418 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ December 8, 1868. 



only given once or twice to the Muscats. The result was that 

 not a cracked berry was to be peen ; but the means of heating 

 the houses was being alteied from the old flues to hot water, 

 and, as usual in all such undertakings, the alterations were a 

 month or six weeks after the stated time before they were 

 finished, so that the Treutham Black Grapes did not keep 

 longer than a short time after Christmas. In the present 

 season, however, the Grapes in this house, as I stated before, 

 are all that can be desired, for the roots have gone the whole 

 length of the new border; and at the time I write the Trent- 

 ham Black Grapes are as black as eloes, and fine both in bunch 

 and berry. I shall be very much mistaken if they do not hang 

 good till the beginning or middle of February; indeed, in such 

 high esteem is Trentham Black held here, that in ev^ry vinery 

 that is fresh planted it must have a place. — James Stewakt, 

 Nvneham Park. 



MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



I T.\KE the present opportunity to thank yon for the advice 

 you gave me on the growing of Mushrooms. I iTia,de my first 

 bed with the material I named in my note — chiefly the long 

 itter from the stable — which I hnd thrown into a hc-p to 

 ferment itself dry, with a coating of IJ or 2 iuclies of droppings 

 on the surface. I spawned tlie bed when at about 71", and 

 earthed it at the same time with about 2 inches of light turfy soil. 

 The result is that I have now, in about seven weeks after 

 spawning, as fine a bed of Mushrooms as any one could wish 

 to see. I have since made two more beds tutiiely of Jroppings. 

 with a little of the short litter; the one has been spawned 

 about three weeks, and tho other has had the last coat of drop- 

 pings put on to-day ; but if these turn out as well as the first 

 I shall be quite satisfied. 



I write this for the encouragement of a correspondent who, 

 a few weeks back, was asking for information on this subject, 

 and stated that "he had read all that had been written in 

 ' our Journal,' and had tried several times, but never had any 

 Mushrooms." I may state that I am quite a novice in the 

 affair myself, never having made a Mushroom bed in my life 

 before, neither had I ever seen oiia made ; but I worked as 

 nearly as possible according to the directions you gave me, and 

 by what I had read from time to timo in " our Journal ;" and 

 I think if your correspondent will do similarly he will soon 

 have plenty of Mushrooms. — Agakious. 



COMPARISON OF THE SUMMERS OF im:, AKD 

 1808. 

 Now that the growing part of the year 1868 may be regarded 

 as at an end, a retrospect of its advantages and disadvantages, 

 may not be out of place, e;f ecially at a time when so many are 

 either disposed to disparage it too much, or run into 'be op- 

 posite extreme of giving it too glowing a character. As its 

 favourable points may be best made apparent by comparing it 

 with another season, I have selected 1805 as being within easy 

 memory, and as being usually considered a good year. In the 

 following comparison of figures, it will be perceived that in one 

 of the main features the two more nearly approximate to each 

 other than might be expected, and that feature is heat, in which 

 it is supposed by some that the pRst summer has been hitherto 

 unapproached. A brief attention to figures, however, shows 

 that the average day temperatuie in the shade forthe five sum- 

 mer months of 1865, presents an absolutely greater amount of 

 heat than the average of the same months during the past 

 summer. It is true the diileience is but small, about one- 

 tenth of a degree, but the fact is suflieient to reverse what idea 

 we might have formed of the extraordinary heat of July. This 

 difference of day temperature is, however, more than compen- 

 sated by the warmth of the nights, as compared with 1805, the 

 average being fully 1' to the advantage of the present year. 

 Many people would suppo.=e the summer of 1868 ought to have 

 presented a much greater diiierence, and so it would had the 

 average been taken at the end of August, instead of a month 

 later, for it will be remembered, as well as shown by the ac- 

 companying figures, that September, 1865, was an extraordi- 

 narily warm month, much more so, taking the advanced period 

 of the year into consideration, than the past July, notwith- 

 standing its tropical heat. Now, this being the ease, and last 

 September not being in any way remarkable, the average for 

 the two summers has been almoft equalised, not but that a 

 considerable difference must have resulted from the heat 

 occurring this year in July, instead of in September, and the 



advantages of the one summer as compared with the other 

 offer a subject for consideration, which may be advantageously 

 entered upon, after duly examining the accompanying tables. 



The first table simply shows the mean maximum and mini- 

 mum temperature, a=: taken daily at this place for the five 

 months from May to September, in each year; and the second 

 table. simply gives the rainfall during the same months in each 

 year. 



TEMPERATURE. 



1865. 

 Mean mas. Meanmin. 



May 70.93 4B.2S 



Juue 7673 48.46 



.July 77.10 61.51 



.\ngust 73.80 50.50 



Soiitember 78 OS 5S.18 



Average for 1865 75.218 



49.966 



1868. 

 Mean max. Mean min. 



May 7049 45.61 



Juno 74.17 49.00 



Jnly 81.38 55.45 



August 74 71 53.74 



September 74.83 51.18 



Having already described the difference in the average tem- 

 peniturea of the above periods in 1865 and 1868 as being very 

 [■mall, the same certainly cannot be said of the rainfall of these 

 years, and as this is as important an element for the welfare of 

 vegetation as heat, it is tolerably evident there must have been 

 considerable difference in the character of the two years. 1865 

 was here (Linton Park) the wettest year I have on record, more 

 rain falling by an inch and half than in 1860, but it was much 

 better distributed, and the summer being hotter it seemed that 

 no more fell than was wanted. 



Now, the question is, Have we had as much rain during the 

 past summer as we thought was needful for vegetation ? I fear 

 the many prayers and anxious wishes put forth, proved that in 

 cur opinion at least, more rain during the hot months of June 

 and July would have been acceptable, but as it was not so, we 

 mast compare the two seasons as they were, the one, 1865, a 

 moist, warm, growing summer ; the other, 1868, a hot, dry 

 summer, ripening and perfecting well everything that had 

 arrived at sufficient matmity before the effects of the dry 

 weather were felt. It is not unlikely that our ideas of the 

 merits of the respective seasons will be guided by the compa- 

 rative importance we may attach to the crop that was growing 

 and the one that was ripening. In 1805, two good crops of 

 hoy were obtained where only one indifferent one was produced 

 in 1808, and the same observation holds good as to other crops; 

 On the other hand, the ripening of tender subjects out of doors 

 during the past summer, has, perhaps, never been exceeded 

 before, that is, where such arrived at maturity before the at- 

 mosphere began to cool — by the middle of September. Since 

 then the temperature has not differed from that of ordinary 

 seasons, but the earth being warmer than ustial from the great 

 heat of July, tropical or subtropical vegetation continued to 

 thrive from the accumulated heat in the ground, until, that 

 being expended, farther advance in growth was not to be 

 expected. 



Even in the progress of tender plants there has been a 

 marked difference in the respective characters of different 

 plants; some that evidently enjoy the dry tropical heat ol 

 countries where rain seldom falls at certain periods have done 

 well, and others which seem to require moisture as well as 

 warmth, have failed accordingly. Of the latter class of plants, 

 the best example I can point out is the large-foliaged Wigan- 

 dia caracasana, which, in 1865, produced leaves at least 3 feet 

 long, but those made this summer have not attained more than 

 half that size, although the plants are upwards of 6 feet high 

 and proportionably bushy. The Castor Oil plants, on the 

 contrary, have reached a greater height, have flowered and 

 seeded, and some of the seed seems almost ripe, but the plants 

 were, perhaps, more ornamental in 1865, the joints between 



