102 PICTOEIAL PRACTICAL VEGETABLE GROWING. 



enongli to bind wlien it is beaten down. Then cover the whole bed 

 with straw or litter to keep in the heat. If Mushrooms do not 

 appear in six to eight weeks, mix nitrate of soda in warm water at 

 the rate of 1 oz. per gallon, and give the bed a good soaking. 



It is easy to fail with Mushrooms by beoinning at the wrong time. 

 Those who live in the country know that Mushrooms rarely come in 

 any quantity during the dog days. It is too dry. The Mushroom 

 harvest comes when the sun-baked ground is moistened by the rains 

 of September. Observing this, the gardener learns that he would 

 act unwisely if he made up his beds at such a time — April or May — 

 that the Mushrooms would have to make their effort to come into 

 being at midsummer. He therefore makes a start in summer for an 

 early autumn crop, or in winter for a spring one. The fact that 

 some very skilful and experienced growers seem able to get a crop at 

 all seasons of the year must not be allowed to carry too much weight. 



The man who is lucky enough to possess a proper Mushroom 

 house, or some cool, dark building that may be pressed into service, 

 can manage with far less manure than his less fortunate brother. A 

 depth of a foot is usually enough, and with a steady air temperature 

 of about 55^^, with humidity, darkness and cleanliness, Mushrooms 

 will speedily come, if the other points of culture indicated are 

 attended to. 



CDapter 20 — Onions, 



I HAVE heard it remarked that the best Onion grower is the man 

 who is the proud possessor of the largest feet, which is a delicate 

 way of hinting that the secret of successful Onion culture is firm 

 soil. There is a great deal in it, to be sure, but it does not mean 

 everything in these days of high culture, and however richly endowed 

 a person may be in the way of pedal extremities, he finds a few other 

 things demanding attention. 



The Onion, Allium cepa, is an old vegetable, and doubtless the 

 gardeners of past days considered that there was nothing left to 

 learn about it. They would be surprised, perhaps, if they could 

 revisit these glimpses of the moon and see bulbs of 3 lb. weight 

 produced the same year as sown. 



There are several important items in the production of large 

 Onions, which I will tabulate : — 



(1) Choice of variety. I put this first because it is the most vital 

 point. However thorough the culture may be, it is impossible to 

 ]»roduce large bulbs if naturally small sorts like James's Keeping and 

 Bedfordshire Champion are selected. I consider Ailsa Craig to be 



