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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. I September 29, 1878. 



Cleeigds. — Instinct ! What a door of thonght is thrown 

 open at the mere mention of that mysterious word ! What is 

 the line oi demarcation which separates instinct from reason ? 

 This is a barrier that the keenest philosophy has never been 

 able to burst, nor the madness of atheism ever been able to 

 explain. 



Civis. — And then, too, what wonderful mechanism ! 



Clekicus. — Tes. Paley says that out of the millions of 

 designs which meet the inquiring eye of the natural philo- 

 sopher, every one has a benevolent intent. 



Cms. — Pray tell me, my good master, what is the name of 

 yonder dark evergreen, which has such a stately growth, and 

 which you seem to have banished as far as possible from the 

 precincts of your villa ? 



Hoktatoe. — That is Wellingtonia gigantea, a native of Cali- 

 fornia, which has but lately (comparatively) been naturalised 

 in Europe ; and it is planted so far away because in course of 

 years it might, probably, grow so large as to compel its being 

 cut down if it grew nearer to the dwelling-house. In its own 

 country specimens have been found fully 350 feet in height ; 

 and though in this climate it will probably never attain such a 

 prodigious size as that, yet the rapidity of its growth in Eng- 

 land gives fair warning that even here it will eventually assume 

 gigantic proportions. But I am glad that you have drawn my 

 attention to it, my good scholar, because it leads me to give 

 you a word of warning, to be careful not to plant your ever- 

 greens, especially specimen plants, too closely in your garden 

 in your projected new villa — there cannot be a greater mistake. 



Cms. — But how miserably unclothed and bare a new garden 

 looks when only small bushes are planted here and there. 



Hoetatoe. — Tes, that is the bait which leads so many, 

 even among good gardeners, to fall into the trap of planting 

 shrubs too closely ; they are anxious to give a finished look at 

 once to the grounds, forgetting that in a few years evergreens 

 which would have proved splendid specimen plants will be 

 dwarfed or spindled. Another very common error which 

 amateurs are apt to fall into, and from exactly the same reason, 

 is that of procuring large handsome plants instead of small 

 ones, being ignorant of the fact that it is always the safer 

 policy to plant younger plants, as they soon outstrip the elder, 

 and shame their giant brethren by their healthy and luxuriant 

 growth, while the Goliaths look wan and miserable, and often 

 die altogether from a wasting consumption, to the heavy pecu- 

 niary loss of the amateur, for large plants are always expensive, 

 and never satisfactory. 



Civis. — Thank yon sincerely for your hints. Is there any- 

 thing else which appears necessary to the success of planting 

 shrubs ? 



Hoktatoe. — Yes, the careful preparation of the ground ; be 

 sure that it be deeply dug. I have frequently turned my eyes 

 away in disgust when I have seen mere holes made, and shrubs 

 thrust in without any further preparation of the soil, which 

 should be enriched with thoroughly decomposed manure, when 

 it is what the gardeners call " double-dug." 



Civis. — You would not, I suppose, my dear master, Hortator, 

 confine the planting in the pleasaunee entirely to evergreens ? 



Hoktatoe. — Certainly not. A judicious planting of the 

 finest deciduous trees is absolutely necessary to the better 

 development of the Conifers, &a. I once paid a visit to the 

 celebrated gardens of evergreens at Elvaston Castle, near 

 Derby, and I cannot describe the depressing «ffect which those 

 acres of unbroken green had upon the spirits ; for although the 

 trees and shrubs were of the choicest description, and for the 

 most part judiciously planted, yet the tout ensemble was per- 

 fectly funereal, and one seemed to expect a tablet "in memo- 

 riam" at every step one took ; and if by accident the eye fell 

 upon a bright flower, it was like a gleam of sunshine through 

 a thundercloud. 



Cleeicds. — Tell me, Hortator, did you ever see the splendid 

 Purple Beeches in the gardens of the Earl of Stamford at En- 

 ville, in Staffordshire ? 



Hoetatoe. — Never ; but of their beauty I have often heard. 



Clericus. — They are, indeed, worth travelling many miles 

 to see when in their early summer beauty, when their regal 

 robes of purple sweep the velvet lawns of those superb gar- 

 dens, and seem conscious of the dignity which their august 

 presence adds to that fairyland. 



