IS70. J 
THE HOUSELEEKS. 
201 
The fruit is of large size, roundisli-oblate in shape, like that of a small flat 
peach, the diameter, which reaches from If- in. to 2 in., exceeding the depth, 
with a deep suture on the side and slightly hollowed at the apex. The skin is 
thin and tender, of a deep golden colour, dotted and speckled on the exposed 
side with deep crimson, like Jefferson, and having a thin bloom. Stalk f in. 
long, inserted in a small cavity. Flesh adhering to the stone, deep yellow, very 
juicy and rich. Midseason. 
This is in all respects a fine plum. The colour, texture of flesh, &c., more 
nearly resemble the Jefferson than those of any other variety. It is-a cling¬ 
stone also, like the Jefferson, which is a slight disadvantage. The shape of the 
fruit is, however, very different, and it is larger, and possesses more of the Green¬ 
gage flavour. It is a robust-growing variety, and bears freely. For orchard- 
house cultivation, and for pot-culture, this variety is exceedingly well adapted, 
as it succeeds well under these conditions. Some fruits which we have grown 
this season in pots have been exceedingly handsome, and of most excellent 
flavour.—A. F. Barron, Chiswick. 
THE HOUSELEEKS. 
OWN gardens have certain plants that do well in them, notwithstanding 
their excess of soot and lack of sunshine. The Temple Gardens, in the 
very heart of London, have been the admiration of thousands by reason of 
skilful management, and a due selection of plants in which the vital 
principle was strong. Even town windows, bleak and short of breadth as they 
are, as well as being stony and dry, are yet capable of adornment with plants. The 
Common Houseleek {Sempervivum tectorum) comes under neither of the above divi¬ 
sions, but belongs to the Eoof Garden.” This fine old succulent plant has been 
well named Sempervivum, for there seems to be no end to its life. When I had 
been away from my father’s house for more than twenty years, I found the old 
Houseleek in good condition, although many a colony of young plants had gone 
out from this parent stock. The plant flowers, and seeds, and sends out offsets, 
and yet the patch on the roof seems only a little wider when the lifetime of the 
owner has passed away. 
In the ancient Herbals much is said of the ^^vertues ” of this plant, but in 
our day if it will only serve to ornament the angle of a thatched roof, or show 
its fat leaves and flesh-coloured flowers by some garret window, or fringe the 
coping of a division wall where nothing else could live, it will answer our pur¬ 
pose. It has little in common with other plants, for though no parasite like 
Mistleto or Dodder, it scarcely takes to common earth; its life is more like that 
of some ferns, such as the Polypodium vulgare.,ox the Wall (Asplenium Ruta- 
muraria), than that of ordinary flowering plants ; it certainly gets the rain of 
heaven, and the wind, but beyond a little dust in dry weather, it receives little else 
from the earth but a lodging, and that so high' and dry that it has to suffer the 
