64 EXPEItniEXTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 



tender material was produced in abundance, for outside decoration. It had never 

 been my good fortune before to see grounds so superbly planted, and so remarkably 

 well kept, and the few hours spent there were most delightfully instructive, and pro- 

 duced impressions which will never be effaced from memory. 



JOUENEY TO ST. XAZAIEE AND BAULE. 



A journey was made to the sea coast of Brittany in company with Col. F. F. Gour- 

 dcau. Deputy Minister of Marine and Fisheries, to see the results of the planting of 

 pine forests there on the drifting sands along the ocean shore. The object of the visit 

 was to gain information as to the probable usefulness of such planting if undertaken 

 in Canada on similar areas where moving sands are encroaching on arable land. 



Our route lay through the large sea port St. Nazaire to Baule, a thriving town 

 built on the margin of a beautiful beach which extends in the form of a deep crescent 

 for five or six miles. The water is shallow for a long distance out and the beach is a 

 hard smooth sand. The whole district about here has been planted with pines where 

 formerly it was bare and barren, and a mass of drifting sand. The plantations extend 

 for many miles. The trees are almost all of one species Pinus maritima (=P. pinaster) 

 ki;own as the cluster pine. This is a small growing pine with large long leaves and 

 very large cones. The trees in this district seemed to be from twenty to fifty years 

 old or more. Their height was from 15 to 25 feet, and the diameter of some of the 

 larger specimens, 3 feet from the ground, was about 12 inches. 



]\[. Beithot is said to have been the planter of these pines ; the work was begun 

 about sixty years ago and it is reported that this gentleman's family have become 

 wealthy owing to the increase in value of the planted land. 



In planting, the trees have been set out in groups of six to ten or more and placed 

 about 2 to 3 feet apart each way, with wider spaces of 6 to 12 feet between the groups. 

 The planting and grouping has been done irregularly, but has been so arranged as to 

 thoroughly break the force of wind. From the bent and gnarled condition of some of 

 these trees at outlying points it is obvious that the winds have great force here. 



The planting has been entirely successful ; the drifting of the sand has long 

 since ceased and a soil is gradually but slowly forming, mainly through the decay of 

 successive crops of the needle-like leaves of the pines. 



THE MUSHROOM CAVES. 



Some hours were spent in the mushroom caves which run under parts of- Paris. 

 The entrance to these caves is outside the Orleans gate. These excavations which have 

 been made to obtain building stone for the city are very extensive. The stone is found 

 in layers from 30 to 50 feet below the surface, and the quarries have been worked 

 for ages. The mushroom beds are built up about 2 feet high, 18 or 20 inches wide and 

 rounded off at the top, with narrow paths between them. Earth mixed with stable 

 manure is used in their construction. When the heat of the fermenting material is 

 reduced to the most favourable temperature pieces of mu?hroom spawn ai'e introduced 

 at stated distances all through the beds, and in the course of two or thi^ee weeks 

 mushrooms begin to appear all along the tops and sides of the beds, and are produced 

 in quantities from day to day. 



There are about 150 growers engaged in this work and several of the larger 

 operators produce as much as 2,000 pounds of mushrooms per day. After a time the 

 beds become exhausted when the material is carted away and fresh beds made in their 

 place. This industi-^-^ is a very interesting one, and with the requisite experience and 

 skill seems to be a profitable undertaking. 



