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indigenous growth of France. It is growing wild in the marshy 

 parts of the mouths of the rivers Rhone and Var. Nature en- 

 dowed it with its peculiar properties, for it is the same after cul- 

 tivation as when wild. All along the Mediterranean shore of 

 France, the provincial peasants call it, for its excellence, the 

 good herb. 



WATER CRESS. 



The proverbial healthfulness of this is such, that in the spring, 

 it is cried through our streets by the title of la sante du corps — 

 the health of the body. The consumption of it is greatly increas- 

 ing, so that, instead of looking to the natural rivulets and basins 

 of water for it, it is now systematically cultivated. Vast cress 

 ponds are made to secure a supply for Paris. The process was first 

 established by M. Carp on, Mayor of the Commune of St. Leanard, 

 near Soulis, in 1811. The place being prepared with a bottom of 

 good soil a few inches deep — pieces of the plant are put in and 

 readily take root where the water is upon them. 



MUSHROOM. 



I take much pleasure in extracting from such excellent author- 

 ity as the Maison Rusiique presented by Alexander Vattemare to 

 the institute, the following article, relative to the raising of the 

 mushroom. 



It is known (or ought to be) that a mushroom, good and whole 

 some to eat at its proper state of growth, becomes poisonous, if 

 collected some hours later. There are three eatable mushrooms 

 in the neighborhood of Paris. One of these, the mousseron, so 

 closely resembles the Efhle, that mistake is very easy and dan- 

 gerous. And it is no less singular than true, that the mushrooms 

 called cebs and oranges in the south of France are good to eat 

 and wholesome there, but mortally poisonous if grown in the 

 climate of Paris. We recall the very celebrated'^case of the Card, 

 Caprara, Leg of the Holy See, who gathered some of these oran- 

 ges in the forest of Vincennes, — and, in spite of the representa- 

 tions made to him of their poisonous character, determined obsti- 

 nately to eat them, observing that the French lost, through mere 



