356 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURlSi. 



THREE VARIETIES. 



" There are three varieties of celery," 

 said Mr. W. A. Best, of Picton, " which I 

 know to be all right : the Dwarf Silver tor 

 summer, the Golden Self-bleacher for fall, 

 and the Golden Heart for winter. Wliite 

 plume is pretty 'but tasteless, and of very 

 poor quality. 



"Some growers recommend growing 

 celery in beds, but I do not favor that 

 method. More plants can be grown on the 

 same ground space, but it requires m.ore 

 labor and more watering. Besides, the soil 

 must be very rich and the plants are liable 

 to rust. 



"I do not, however, favor planting m 

 trenches. I make a small furrow with a 

 Planet Jr. wheel hoe and put commerv,ial 

 fertili/x^r in the bottom of this and mix it up 

 well. No work should be done among 

 celery plants while they are wet after they 

 arc six inches high, as it is liable to cause 

 rust or rot. 



'' Best results are obtained by bleaching 

 with boards. Very frequently hilling up 

 the summer varieties with earth causes lot. 

 Late celery may be banked up in Sept "m- 

 ber so as to have it partly bleached when it 

 goes into the storehouse in October. The 

 plants should be perfectly dry when stored." 



MUSHROOM CULTURE 



TO be a successful grower of mush- 

 rooms the work should not be re- 

 stricted by any set of rules, as there are few- 

 people who uniformly succeed. The work 

 must be regulated by conditions and the lo- 

 cation of the beds. The same rules would 

 not apply to all conditions. By practice 

 and experimenting a method may be de- 

 veloped wiiich, with a little persistence on 

 the part of the grower, may result in suc- 

 cess with mushrooms. 



The method which has proved successful 

 with one of the largest growers in Toronto 

 is here described. This grower believes 

 that in mushroom growing there are three 

 prime requisites : decaying vegetable mat- 

 ter, a uniform and rather low temperature, 

 and a steady supply of moisture. The de- 

 caying matter is supplied by horse manure, 

 which should be obtained as fresh as possi- 

 ble. It is necessary to produce the re- 

 quired heat. This applies more especially 

 to the fall of the year, as in the summer 

 there is too much heat, which has to be re- 

 duced by mixing soil with the manure. 

 The manure should be piled in some shel- 

 tered place and there allowed to ferment 

 and heat. The pile should be turned at 



least once a day, perhaps more frequently, 

 depending on how high a temperature is at- 

 tained. The heating itself is, perhaps, of 

 no advantage except for the fact that 

 it contributes to the decay of the material. 



^Manure should stand about three weeks, 

 and when it ceases to supply an increasing 

 amount of heat it should be put in the beds. 

 The temperature at this time should not go 

 beyond 120 degrees. The beds may be on 

 raised benches or on the ground, but they 

 should have a dry and warm bottom. 

 Raised benches have proved to be the best, 

 as there is less draft and the temperature 

 can be kept more even. They should be at 

 least 10 inches deep when raised from the 

 ground, or if ground beds are used it is well 

 to have them 12 to 15 inches deep. 



The manure should be packed close and 

 in a uniform manner, but not too hard. The 

 bed should feel somewhat springy. Leave 

 the bed until it is found how high the tem- 

 perature goes. After a temperature of 90 

 degrees has been obtained the mushroom 

 spawn should be planted. 



Great care should be taken in selecting 

 only the best spawn. One of the methods 

 of telling good spawn is by its appearance. 



