IRISH GARDENING 



V^OLUME XIII 

 No. .■52 



Editor J- W. Besant 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



OCTOBER 

 1918 



Sedum pyramidale* 



By Iv. Lluyd J'kaegek. b.a,, b.e. 



This remarkable sedum, which has recently 

 flowered abundantly at Glasnevin, was col- 

 lected in 1915 by Mr. Keginald FaiTer (No. 836) 

 on roofs and rocks in and about the to\\n of 

 Siku, in Kansu, China, and 1 described it under 

 the above name in the '" .Journal of Botany 

 last year. In "Sir. Vnrrvr'a I'ecently ])ublished 

 book dealing with his Clunese ti'avels, Siku 

 figures prominently, and many interesting 

 plants were gathered in the neighbourhood, of 

 which the present species, a conspicuous 

 feature of the vegetation of the roofs of pagodas 

 and houses, is by no means the least remark- 

 al)le. The plant is perennial, glaucous, and 

 very brittle, with flowering stems 6 to 1*2 inches 

 high and short barren stems bearing rosettes of 

 leaves. These leaves differ so much in shape 

 at different seasfins that they might easily be 

 thouglit to belong to different species. When 

 the plant is in full growth they are linea)', verj' 

 fleshy, an inch long, spine-tipped, and laxly 

 disposed. Then as groM'th proceeds they 

 cliange their form, and a dense egg-like, spiny 

 rosette of sliort, flat leaves is produced, very 

 sinu'lar to the winter rosettes of Cofijlcdun 

 >iliiii<i.s)i ; tliis is intended, no doubt, as a ])rotec- 

 tion against summer drought or winter cold, 

 or both. In the second year of their growth 

 the rosettes shoot up to flower, producing a 

 dense pyramid of blossom uj) to a foot in height. 

 The flowers are white and staiTv, and are pecu- 

 liar in having the carpels distinctly stalked. 



Tlie only Stonecrop hitherto discovered to 

 whicli this plant appears to be akin is ;S'. 

 ('lidueti, but that species is so inadequately de- 

 scribed that all that can be said is that the two 

 are certainly distinct. *S'. iiiininii lair is not 

 hardy, but after a little preliminary trouble it 

 has grown freely at Glasnevin, being kept 

 under glass during the winter. The plant is 

 still verv rare in cultivation. 



Strawberries. 



T]IE Food I 'id 

 (3()th Julv, 



hiction Department has recently: 

 lOlH) addressed the following: 

 memoranduuj to Agricultural Executive Com- 

 mittees * : — ■■ On 27th November, 1917, the' 

 Department issued a memorandmn to iVgricul- 

 tural Executive Committees suggesting that 

 while it was not desirable to reduce the area 

 under Strawberries, Committees might take; 

 steps to restrict any increase, but the inquiries' 

 of the Department show that there has in fact 

 been a considerable decrease in the strawberry 

 acreage. The area devoted to this crop in Eng- 

 land and Wales on holdings over one acre was 

 23,374 acres in 1914, but there has been a pro- 

 gressive decline in each subsequent year, and 

 it is estimated that the area at present does not 

 exceed 10,000 acres. The supplies from the 

 present acreage are quite insufficient to meet 

 the demand for jam both for the navy and army 

 and the civilian popvdation cir ^,0 provide any- 

 surplus of fresh fruit. 



'■ Moreover, as a residt of the discontinuance 

 of fresh planting during the war, the majority 

 of the remaining beds are old and worn out, 

 and will be grubbed up as unprofitable at the 

 present controlled prices. It is essential, there- 

 fore, that a considerable new area should be 

 planted next autumn and spring, and the De- 

 ])artment have decided accordingly to with- 

 draw their memorandum of 27th November, 

 1917, and to encourage re-planting so as to 

 seciu'e an increase in the present area up to the 

 acreage of 1914. 



" Agricultural Conunittees should, there- 

 fore, let it be known that no objection will be 

 taken to new plantations, but they may stipu- 

 late that they should be intercropped with a 



.Journal (-1 tlir 15' 



of .\£ji'icuhm't'. All''., 1918. 



