192 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AHD COTTAGE GARDENEB. ( 8«pt«mb(ir 2, 1869. 



a mixluro of the cement and mortar will not keep it oat. The 

 oil — and when heated it does not take much — has saved us 

 trom snch casualties for many years. We may mention that 

 the roof is closely hoarded for the elates, and the space between 

 the lath and boards is stalled with clean wheaten straw, and 

 after many years the straw seems as dry and clean as when it 

 was put in. 



So much for a very common Mushroom house. We may 

 have a little prejudice for shelves in such a house on the Old- 

 aker system, and there is at times an advantage in having a 

 raised bed in a house, as being more under command than 

 one made on the level. The chief advantage of all raised shelf 

 beds is having so many beds in so small a space, but at a 

 great waste of labour in carrying and lifting the material. 

 Our correspondent, " Forwahd," does not like the idea of wood 

 always rotting and goinc to pieces for bods, and wants to know 

 what we should think of iron. We prefer slate or flagstone for 

 constant wear, and permitting always of cleanliness and neat- 

 ness. Iron, however treated, will be sure to rust. If we had 

 onr choice, and were making a Mushroom house, we would have 

 a low house, such as one in which we c<iald merely pass along 

 to carry in the materials with a barrow, X-c, without the trouble 

 of lifting or carrying, and we would have the bods entirely on 

 the floor, with or without a slate, stone, or brick-and-cement 

 Biding, or edging. Be the roof lean-to or span— in the latter 

 case the pathway under the ridge could be sunk, so as to have 

 the house low — we could have pitco after piece on the ground, 

 and have no trouble or expense with shelves, which are always 

 costly, of whatever they are made. 



We spawned our third piece in the open shed. These beds 

 wore formed chiefly of rathor long litter, with i or 5 inches on 

 the surface in which droppings predominated. We have a 

 heap of rather long litter fermenting now, which when turned 

 once or twice will form the basis of some of our beds in the 

 Mnshroom house, and then that will be covered with a layer 

 chiefly of droppings mixed with rough fibrous soil. We should 

 like quite as well if for shallow beds we had more droppings, 

 but in general our gatherings are regular and abundant. One 

 oJ the best beds we ever had in the open air was formed chiefly 

 of Btabble, litter, and a few tree leaves thrown together, and 

 watered so as to ferment, hut on the whole it was dryish rather 

 than very wet. This was surfaced with 2 or :i inches of drop- 

 pings, and bore long and abundantly. The great point is to 

 avoid too much heat for the spawn. The next is not to starve 

 the spawn with dryness, nor destroy it with moisture. Where 

 there is room and time, we prefer the droppings to be mode- 

 rately dried without heating much before being used, but we 

 have scarcely been able to see the difference in results when we 

 have thrown them in a heap to dry themselves by fermentation, 

 and even when very damp, and mixed with cat dry straw to 

 oanae them to heat and dry themselves sooner. We know we 

 thus lost much of the most nutritive part of the manure, but 

 so we do when we spread it out thinly to be diied by the atmo- 

 sphere. In fact, we have known material for Mushroom beds 

 tamed, and dried, and turned again out of doors, until there was 

 scarcely any nutritive matter left in it ; and thus the Mush- 

 rooms, when produced, were little better than if the spawn had 

 been inserted in the open soil, if that was at all good. Though 

 the material should not be wet, neither should it be dust dry ; 

 many beds are starved by the dryness of the material. When 

 fleshy Mushrooms are wanted, a slight casing before earth- 

 ing-np, with sweet moist cow dung will be of great assistance ; 

 but too much will make them so thick that it will be diflieult 

 to cook thrm thoroughly without cutting or slicing them, 

 which militates against their appearance at table. It matters 

 little how thick the Mushrooms are when chopped up for fla- 

 yonring, and Mushrooms are thus often largely used when their 

 presence, except for flavour, would not be detected. 



Mushroom Spairn. — It is now a good time lor making spawn 

 in dry weather. We have more than once given detailed in- 

 structions. Thin cakes are more easily managed than thick 

 ones, as they become dry enough much sooner. Where only 

 a little, or even a few bushels are wanted, it is in every way 

 best and cheapest to purchase from a nurseryman. We know 

 of nothing that has made greater progress than the making of 

 Mushroom spawn, nothing that shows more thoroughly the 

 advantage to be derived from the division of labour. Once in 

 our younger days there was a great inducement to make Mush- 

 room spawn at home. We have had hampers sent from long 

 distances, and it was only worth its weight as a second-rate 

 manure. Now we rarely see a bad cake or brick of spawn turned 

 out. We say this all the more readily because, though we 



know many firms that would not send out what was not good, 

 we do not know one of the large makers from whom these 

 nurserymen and seedsmen receive the spawn, for very few o{ 

 these, we believe, make their own. If any try to make 

 it for themselves, by attending to the details previously 

 given, they will find out that the same close attention will 

 be required for a few bushels as if they made some thoncands 

 of bushels. It is in this way that the large maker, on the mere 

 principle of the division of labour, will ever be able to make 

 and sell more cheaply than the small maker can. Still, it is 

 well to bo able to make Mushroom spawn. 



