plays and
Irish dances that went forward through