Lambert's Rural Affairs of Ireland. 215 



not so fully and practically developed the theory as Mr. Callow has now 

 done; for which, I think, he deserves the thanks of gardeners generally. 



However, notwithstanding the very great credit due to Mr. Callow, for 

 a book which every gardener ought to possess who has mushrooms to 

 grow (and who has not ? ), yet there is still a desideratum to supply in this 

 department; namely, a method by which mushrooms may be grown during 

 the summer and autumnal months in the open air. Does any one of your 

 readers or correspondents know of any person who has succeeded in this 

 way besides Mr. Cunningham of the Comely Bank Nursery, Edinburgh ? 

 He, I believe, objects to a public disclosure of his method, for which, in 

 a commercial point of view, he probably may be justified ; but, as no such 

 objection applies to a gentleman's gardener, I hope some one or other of 

 the brethren will come forward and give us the required information. If 

 not, after having augmented my " little modicum of learning," by a perusal 

 of a few more of your publications, and another season's experience, I will 

 endeavour to accomplish the task. I would indeed now very readily give 

 you the particulars of my proceedings during the late season, had it not 

 been so extremely favourable to the growth of mushrooms, that to attribute 

 the crops I grew from the middle of June to the middle of November, ill 

 the open air, entirely to previous management and preparation, would, I 

 think, not be fair. However, be that as it may, many gardeners witnessed 

 my crop with astonishment. From a space 40 ft. in length, and 7 ft. in 

 width, I have frequently gathered 4, 8, 10, and even 12 pecks of mushrooms 

 in a morning. — J. Elles. Palace Gardens, Armagh, Dec. 23. 1831. 



Lambert, Joseph, Esq. : Rural Affairs of Ireland, &c. 12mo. Curry, Dub- 

 lin, 1830. [Previously noticed G. M., Vol. V. p. 540.] 

 This is really an excellent little volume, admirably adapted to the present 

 circumstances and exigencies of Ireland. The author is evidently a clear- 

 headed practical agriculturist and rural improver, for there is scarcely a 

 single page which does not contain some useful rule, or some valuable 

 practical information ; indeed, the book altogether is nearly an epitome of 

 all that is essential to the well-being and well-doing, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances,.of the peasant, the farmer, and the landlord; and no Irishman 

 who has a spark of pride in, or patriotism for, his own or his country's weal, 

 should be without it. 



His chapters on the Profits of Farming, System and Regularity, Roads, 

 Draining Land, and Manure, clearly show that the author is thoroughly 

 acquainted with these important subjects, by the manner in which he 

 appreciates the immense advantages the farmer will have who may carefully 

 attend to these matters. In his chapter " Lime as a Manure," he says, 

 " an experienced writer on this subject states, that he has had many oppor- 

 tunities of observing total barrenness produced by a too liberal use of it ; 

 but, if introduced with judgment, it will produce very useful permanent 

 changes in the soil to which it is applied." Now, after such an observation, 

 surely the author, without risking the charge of introducing useless verbi- 

 age, might have been a little more explicit on the subject ; for there is 

 no manure, stimulant or alterative, whichever it may be called, so univer- 

 sally employed as a manure on arable land ; and the least hint insinuating 

 the possibility of mischief arising from its use, might cause the indolent 

 or injudicious to abstain entirely from using it. He ought, where a positive 

 evil had occurred by its application, to have submitted a remedy, and in- 

 formed his readers that a dressing of peat-earth would have almost imme- 

 diately corrected the evil, by offering a medium through which the caustic 

 properties of the lime might become a source of fertility instead of bar- 

 renness ; and, above all, the different quality of lime made from magnesian 

 limestone, which is common in Ireland, and that which is made from com- 

 mon limestone, should have been pointed out. Quicklime of any kind, 



p 4 



