456 VILLA GARDENING pakt a* 



for the same purpose. About the middle of April all those 

 chrysalises which have escaped come out as perfect flies, and soon 

 begiu to laj^ their eggs ou the stems and leaves of the plants. In 

 this condition many might be found and destroyed if sought for, 

 either picking them off" or adopting the readier plan of crushing 

 them between the fingers. All infected Onions should be pulled 

 up and destroyed, to make sure of extirpating the maggots which 

 they contain. 



Varieties. — Magnum Bonum, Cantello's Prize, The Banbury, 

 Dauver's Early Yellow, James Keeping, Nuneham Park, Giant 

 Zittau, Giant Piocco, and the Queen. 



CHAPTER XV 



The Mushroom in Buildings. — Any building that has a 

 fairly equable temperature will grow Mushrooms to perfection. I 

 was at Battle Abbey some time ago and saw there excellent crops 

 of Mushrooms growing in the underground caverns or cellars 

 belonging to the old abbey, which formed the wine cellars of the 

 monks. The warmth arising from the fermenting dung kept up 

 the requisite temperature in a building surrounded by tliick walls 

 or covered in with earth. Excellent Seakale was also produced in 

 the same places under the like conditions. An underground cellar 

 is an excellent adjunct to the garden for Mushrooms and other 

 things which need not be further alluded to here. Properly speak- 

 ing, in the best gardens, the Mushroom-house is usually a well- 

 constructed building at the back of the range of forcing-houses. 

 It should be built in such a manner as to be uninfluenced by 

 external changes of temperature. The roof inside must either be 

 ceiled or boarded, and though there should be the means of letting 

 in light and air the necessity for it will not often arise. The usual 

 arrangement of the interior is to have a path 2i or 3 feet wide 

 down the centre, with beds 3 to 3i feet wide on each side. If the 

 building has a lean-to roof there will be room for three beds at the 

 back and two at the front, placed one above the other, and large 

 quantities of Mushrooms may be had in succession all the year round 

 — except, it may be, for a mouth or two in the hot weather, when 

 open-air beds will be more satisfactory. The receptacles for the beds 

 may be constructed of timber, or arches of brickwork may support 

 slate foundations ; the latter mode of construction is very sub- 

 stantial and lasting, and good strong work is cheapest in the end. 



Mushroom beds may be made up at any time, but the most 

 successful are generally made in autumn, September and October 



