January 27, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



09 



makes the Barley grow,'' and many thing3 besides, but it 

 is quite possible to make land, and plants too, " dung sick." 

 There are some soils so hnngry, that you can scarcely over- 

 drees them, as a heavy manuring this year will scarcely leave a 

 vestige of its presence in the next. For all gardens long 

 dunged every year, and showing when turned up the marks of 

 previous manurings, a lime-dressing will be of great importance 

 in bringing into activity what was comparatively inert and in- 

 soluble. Burnt rubbish, burnt clay, sods, &c, do not act in 

 this way so well as lime. There is, however, generally more 

 really nutritive matter in such burnt ashes. In very poor, 

 hungry land, unless there be astringent acid organised ma- 

 terial to sweeten and decompose, we should not think of using 

 quicklime to any extent. In our younger days we noticed 

 much done in the way of paring and burning grass lands for the 

 purpose of improving them, and rendering tbem more fertile. 

 Where at the same time a redundancy of water was got rid of, 

 and the Rushes and rough tussocks were thus disposed of by 

 a smothered burning, and there was a good thickness of soil, 

 the spreading of the ashes, and manuring and cultivation for 

 two or three years before laying the ground down in grass, had 

 a great effect in improving the character of the herbage, and 

 rendering the soil more productive. But we have seen very 

 thin lands, above gravel and clay, so pared and burned to their 

 great detriment and loss, as most of what was valuable in the 

 soil was sent upwards to the clouds, and years of manuring 

 would be required before the ground would obtain what little 

 fertile staple surface it had before burning. In two or three 

 cases some fresh-burnt lime was added on spreading the 

 ashes, and hardly any plan could have been more wasteful, as 

 there was nothing whatever left on which the lime could act 

 beneficially, and more especially as there was enough of sand 

 and calcareous matter in the soil already. It is when there i3 

 a superabundance of organised material in an effete or sour 

 astringent state, that quicklime acts most beneficially. In poor, 

 stiff, close soils, scarce of calcareous matter (and no soil will 

 long remain fertile without it), mild lime, or even common 

 chalk, would be more useful as a dressing. 



Mushrooms. — Put in material for another bed in the Mush- 

 room house. We and others have said so much about Mush- 

 rooms lately, that we would have passed the matter but for one 

 circumstance. Our heap, perhaps nearly three-quarters horse 

 droppings, owing to so much wet on the exposed dunghill 

 before we brought it into an open shed, was rather wet to heat 

 itself dryish when thrown together, without wasting more than 

 we should like. A heap of very dry soil lying in the same shed 

 wa3 therefore mixed with it, which helped to dry it ; but after 

 all the mixture was just suitable for the last layer of 3 or 

 4 inches on the surface of a bed, but it was too compact 

 to form a bed entirely, as the heat would be apt to be too 

 strong at first and not continuous enough. More dry, long, 

 littery material was therefore mixed with it in layers, so that 

 when well beaten the bed should be firm, and yet not be too 

 compact all through, as then the yield, though good at first, is 

 not so continuous. We left some of the shortest of this valu- 

 able heap unused to be mixed up with other material, shorter, 

 wetter, but fresher and richer still ; and if no other mode, such 

 as dry short litter, present itself, we shall resort to an old mode 

 of ours — namely, get a truss or two of wheat straw, cut it into 

 2 or 3-inch lengths, and then mix it with the dung. Where 

 Mushroom beds are to be made all the winter through, some 

 dry litter which has been stored up would answer equally well. 

 When we had access in summer to long stable dung which we 

 did not particularly want, we have shaken it well, dried the 

 longest, and stacked it, when it became valuable for the above 

 purpose, and for protecting pits and frames. Such help soon 

 makes wet material dry enough, and without the trouble of 

 keeping and turning droppings long in sheds. 



When beds are made in the autumn such care is not required ; 

 but where a continuous supply of Mushrooms is needed, though 

 we have had beds made in autumn, and left those unearthed 

 that were not wanted for months afterwards, and succeeded 

 tolerably well, we must say we prefer just making the beds bit 

 by bit at a time, spawning as soon as fit, and earthingup 

 rather soon afterwards. By the above mode, even in the dullest 

 and wettest months in winter, the material may be made suffi- 

 ciently dry without wasting its nutritive properties. As already 

 stated, we do not like the material too dry, but we like some 

 open unwasted fibre in it to keep up a long gentle fermentation. 

