798 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1884. 



tree from weeds, is the best kiml of soil to earth over the 

 beds with. Lime, old or uew. is excolleut in then- compost, 

 and oyster-shell lime by far the best of any. Old, (by, turfy 

 peat, not that from a swamp, or m any way sour, is excellent 

 in their compost. 



There are different methods of originatmg mushroom 

 spawn, but the di-oppiugs of horses highly fed, is considered 

 the best or one of the best materials to work with. The 

 droppings of horses out on grass will not do. 



To originate spawn and have plenty at all seasons, let boxes 

 of almost any convenient size be got ready and filled 

 alternately with layers of dry horse droppings and red or 

 yellow clay well dried. Old bricks pounded up fine are best. 

 One inch of clay or brick dust, and three or four inches of 

 the horse manure is about right; and when the boxes are full 

 let them be well trodden down— the harder the better—and 

 put in a warm place. Good, natural spawn will Ijreed in 

 these boxes in about four or five months; but it a few pounds 

 of spa-ivn bricks be bought at any seed store, broken up into 

 small lumps and placed in the centre of these boxes, they 

 will be full of good spawni in apout one-half the time. After 

 a few boxes of spawn have been generated in this way, it can 

 be increased to any amount very soon by mixing ."ome into 

 other boxes of droppings, and in this case no earth need be 

 put in the box. 



It may be well to have a stock of spawn bricks on hand, for 

 thev will last mauv years if kept dry and in a warm place. 

 1 agree witli the mode of making them, as recommended in 

 the different garden books, but there is no need to impregnate 

 them in the old way, but place them iu a conical pile, or any 

 convenient way. anil between every layer of bricks put a layer 

 of spawn from the boxes. Cover up well with straw in sum- 

 mer, or warm horse manure over the straw in muter, suffici- 

 ent to throw a gentle heat into the pile, and after about 

 four or five weeks the whole pile will be one solid mass of 

 mushroom spawn. The place where mushrooms grow should 

 be tree from underdamp and noxious vapors. Straw covering 

 *is preferable to hay, as wet hay lying on the bed breeds 

 noxious fungi, which would soon destroy the whole crop. To 

 make a bed -s a simple process when properly understood. 

 Most people take too much pains, and this is the cause of 

 many failures. But one thing is certain- they are greedy 

 feeders, and must be well fed to have a good and lasting crop. 

 Flat mushroom beds are recommended to be made of three 

 or four-inch courses of dry horse droppings, with two-inch 

 courses of earth between them ; but these beds I found to soon 

 run out and get too dry. Therefore, let about three inches 

 of old. soft, unctuous manure be placed at the bottom of the 

 bed in every case, with a small layer of earth underneath 

 about half an inch thick, then one iueh of earth on top and 

 well trodden down. Then about three inches of droppings 

 with a good coat of spawn from the boxes; then another layer 

 of droppings, and all well trodden down and left for two or 

 three weeks, or till the spawn has begun to run all through. 

 Then, and not till then, must the last coat of earth be put on, 

 which is best made up of three parts maiden earth and one 

 part turfy peat, with a good sprinkling of oyster-shell lime 

 through it, laid on two inches thick .and well trodden down, 

 afterwards smoothed very hard with the back of a spade. 

 Then covered up with straw till a white mold covers the bed 

 and mushrooms all over, hke peas thickly scattered, when the 

 straw may be taken off altogether. This is only one of about 

 a dozen ways ; but in all cases the old rich manure must be at 

 the bottoni. It must have been turned several times to 

 sweeten and partly dry before it is used. These are a few 

 of the principal points to be attended to. 



There is one thing I wish particularly to mention to all who 

 grow mushrooms, that is, to beware of salt. Dirty salt is 

 often thrown out of horse and cattle mangers .and gets mixed 

 up viith the manure. The smallest quantity of this will 

 render a mushroom-bed unfruitful. This is the true key to 

 the theory of throwing salt over grain crops in the spring of 

 the year.which every f.armer does, or ought to do, to keep 

 down and kill rust, smut and mildew,,and every otherspecies 

 of fungi. Besides, salt kills worms, grubs and numerous in- 

 sects injurious to grain crops, and I beHeve is a good .absorbent 

 of moisture, as well as a good manure. — Gardeners' Monthh/ 

 and Hm-ticuhvvht. 



FLIES AND BUGS. 

 Beetles, insects. ro.aches, ant.s, bed-buKS. rr> Is. mice, gop- 

 hers, chipmunks, cleared out by " Kuogli on Huts." B. S. 

