288 



jouenaij of hobtioultuee and cottage gakdeneb. 



t April 9, 1874. 



cork fastenings, they used screw nails with pieces of leather 

 , between their heads and the glass ; but the plan did not seem 

 to answer, and consequently fell into disrepute. The present 

 mode would seem to be a great improTement, as by it the 

 whole of the glass in a large house could be taken out in a 

 very short time, as it is only to push out the thin cork fasten- 

 ings and the glass is loose, and in such houses as those used 

 for Grape or Peach-growing, where fuU exposure is wanted 

 for a time, the glass can be taken out, packed away, and 

 brought out and put back in its place in a very short time. At 

 the present day, however, most houses are wanted in winter 

 to keep the store bedding and other plants, consequently a 

 naked roofless house is rarely met with. As ihe materials 

 used are more durable than putty, and must cost very much 

 less in the first instance, there is every chance of this system 

 coming into favour, especially if some provision can be made 

 to prevent the water driven to the sides of the square passing 

 underneath the glass, which I think might be done by bedding 

 the glass on soft putty in the usual way, and giving a rather 

 thick coat of paint on the outside^ so as to fiU the cavity be- 

 tween the square of glass and the woodwork with the paint, 

 allowing the latter to encroach a little way on the glass, as 

 is done in painting the roofs of glass houses in an ordinary 

 way. Perhaps some wiU say this is a compromise with the 

 putty system, but it still maintains the principle of no putty 

 outside, and would insure a more perfectly watertight house 

 than can well be made without it, especially when the roof 

 i3 flat. 



The position of the house is fully exposed, being upwards 

 of 400 feet above the sea level, and the south-west winds 

 are often very high ; nevertheless, the conservatory attached 

 to the residence contained some well-grown and well-flowered 

 plants, many of which had been wintered in the house 

 alluded to, and all reflecting great credit on Mr. Neve's ex- 

 cellent gardener Mr. Munn. Specially notable were some 

 large well-flowered plants of Cyclamens and Deutzias ; Indian 

 Azaleas, Chinese Primroses, and other things were also good. 

 Outside, some beds were gay with Crocuses and Primroses, two 

 of the best early spring flowers we have ; while in the inner 

 border some excellent plants of the hardy Cyclamens were 

 pointed out that had done good service last autumn, and even 

 at the time I saw them (the third week of March), were highly 

 ornamental by virtue of their foliage. Forget-me-nots were 

 coming on, but, as at other places, they seemed to have suffered 

 by the winter. 



I was told that Mr. Neve liked the mode of glazing referred 

 to so well that he intended to glaze another house, which was 

 being erected, in the same way, with probably some little im- 

 provement, retaining, however, the main features, which Mr. 

 Neve conceived to be right. At the same time he wished it to 

 be known that the invention of substituting wooden blocks and 

 slips of cork in place of putty was due to another, and was 

 suggested to him by his own gardener having seen the original 

 at another place, and made a model of it, which was exhibited 

 at more than one horticultural show in the neighbourhood. 

 A Mr. Stapley, gardener to Capt. Pattinson, of Biddenden in 

 this county (Kent), was the original inventor of this system, and 

 it certainly does him great credit. I trust that further expe- 

 rience will confirm the good opinion both entertain of its use- 

 fulness ; and as painters' and glaziers' bills form the greatest 

 item in hothouse buOding and keeping-np, anything that will 

 lessen them must be a boon. 



If it be asked whether further improvement in the way of 

 applying cork as an elastic siibstance to secure the glass in its 

 place could be efl'ected, I would suggest a broad-headed screw 

 nail instead of the wooden blocks, using the cork slips or 

 wedges in the same way as described ; or probably the latter 

 may be substituted by pieces of indiarubber or some of those 

 compositions which resemble it, and of which there is a great 

 variety. Let UB hope that in this age of invention some mod» 

 of glazing is in store for us that will supersede the present 

 costly system of having to replace the putty of our glazed 

 structures every two years or oftener, involving also a charge 

 for glass. How far the method now described will answer our 

 requirements must be left for experience to determine, but so 

 far it would appear to be satisfactory.— J. Koeson. 



