December 5, 1872. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



Ul 



shelling peas. The busiest time is about six in the morning 

 when the costermongers congregate for a day's supply. 



Rhubarb is supplied chiefly by the market gardeners around 

 London. Mr. Myatt, about sixty-five years since, sent five 

 bunches to market, but only three of them were sold, but now 

 hundreds of tons are sold in Covent Garden annually. 



Returns from the seven railways showed that there were 

 brought to London in 1853, 70,000 tons of vegetables and fresh 

 fruits. This is entirely independent of the dried fruits, Nuts, 

 Pine Apples, Oranges, and Lemons imported. 



The market prices, of course, vary with the seasons and 

 the abundance or deficiency of the crops, but there are a few 

 relative notes worth recording. 



About the years 1825-30 Court bouquets sold for one to six 

 guineas each, but ordinary bouquets were scarcely used except 

 at weddings, and they were from one .to three guineas each ; 

 but during the last twenty years, they having become so 

 fashionable, a large number of persons have become growers 

 of flowers for that particular trade, and although such 

 an immense number of bouquets are sold, they do not fetch 

 so high a price. Court bouquets range from one to three 

 guineas each, ordinary wedding and ball bouquets from 10s. 6(1. 

 to two guineas. The highest price of late years that we hear 

 of was one magnificently trimmed with lace, for which ten 

 guineas was paid. The highest price of forced Strawberries 

 during the same period was 10s. per ounce, and the highest 

 price of Pine Apples 20s. per pound. 



In conclusion, I must note that, why the measures of this 

 market have names derived from the Anglo-Saxon puzzle me. 

 Punnet is from ponne, a pan ; sieve from sife or syfc, founded 

 on its use for cleaning, and which the basket resembles in 

 shape. In 1833 Mr. Eevan made a very special examination 

 of the Covent Garden Market measures, and the following are 

 the results of his researches : — 



There are four sizes of punnets, which leaves the capacity of this measure 

 very uncertain, unless the particular variety is indicated. From Mr. Bevan's 

 experiments the greatest capacity of the 

 Cubic inches. 



Cubic inches- 

 Largest punnet 248 



Second punnet 22S 



Third punnet 90 



Least punnet 60 



But as in practice they may not be filled to the maximum, it may be in- 

 ferred that, relatively to a bushel, the proportion -will stand as follows : — 



Sieve is 1641 



Half sieve : . . 822 



Quarter sieve 362 



2 sieves 



4 half sieves .... 

 8 quarter sieves 



1 bushel. 

 1 bushel. 

 1 bushel. 



12 large punnets 1 bushel. 



16 second punnets .... 1 bushel. 



32 third punnets 1 bushel. 



48 least punnets 1 bushel. 



In other words, they may be considered as follows :■ 



Sieve equal to 4 bushel. 



Half a sieve 1 peck. 



Quarter sieve 1 gallon. 



Large punnet 54 pints. 



Second punnet 1 pottle. 



Third punnet 1 quart. 



Least punnet 14 pint. 



As very few of your country readers know the form of the 

 chip-basket called a punnet, I enclose its portrait, and make 

 my retiring bow. — G. 



MUSHROOM GROWING. 



I secure the droppings from the only two horses we have, 

 and thinly spread them in a shed till I have enough to make a 

 bed. This material is then thrown up in a heap, and turned 

 three times a-week till all the rank smell is gone ; it is then 

 taken to the Mushroom house and beaten with a mallet quite 

 firm in the bed, after which it heats but little, but I spawn it 

 in a day or two, and add 1J inch thick of loam. 



The house is a lean-to, due north, about 12 feet long, with a 

 bed on each side 3 feet wide and 1 foot deep. I have a 4-inch 

 pipe round the house. I keep the heat as nearly as possible at 

 60°, and give an occasional sprinkling of water, but with all 

 my efforts to ensure success there is generally a failure. Will 

 you aid me 1 — Amateur. 



[The subject has been frequently referred to of late, and the 

 difficulty of giving answers often depends on a want of know- 



ledge of the materials at command. Now, in your case you state 

 the facts so clearly that we would willingly comply and give a 

 short treatise as you request, except that we have press of matter 

 and do not wish to be always writing on the same subject. 



