302 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



boxes in his stable, about three feet long and ten inches wide, 

 arranged on shelves like those of a book-c'ase, before which a 

 thick curtain slides in order to keep out the light. He sows 

 the spawn of the mushroom in a bed of compost of horse- 

 dun cr or dead leaves and vegetable earth well manured, and 

 lie has in this way a crop of mushrooms all the year round. 

 The horses in the stalls are said to be none the worse for 

 this process, and no unhealthy emanations have ever been re- 

 marked in the stables. 2 A, August 6, 88. 



RAISING APPLES AND PEARS IN DRY SEASONS. 



An eminent pomologist in Brussels, De Johnghe, has suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining well-grown apples and pears in dry sea- 

 sons by watering the trees from time to time, and by making 

 holes in the ground underneath them and occasionally intro- 

 ducing some liquid, but not very highly concentrated, ma- 

 nure. This application is stated to be particularly important 

 at the time when the fruit is setting. 9 O, vn., July, 53. 



RUSSIAN METHOD OF PRESERVING FRUIT. 



A method of preserving fruit, quite frequently adopted in 

 Russia, consists in slacking fresh lime by sprinkling it with 

 water and adding a little creosote. The fruit is to be packed 

 in wooden boxes, with a layer of the prepared chalk powder 

 of an inch in depth at the bottom. This layer is to be first 

 covered with a sheet of paper, and upon it the fruit is to be 

 laid so as not to touch each other. On the first layer of fruit 

 another sheet of paper is placed, with the lime powder sprink- 

 led over it, and a sheet of paper over this ; upon this another 

 layer of fruit is spread, as before, and the process continued 

 until the box is full. The corners may then be filled with 

 charcoal. If a tight-fitting cover is put on the box, the fruit, 

 it is said, will maintain its freshness for at least a year. 

 10 <7,7wwe,1870,87. 



CULTIVATION OF ASPARAGUS. 



The culture of asparagus was lately the subject of discus- 

 sion by the members of the Horticultural Society in Dessau, 

 and among the views expressed were the following: That 

 the old method of burying large quantities of manure deep 

 under the surface was objectionable, since asparagus does not 



