MUSHROOMS AND MUSTARD. 357 



Kitchen Herbs. 



It is hardly desirable to enumerate a list of culinary 

 herbs. Each housewife has her own information and pre- 

 ference and beyond that her cook-book is an encyclopedia. 

 Suffice it to say that nearly the whole collection of plants 

 grown in northern climates for fragrant leaves or seeds is 

 hardy in the California winter, and most of them do best 

 with early sowing as soon as the soil is well moistened by 

 the fall rains. Most failures with them are traceable to 

 sowing too late, which comes from following Eastern prac- 

 tice. Where the winter is quite frosty, fall sowing is less 

 desirable, but with February warmth the seed should be 

 in the ground. Early sowing enables the plants to secure 

 good rooting, and with that, growth can be carried later 

 in the dry season. Late sowing causes many a plant to 

 dwindle in the summer heat even if irrigation is afforded. 

 It must also be remembered that many plants must be dili- 

 gently cultivated during our dry season which thrive with- 

 out it in the humid summer of other countries. 



Mushrooms. 



Field growth of mushrooms is abundant during the 

 rainy season in California especially do the fall rains 

 bring to view such great quantities of them that they can 

 be easily gathered by bushels. The list of edible mush- 

 rooms in California includes many species which afford a 

 fine field of mycological epicures. Recently there has 

 arisen quite a producing interest in the line of cellar cul- 

 ture of mushrooms chiefly by foreigners, and their methods 

 are essentially the same that are practised elsewhere, de- 

 scriptions of which are readily available. Publications on 

 the subject may be had free on application to the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture at Washington which will give the 

 inquirer a good outline of arrangement and methods. 



Mustard. Sinapis sp. 



Mustard is a grievous weed in California, especially on 

 rich soils with moisture. It is also sometimes very profit- 



