The land is the same,
the climate is the same, and the laws are the same, as those
which prevail in other parts of Ireland. Belfast is the great
centre of Irish manufactures and commerce, and what she has been
able to do might be done elsewhere, with the same amount of
energy and enterprise. But it is not land, or climate, or
altered laws that are wanted. It is men to lead and direct, and
men to follow with anxious and persevering industry. It is
always the Man society wants.
The influence of Belfast extends far out into the country. As
you approach it from Sligo, you begin to see that you are nearing
a place where industry has accumulated capital, and where it has
been invested in cultivating and beautifying the land. After you
pass Enniskillen, the fields become more highly cultivated. The
drill-rows are more regular; the hedges are clipped; the weeds no
longer hide the crops, as they sometimes do in the far west. The
country is also adorned with copses, woods, and avenues. A new
crop begins to appear in the fields--a crop almost peculiar to
the neighbourhood of Belfast. It is a plant with a very slender
erect green stem, which, when full grown, branches at the top
into a loose corymb of blue flowers. This is the flax plant, the
cultivation and preparation of which gives employment to a great
number of persons, and is to a large extent the foundation of the
prosperity of Belfast.
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