296 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



was paid in turn to several of the great works in the city, where 

 the members witnessed much to impress them with the business 

 importance and vast resources of Belfast. They inspected Messrs 

 Harland & "Wolffs extensive shipbuilding yard, the spinning 

 factory at York Street, the tobacco factory of Messrs Gallagher, 

 and the Belfast Ropeworks Company. A visit was also paid to 

 the Royal Irish Distillery at Connswater. 



After luncheon, the company started in brakes to drive to 

 Clandeboye, a distance of ten miles, the journey being through a 

 beautiful tract of country skirling the southern side of Belfast 

 Lough. On the way a call was made at the Belmont Nurseries, 

 for the purpose of inspecting Mr Hugh Dickson's splendid fields 

 of roses, and his rich collection of Begonias and other flowers, 

 which were greatly admired. Over the Royal arms which 

 surmount the arched entrance to the nurseries, there was a fine 

 display of the Crimson Rambler rose, and there was a wealth of 

 colour for the horticulturist in the tasteful and effective treatment 

 of this floral archway. The nurseries extend to forty acres, and 

 in the rose fields something like 150,000 young roses are grown 

 every year. After their walk through the grounds, during which 

 the visitors saw some acres of fruit trees and shrubs of great 

 variety and fine quality, the drive was resumed to Clandeboye, 

 by way of Holywood and Helen's Bay. 



When Lord Dufferin succeeded to Clandeboye there was only 

 a little bit of plantation round the mansion-house, but there are 

 now about three thousand acres of woodlands and policies, in 

 which the planting has been carried out with a view to orna- 

 mental effect and sporting purposes rather than with an eye to 

 economic forestry. There was nothing of special note to be seen 

 in the woodlands, the chief feature of the demesne being Helen's 

 Tower, rising on the top of a wooded hill, and from the summit 

 of which an enchanting view is obtained of a grand and extensive 

 panorama, embracing the woods and lakes of Clandeboye, Belfast 

 Lough, the Antrim Hills, the Irish Sea, the island of Arran, 

 Ailsa Craig, the coasts of Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, the Isle of 

 Man, Strangford Lough, and the Mourne Mountains — a magnifi- 

 cent stretch of scenery, which, for variety and picturesqueness, 

 could hardly be surpassed. 



The party went over the house, where they examined with 

 much interest the rich store of artistic treasures, instruments of 

 warfare, and sporting trophies, gathered together by Lord Dufferin 



