1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



107 



one. says Mr. .Tones, who has a tight fence 

 or l)uilding, seven feet high facing any way 

 except north, can grow plenty of exotic 

 Grapes in this manner, without much 

 troulile. The illustration (page lOli) explains 

 Mr. .Jones' idea more fully. The material 

 needed consists of a few hot-bed sash. which 

 can often be bought very cheap, and a few 

 cents' worth of boards. A door is put in 

 one or both of the ends. Proper ventilation 

 can easily be provided in a number of ways. 

 No insects, and no mildew will trouble the 

 vines thus protected. 



The little garden described gives fruit and 

 vegetables the whole season through. Be- 

 sides these blessings it contains Roses and 

 all sorts of annual flowers to gladden the 

 hearts of wife and children. The results 

 are large indeed and satisfaction is not the 

 least of these. 



To be contimicd. 



Mushroom Culture in the French 

 Capital. 



The often mentioned catacombs of Paris 

 were originally subterranean stone quarries, 

 which furnished the beautiful, soft, white 

 stones so much used in building up the city. 

 Abandoned as quarries, a part of this net 

 work of underground passages is used as a 

 sort of burial place, and the name cata- 

 combs,which properly belongs to this part,is 

 usually applied to the whole system of pas- 

 sages, which extend under the city at various 

 depths, sometimes nearly 200 feet below the 

 surface. All this is city property, and leased 

 to Mushroom growers in larger and smaller 

 portions. The passages are quite irregular, 

 from five to fifteen feet wide, and from six to 

 nine feet high. 



Each of these underground farms has a 

 separate entrance or shaft, and its limits are 

 marked by walls. Fig. 1 shows the ground 

 plan of Mushroom farm belonging to Mons. 

 Pautry. in Montrouge, Paris, which is quite 

 extensive. Entrance is at A; B are the beds, 

 and the white spaces in the center of the 

 passages mark the walks between the beds. 

 A few oil lamps suspended here and there 

 above the beds, give the little Ught abso- 

 lutely needed. 



In Fig. 2 we have cross section of an en- 

 trance or shaft. This is usually finished oft 

 with brick from the ground up. At the foot 



rig. 6 



Mushroom Faryn of Mr. Laeour in ParU. Fig. 4, 

 Oround Plan; Fig. 5. Cross Section of Cellars or Tun- 

 nets; Fig. 6, Cross Section of the Mushroom Sheds. 



is an enlargement built as shown, while 

 entrance on top is covered with a simple 

 shed. Ladders are yet the usual means of 

 entrance and exit, while a basket, rope and 

 pulley are the means of bringing the crop 

 of Mushrooms out to the surface. The pre- 

 pared manure is usually thrown right down 

 into the mouth of the shaft, and allowed to 

 fall down to the foot, to be carried in baskets 

 to the place where wanted. 



Fig. .3 gives us cross section of some of 

 these passages. Where dry, without drip 



from the roof, the passage is left in its 

 original shape, as shown at 1, except that 

 sharp ends of projecting stones are knocked 

 off and the beds are placed close against the 

 sides. Drip from the roofs upon the beds is 

 always a serious matter, and may injure or 

 spoil the crop. Hence, where this occurs, 

 the walls or roofs must be made smooth, to 

 give the tunnel the shape shown in 2 or 3, 

 so that the water sickering through from 

 above will run down along the wall on each 

 side and behind a board partition, against 

 which the bed is made, and finally soak into 

 the ground beneath. To keep the air moist 



rig. 3 



Mushroom Fami of Mr. Pautry in the Catacombs of 

 Paris. Fig. 1, Ground Plan; Fig. 2, Cross Section of 

 Shaft; Fig. 3, Cross Section of Subterranean Passages. 



in tunnels of this kind,boxes of fresh-burned 

 lime are placed every 30 feet or so apart in the 

 walks between the beds. The lime has to 

 be renewed from time to time. 



Success in Mushroom growing, depends 

 on (1) good manure; (2) careful supervision; 

 (3) good spawn. Horse manure is the only 

 one suited for this purpose, and the best 

 is well soaked with urine, and from horses 

 that are fed chiefly on Oats and straw, and 

 worked rather steadily. The litter is to 

 be carefully removed, and the clean manure 

 piled up in pyramidal form, layer after layer, 

 tramping each one down firmly. The sides 

 are then raked off and made smooth and 

 solid with the back of spade. Each heap may 

 be protected by a covering of litter, and is 

 then left to itself for a period of eight or nine 

 days. Then it has to be shovelled over,mix- 

 ing the mass well to bring the outside inside, 

 and the top to the bottom. Where flrefang 

 is noticed, the portions should be well broken 

 up, moistened and mixed in with other por- 

 tions in the center of the new heap. These 

 heaps may have to be worked over in same 

 manner once or twice, and the manure is 

 then ready for use. 



The beds are put up in same fashion as 

 described for the preparation of manure in 

 heaps. Layer after layer is firmly packed 

 with the feet, no water being used. The 

 surface is kept rounding towards the walks, 

 as shown in engravings, and the back part 

 of the bed made about two feet high. Fur- 

 ther treatment, insertion of spawn, etc., is 

 about the same as repeatedly described m 

 these columns. 



