400 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Mushrooms con tinned. 



them on one or both sides .against the walls, and a path 

 down the centre ; or, the beds placed above each other in 

 the middle, and a path allowed all round, a plan sometimes 

 adopted in span-roofed houses (see Pig. 618). In Fig. 619 a 

 section of lean-to Mushroom house is represented, where 



FIG. 618. SECTION OF SPAN-ROOFED MUSHROOM HOUSE. 



provision is made for placing three beds one above the 

 other. Two are usually enough in a house of any shape, 

 unless it is very lofty, as a greater space is then avail- 

 able for making up and ramming each bed separately. 



FIG. 619. SECTION OF LEAN-TO MUSHROOM HOUSE. 



No light is necessary for the Mushrooms; but provision 

 should be made for admitting it, to see how to work, 

 and darkened shutters may be placed against the win- 

 dows at other times. The temperature should be kept 

 as near as possible at SOdeg., to suit the beds that are 

 bearing; the heat of other beds may be regulated by 

 coverings of litter, or by movable shutters made to rest 



FIG. 620. MUSHROOM POT. 



on fixed ledges Sin. above the surface, so as to inclose 

 the bed and retain its heat. Mushrooms are sometimes 



Mushrooms continued. 



successfully grown on a small scale in tubs or in large 

 pots, as shown in Fig. 620, where A represents the 

 loam on the surface, B the place for inserting some 

 spawn, which would, however, be much better distributed 

 in small pieces, and C the prepared manure. Good re- 

 sults are not unfrequently obtained by this method ; but 

 it is not worth practising where a more extensive plan 

 can be adopted. 



MUSK. See Mimulus moscliatus. 



MUSK BEETLE (Aromia moschata). This insect is 

 of rather large size (lin. to liin. long), and belongs to 

 the group of Longicornia, or long-horned beetles. The 

 antennas are eleven-jointed, and, in the male, are longer 

 than the body. The beetles are readily recognised by 

 the smell of musk emitted by them (whence their 

 popular name), and by their colour, which is shining 

 metallic green on the body, passing into blue-black on 

 the legs and antennae. They can make a sound by rub- 

 bing the neck-shield on the meso-thorax. These insects, 

 where common, as they are in various parts of the South 

 of England, do great damage to Willows, by feeding, as 

 larvee, for several years in the stems of the older trees. 

 The larvae may grow to the size of over lin. long, by 

 Jin. broad. They are yellowish in colour, with darker 

 plates and folds on certain parts, and are somewhat de- 

 pressed in form, broadest just behind the small head, 

 thence tapering gradually. The segments are well 

 marked off from one another by constrictions. By 

 means of powerful jaws, the larvae are able to feed on 

 the wood, and often cause the trees to decay. When 

 full fed, they form cocoons in their galleries, and there 

 change into pupse. The beetles emerge in July and 

 August, and may be found on Willow stems, or, in fine 

 weather, flying around the trees. 



Remedies. The beetles should be collected and de- 

 stroyed. The larvae may occasionally be exterminated 

 by means of a sharp wire pushed into the holes ; or by 

 paraffin, or some other insecticide, injected from a syringe. 

 Trees which are much infested should be destroyed. 



MUSK MELON See Cucurbita moschata. 



MUSK ORCHIS. See Herminium. 



MUSSJENDA (a name applied by the Cingalese to 

 some of the species). ORD. Rubiacece. This genus com- 



FlG. 621. MUSSiENDA MACROPHY 



