52 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 311. 



fruit-growers were threatening to grub up their vines and 

 cut down their orchards, but to-day we are growing more 

 fruit, handsomer fruit and better fruit than any other coun- 

 try in the world. 



Horticulture at the Midwinter Fair at San Francisco. 



WHEN the California Midwinter Fair was first sug- 

 gested the horticulturists of the state recognized the 

 fact that a very dry winter would prevent a good display, 

 and a very cold, wet winter would discourage visitors. 

 Fortunately, the season, so far, has been favorable, though 

 a little late, and it is now probable that all who come to 

 California this spring to study the horticultural possibil- 

 ities of the state will be able to see things about as they 

 average. 



1 am writing these notes at a western window of a farm- 

 house. It has been raining for two days. The total rain- 

 fall for the season is thirteen inches, and we confidently 

 look for three or four inches more by the first of May. The 

 last seven weeks have brought the district about three- 

 fourths of the probable annual rainfall, and most of this 

 has fallen at night. It is warm, growing weather, and our 

 coldest nights are past. I look out on green grass, tall 

 enough for the cattle to eat, on Daffodils in bloom (the 

 paper-white Narcissi are mostly gone), on Camellias, and 

 the large flowers of Magnolia Soulangea. I do not see 

 many roses just now, for the wet weather has spoiled such 

 as opened, but the bushes are full of small buds. Ripe 

 Japanese persimmons are hanging on the trees in one 

 direction, while in another are rows of heavily laden Orange 

 and Lemon trees. This is California, January 2 2d, some 

 thirty miles from San Francisco. 



Now, if I were to advise those who expect to come to 

 California to see the Midwinter Fair from a horticultural 

 standpoint, I should certainly say that the citrus displays 

 will be at their finest early in February. The northern and 

 central counties of the state have already opened their 

 exhibits, and the southern counties will be in line by the 

 time this is printed. These displays include much more 

 than the citrus fruits ; one will see a large range of other 

 fruits and vegetables from the extremes of the state and 

 the five hundred miles between. Nevertheless, no one 

 thinks of much besides the brilliant array of oranges, 

 lemons, shaddocks, pomelos and other citrus fruits, in more 

 than a hundred distinct varieties, and many species, Im- 

 porters from Japan have not only the seedless Satsuma, or 

 Unshin Orange-bearing trees in pots, but also the Kino- 

 Kuni, a seedless hybrid from China, the Kunembo, and the 

 round and oval Kinkan, or "Gooseberry Orange." The oval- 

 fruited has long been popular in California gardens, with 

 its spicy fruit the size of a Primordian plum ; the round- 

 fruited is more rare and higher priced. Citrus trifoliata is 

 now so cheaply and easily grown, as a stock for these 

 interesting small oranges, of which an ornamental hedge 

 can be made, that I am not surprised to note an increasing 

 interest in all the Asiatic citrus fruits. 



As the citrus display begins to languish, the Midwinter 



Fair will have a department of California wild flowers, 



admirably arranged and conducted, representing every 



part of the state, and thus, to some extent, varied seasons 



at different altitudes and with diverse exposures. The late 



slopes of Sierra canons will make June days seem like 



April in the valleys. Not before the last of March, or even 



the middle of April, will the real wealth of the cultivated 



gardens of the region about San Francisco Bay reveal itself. 



So much depends upon the season, that I shall not attempt 



to fix the height of the Rose season further than to advise 



visitors to remember the closing days of April and the first 



days of May. It all depends on the district. Roses at San 



Jos6 are a fortnight earlier than at Oakland and Berkeley. 



The gardens within fifty miles of San Francisco can easily 



make the Fair notable for its Roses, day after day, for six 



c r seven weeks. 

 Niies. Calif. Charles H. Slunn. 



w 



Notes for Mushroom-eaters. — III. 



GILL-BEARING FUNGI. 



E may now pass to the consideration of some of our 

 principal edible and poisonous forms. The gill-bear- 

 ing fungi, Agaricineae, are divided by botanists into different 

 groups, characterized by the color of the spores, namely : 

 the white, the pink or salmon colored, the brown and the 

 purple or black-spored groups. The Mushroom of commerce 

 (Fig. 7), far more frequently eaten than any other species, 

 naturally deserves notice in the first place. This species, 



Fig. 7. — Agaricus campestris (the true Mushroom) — life-size. 



Agaricus campestris, sometimes called Pratella campestris, 

 belongs to the group with purple spores. It is often com- 

 mon in grassy places, as lawns and pastures, especially 

 near the sea-shore, but seldom grows in the woods. It even 

 grows in cities, and in Boston it appears in midsummer in 

 the Public Garden and other squares. It may be recog- 

 nized by the following marks : its color is white, usually 

 with a shade of brown. The pileus is smooth, or, at the 

 most, with insignificant scales. The stipe is solid, and near 

 the upper part is a small ring, easily seen when fresh, but 

 soon shriveling up. The gills, which should always be ex- 

 amined without fail, are, when very young, white, but they 

 change at once to pinkish, and, when mature, to brownish- 

 purple. The spores are purple, with a shade of brown, 

 The general shape of the pileus is flat-convex. 



Since cases of poisoning most frequently occur in con- 

 sequence of mistaking some other species for Agaricus 

 campestris, it is well to bear clearly in mind the principal 

 marks which distinguish the species, namely : the change 

 of color of the gills from pinkish to purple-brown, the pur- 

 ple spores, the solid stipe with a fixed ring near the top. 

 The most nearly related species is the Horse-mushroom, 

 Agaricus arvensis, which differs from the former in being 

 larger and usually more shining white, having gills which 

 retain the original white color for a longer time, and then 

 passing into a brownish-purple without the pink stage, 

 and in having the stipe somewhat hollow when old. The 

 most important botanical distinction is in the fact that in 

 the Horse-mushroom the ring is not a single, but a double 

 membrane, the outer being shorter and star-shaped and 

 adhering closely to the inner. When in good condition the 

 double ring is easily seen, but it often happens that the 

 two membranes are not easily made out. There is no 

 practical danger, however, since the Horse-mushroom is 