FBUIT GABDEX. 



We should have liked to have watered some dwarf Apple and 

 Pear trees in the open air, but we found it beyond our reach. 

 We have no doubt that these trees will be equally fruitful and 

 more healthy next season. This year they have dropped their 

 fruit, in some cases rather beyond the thinning point, and the 

 foliage still shows traces of the awful scorching the trees had 

 last season. Though the buds are looking healthy, the foliage 

 has not the fine deep green it used to have. Besides watering 

 our houses, and syringing walls, as a relief after these hot 

 days, onr chief work has been planting-oat and potticg Straw- 

 berry plants for forcing. At the end of the week we slightly 

 shaded orchard houses and the Fig house with whitened water, 

 merely throwing it on slightly with the syringe. This greatly 

 moderated the heat, and rendered watering less necessary. 

 Sprinkling the paths and floors did much to keep an agreeable 

 coolness. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPAETMENT. 



We have been potting, and cutting-making for the flower 

 garden. We have put in our first batch of Verbenas, <tc., are 

 following fast with Variegated Pelargoniums, and will proceed 

 next with the zonal and plain-leaved kinds, using chiefly 

 shallow boxes — say 2} foot long, 1 foot wide, and 4 inches 

 deep. We become every year fonder of simple methods. We 

 seldom use anything for these boxes except sandy loam riddled, 

 the riddlings to go at the bottom, and a sprinkling of sand on 

 the surface. For the sake of economy, we find pots and boxes 

 better than inserting the cuttings in a border, as we thus save 

 the trouble of lifting, and eitlier potting or boxing. We have 

 put some hundreds of Contaurea in small pots singly, or two 

 in a 3 inch pot, with a piece of slate between them. We shall 

 find a frame or cold pit warm enough for all such cuttings. 

 Verbenas, &a. ; and the open air will do for Pelargoniums of all 

 kinds, only if a little shaded and protected they will not flag, 

 though that with good strong cuttings is of little consequence. 



In the pleasure grounds, in using the mowing machine, w8 

 passed over the grass lightly, as we were afraid to cut too closely, 

 in case this weather should continue ; this day (August 2Stb) 

 being excessively trying, but a falling barometer leads us to 

 hope for a change. People continue telling us, Give us general 

 principles, if you like, but give us the details of your own 

 pract C3. To-day we have watered nothing in the flower garden, 

 except some lines of Salvia fulgens, and some edgings, very 

 pretty ones, of the purple-leaved Oxahs. Calceolarias are still 

 very fine without watering. Scarlet Pelargoniums have long 

 prevented any ground being seen. We knew they were very 

 dry at the surface, but then the roots were going down after 

 moisture, and, except in the hottest part of the day, showed 

 no signs of distress. A surface-watering would have done no 

 good, and especially in such cloudless days. If the weather, 

 as we expect, prove cloudy next week, or even if a few passing 

 gentle showers should come, we shall most likely water Cal- 

 ceolarias. We attribute the plants' standing the heat and 

 drought so well chitlly to mulching when we thought the 

 soil had become warm enough. Some visitors who have dis- 

 carded Calceolarias, begin to see that a garden is tame without 

 the yellow, and we have reason as yet to be satisfied with onrs. 

 Last season was very trying, because after our hottest and 

 driest days we had no dew at night. Moisture seemed to have 

 bid us good-bye ; but after the hottest days of this week the 

 clear sky at night was accompanied, as we generally expect it 

 to be, with a heavy deposition of dew, which filled out the 

 tissues of the stems and leaves. The wise laws of compensa- 

 tion often come in to our aid. In a hot, sunny day there is 

 more vapour generally in our atmosphere, and then how grate- 

 ful is the gentle refreshing dew in a clear, calm night. To end 

 almost as we began, we have heard of some flower gardens 

 that are not what they used to be, and yet the water has been 

 abundant, and used most unsparingly as respects frequency, 

 and often in large quantity. We believe if the plants bad 