There are now about .500 Mushroom 

 growers in Paris, 'who annually buy and 

 use manure to the amount of 200,000 francs, 

 or about $40,000, which is about one-tenth 

 the amount realized for the product in the 

 central market of the city. 



Still not all of this vast crop is grown in 

 the catacombs. Some of the French market 

 gardeners make double use of their small 

 areas of garden by constructing cellars or 

 subterranean passages for Mushroom grow- 

 ing right underneath their regular crops of 

 garden vegetables. The Mushroom farm of 

 Monsieur Lacour, in Vangirard, Paris, one 

 of the best arranged of this kind, might be 

 duplicated in any locality with natural 

 drainage, in America as well as Europe. 



Fig. 4 gives ground plan; Fig. R cro.ss view 

 of the underground section. Each of the 

 six tunnels or cellars is 300 feet long, nearly 

 ten feet high and six feet high in center, 

 having an incline of about three feet to its 

 entire length. 



Convenient stairs lead down into the cross 

 passage at one end. A chimney (indicated 

 in illustration Fig. 4), consisting of four 

 boanls nailed together, and reaching from 

 inside of each tunnel high up above the 

 ground, provides the needed ventilation. 

 The walks or paths are slightly sunk below 

 the ground level of the beds. 



The ground above this Mushroom farm 

 was at first used for the cultivation of a 

 general line of garden vegetables. Monsieur 

 I.,acour soon found that Mushroom growing 

 was much more remunerative, and he soon 

 hit upon the idea of making the surface 

 yield Mushrooms also. A first trial with 

 sheds proved satisfactory, and the surface is 

 now arranged as shown in Fig. 6. The shed 

 roofs are coated with tar, and provided with 

 eaves troughs to carry off the rain water. 

 Small windows, placed eighty feet apart, 

 and hung with cloth from inside, give what 

 light there may be needed. Two lines of hot 

 water or steam pipe are laid in the walks, 

 covered over with open metal plates, and 

 provide the heat needed in the colder season. 

 We think there is room for similar struc- 

 tures in this country. 



Planting Dwarf Pears to Become 

 Standards. 



JUDGE SAMUEL MILLER, MO.VTGOMERY CO., MO. 



The Quince cutting forming the stock is 

 usually almost a foot long, and the trees 

 must be planted so deep that it is not an 

 easy matter, and unless the soil is deep and 

 rich is not always a success. 



Many years ago I bought some Dwarf 

 Pear trees with the stem of the root not 

 more than three or four inches long. On 

 asking the man (as he was simply an ama- 

 teur), how he managed to grow such short 

 cuttings, he stated that he made rather short 

 cuttings in the first place, then when bud- 

 ding, he removed the earth away from 

 around the trees, inserted the bud an inch 

 under ground, replaced the earth and 

 banked up an inch or two more. This done 

 in August, the Quince stock would emit 

 roots above the bud, so that in the spring 

 he would have a rooted cutting for every 

 budded stock. Cut off close above the bud, 

 cement the stub, and when the bud had 

 grown a few inches, fill up with earth again. 



When planting such trees, the Pear gets 

 six inches in the ground, without having to 

 dig a hole a footand a half deep and getting 

 into the clay. Of course Dwarf Pears should 

 have the soil over a foot deep well tilled, 

 but many will not go to the trouble of thus 

 preparing the ground. Dwarf trees of this 

 kind will soon send out roots from the Pear, 

 and be a half Standard, which I think is 

 preferable to either a full Standard or com- 

 plete Dwarf. 



There are trees of this kind on my place 

 here twenty years old and bearing still, 

 while the Dwarfs planted shallow, that were 

 set out at the same time, are all gone. 



1,639. Plants for Bockery. AmoDg plants which 

 thrive in dry sunny situations, and are suitable for 

 a rockery, we have: Alyssuni maritinium. A. saxa- 

 tile compactum. Arabia albida variepata, Arenaria 

 purpurascens. Aster longifolius formosus. Aubrietia 

 deltoidea grandiflora, Campanula garganica, Cheir- 

 antbus alpinus, Cistus laurifolius. Cytisus decum- 

 bent*. Draba bceotica Erica carnea and var alba. 

 Erysimum rupestre. Genista piasoox. Iberis corre«e- 

 folia. I. sempervirens plena. Lirbopttermum pros- 

 tjatum, Lotus corniculatus plenus. Pblox subulata 

 Nelsoni. P. verra, Potentilla spleiidens. Saxifraga 

 Burseriana. S Camposi. S. Cotyledon pyramidalis. 

 S. longifolia. Sedum spe'tabile Sileue mariDma 

 plena, and Zauscbneriy califormica. A few others 

 do well in somewhat thady. dry places, anoig 

 them: Hypericum calyctnum acd H olympicum, 

 Vinca major, and var. elegantissima, V. minor, and 

 var plena. 



