M€ 



JOUBNAL OF HORTIODLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ AptU 29, I8f9. 



cut np, and rnoBt of the bloom is killed. The best for fruit 

 are the J'oblePBe, Early Newington, and Teton do Veuua ; those 

 with a short crop are the Violette Hative, Late Admirable, and 

 Bellfigarde. 



Of the Nectarine, which is, generally speaking, a freer setter 

 under difficulties than the Peach, yet quite as tender in foliage, 

 there are signs of a good crop on such sorts as Hunt's Tawny, 

 Brugnon, and Bed Eoman ; while the worst are the Melting and 

 Violette Hative. The last is generally unfruitful with me. 



Of the hardier kinds of fruits, such as Plums, Pears, and 

 Cherries, there is every prospect of a good crop on walls, stan- 

 dards, and pyramids. The first-named fruit is setting very 

 thickly, the same may be said of the Cherry, but its crop is 

 generally uncertain, as sometimes most of its fruit does not 

 swell off. Apples are hardly forward enough, but there is an 

 abundant show for bloom. I also anticipate a good crop of 

 Filberts. There was a good show of bloom, which appears to 

 have set well. 



The foregoing account is only taken from the garden at 

 Lillesden. It would be interesting to learn what prospects 

 there are of a fruit crop in some of the eastern or northern 

 counties. — Tncii-is Becore, Lillesden, Baulchurst. 



MARKET GARDENING IN FRANCE AND 

 ENGLAND.— No. 6. 



MUSHROOM CULTDRE. 



'Nbit to the inovitable lalade, there is no more necesaarr 

 article for French cookery than the Mushroom. You may go 



into the Palais Uoyal, where dinners (such as would not satisfy 

 a Brillat-Savarin or "D. G. M." of tho Times, but which ordi- 

 nary mortals, despite Thackeray's jokes on them in "Philip," 

 find eatable), are served for three francf , including wine ; and if 

 you look down the list of dishes you will invariably find some- 

 thing or other with champignons, and you find them there, should 

 you order this, supplied with no lavish hand. Or you may go 

 into the Hallcs Centrales, those magnificent markets in the very 

 heart of Paris, and there you will see pile upon pile of the savoury 

 fungus white as a kid glove, of all sizes, and suited for all buyers, 

 and you will see how rapidly the piles disappear. By way of 

 contrast go into Covont Garden— you will see them but sparingly 

 supplied and more sparingly purchased, and why is this ? Is it 

 that we cannot gi-ow them ? No ; but they are regarded here, 

 at least tho cultivated ones, with pomo degree of doubt and sus- 

 picion, and, moreover, English cooks believe more in Onions, 

 Cayenne pepper, and wine for flavouring. Tho French cook, 

 whoaa taste is more cidtivated, clings to the Mushroom, Tomato, 

 &c., for producing his savoury dishes, and hence there is not the 

 incentive to the growth there ought to he. The demand for 

 them has, of course, stimulated their production, and has led to 

 one of the most curious utilisations of supposed useless material 

 that we probably can instance, although it may not be of any 

 practical service in describing this process, as the materials to 

 work upon are not to be had elsewhere. 



_ Modern Paris, like ancient Eome, has itself supplied the mate- 

 rials of which it is built. Every visitor to the City of the Seine 

 must ha^-e noticed those large wheels which appear on the sur- 

 face of the soil everywhere in its neighbourhood. These are 

 used for the purpose of bringing to the surface those huge blocks 

 of stone which have been of late so largely used in the construc- 

 tion of the new city, which has been one of the boasts of the 

 Second Empire, for, spider-like, Paris has found the materials 

 for her dwelling ; and from time to time, as the vein of stone 

 becomes e::hausted, or the quality deteriorates, these borings are 

 abandoned. Notably is this the case at Montrouge. You may 

 walk by these abandoned quarry-holes, and never would imagine 

 there was anything going on beneath. "Were you observant, 

 you might notice large heaps of stable manure near them, and 

 wonder what they could be intended for; and yet there is a 

 culture going on underneath by which large numbers of people 

 obtain their living, and of which the productsare sent far and wide. 

 I have detected the peculiar earth used in it clinging to the 

 Mushrooms exposed for sale in the markets at Covcnt Garden, 

 Brussels, Lyons, &c., and it was to see this cultme that I devoted 

 a day in company with my compar/non de roijage, M. Viret. It 

 is no easy task to find out these cltamjngnonistes, nor, when yon 

 have found them, to induce them to go down with you. They 

 are an independent set of men, are making money, and your 

 five-franc piece is no great inducement to them, while the going 

 down entails the expenditure of some considerable amount of 

 time and labour, , 



However, wofirstfoundoutMadameFroment, whose son kindly 

 accompanied us, and we were in duo course conducted to one of 

 these opening,", having first piovided ourselves with candles, &c. 

