384 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 1870. 



with a mat immediately, and on no account allow rain to enter. Place one stick 

 in the middle, and one at each end. Feel the heat at least once a day ; when found 

 milk-warm, under rather than over, the bed is fit for spawning. 3. Break the 

 spawn into pieces about the size of eggs, taking each piece in the right hand, and 

 with the left lift the material upwards, inserting the spawn at 10 inches apart all 

 over the bed ; afterwards give it another beating, making the surface look smooth 

 and smart, 4. This being done, set the line 9 inches from the edge of the bed, 

 and cut the soil down inclining outwards, making a good foundation. To cover 

 the surface of the bed, any kind of soil will do. Mine is light and rich, but just 

 the common garden-stuff. Put 2\ inches on before beating, then sprinkle over 

 with sand to make it work clean ; begin at one end, and again beat it well, always 

 drawing the spade downwards as the stroke is delivered, till you get the whole 

 finished. Cover up if in winter— say October— with 5 inches of straw or very 

 dry dung, placed so that the wet cannot get in. It will now have the appear- 

 ance of the roof of a hay-rick. Put a mat lengthwise over all, and reinsert the 

 sticks, looking at them sometimes to determine whether the bed is getting too 

 hot or over milk-warm ; if so, uncover, but put the mat on this time crosswise, 

 to keep out the wet. In this way abundance of mushrooms are grown in the 

 open air. — Field. 



Twelve Best Achimenes (Exhibitor).— Ambrose Verschaffelt, Carl Wolfarth, 

 Dazzle, Doctor Hopf, Edmund Boissar, Longiflora major, Mauve Queen, Meteor, 

 Parsonsi, Purpurea elegans, and Sir Treherne Thomas. If the bulbs be placed 

 in heat about March or April, they will start into growth, and can then be 

 potted in 43 or 32-pots, placing six or eight bulbs in a pot. In this way they 

 can be grown on, and will come into bloom so as to succeed the Pelargoniums. 



Cinerarias (Florist). — As soon as rooted, pot off the first-struck cuttings of the 

 named sorts into single pots. These should flower about Christmas. Continue 

 to put in cuttings if a succession of bloom be required, and pot them off as soon 

 as rooted, using a light rich soil. The Cineraria should be grown in boxes or 

 low pits, keeping the plants near the glass till such time as there is danger to be 

 apprehended from frost, when they should be removed into the greenhouse, or 

 into pits, heated with hot water. Seed may still be sown for late blooming. If 

 well saved, it will generally produce fair varieties and showy plants, though not 

 so compact in habit as propagated plants of named kinds, which can also be 

 depended on as regards colour, &c, as seedlings often produce flowers of great 

 sameness. 



Adulteration of Pickles. — Sulphuric acid, in the quantity in which it exists 

 in pickles, is probably not very injurious, though it can scarcely be taken habit- 

 ually without having some prejudicial effect. Even if it is equally wholesome 

 with acetic acid, it is much less expensive ; and, even putting health out of the 

 question, we ought not, when we believe that we are buying pickles preserved in 

 pure malt vinegar, to have a portion of this vinegar replaced by a substance of 

 less value, and which we could buy at a less price ; neither ought we to have a 

 substance of this kind thrust upon us as a substitute for the more wholesome and 

 more agreeable malt vinegar. — Food Journal. 



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