EooMGAEDESiNG. — One of tie prettiest objects I ever beheld 

 is a Spruce cone fiUed \sith sand and grass seed, which sprouted 

 and grew out of the scales. It is now as large as a cocoa nut 

 with the husk on, and of the mist vivid green colour. The 



grass grows with a luxuriance that is remarkable. To produce 

 this charming specimen the cone was baked in a stove oven 

 till the scales opened out equally. It was then carefally filled 

 with equal parts of sand and grass seed, a string tied to the 

 top, and the whole suspended in the dark, in a jar, with water 

 enough to come half way over the cone. In a week it was 

 placed in the sunlight, when the seed sprouted rapidly, and in 

 a month fiUed a gallon jar completely. It has been taken out 

 and hung in the window exposed to the air of the room. Every 

 morning it is thoroughly soaked in milkwarm water. — (Corre- 

 spondent of New York Tribime.) 



MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



[Bead at the Maidstone Gardeners' Mntnal Improvement Association, 

 April Ist, 1874.] 



ALTHotrcn I am unable to give the exact date when gar- 

 deners of this county first practised the cultivation of the 

 Mushroom, I am right in stating that for fully 150 years 

 Mushrooms have been grown and esteemed in Kent as an 

 article of food ; for in a book on gardening, written by Brad- 

 ley in 17'24, their cultivation is alluded to; and again in 

 the second edition of Miller's " Gardener's Dictionary," pub- 

 Hshed in 1754, or thirty years later, an improved system of 

 cultivation is given, such as was practised in those days by the 

 market gardeners near London. 



It has long been known that the family of Agaricus to which 

 the Mushroom belongs is a numerous one, and that there are 

 many poisonous as weU as edible species among them, but it 

 is one of the latter division, called Agaricus campestris or 

 common field Mushroom, which seems to have been the sort 

 first cultivated. It has been handed down to us by our earliest 

 celebrated gardeners as the best species for kitchen use, and I 

 believe it is still recognised with the same favour; for although 

 there are many other edible sorts, they ai'e not sufficiently 

 known, or their wholesomeness is questioned, and the difficulty 

 of distinguishing them from the poisonous species acts as a 

 barrier to their cultivation ; even if they were better known I 

 have a doubt if they would ever take its place. 



Among the numerous operations of gardening the cultivation 

 of the Mushroom may be taken as one of the most curious, 

 and to those who are inchned for study here is material for 

 instructive observation, which, if only directed to finding out 

 for themselves how a Mushroom is produced, and watching its 

 development, cannot fail to prove interesting. If the opinions 

 of some of our early authors be accepted as true. Mushrooms 

 first spring from seed which is so small as not to be visible to 

 the naked eye, but in such enormous quantities as to amount 

 to many millions from one Mushroom. When these seeds are 

 deposited in a substance favourable to their development they 

 produce what is called spawn, and this in time becomes a 

 Mushroom. Spawn when in good condition is a fine white 

 fibre, like minute threads running in all directions through 

 and over the substance containing it, and these threads, when 

 deposited in suitable material, produce a quantity of small 

 white tubers which develope into Mushrooms. 



I will now enter upon the more practical part of my paper, 

 and win begin with the preparation of spawn. A hundred 

 years ago or more spawn was sought for at places where horses 

 were kept, in dry dunghills, and was also collected from old 

 rich pastures in September, the season at which Mushrooms 

 spring-up without artificial aid. Since that time, however, the 

 preparation of spawn by artificial means has developed into 

 quite a trade among nurserymen, so that those gardeners who 

 do not make their own spawn, and have not a great demand 

 for Mushrooms, have an easy means of procuring it. On the 

 other hand, there are some gardeners as weU as growers for 

 market who find it most convenient to make their own spawn, 

 and I think every gardener should try his hand at it, in case 

 it should ever be required of him. About fourteen years ago 

 I made about fifty cakes of spawn, and the first Mushrooms 

 I ever grew were produced from it, and this is the way I 

 made it. 



Collect a barrowful of cow dung from cows that are fed on 

 dry fattening food, get also about the same quantity of horse 

 droppings, from which the coarse straw should be separated; 

 Ukewise get about a bushel of sifted loam, with little road grit 

 to add to it if likely to become too close. Take it all to a dry 

 shed and lay the manure out to dry. While this is going on 

 procure a quantity of clean fresh straw and chop it into lengths 

 of about an inch. In due time mix these ingredients well to- 

 gether by treading and beating so as to crush all solid substances. 



