396 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ November 17, 18G3. 



immediately thought her brother was dead (I never thought 

 of the fungus), and after telling her I was certainly dying 

 too, I began to say a word or two expressive of my sorrow 

 for her losB; but before I could say many words she let 

 me know that she had been worse than I had been ; that the 

 little child was dowustaii's in the arms of a neighboui-, ajj- 

 parently in the last stage of existence (as Mrs. Smith was 

 too prostrated to hold her own child), while the servant was 

 sent out for the doctor. When I saw how matters stood 

 my illness to a certain extent seemed to pass away, and on 

 the emergency of the occasion, ill as I was, I left home to 

 get immediate medical assistance, which I was fortunate 

 enough to in-oenre pretty readily. 



It appeared, directly I left home Mrs. Smith took our little 

 •jhild out for a short wait, and bought a slate and pencil ; 

 but the mother had no sooner left the shop (about twenty 

 minutes or half an hour after luncheon), than the same 

 swimming of the head came over her that attacked me ; and 

 what with headache and sickness she could hai-dly reach 

 home with her child in her anus. Dh-ectly she got into the 

 house the little girl suddenly feE sick, and the sickness 

 speedily became so violent that by the time I returned she 

 was perfectly prostrated. 



On the first day Mrs. Smith and the little girl were much 

 the worst of the three ; but after the fii-st and second days 

 I was worse than all. The effect on my wife was utter pros- 

 tration by the vomiting and nausea, and a feeling of loath- 

 ing evei-ything eatable that was brought to her notice. Her 

 vital powers ^-ere so greatly reduced at the end of the &st 

 day that she had no strength to be sick, and brandy had to 

 be freely administered. 



The little child was certainly the most affected, and if the 

 medical attendance had been delayed I am sm-e she could not 

 have sun'ived more than one or two hom's. She was in a 

 deep stupor or sleep, with her eyes mde open and fixed, 

 her fingers occasionally clutching convulsively, and mouth 

 twitching. At iuter^'als of about five or ten minutes a fit of 

 sickness appeared to come over her, by the heaving of her 

 chest and stomach ; but after the first hour she had not 

 strength enough left to be sick. 



The doctor administered two emetics and other medicine 

 to her, and found it necessary to attend her three times 

 a-day for the fh'st two days, and remained in attendance 

 ueai-ly a week. The little child remained in the stupor for 

 twenty houi's, and after this time gTadually recovered and 

 regained strength. This ends the notice of the child. 



Mrs. Smith, after two or thi-ee days' meilical attendance, 

 gradually got all right again; but this was not the case 

 with me. I shall now give a few detaUs of the latter part 

 of my own illness, and conclude the paper. 



I certainly ate the lion's share of the fungus — say a quarter 

 of an oimce. The feeling of sickness and nausea did not 

 leave me for a fortnight, and for thi-ee or four days I ate 

 comparatively nothing and di-ank nothing but coffee and 

 milk. In my case, on the fu-st day it caused swimming of 

 the brain to an alarming degi-ee, the most distressing head- 

 ache,^ and vomiting, and excessive pm-ging. I note the 

 pm-ging particularly, as I was the only one of the three 

 30 affected ; this lasted for fom- or five days, accompanied 

 by a feeling of loathing, sickness, and lassitude. At nine iu 

 the evening of the first day a heavy ili-owsiness came over 

 me, and I fell into a deep sleep for twelve hom-s. Racked 

 and harrassed by dreams, in which fungi, and particularly 

 poisonous fungi, always played a prominent part, advancing 

 and retreating, increasing in size and diminishing in an 

 endless maze; but always fungi — poisoned by fungi ; dead 

 poisoned cluldren — dead fathers and mothers, ic. 



This sleepiness was shai-ed by my taimly, but not to such 

 an extreme .legi-ee ; for, after my twelve hours' sleep of the 

 first night, I came down stah's and thought I could do a 

 little work ; but I fell into an uneasy but deeji sleep in my 

 chaii- at ten o'clock, and did not wake till two, making four 

 hours more sleep. I took hai-dly anything to eat the rest 

 of the day. and at five o'clock fell asleep again, and slept till 

 nine the next morning, and had a better night. 