Hoetatoe. — Should you, Civis, wish to learn much of forest 

 trees, I would recommend you to study good John Evelyn's 

 " Sylva ; " and should you become much interested in him and 

 his admirable diary, I would advise you to pay a visit to 

 Wotton, in Surrey, the residence whioh that good man de- 



scribes with so much feeling, and which, by kind permission 

 of the present proprietor, Mr. Evelyn, a descendant of the 

 celebrated writer, is open to the public on a Saturday. I can 

 assure you, you would thank me for my advice. — Hoetatoe. 



FUNGUS EATING. 



If we were to search the wide world I do not think that it 

 would be possible to find a nation more prejudiced than our- 

 selves. We boast of our enlightenment and the liberality of 

 our views ; but, when we come to the practical, it takes an 

 immense deal of leverage to move us out of our beaten track ; 

 and, even in the common habits of our lives, we go on to the 

 end of the chapter aB though there was but one way of doing 

 things. 



In the little matters of eating and drinking we are perfect 

 slaves to our cooks ; and whether it arises from indolence, 

 timidity, or ignorance, the result is the same — that few of us 

 dare try experiments ; whereby a great quantity of palatable 

 food remains unknown and unheeded. This is particularly 

 the case with the class of comestibles which forms the subject 

 of my paper — viz., that of the Fungus ; the true knowledge and 

 appreciation of which would keep starvation from many a poor 

 man's table (at least during three months in the year), and 

 give the gourmand an additional luxury wherewith to tickle 

 his palate. The apathy, ridicule, or disgust with which a 

 serious proposal to cook and eat Fungi is received, is the more 

 extraordinary because so much has been said and written about 

 them ; therefore it cannot be altogether from ignorance of the 

 subject. Dr. Badham, Messrs. Cooke, Wortbington Smith, 

 Berkeley, and others have expatiated well and fully on the 

 whole tribe of Mushrooms and Fungi ; and, even for those 

 who cannot screw up their courage to the crucial test of eating 

 them, the works of these authorities are full of interest. More 

 recently, too, the great Fungus question has been examined in 

 the most practical manner by the members of a Natural History 

 Society in the West of England, called the Woolhope Club, 

 which has its head-quarters at Hereford, and embraces in its 

 scientific investigations all the district between Shropshire and 

 the Bristol Channel. Geology and botany are the main studies 

 of this Society, but latterly that of mycology (the study of 

 Fungi) has been added, and a most useful and important one 

 it is. One day in each autumn is devoted to a Fungus hunt 

 through the prolific woods of Herefordshire, and the numbers 

 that are gathered by this enthusiastic band are something 

 enormous. The labours of the day are closed by a dinner, at 

 which the main dishes are composed of the spoils of the chase, 

 dressed in the most epicurean fashion, and with the moBt 

 appetising (Fungus) sauces ; and as I have myself assisted at 

 these Apician banquets, I can vouch for the delicacy of the 

 viands, and the absurdity which we daily commit of turning up 

 our noses at the good things with which Nature has supplied 

 us. Bat the Woolhope Club does more than eat and talk, for 

 it publishes (though only privately) an annual volume of its 

 transactions, including a description of the Fungi of the county, 

 and the best modes of cooking them. These descriptions, and 

 the illustrations which accompany them, are mainly due to the 

 energy and experience of Dr. Bull, of Hereford, who has been 

 the chief instrument in making the Woolhope Club a Fungus- 

 eating community, and who rivals Soyer himself in his in- 

 genuity in discovering new ways of cooking his favourite food. 



Seriously speaking, however, I consider the endeavour to 

 make the public understand the value of the Fungus to the 

 nation so very important, that I shall draw largely upon the 

 Woolhope experiences, as well as those of other writers, in the 

 hope that the readers of the " Food Journal " will really try 

 experiments for themselves. With the uninitiated in sueh 

 matters there is, not unnaturally, a nervous reluctance in 

 taking the first plunge ; for, to the minds of most people, a 

 Toadstool is only another word for rank poison, while a Puff- 

 ball suggests horrible tortures by inordinate swelling, until the 

 wretched viotim bursts. This, I remember was one of the 

 warnings in early life, not to meddle with auspicious Mushrooms. 

 But, although there is some grounds for distrust (as there ii 

 in most other things), a little inquiry will show how fearfully 

 the danger is exaggerated. The Rev. M. Berkeley gives us a 

 list of 2880 different kindB of British Fungi, and even then 

 does not inolude those which require a microscope to dis- 

 tinguish their peculiar characters. Out of this large number 

 he ranks ten only as poisonous, and six as doubtful. He doet 

 not imply by this that of all the 2380 every one is eatable— for 