 Made n & Co.. Bombay, General Agents. 



SOME FACTS OF INTEREST CONNECTED 

 AVITH THE LIFE OF THE PLANT. 



riants do not absorb the nutrient substances which are 

 adapted to them unless presented to them in a suitable form ; 

 they do not for example imbibe the free nitrogen of the 

 atmosphere. E.xperiments have given on this point the 

 tollomug results: — 



Free nitrogen of the atmosphere enters the plant through 

 the stomata or breathing pores of the leaves, au<l also by 

 the process of osmose; but this does not serve for nutrition. 

 For the purpose of nutrition, this element must be present- 

 ed to the roots of the plant in the form of nitric acid, or a 

 salt of ammonia. [Whether non-parasitic plants absorb 

 nitrogen also in the form of certain organic compounds is 

 still undetermined.] 



Sulphur. The only conceivable source of sulphur is the 

 sulphuric acid of the sulphates present iu the soil. It probably 

 enters the plant only in the form of calcium sulphate, which 

 is decomposed by oxahc acid formed in the plant it.self, this 

 being the source on the one h>and of the calcium oxolato which 

 so commonly occurs in plants [ui the form of crystals or 

 r.aphides] while on the other hand, the sulphuric acid gives 

 up its sulphur in the production of protoplasm, .and generally 

 of albuminoids. It is evident that the remaining nutrient 

 substances can only enter the plant by the process of diffu- 

 sion ; and in general, in the form of soluble salts. But 

 their relations to the life of the plant are stiU obscure. 



Iron. — Its increase is necessary for the production of 

 chlorophyll or leaf-green. Plants grown in soil destitute of 

 iron do not become gi'een; but remaiu bleached until eu- 

 .abled to gain color by the addition of iron to the soil. The 

 salts of iron so generally inert in soil afford the necessary 

 supply of vegetation. 



Phosphoric acid appears to stand in a certain relation to 

 the production of albuminoids, so-called flesh-formers, or 

 at least is invariably found in association wnth them ; and 

 in many seeds, there is a constant relationship between the 

 weight of phosphoric acid and that of nitrogen contained , 

 in them. 



Potassium probably has similar general relationships to 

 starch, sugar and cellulose, so called fat-formers, and it is 

 known that the amount of potassimu in auy p.art of a plant 

 varies with the rapidity and energy of its growth. But in 

 what form phosphoric acid and potassium enter the plant, 

 and what their special functions are, is stiU unknown. In 

 ihe case of buckwheat, it has been ascertained that food 

 material destitute of potassium cannot be assimilated or 

 transformed into organic substances, and that the chloride, 

 and next to that, the niti-ates, are the salts best adapted for 

 the purpose. 



fiilica or silicic acid, which constitutes the greater part 

 of the ash in many plants, as for instance the stems of ce- 

 reals, cannot be considered a nutrient substance in the .same 

 sense, as those already described, since it has been proved 

 by experiment, that it is not absolutely necessary to the 

 growth of these plants; and its presence appears to be only 

 a favorable condition to their development. Nothing more 

 definite is known respecting it. . „ . u 



If plants are grown in fluids, which contain aU the sub- 

 stances necessary for their life, it is found th.at these sub- 

 stances are not taken up in quantities dependent on the 

 concentration of the fluid, nor on the proportion of tbe 

 various substances contained in it; but th.at different species 

 of plants, on the contrary, supply their needs from the same 

 fluid in different ways. These phenomena depend on causes 

 at present unknown, but as a consequence, we ascribe to 

 plants "a quantitative .ielecti<-c power." Since plants possess 

 no volition, the term is an unfortunate one; hut it seems 

 necessary to retain it notwistanding its antiquity. Setting 

 a.side nitrogenous food-materi.als with reference to this pe- 

 culiarity, difl'ercnt species take up in preference different 

 nutrient sulistances, and, therefore, plants may be distin- 

 guished as calcareous. aJkaline, silicous, &c. The leguminous 

 plants, for i-x.ample, .are specially dependent on lime; pota- 

 toes on potash; and all plants in wliich the seed is remark- 

 ably developed on phosphoric acid. 



Now, if these substances are largely taken up in .solution 

 from the soil bv plants, it follows that the repealed cultiv- 

 ation of crops withilvaws from the soil immense quantities 

 of substances, so that sooner or later tbe niovnucait must 

 arrive, when the prodnt'C' will diminish, and at length alto- 



