506 



THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XXX. 



manure running along the wall. These have been formed quite 

 recently, and have not yet been spawned. Presently we arrive 

 at others in which the spawn has been placed and is " taking " 

 freely. The grower pointed with pride to the way in which the 

 flakes of spawn had begun to spread through the beds, and passed 

 on to where the beds were in a more advanced state. Here we 

 saw small, smooth ridges running along the sides of the passages, 

 and wherever the rocky subway was more than a few feet wide 

 two or three little beds were placed parallel to each other. These 

 were nearly new, dotted all over with Mushrooms no bigger 



than Sweet-pea seeds, 



~ ~-'-^^^^^^^^^^^-''^- and affording an excel- 



^ ^-- '^'~ ' lent prospect of a crop. 



They contain a much 

 smaller body of material 

 than we employ for 

 Mushroom-beds. They 

 are not more than 

 twenty inches high, and 

 about the same width 

 at the base ; while 

 the beds against the 

 sides of the passages are 

 not so large as those 

 placed in the open 

 spaces. The soil with 

 which they are covered 

 to the depth of about 

 an inch is nearly white ; it is simply sifted from the rubbish of 

 the stone-cutters above-ground, and gives the recently-made bed, 

 when moistened, the appearance of being covered with putty. 



Although we are from sixty to eighty feet below the surface 

 of the ground, everything looks trim and scrupulously clean. A 

 certain length of Mushroom-bed is made every day in the year, 

 and as the men finish one gallery or series of galleries at a time, 

 the beds in each are equally forward. As we proceed to those 

 in full bearing, creeping up and down narrow passages, winding 

 always between the two little narrow beds against the wall on 

 each side, and passing now and then through wider nooks filled 



Passag^es in Miishrooin-cave. 



