KITCHEN GARDEN. 201 



portioned to the quantity of spawn provided. Its 

 sides should rise perpendicularly one foot, and should 

 afterward decrease to the centre, forming four slo- 

 ping surfaces. We need hardly say that the mate- 

 rials of the bed at this stage of the business must 

 be horse-dung, well forked and pressed together, to 

 prevent its settling unequally. It should then be 

 covered with long straw, as well to exclude frost 

 as to keep in the volatile parts of the mass, which 

 would otherwise escape. After ten days the tem- 

 perature of the bed will be sufficiently moderated, 

 when the straw is to be removed, and a covering of 

 good mould, to the depth of an inch, laid over the 

 dung. On this the seed or spawn of the mushroom 

 is to be placed in rows, six inches apart, occupying 

 all the sloping parts of the bed, which is again to be 

 covered with a second inch of fresh mould and a 

 coat of straw. If your bed has been well con- 

 structed your mushrooms will be fit for use at the 

 end of five or six weeks, and will continue to be 

 productive for several months. Should you, how- 

 ever, in the course of the winter, find its productive- 

 ness diminished, take off nearly all the original 

 covering, and replace it with eight or ten inches of 

 fresh dung and a coat of clean straw. This, by 

 creating a new heat, will revive the action of the 

 spawn, and give a long succession of mushrooms. 



The flavour of this vegetable is highest in the 

 button state ; when the heads attain to the diameter 

 of an inch, they are still good, and most profitable 

 in the market ; but, when fully developed, they are 

 not worth picking. 



PARSLEY (Apium Petrosilinum). A native of Sar- 

 dinia, according to Jollyclerc, and, according to 

 Bosc, an article without which the cook could not 

 exercise his trade.* There are three or four varie- 



* " Oter le persil d'entre les mains d'un quisinier c'est presque 

 le metra dans 1'impossibilile d'exercer son art." 



Take away the parsley from the cook, and you make it im- 

 possible for him to practise his art. 



