THE MASSACHUSETTS H0R2ICULTURAL SOCIETY 



between the plants. When the plants 

 are removed keep shaded with long lit- 

 ter, and water occasionally if necessary. 

 The space under greenhouse benches or 

 stagings will suit them exactly, using 

 materials in same manner as described. 

 They will also grow admirably on top of 

 the bench, using cloth for shading in- 

 stead of litter. The time required for a 

 bed to come into bearing is three to six 

 weeks. 



In gathering the crop do not cut with 

 a knife, but pull them up with a twisted 

 motion. — J. A. Simmers, Toronto. 



Mushrooms ON Shelves — The Hor 

 ticultural Times says, short horse drop- 

 pings, partially dry, thrown in a heap and 

 allowed to ferment, form the right kind of 

 material for raising mushroomsartificially. 

 A good way is to build shelves on the wall 

 of a shed or cellar, fill each full of the 

 material : press the droppings close ; 



cover with two or three inches of soil. 

 Allow the bed a few days for the heat 

 to rise, when it is ready for spawning. 

 The spawn is sold by seedsmen in the 

 form of bricks, which have to be broken 

 up into small pieces about the size of a 

 walnut, and set into the bed just below 

 the «oil. If the bed is right, having 

 gentle heat and a little moist, not wet, 

 the spawn will quickly spread through 

 the whole mass, and in about a month 

 the little white buttons will appear all 

 over the beds, and in a very short time 

 after the full-sized mushrooms. Any 

 position that can be kept not warmer 

 than 65° or 70°, and not colder than 50°, 

 will grow them the whole year through, 

 but beds require co be renewed after a 

 second crop, which can often be had 

 from the same spawning. Any place 

 light enough to work in will be light 

 enough to grow mushrooms ; indeed, 

 some grow them without any light. — 

 Horticultural Times. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



^-^ f^HlS is one of the oldest and 

 most respectable societies of the 

 kind this side the Atlantic, and 

 a study of its methods would no doubt 

 be suggestive to many of our newly 

 formed societies in Canada. We do 

 not wish to commend its extensive prize 

 list, for in our opinion, a large expen- 

 diture of time and money in this direc- 

 tion cripples any society, and hinders its 

 general usefulness, by confining the ben- 

 efits to a few specialists What we aim 

 at in our affiliated societies is the general 

 good. 



One means to this end is the meetings 

 for hearing lectures or reading and dis- 

 cussing paf)ers. The programme of the 

 above named society has come to hand, 

 and provides for ten winter meetings of 



an hour or two each, to be held at 11 

 o'clock ever}' Saturday morning, except 

 the I St Saturday which is reserved for 

 business. The following is the scheme 

 and addresses : -Jan 8th, The Business 

 side of Fruit Culture, J. H. Hale ; Jan. 

 15th, Horticulture in Holland, with ste- 

 reopticon illustrations, by Mr. Farquhar, 

 Boston, Mass Jan 22nd, Originating 

 new \'egetables, Hon Aaron Low ; Jan. 

 29th, Nuts and Nut Culture, F. M. Bar- 

 tram : Feb 12th, New Notions about 

 old Insects, Professor Slingerland ; Feb. 

 19th, Trees in Streets and Elsewhere, 

 W. R. Smith ; Feb. 26th, The National 

 Flower Movement ; March 1 2th, The 

 \'alue of Nature Studies in our Schools, 

 Geo P. Powell; March 19th, Resistance 

 of Plants to Parasitic Fungi, Professor 



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