February 6, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
103 
guard against insects and to remote any decayed leaves. As soon 
as the first frost appears it is necessary to draw some dry heating 
material around the beds to prevent the loss of heat and exclude 
frost, and the frames ought to be covered with straw mats. If the 
cold increases the trenches between the beds should be filled with 
stable manure to the height of the frames and the mats doubled. 
If snow comes it i.s shaken well off the mats and trenches to prevent 
the cooling of the beds when it melts. 
Some careful market gardeners remove, after two or three 
weeks’ planting, a few of th^e outer leaves with which the Lettuces 
have been planted, and which have grown too large, and do not 
contribute to form the head. Others intercrop with early Carrots, 
which they sow at the same time as they plant the former, thus 
securing a successional crop, but this is not the general rule, and 
many prefer to sow the early Carrots with Radishes in a special 
hotbed. 
Treated as described the black-seeded crisped small early 
Lettuce, sown from the 5th to 15th October, and planted in the 
beginning of December, is fit for sale towards the end of January 
or beginning of February. It may, however, happen that too severe 
winters do not allow the hotbeds to be made up or to set out the 
plants. In such cases it is necessary to protect the plants on the 
sloping beds against the severe weather until they can be planted 
on the hotbeds. We first begin to draw a lining of short, dry, 
heating material against the back of the beds, and to cover the 
bell-glasses during night with straw mats. If frost increases it 
is safe to scatter first about half an inch of very short dry 
stable litter between the empty spaces of the bell-glasses, 
and in case the cold becomes too severe for the plants to be 
thus protected, the layer of litter should be increased to the 
height of the bell-glasses, and single, double, and triple mats 
placed over all if necessary. When the sun shines during a 
bright frosty day the mats are removed, also the litter on the top 
of the bell-glasses, to enable the plants to take advantage of the 
sun’s warmth, and towards three o’clock in the afternoon they 
are covered again. The black seeded crisped small early Lettuces 
thus treated and planted in the hotbeds after the middle of 
December are fit for the market in the course of February and 
March. 
When weather becomes milder, and no more sharp frosts are 
to be feared, the gardeners make up special Lettuce beds, 1 foot of 
stable manure deep, over which they place 4 inches of compost. 
Such a bed will hold three rows of bell-glasses, under which they 
plant four crisped small Lettuces, and one Cos Lettuce in the 
centre ; they continue to cover and uncover the bell-glasses with 
straw mats, according to the temperature, until the plants are fit 
for sale. 
The Tennisball Lettuce is not quite so early as the small crisped, 
but it is more productive, heads better, and as it cannot be grown 
without fresh air, its forcing differs somewhat from the preceding 
variety. It is usually sown from the 20th to 25th October on 
a sloping bed like the other, and although hardier may be treated 
in the same way. We have, however, stated above that it is not 
so early as the crisped small variety, and on that account it may be 
left on the sloping border until the latter has been sold, when we 
shall set it out to take its place on the hotbed. To do that it is 
not necessary to touch the heating material of the bed ; we only 
loosen the compost with a fork, and when it is level plant towards 
the end of January or the beginning of February, at the rate of 
thirty plants to a frame light. They are protected from cold in 
the usual manner, but it is necessary that fresh air be admittted, 
tilting the sashes up at the back with pieces of wood whenever the 
weather is rather mild. —Eug. Sciiaettel, Paris. 
(To be continued.) 
POTATOES FOR IRELAND. 
I HAVE been greatly interested in reading Mr. Iggulden’s 
article on this subject, see page Gl. Having been in Ireland for 
some years perhaps you will allow me to offer a few comments 
thereon, at the same time I have no desire to pose as an authority 
on the subject, beyond briefly relating my own experience. With 
Mr. Iggulden’s preliminary remarks I heartily agree, but as to his 
selection of varieties which he recommends, at least as to some of 
them, I must express my dissent. “ Magnum Bonum,” says the 
writer of the article quoted, “ is still a great favourite with us, and 
we had a capital crop on our low ground. The quality is good, 
and this Potato I would also strongly recommend for planting in 
Ireland,” I hope no one will plant largely of this Potato in 
Ireland; if so I trust it will be someone with plenty of money who 
can afford to buy Potatoes for table use, and not the peasant who 
is dependant upon his Potato crop for his subsistence for the year. 
Having grown Magnum Bonum in Leinster, Ulster, and Munster, 
I am compelled to pronounce it one of the worst quality Potatoes. 
