126 



JOUENAL OP HOBTICDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ February 18, 1869. 



to the thickest Emoke — no mean recommendation, especially 

 to those who reside in or near some of our manufacturing 

 towns. — J. Mitchell, Baciip, Lancashire. 



STRUCTURES FOR MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



In No. 407 of this Journal, "E. G." says, "I never use 

 any fire heat, as I consider that a piece of useless extravagance. 

 Better Mushrooms can be grown without lire heat than with 

 it." I admit that equally good Mushrooms can be grown with- 

 out fire heat, but not better. Heat there must be, and even 

 " E. G." must have a shed, therefore the question at issue is. 

 Shall we for growing Mushrooms have a shed or " grand 

 dungeon " heated by fire, or have Mushrooms growing in a 

 shed, the heating materials being straw or long Utter. " B. G." 

 does not tell us whether the shed is used for any other purpose, 

 such as stokeholes ; if for no other purpose, then I must call it 

 a Mushroom shed nnheated. If only one bed is made on the 

 floor, the shed must be very long for the continuous supply of 

 a family, and a large heap of covering material will be required 

 for maintaining even in an ordinary winter a temperature of 

 Irom 50° to C0°, besides the loss of time involved in covering 

 and uncovering when the Mushrooms are required for use, and 

 no small loss, owing to the covering materials, however care- 

 fully removed, breaking them. If the shed is used for tools, or 

 similar purposes, the Mushrooms will be liable to many 

 accidents. If it is at the back of an early vinery, or other 

 heated house, and the furnace doors open within the shed, I 

 must call it a heated shed, and it may not require 9 inches of 

 covering to maintain the desired temperature. I can hardly 

 suppose that " E. G." advised his employer to build a shed 

 merely for the protection of the back wall of the houses. A 

 shed, however, must be built, even for one bed on the floor, 

 then why not build a shed for the special purpose, and fit it up 

 with shelves so as to have at least three beds on each side, 

 which will produce sis times the amount that beds on the 

 same length of shed floor will do ? and if no advantage can be 

 taken of a flow or return-pipe in connection with the houses, 

 heat it by a flue or other convenient means, and the cost of 

 fuel for heating such a place would soon be equalled in providing 

 material for a long bed in a cold shed during a sharp frost. 



I will say nothing of the convenience of being able at a glance 

 to look over the beds and see if all is going right, or of the 

 interest and pleasure that many employers take in seeing 

 them ; but every one of far less experience than twenty years, 

 who has grown Mushrooms in a covered bed, knows the diffi- 

 culty of preventing the spawn from running among the cover- 

 ing to the injury of the future crops. I have also known in- 

 stances of the covering material imparting an unpleasant 

 flavour to the crop of Muthrooms. With every respect then 

 for " E. G.," I would remind him of the adage, "A place for 

 everything, and for everything a place," and the place for 

 growing Mushrooms is in a shed with fire heat at command, 

 whether called " a grand dungeon," or simply a Mushroom 

 shed. Any lady or gentleman who is fond of Mushrooms will 

 never regret the cost of a structure suitable for their growth. — 

 G. Beckeit, Shanballey, Clogheen, Ireland. 



THE RAINFALL IN 18C8, 



AT EIBSTOS-HALL GAEDEN'S, WETIIEKBY, YOIiKSHIKE. 



Days on Days on 



Inches. which rain Inches. which rain 



feU. fell. 



Jannsry 2.07 12 Angnst 8.04 10 



- - "■ -..„., g 



Febrnary .. 1.38 11 



Marcb 2.10 



April 1.49 



Hay 1.13 



Jnne 0.42 



July 0.40 



14 

 6 

 9 

 S 

 1 



An^st 



September. 



October 



Noyember . . 

 December ., 



Total. 



8.04 

 2.72 

 2.77 

 1.74 

 6.85 



26.11 



14 

 10 

 25 



The greatest fall of rain was on September 26th, 0.98 inch. 

 — Thos. Jo^'ES, Gardener, 



NEW BOOK. 



^aildon's Natnre-Printed Ferns, prepared according to the new 



Patented Process li/ Hesey C. Baildon. The descriptions btj 



Thomas MooKE, F.'L.S. London : Lovell Eeeve. Fol. 



