57 



CHAPTER VI. 



9 

 THE CAVE CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS, NEAR PARIS. 



THE most extensive and successful culture of mushrooms 

 in existence is carried on in widely- ramifying caves far 

 beneath the surface in the vicinity of Paris. To give the 

 reader as good an idea of it as I can we must visit one of 

 the great " Mushroom caves" at Montrouge, just outside 

 the fortifications of Paris, on the southern side. The surface 

 of the ground is mostly cropped with wheat ; but here 

 and there lie, ready to be transported to Paris, blocks of 

 white stone, which have recently been -brought to the 

 surface through coalpit-like openings. There is nothing 

 like a " quarry," as we understand it, to be seen ; the 

 stone is extracted as we extract coal, and with no inter- 

 ference whatever with the surface of the ground. We 

 find a " champignon niste" after some trouble, and he 

 accompanies us across some fields to the entrance of hk 

 subterranean garden. It is a circular opening like the 

 mouth of an old well, but from it protrudes the head of 

 a thick pole with sticks thrust through it. This pole, 

 the base of which rests in darkness sixty feet below, is the 



