46 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



Spawn may be purchased in bricks of all seedsmen for the start in mushroom 

 culture ; once begun and any of the white spawn-flecked earth of an old bed 

 will answer for planting new beds. 



For inserting, the bricks or pieces of spawn are first broken to half the size 

 of a hand lengthwise, or some less. These are placed into the top and other 

 exposed surfaces of the bed, at about ten inches apart, and half as deep, cover- 

 ing up firmly. After some ten days spread over the bed about three inches of 

 fresh loam, and then wait for your crop. This should begin to show a few 

 weeks later, varying somewhat according to temperature. 



It is often possible to dispense with watering the beds, this being only 

 necessary when the surface gets quite dry. Then water carefully, using water 

 heated to about loo degrees. 



By making up beds at intervals of ten or twelve weeks throughout the year 

 a continuous supply of mushrooms may be secured. The product is usually 

 salable at all seasons in limited quantities. It is to be hoped that the consump- 

 tion of this valuable food article will greatly increase in the near future. Let 

 our readers in general inaugurate the growing and using of mushrooms com- 

 monly. — Popular Gardening. 



Raising Cuttings in Water. — i\lmost any plants with comparatively 

 hard wood, can be made to root by being placed in bottles of water. The 

 aleander is a familiar illustration — the ivy also can be easily raised this way. 

 After the roots have become strong in the water, the plants can be taken out 

 and placed in earth. For this, perhaps it is better to let the water continue 

 stagnant in the bottles — a change of water is not beneficial. In these cases, 

 the gases necessary to aid in the life of the plant are furnished by the decaying 

 materials which cause the water to become stagnant. Even soft-wood cuttings 

 will root readily in sand with water. A saucer of sand, for instance, filled with 

 water, is all rhat is needed to root many softwood cuttings. These saucers 

 with the cuttings should be kept shaded for a day or two, and then placed in 

 the full light. If placed at once in the full light they are liable to wilt. — 

 Meehans' Monthly for January. 



Top-Dressing Lawns. — To make a bright green sward next season, a 

 good top-dressing on the lawn, during the winter, should not be neglected, and 

 the earlier the work is accomplished, the greater will be the result. The 

 continuous mowing during the summer, without giving any stimulant to the 

 soil, soon weakens the grass until it finally dies out. Well-rotted manure for 

 the winter is probably the best remedy, though many prefer to use wood-ashes, 

 guano, ground bone or other commercial fertilizers, as being less likely to^ 

 introduce seeds of noxious weeds. — Meehans' Monthly for January. 