A SPECIMEN of the work of which the above is the title is 



now before us, and introduces to our notice a new mode of 



nature-printing, which in the details of the process appears to 



he of a simpler description than that practised by the late 



Mr. Henry Bradbury, and having for its object the same 

 results. As to how far Mr. Baildon has succeeded in attaining 

 his end, there will be more than one opinion. The general 

 outline and character of the plants illustrated in the " speci- 

 men " are perfect, and the colouring is good. In both respects 

 the work is not in any way inferior to those issued by Mr. 

 Bradbury, but, on the contrary, in some respects better ; the 

 want of venation in the pinnse of the fronds leaves, however, 

 an appearance of deadness in figures that but for this deficiency 

 would be really litelike. In that beautifully-executed specimen 

 of Adiantum trapeziforme on Plate II. this defect is very appa- 

 rent. In Platyloma rotundifolium and Scolopendrium vulgare 

 lobatum. on Plate I., it is also very noticeable; but in those 

 like Nephrolepis tuberosa and Asplenium Veitchianum, where 

 the pinnic are smaller, the representation is perfect. To meet 

 the absence of venation in the large nature-printed plates, Mr. 

 Baildon has supplied at the top of each description large wood- 

 outs of pinn.'E or sections of fronds, in which the venation and 

 fructification are carefully and minutely represented ; and as 

 these are done by Mr. Fitch, their accuracy and execution are 

 guaranteed, and so far for all purposes of instruction everything 

 is supplied ; but we should like Mr. Baildon to try if he can- 

 not throw a little more Ufe into those species with large pinnse. 



The letterpress is done by Mr. Moore. What more can we 

 say ? This is a subject he has made his own, and the care 

 with which he executes all he undertakes is a guarantee that 

 in this case the reputation of the work will not suffer in his 

 hands. 



It will make a splendid and very useful book, and when 

 issued to the public we trust it will meet with that suppoit 

 which its merit deserves. 



rOMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS. 



Lord BcnonLEY Apple. — " B. G.," referring to this fine 

 Apple, writes that it would perhaps be of interest to our readers 

 to know something of its history, and states that "in the fine 

 old kitchen gardens at Burghley Park, Stamford, in which is 

 to be found one of the best collections of Apples in the country, 

 about thirty-five years ago it first bore fruit, being then quite 

 a young seedling tree, growing in one of the warmest corners 

 of the garden, but it was never much noticed. Mr. Mcintosh, 

 who was then gardener, ordered it to be removed, making the 

 remark to an old trusty servant who is still employed in the 

 gardens, ' I would put it in the corner of the waste ground,' 

 which was accordingly done. For twenty-five years it there 

 grew, flourished, and bore abundance of fruit, which, however, 

 was never gathered, but allowed to fall and rot on the ground, 

 until Mr. Matheson, the late very skilful gardener at Burghley, 

 observed it, admired it, and brought it before the notice of the 

 public." Thus we have to thank Mr. Matheson specially for 

 introducing this really excellent winter dessert Apple. We 

 have no doubt, as " E. G." states, that there exist in a like 

 manner many other seedling Apples which only require to be 

 known in order to be appreciated, and we hope to see them in 

 course of time. 



■ Okd's Apple. — For the present season there are but 



few dessert Apples that can vie with this for freshness, juici- 

 ness, and richness. Some fruit which we have fasted to-day 

 are as plump, as juicy, and as refreshing as if they had jost 

 been gathered from the tree. In appearance it is what might 

 be called ugly ; the colour green, with a dull red on the exposed 

 side, and profusely covered with large ferruginous specks, which 

 give it a very uninviting aspect. It is an old Apple, having 

 been raised at Fiilham about a hundred years ago, and sent 

 out by Mr. Lee, of Hammersmith. It is just a little tender, 

 and requires a warm season and a good situation to ripen it 

 well, so as to bring out the fall, rich, brisk, fresh flavour. 

 It is worthy of more extended cultivation flian is generally 

 accorded to it. 



THE MANGO IN AUSTRiUliLi. 



At a meeting of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society 

 held in Brisbane on the IGlh of November, 18C8, the following 

 paper was read by one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, 

 Mr. Lewis A. Bernays. 



" The circumstance of the Mango fruiting for the first time 

 at Bowen Park may make interesting to members of the Accli- 

 matisation Society a few memoranda upon the habits, uses, 

 and value of this world-renowned eastern tree. 



" The fruit of the Mango is held in high estimation in the 