 To those who have descended coal mines or such other subterranean 

 retreats, and who, like Lieutenant Warren in his exploration of 

 Jerusalem, are said to delight in groping, it is nothing ; but to staid 

 and sober people like myself, who affect the upper air and level 

 ground, whose backs do not bend so easily as they used, and whose 

 heads are none of the steadiest for such work, the descent is an 

 ordeal of no common nature. You looked down a large opening 

 of about 70 or gO feet in depth, and by an ingenious contrivance 

 had to swing yourself onto a very ricketty-looking swing ladder, 

 which had to be repaired before we could venture on it ; but I was 

 committed to it, and so down we went. When we reached the 

 bottom we were very soon in mediae res. Galleries stretched on 

 all sides, and into these we soon dived. As we wound along, the 

 owner narrated to us sundry funny adventures he had had with 

 visitors, amongst others of a certain Lord Mayor from the Emerald 

 Isle, whoso copious rotundity was considerably in his way in 

 some of the passages, and who pufl'ed, fumed, and steamed through 

 them. Our conductor, besides being thoroughly used to it, being 

 » thin spare man, could thread his way along easily where his 

 more corpulent companion found considerable difficulty. All 

 along these passages were long narrow beds of varying height* 

 and sizes, but all small, and entirely diflercnt from anything we 

 are used to in Mushroom culture. On these beds, which were 

 covered with a peculiar calcareous soil, were Mushrooms of 

 all sizes, from tiny little pins' heads up to good-sized teacupi, 

 some as white as driven snow, others with a faint tinge of buff. 

 On we went. Sometimes we had the greatest possible difficulty 

 to get along, so very low was the ceiling; and now and then- w* 

 came upon an opening where a larger portion of the stone had 

 been obtained, and here the beds wx-re sometimes four, five, and 

 six deep, but all of the same form — slightly rounded and low. 

 Tho champignoniite would evciy now and then stop, bid u» 

 admire some fine cluster of his productions, and expatiate on 

 their beauty. Some idea of the extent to which this culture i« 

 carried on may be gathered from the fact that this one man had 

 ten miles of these beds in this subten-anean garden, from which 

 all through tho year immense quantities are daily sent into 

 Paris. 



In contrasting the method of culture adopted here with what 

 I have seen and practised in England, I was struck wiith these 

 differences : — 1st, In all the directions given as to the preparation 

 of the manure for the beds, we are told to keep it as dry as possible 

 under a shed, where it will not bo exposed to tho influence of 

 the weather. Now, here no such precaution is taken ; and I 

 was particularly struck with the very wet, almost sodden ap- 

 pearance of the manure. 2nd, I did not see that the beds were 

 hardened by beating as ours are. The manure seemed to be just 

 tidily put together and then flattened with a spade, but not 

 made close and compact as with ua, for I noticed that when our 

 conductor came to a bed that sei mod to him to have something 

 not quite right about it, he could put his hand down far into the 

 bed without any difficulty. 3rd, The growers seem to me not 

 as a rule to put in their Mushroom spawn in the dry brick state 

 in which we use it, but it is cut out in pieces wherever it can be 

 easily obtained, and then inserted in a fresh state. Some close 

 observers have stated that Mushroom spawn is more abundant ia 

 France than with us, and that there is never any difficulty in 

 obtaining large quantities of it. I do not know whether this 

 ia so, but the French are, as I have stated, large growers of 

 Mushrooms. 



This "cave" culture has almost driven out the other method* 

 of culture about Paris, for, as there is very liitle to pay for rent, 

 Mushrooms can be more cheaply produced than when grown m 

 the ordinaiy way. I fear there is not any practical benefit in 

 what I have said on this subject, but I hardly liked to leave the 

 vegetable culture of our neighbours without givine a sligjht 

 notice of one of the most remarkable adaptations of old quarries 

 which I suppose we are acquainted with. — D., Deal. 



FUCHSIA RICCARTONI IN NEW ZEALAND. 



I HATE just rend Mr. Kobson's article on Fuchsia Eicoartoni 

 (see page 317 of last volume), and am able to bear testimony 

 from the antipodes to the continued excellence of the same old 

 favourite Fuchsia. For out-door cultivation, especially in cool 

 moist places, it has no rival, and it attains a much larger size 

 than I remember to have seen it do either in Great Britain or 

 Ireland. In 183G I travelled a considerable distance to see the 



