2l8 



• • GARDENING. 



April i, 



very small seeds, although they are only 

 asexual buds, and after all only parts of 

 the mother plant; the spores can germin- 

 ate and give another mycelium bearing 

 some other stroma with spores, and so 

 on. However, if we consider the Psalli- 

 ota campestris, we will find among it 

 many varieties, some being much more 

 valuable, heavier and better flavored 

 than the others. These variations should 

 not be called otherwise than asexual or 

 sport variations, if we compare them 

 with what occurs even in much more per- 

 fect plants, such as celery or chrysanthe- 

 mum. But they have the greatest im- 

 portance for the mushroom grower, who 

 should always aim to get spawn of a per- 

 fect variety, a spawn which, up to the 

 present day was not easily found in the 

 trade. 



There are various ways of preparing 

 the spawn for the trade, but all of them 

 start from the same principle, viz., to let 

 maiden spawn, accidentally found on old 

 stable manure, spread itself through a 

 heap of a convenient substratum, stable 

 manure or horse-droppings and cow-dung, 

 and to divide it into bricks. The maiden 

 spawn, it is true, originated from a spore, 

 but a long time always elapses between 

 the germination of the spore and the mo- 

 ment the bricks are ready for use. The 

 small original plant has been allowed to 

 develop into a ver3' great one and then 

 been divided, losing every day part of its 

 energy, and at the same time becoming 

 more easily attacked by various diseases 

 which can completely ruin the crop. 

 Every one who has tried to grow mush- 

 rooms knows how many deceptions and 

 failures occur in that operation. 



As we have seen, the maiden spawn is 

 the result of a spore germinating fortu- 

 itously on stable manure. For a long 

 time the attention of botanists was 

 attached to the fact that it was impossi- 

 ble to grow artificial maiden spawn; the 

 spores could germinate in the laboratory, 

 but the j'oung mycelium, even if placed on 

 stable manure, died soon after. It is only 

 quite recently that a French mycologist, 

 Dr. Repin, succeeded in his endeavors. 

 His process, of course, is still a secret, but 

 the maiden spawn he produces has been 

 tested by several mushroom growers in 

 the neighborhood of Paris, and always 

 proved quite a success. 



All that we can know is that Dr. Repin 

 sows the spores in dry and compressed 

 stable manure, cut into small square 

 bricks about 3x3 inches large and one- 

 half inch thick. These bricks are used in 

 the same way as were the former ones, 

 but they contain much more mycelium 

 under less weight and volume, the spawn, 

 besides being perfectly young and fresh, 

 has a great vitality, is free from diseases, 

 and last, but not least, the spores that 

 are sown are selected from choice varie- 

 ties only, giving confidence to the grower 

 that he will not spend his time, money 

 and labor for a worthless crop. 



Yilmorin. 



DESIRABLE RASPBERRIES AND BLACK- 

 BERRIES. 



In a recent bulletin ol the Purdue Uni- 

 versity Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Lafayette, Indiana, the horticulturist, 

 Prof. Troop, gives the following timely 

 hints on these fruits: 



The varieties mentioned below were all 

 set in the spring of 1896. The plants 

 were given ordinary cultivation with the 

 exception that the land was subsoiled to 

 the depth of fourteen inches before they 

 were planted. The effect of the subsoiling 

 was very noticeable on the growth of the 

 plants the first season, and a fair crop of 



fruit was harvested the second. I am 

 confident that subsoiling land that is 

 inclined to be heavy for these fruits will 

 pay large profits on the money invested 

 A raspberry or blackberry plantation 

 should give good results for at least ten 

 years, hence the soil should be thorough^' 

 prepared before the plants are set. 



RASPBERRIES. 



Twentj T -eight varieties of raspberries 

 and sixteen varieties of blackberries were 

 tested. A few of the older varieties are 

 retained for comparison, but the majority - 

 are of comparatively recent introduction. 

 Some of the more desirable varieties are 

 given here. 



Miller is a remarkable bearer of medium 

 sized fruit. J. H, Hale, of Connecticut, 

 pronounces it the best of all the early reds 

 lor general cultivation. 



Loudon is a good mid-season, market 

 berry. It will carry well. 



Columbian and Shaffer are made up on 

 the same plan, both bear large purple 

 fruit and both-propagate from tips. If 

 you have one you do not need the other. 



Among the newer black caps we ha\e 

 nothing that will surpass the Conrath 

 for size and earliness, and Kansas for a 

 mid-season berry. 



A new variety from New York, called 

 Black Diamond fruited for the first time 

 last season, and in point of size and pro- 

 ductiveness it equals the Kansas. 



Among the yellow or cream colored 

 varieties, Golden Oueen is much superior 

 to any other variety tested. In addition 

 to the above, for general planting, the 

 following varieties are recommended: — 

 Eureka, Hilborn, Johnston's Sweet, 

 Nemaha and Progress. 