I noticed on the second night that all the joints of my 

 legs and feet were quite stifi', and I could not move them 

 without inconvenience and jiain ; but in the course of a day 

 or two this gradually passed off. For three or fom- nights 

 I also noticed that when the drowsiness came on, a swim- 



ming of the head and sick feelings accompamed it ; but it 

 all gradually passed away during ten days or a fortnight. 



I certainly received a most severe lesson with my expe- 

 rience, and shall be careful in the future when I gather a 

 species new to me to determine the species with certainty 

 liefore I cook them. 



In my short paper on the gi'owth of " Phallus impudicus " 

 I stated that my rabbits ate the porous stem quite readily ; 

 so when I knew the effects of Agricns fertUis on the himian 

 system I thought I would try it on rabbit economy. 



I recovered the stem I had previously thrown away, and 

 placed it before the rabbits for theii- approval, but they 

 refused it with disgust, although the taste was not unplea- 

 sant. I think, therefore, we may say that should the choice 

 in future lay between Agai-icus fertUis and Phallus impudicus, 

 the latter shoiUd be prefen-ed for culinary purposes. — W. G. 

 Smith. 



woes: for the week. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The heavy autumn rains probably retarded the progress 

 of trenching and other ground operations ; the present 

 weather offers abundant opportunity for continuing such 

 work. The garden by this time should be freed fi-om aB 

 unnecessary and exhausted vegetable matter, and put gene- 

 rally in a clean and orderly state. Asparagus, the beds if 

 not already attended to, should be manured and di-essed for 

 the winter, and a portion taken up for forcing purposes. 

 Endive, cover the plants with a slate or tUe laid on each, and 

 close the whole over with ch-y leaves, finishing with some 

 stable-litter ; in this manner they wUl blanch well, and be 

 fit for use tlu-oughout the winter. A very considerable store 

 of leaves should also be collected for lining hotbeds. Sea-kale 

 covering, &c. Herb-beds, if they are not yet cleaned and 

 done up for the winter, they should be attended to without 

 delay. A slight coat of very rotten dung should be laid on 

 them, for the double piu-pose of protecting the roots from 

 severe frost, and to enrich the soil. Lettuce, the Cabbage 

 varieties planted in frames and intended for winter use, wiU 

 not requii-e much air if the sod is light and dry ; shoidd they 

 need a little wiiter, give it to each plant sei>arately from a 

 watering-pot without a rose. Never expose the plants to 

 heavy rains. Peas, a sowing of these and also Broad Beans 

 should be made at once, choosing the most sheltered jjiece 

 of ground at command, and which should also be of a light 

 dry nature. Use an early hardy sort, such as the Daniel 

 O'Eoui'ke Pea, and Mazagan Beans. Elmharb, the foi-cing of 

 this and also Sea-kale, must now be attended to, and pro- 

 vided there is a good stock of strong roots, a supjjly of these 

 will be easOy kept up. Where there is room to spare in the 

 Mushroom-house, this forms a very suitable and convenient 

 place for forcing them. The roots to be placed on a slight 

 bed of warm dung, filling up the spaces between them with 

 old tan, or the soU and manm-e, mixed, from an old Mush- 

 room-bed, giving a good watering to wash it in amongst the 

 roots. The bottom heat shoidd not be allowed to exceed 

 70°, as too much heat is not favourable to securing strong 

 growth, and, except for the first crop, it may be dispensed 

 with altogether. Clear up all decayiug leaves, and stir the 

 surface of the soU on dry days among growing crops, as 

 Cabbages, Spinach, &c.; also, get all vacant ground maum-ed 

 and ridged-up as quickly as possible, in order that it may be 

 exposed to the influence of the winter. 



FLOWER GAEDEN. 



A fortnight's fine weather in November, while it seems to 

 prolong the autumn by permitting us the enjoyment of the 

 fading glories of vegetation, also affords us the opportunity 

 of proceeding witli the various important operations con- 

 nected with the garden ; finer weather could not be desired 

 for planting evergreens, &c., than we have had lately. This 

 sort of work should be in active progress. The clearance of 

 all decaying matters fi'om the beds and borders should be 

 iHU'emittingly followed up, the remaining leaves will soon 

 be down, when a fin.ol dealing may be made throughout the 

 shrubberies for the season. A little care may preserve 

 Chrysanthemums for some time, especially those trained 

 against a wall. The simple protection of a mat will turn 

 aside the excess of ft'ost likely to injure them. Take up 



