No. of Visitors. 14981 17948 19500 14399 16796 16849 15901

Receipts at doors. L664 L740 L820 L580 L728 L714 L648

Sales of Dogs. L556 L367 L485 L554 L586 L474 L465

In 1879, the exhibition of guns and sporting implements was introduced,
an additional attraction which made no difference financially, or in the
number of visitors.

_Sporting_.--An exhibition of requisites and appliances in connection
with sports and pastimes of all kinds was opened in Bingley Hall, Aug
28, 1882. In addition to guns and ammunition, bicycles and tricycles,
there were exhibited boats, carriages, billiard tables, &c.

_Dairy Utensils_.--The first of these exhibitions, June, 1880, attracted
considerable attention for its novelty. It is held yearly in Bingley
Hall.

_Bees_.--An exhibition of bees, beehives, and other apiary appliances
took place at the Botanical Gardens, in Aug., 1879.

_Food and Drinks_.--A week's exhibition of food, wines, spirits,
temperance beverages, brewing utensils, machinery, fittings, stoves and
appliances, was held in Bingley Hall, December 12-20, 1881.

_Building_.--A trades exhibition of all kinds of building material,
machinery, &c., was held in 1882.

_Bicycles, &c._--The Speedwell Club began their annual exhibition of
bicycles, tricycles, and their accessories in February, 1882, when about
300 machines were shown. In the following year the number was nearly
400; in 1884, more than 500; in 1885, 600.

_Roots_.--Messrs. Webb, of Wordsley, occupied Curzon Hall, November 20,
1878, with an exhibition of prize roots, grown by their customers.

_Fruit, Flowers, &c._--The first flower show we have note of was on June
19, 1833. The first chrysanthemum show was in 1860. The first Birmingham
rose show in 1874 (at Aston); the second, five years later, at Bingley
Hall. The Harborne gooseberry-growers have shown up every year since
1815, and the cultivators of _pommes de terre_ in the same neighbourhood
first laid their tables in public in Sept., 1879.

~Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862.~--Even as Birmingham may be said to have
given the first idea for the "Great Exhibition" of 1851, so it had most
to do with the building thereof, the great palace in Hyde Park being
commenced by Messrs. Fox, Henderson & Co., July 26, 1850, and it was
finished in nine months at a total cost of L176,031. In its erection
there were used 4,000 tons of iron, 6,000,000 cubic feet of woodwork,
and 31 acres of sheet