In 1887 the quality was excellent; the summer of that year being 
hot and dry, it evidently suited the variety, but that is the only 
year it has been fit for table use, and the pigs have to get them. 
Last year we had an Irish acre of them, but we cannot use them. 
This j’ear I intend having but one row of them, merely to keep the 
variety in stock. If not for its bad cooking qualities it would be a 
capital Potato for Ireland, as it is one of the heaviest croppers 
extant. 
Dunbar Regent is an enormous cropper, and is, moreover, an 
excellent cooking Potato. Of these we had considerably over an 
acre. This and Imperator, of which we had another acre, will be 
the two varieties we shall rely on this year. Unlike Mr. Iggulden, 
we find Imperator a first-rate cooking Potato. White Elephant 
is the very worst Potato we have ever grown, and we were obliged 
to give it up. All the Ashleaf varieties do well here, also 
Laxton’s Victorious and Beauty of Hebron. Village Blacksmith 
is splendid everywhere that I have grown it. The soil here is of 
a sandy nature, the district a mountain one. As the climate of 
England and Ireland differ so much, it would have considerably 
enhanced the value of Mr, Iggulden’s article had he stated if he 
had ever grown the varieties in Ireland which he recommends for 
culture here.—R. Weller, Glenstal Castle Gardens, Lmeridc. 
SEDUMS. 
Some time ago, in writing of hardy plants in flower, I said that 
the Sedums or Stonecrops would require to be treated of by them¬ 
selves. The task is by no means an easy one, as they have not 
received the attention from writers that they deserve, and in writing 
of them now I must disavow any special qualifications for the work 
beyond a liking for the plants and some study of their beauties 
and peculiarities. The Sedums have been much neglected in 
ordinary gardens for many years. It is true that some species, 
such as S, glaucura and S. acre aureum, have been in use by the 
carpet bedders, their uniform habit of growth eminently fitting 
them for these purposes, but the ordinary gardener would appraise 
their value at a very low figure indeed. It is true that the fast 
increaing number of Alpine growers leads to a greater taste for 
the curious and uncommon in plants, and that this class of 
amateurs is beginning to appreciate their beauty ; but too often those 
of us who have the boldness to confess admiration for the Stone- 
crops find our remarks received with a pitying smile, which only 
requires to be accompanied by a significant tap on the forehead to 
express the opinion of the hearer that there is a screw loose some¬ 
where with anyone who admits an admiration for such plants. 
It is gratifying to note that the professional gardener realises 
that there is a great future before hardy and alpine plants, and that 
he is studying the subject with the zeal of one who feels that, if he 
is to keep his place in the ranks of his profession, he must keep 
himself abreast of the times. To him, then, as well as to the 
amateur I commend the Sedums as plants which will well repay 
him for the little care required in their cultivation, and will reveal 
afresh the wonderful way in which Dame Nature adapts her 
productions to the purposes they are intended to fulfil. 
We find in studying the Stonecrops that, like many other 
plants, they had to contend with the difficulties of classification, 
and that in old gardening works there is sometimes a difficulty in 
unravelling the Sempervivums or Houseleeks from the Sedums, as 
both were grouped under the latter name. This is derived from 
the Latin sedere, to sit, in consequence of the plants being 
apparently seated or placed upon the stones or rocks to which they 
are attached. There is a considerable diversity of habit in the 
genus, but, like all the others of the same family, the Crassulaceas, 
are of a succulent nature, having fleshy stems and leaves, and by 
means of these are enabled, like the Cacti of warmer climates, to 
withstand the withering influences of the sun and heat to which 
they are so much exposed in their native habitats. 
A considerable number of the Stonecrops are native plants, and 
one of the best known of these (S. acre, the Bitter Stonecrop), 
grows very plentifully along the coast of the Solway, near where I 
write. It forms large masses 2 or 3 feet across, and appears to 
luxuriate in the sand, stones, and broken shells which abound 
where it grows. These masses of green are very pretty at all 
times in their bright contrast to the grey of their soil—if it can be 
called soil ; but in summer when the carpet of green becomes a 
carpet of gold the eye is enchanted with the picture, and one would 
fain linger over this triumph of Nature’s decorative art. 
Among the Stonecrops S. reflexum was well known in old 
gardens, and is still occasionally met with. This has long stems 
thickly covered with fleshy leaves of a deep green, assuming a 
purplish tint in winter. In old days this was known as Trip 
Madam, Tripe Madam, and Prick Madam, all of which are said, on 
what authority I know not, to be corruptions of Tiiacque Madam. 