BLACKHERRIES. 



In the list of fruits recently prepared by 

 the Indiana State Horticultural Society, 

 made up from lists sent in by more than 

 100 correspondents, representing every 

 county in the state, the Snyder black- 

 berry appears in more than three- 

 fourths of the lists. In the southern coun- 

 ties, Early Harvest, Early King, Ta3'lor, 

 Ancient Briton and Erie follow closely 

 after Snyder, while in other counties, 

 Eldorado, Agawam, Kittatinny, Minne- 

 waski, Stone Hardy and Lucretia dew- 

 berry are quite largely grown. Judging 

 from their behavior in our experimental 

 grounds, the following varieties are 

 recornmened for general cu'tivation: — 

 Agawam, Ancient Briton, Early Harvest 

 (with protection), Eldorado, Erie, Snyder 

 and Taylor. 



Miscellaneous. 



COWSLIPS. 



Ed. Gardening:— Is it not true that the 

 plant Caltha palustris (marsh marigold) 

 is extensively and popularly known in 

 England as "cowslips"? though the lat- 

 ter name properly belongs to a member 

 of the primrose family. Is it not also 

 true that the caltha, though belonging to 

 the acrid and poisonous crowfoot family, 

 is used as a pot herb. A little light on 

 this from Gardening will much oblige one 

 reader and may interest others. 



Querist. 



[We are not aware that the name 

 "cowslip" is ever applied to any plant 

 other than Primula reris, nor can we 

 recall an instance of the use of Caltha 

 palustris as a pot herb. Perhaps some 

 reader may be able to supply the desired 

 information. — Ed.] 



AMERICAN RHISED ROSES. 



The question is frequently put to me 

 why are there not more American seed- 

 ling roses of merit raised. The reply to 

 this may be given from several stand- 

 points, two or three of the most impor- 

 tant reasons being as follows: 



The first is, that in a general wa3' the 

 process from the fertilizing of the flower 

 till the plants bloom takes too long for 

 our ideas of getting the desired results; 

 for proof of this we have only to turn to 

 the carnation and chrysanthemum; here 

 it takes only a few months, six to nine at 

 most, to determine what our efforts have 

 produced, and as a result we have plenty 

 of sterling varieties of both these flow- 

 ers continually being offered. But with 

 the rose it is quite different as it takes 

 three or four times as long to get any 

 indication of what the results are likely 

 to be, and then if out of several hundred 

 seedlings there should happen to be one 

 or two that are promising on first bloom- 

 ing, it takes a much longer time to work 

 up sufficient stock to give a fair trial to 

 test the many desirable qualities such as 

 color, size, free blooming, healtln - , vigor- 

 ous constitution, distinctiveness and sev- 

 eral other qualities necessary to make it 

 worth putting on the market, and then 

 when the raiser has satisfied himself on 

 all these points it takes a still longer time 

 to work up sufficient stock to enable him 

 to offer it for sale. This, of course, is pre- 

 suming that the first blooms hold their 

 characteristics good continuous^', which 

 often happens to be the reverse, then a 

 double disappointment is the result. 

 This long waiting and often final failure 

 to obtain the desired multum in parvo 

 deters many from trying again after their 

 first attempt. On this score it may not 

 be out of place to mention the fact that 

 many seedling roses do not show their 

 full character the first time blooming; 

 often the most promising at the first are 

 the most disappointing later on, and oth- 

 ers with less attractiveness on first bloom- 

 ing turn out much better with further 

 acquaintance. Thus there is always a 

 great amount of uncertainty attached to 

 it which deters many from taking up this 

 branch of our business that otherwise 

 would and could do so with great advan- 

 tage to horticulture. 



The next factor in this case is that so 

 few of our rosarians in this country feel 

 they can afford the time necessary to 

 pursue this subject with that minute 

 detail and study necessary to make it a 

 success. This is particularly true of the 

 commercial florist generalh'. No one, I 

 think, will dispute the fact that this class 

 of men have all they want to do to man- 

 age their business successfully and pay 

 their way, having no time for indulging 

 in anything that does not promise quick 

 returns. But this does not apply to man v 

 amateurs who could if they would take 

 up the raising of seedling roses and find a 

 great amount of pleasure in the occupa- 

 tion. I do not mean by this that anyone 

 with just enough knowledge of horticult- 

 ure to know what a rose is could do so, 

 but those who have made a study of 

 flowers for their own pleasure, and who 

 often become expert judges of the differ- 

 ent qualities necessan' in any flower, 

 could select the parents having the best 

 developed qualities which, when blended, 

 would produce the best and most distinct 

 forms desired; and no county to-da3' 

 offers the inducement that ours does for 

 anything that is realh' an improvement 

 in roses. The field is a broad one and 

 those having the time and means to 

 devote to this subject need have no liar 

 of over-production or of not finding in 



