Chap. XXX.] MUSHROOM-CULTURE IN CAVES UNDER PARIS. 519 



cause, the remedy is the same, that is to say, to thoroughly break 

 up and remove the surface upon which the beds are built. Another 

 disease which sometimes attacks the spawn is known to the Paris 

 growers under the name of verdigris. It makes its appearance 

 in the form of very small greenish granules of the colour of 

 verdigris, and having a peculiar smell resembling chloride of lime. 

 The same remedy is used as in the case of the " moUe." It is 

 supposed to be the result of the decomposition of foreign sub- 

 stances which have become accidentally mixed with the spawn. 

 Mushrooms grown from spawn attacked by verdigris are poor and 

 sickly, and probably possess poisonous properties. The smallest 

 particle of iron in the beds of manure is avoided by the spawn, a 

 circle around remaining inert. 



The gatherings are made in the quarries at a very early hour. 

 At one o'clock in the morning the Mushrooms are gathered which 

 at a later hour are sold in the open market. The Mushroom- 

 gatherers are "each provided with two large baskets, which they 

 carry on their backs knapsack fashion — one to receive the Mush- 

 rooms, the other containing the soil with which to fill up the gaps 

 left in the beds after the gathering. The proper way of gathering 

 a Mushroom is to seize it in one hand by the cap, at the same 

 time giving it a slight twist and pulling it gently upwards, so as 

 to detach it from its roots without disturbing the little Mush- 

 rooms that are growing round its base. The gathered Mushroom 

 is dropped into the empty basket, and the hole which it has left 

 behind it is filled up with a pinch or two of soil from the other. 

 In some quarries the gatherers pick the Mushrooms and leave 

 them in little piles on the pathways, or on the beds themselves. 

 They are followed by women, who pack them into baskets, and by 

 men who fill up the gaps left in the beds. The beds are then 

 smoothed down with the hand, and if they appear to be too dry 

 they are watered. The baskets should be covered over with a 

 cloth to avoid all contact with the air, which is apt to turn the 

 Mushrooms brown. The contents of the smaller baskets are then 

 packed into larger ones holding from 23 lbs. to 35 lbs and 

 sent to market. Mushrooms of good quality are sold wholesale 

 at 8d to lOd per pound according to the season. The 

 gatherings are continued daily, but do not yield the same quantities 

 lorlv The time that beds will continue to bear depends 

 reguiariy. 2 m 2 



