Domestic Notices : — Ireland. 363 



Caledonian Horticultural Society's garden, for the Arboretum Britannicum, Its 

 dimensions were : girt at 3 ft. above the ground 9 ft. ; at the ground 12 ft. ; 

 height 43 ft.; diameter of the space covered by the branches 44 ft. Why it 

 is called Queen Mary's tree, we do not know. The tree in the neighbourhood 

 of Edinburgh called Queen Mary's Thorn (see fig. 46.) stands in a garden on 

 the opposite side of the town, and, though it is known to be nearly 300 years 

 old, is still healthy and vigorous, as our engraving indicates. It is a weeping 

 variety, and is the Cratse^gus Oxyacantha pendula reginae of the Fulham 

 Nursery, and other collections. — Co7id, 



IRELAND. 



Belfast Botanical Society, — The Annual Meeting of this Society was held 

 May 16., when reports were read from the secretary and the curator. The 

 recommendation of the former Committee, unanimously approved of by the 

 General Meeting, for the erection of a range of glass in the garden, had been 

 followed by the appointment of a Sub-Committee, whose report on the prac- 

 ticability of the object, and the means for accomplishing it, was received on 

 the 29th of May last. The General Committee, after having duly considered 

 the report, expressed a favourable opinion of the feasibility of the work, and 

 turned their attention to procuring information on the most improved mode 

 of constructing, heating, and ventilating the projected houses. The informa- 

 tion obtained was submitted, in the form of a report, to a special General 

 Meeting ; a design of the intended range of glass was furnished by Charles 

 Lanyon, Esq., and an estimate by Messrs. Turner and Walker, of Dublin. 

 The General Meeting, on the 24th of August, was pleased to adopt the report 

 and the design, and authorised the Committee to carry into effect such por- 

 tion as was within the means of the Society. The Committee, accordingly, 

 procured, from Messrs. Turner and Walker, an estimate for the erection of 

 two houses, measuring 65 by 20 feet, which was as much of the range as came 

 within their means. Mr. Lanyon having pronounced the same reasonable, the 

 Committee contracted for the work. The contract, which wa's read to the 

 meeting, stipulated for the erection and completion of the work, in accordance 

 with Mr. Lanyon's design, and in such a manner as would give entire satis- 

 faction to the Society, for the sum of 1,400/. The Committee had hitherto 

 been able to fulfil their engagement with the contractor, in a satisfactory man- 

 ner ; but they thought it right to state, that, in doing so, they were indebted 

 to the liberality of some individuals of their body, in making advances beyond 

 their usual contributions, which are to be provided for hereafter. The report 

 went on to state, that, out of a proprietary of 370 shareholders, and 308 

 subscribers, only 93, or under one seventh, as yet contributed to the building 

 of the green-houses. The Committee, in their former I'eport, might appear 

 to have been over-sanguine ; but, when the above circumstance was considered, 

 and the unforeseen state of the money market during the period mentioned 

 taken into account, they conceived they might be excused for entertaining 

 hopes which a moderate degree of cooperation, on the part of the members, 

 would have realised in a very short period. The wetness of the past season 

 had protracted the completion of the works at the time specified ; but the 

 Committee had satisfaction in reporting that one house was now ready for the 

 reception of plants, and the other in rapid progress. Though their plan was 

 diiFerent from that of any other in the empire [We should be greatly obliged 

 to Mr. Lanyon for some account of it], persons of experience considered that 

 the houses were, in every respect, calculated to answer their intended purposej 

 possessing also a high degree of architectural beauty, while the general 

 utility of the plant-house had in no degree been sacrificed. The Committee 

 hope that their exertions, in training up native youths, of respectable parents, 

 to a branch of industry so little cultivated, will ultimately be duly appreciated 

 by the nobility and gentlemen of the Province, whom it more immediately con- 

 cerns than the manufactuiing and mercantile classes, by whom the burthen of 

 th^ establishment has been hitherto almost exclusively borne. The Committee 



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