In the first place, your keeping the droppings of two horses 

 thinly spread in a shed until you think you have enough for 

 a bed is all well, though a little short litter with the droppings 

 would be desirable, and throwing these into a heap to ferment, 

 generally, is also well ; but the turning this heap over three 

 times a-week, until all the rank smell is gone, we consider 

 worse than labour lost. We have long considered that such 

 careful modes of proceeding just waste the manurial virtues 

 of the material. As evidence of this we may state that we had 

 something to do with the growing of Mushrooms in two large 

 establishments, and the beds, managed much the same as 

 yours, yielded but small returns. The manure was too wasted 

 in the drying and knocking about. We would suggest that, 

 after allowing your heap to ferment a little for a few days, you 

 take it to your beds at once, never minding if it do give off 

 a little steam. 



In the next place, your beating the beds firmly is all as it 

 ought to be ; but the fact that the bed " after this process 

 heats but little," just confirms us that your material was too 

 dried and exhausted. That we believe was the cause of the 

 failure in the cases referred to. We malletted and hammered 

 hard enough to please the superintendents. A piece tried on 

 the sly with moister and fresher materials confirmed us in this 

 opinion. We were fully confirmed in our opinion on visiting 

 a large market garden on the south side of the Thames. These 

 shallow beds, about 15 inches deep, were made in sheds from 

 dung brought from London. The most littery was removed, . 

 by shaking, for covering, See., and the droppings and short 

 litter were thrown into a heap for eight days or so, and whilst 

 hot and steaming were taken to make the beds, well trampled 

 and beaten, and in a few days holes were made some 9 inches 

 apart ; as soon as the heat began to fall to 80° the spawn 

 was placed in the hole. If in a day or two the heat did nut 

 rise, a few droppings were placed over the holes. If there was 

 no rise in temperature the bed was beaten all over, and then, 

 if all was right, earthed-up, and the requisite temperature 

 secured by a litter covering. 



Be careful that even in what we suppose to be your extra- 

 prepared material you do not spawn too soon. " Spawn it in 

 a day or two" can rarely be relied on; but then, if you use 

 your material less prepared, as we generally do, there is less 

 necessity for making-up a bed at once. It is often safer and 

 more economical to make it in layers, beating each layer. 

 A simple fact many are slow to learn — namely, that the more 

 solid you make such material the less will it heat violently. 

 But another thing is to be thought about — that if no ah- can 

 enter, or be enclosed, the bed will ere long cease to heat at all ; 

 and hence the importance, for a constant bed with constant 

 heat, that it should contain a little of more open material than 

 dried droppings. 



Our shed beds are 3 J feet wide, and average throughout from 

 15 to 18 inches in depth ; those on the shelves not quite so 

 much. As your beds are 3 feet in width, we would make them 

 15 to 18 inches in depth instead of 1 foot. It is all very 

 well to have hot-water pipes round to keep up the temperature 

 to about 60° (it ought never to be higher), but the greatest 

 success will after all depend on having a long uniform tem- 

 perature in the beds. 



On the whole we should be inclined to think that your want 

 of success is owing to too great preparation of the material and 

 too early spawning.] 



HINDLIP HALL, 



The Residence of Henry Allsopp, Esq. 

 About three miles to the north of the city of Worcester 

 stands in a commanding position Hindlip Hall, the residence 

 of H. Allsopp, Esq. The present mansion is of modern erection, 

 occupying the site or nearly so of Hindlip Castle, to which are 

 attached some interesting historical associations, but scarcely 

 any vestige of it remains. A portion of an old building has 

 been converted into a cottage, in which Mr. Moffat the gar- 

 dener resides, but that may have been a dwelling of a later 

 date, as it has more the character of a timber-built dwelling of 

 the seventeenth century than of a fortified place ; and as it is 

 very near the church, it is not unlikely to be upon the site of 

 the former structure, for in former days a mansion or fortress 

 frequently had a church close at hand. 



