QUKRIES AND ANSWERS. 43 



bloom or from suckers taken from established plants. If the seed be sown 

 the plants may be raised in beds and transplanted. The seedlings or sets 

 should be planted out in rows at four feet apart, at eighteen inches to the 

 row. Artichoke in a congenial climate will stand for several years, but 

 success with it in the United States cannot be expected north of the 

 cotton belt. It is a French vegetable, the flower buds of which are eaten. 



236. Q. How are mushrooms grown ? Musiirooms. 

 A. The culture of mushrooms to the initiated is very easy, but it is a 



subject of much difficulty to the novice. We cannot attempt here to give 

 at length the necessary directions, but refer the inquirer to some of the 

 various publications upon the subject. 



Plant one pound of spawn to the square foot. Kept on sale in the form 

 of bricks. The spawn is planted in dark pits, caves, in outdoor hotbeds, 

 or on banks of compost. Per brick of about 1^ pounds, 15 cents. 



Any mushroom, or toad stool, the stem of which underground springs 

 from a cup or socket, or which has any suggestion of such a socket, 

 should be set down as poisonous. The most intensely poisonous of mush- 

 rooms — the Amariata bulbosa and the Amariata vernus — are generally 

 found in the woods, though sometimes in the open field. They are posi- 

 tively deadly, taking eflfect in about ten hours after eating. 



237. Q. How are onion sets grown? Onion Sets. 

 A. Drill, when the apple is in bloom, sixty to seventy-five pounds of 



seed to the acre. At Midsummer, or whenever the tops die, remove the 

 small bulbs, buttons or sets, as they are indifferently called, produced by 

 this process, to a dry place. In the Autumn, or early in the following 

 Spring, replant them in rows, the sets two inches apart, the rows wide 

 enough to hoe between them. Observe : If not sown quite thickly in the 

 first instance, they attain too large a size, and when replanted shoot to 

 seed. 



In growing onions for the market, either from seed or sets, an unusually 

 large size is not to be desired, two to three inches in diameter being about 

 the most desirable size for shipping. A vigorously growing onion crop 

 frequently can be hastened to early ripening at near the desired size by 

 simply stopping the vigor of growth by running a scuffle hoe under the 

 bulbs on one side so as to cut off one-half the roots. Such a course of 

 treatment will reduce the excess of vigor and forward maturity. If the 

 grower awaits the development of mammoth onions, or even large ones, 

 he frequently lets pass opportunities for paying sales, far more profitable 

 than afterwards realized. 



238. Q. What are Bermuda onions ? Bermuda 

 A. An early sort originally grown in Bermuda— now largely grown in Onions. 



Florida, Louisiana and Texas and some little in Georgia and Carolina. 



Down the Mississippi, below New Orleans, 100,000 barrels of marketable 

 onions are grown annually. All the early ones formerly grown were 

 known as Creole onions, half round and light red, but they are fast being 

 supplanted by the Bermudas. 