 We recollect a large Mushroom house on the Oldaker system 

 — as good as any for shallow beds. The horse droppings, of 

 whiijh there was no stint, were turned and dried, and turned 



and dried again and again in summer and autumn, until there 

 was little more nutritive matter left than if the mass had been 

 as much sawdust. This was beaten firmly into shallow beds, 

 shortly afterwards spawned, and then only earthed some six or 

 seven weeks before Mushrooms were wanted. There were 

 Mushrooms, it is true, but never by pecks, not to speak of 

 bushels, and no cook had to complain of being unable to fry 

 them because they were so thick and fleshy. It may be a pre- 

 judice of ours, but for anything like continuous gathering we 

 prefer frequent bed-making and earthing-over not long after 

 the bed is spawned, so that when the spawn has taken hold of 

 the dung it shall likewise begin to find its way through the 

 soil. In beds long spawned, instead of lj inch or 2 inches of 

 earth, we would be satisfied with a sprinkling of earth and a 

 watering. For general purposes the directions lately given, 

 though short, were ample.— R. F. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 

 In the Suburbs of London for the week ending January 25tb. 



19.— Overcast ; foggy, cold wind ; densely overcast, cold wind. 



20.— Frosty air; overcast; densely overcast. 



21. — Overcast, frosty ; overcast ; cloudy and cold. 



22. — OvercaBt; densely overcast; cold wind. 



23.— Densely overcast; tine, but cloudy; clear. 



24.— Overcast ; densely overcast ; clear and cold. 



25.— Clear and fine ; very fine ; fine, sharp frost. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Carter & Co., 237, 238, and 261, High Holborn. London, W.C.— 

 Garter's Gardeners' and Farmers' Vade Mecumfor 1870. 



James Veitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, King's Road, Chelsea, 

 S.W. — Catalogue of Garden and Flower Seeds, die, for 1870. — List 

 of Gladiolus. 



B. S. Williams, Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway, 

 London, N. — Descriptive Catalogue of Flower, Vegetable, a ' 

 tural Heeds, die., for 1870. 



Butler & McCnlloch, Covent Garden Market, London, W.C. — 

 Spring Catalogue of Seeds for the Kitchen o.nd. Flower Garden, dec. 



Charles Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough. — Catalogue of Seeds for 

 the Kitchen, tlie Flower Garden, and the Farm. 



Wheeler & Son, Gloucester. — Wheeler & Son's " Little Bool:," or 

 Select Seed List. 



H. Cannell, Station Road, Woolwich. — Illustrated Flo:.- ' 

 for 1870 : Select Descriptive List of Fuchsias, Pelargov < 

 benas, tic. 



Smith & Simons, 36 and 38, Howard Street, St. Enoch Square. 

 Glasgow. — Smith &• Simons' Cultural Guide and Desert;' 

 I 



W. Cutbush & Son, Highgate, Loudon, N.— Catalogw of I . '.able, 

 Flat ter, and Farm Seeds. 



D-ck Radclyffe & Co., 129, High Holborn, W.C— Catalogue of 

 i ','■'■, Agricultural, and Flower Seeds, tic. 



Barr & Sngden, 12, King Street, Covent Garden, London. — Desa >■ 

 tr ii v, i Catalogue of Choice Seeds for Flower and Kitchen Gardens. 



James Dickson & Sons, 102, Eastgate Street, Chester. — Catalogue 

 of Vegetable and Flower Seals, die. — Catalogue of Forest Tree;, 

 Conifers, Evergreens, Fruit Trees, die. 



George John Child, Bradford Nursery, Shipley, and 43, Darley 

 Street, Bradford. — General Nursery Catalogue. 



D. Gold McKay, Sudbury, Suffolk. — Catalogue of Vegetable and 

 Flower Seeds, Gladioli, and Spring Flowers. 



Robert Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting, Surrey. — Catalogue, of 

 Agricultural, Flower, and Vegetable Seeds, Miscellaneous Bedding 

 Plants. Fruit Trees, die. 



T. Bunyard & Sons, Maidstone and Ashford, Kent— Am iptive 

 Catalogue of Vegetable, Flower, and Agricultural Seeds. 



F. & A. Dickson, 106, Eastgate Street, Chester.— Catalogue of 

 Vegetable and Flower Seeds for 1870. 



Downie, Laird, & Laing, Stanstead Park, Forest Hill, London, S. E., 

 and 17, Frederick Street, Edinburgh. — Catalogue of Garden. Fo . , 

 av.d Agricultural Seeds, dee. 



