252 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



renders it difficult to keep the bed sufficiently 

 moist for their growth. Sometimes I suffer the 

 bed to remain, in order to produce a crop in the 

 second autumn, but more generally take the 

 bed to pieces for the sake of the dung, and also 

 for the purpose of procuring and drying the 

 spawn against the return of spring." Abundant 

 crops of fine mushrooms are often produced by 

 forming a small trench in the open garden, and 

 filling it with the remains of an exhausted 

 mushroom-bed, which is covered to the depth 

 of 2 inches with soil ; and on these are planted 

 broccoli, cauliflower, &c. The spawn often runs 

 freely during the months of June, July, and 

 August ; and, being sheltered from too much 

 rain by the leaves of the plants, mushrooms are 

 produced throughout the autumn in vast quan- 

 tities and with little trouble. 



The cultivation of the mushroom in stables 

 has long been practised by the Baron Joseph 

 d'Hoogvorst, of Limnal, near Brussels, for 

 whose arrangements see fig. 667, vol. i. The 

 beds are prepared much in the usual way of 

 the droppings of high-fed horses, and beaten 

 down in the boxes. One peculiarity, however, 

 in the Baron's practice, and on which he places 

 great importance, is the introduction of a small 

 proportion of sal-ammoniac into his beds, a prac- 

 tice we have nowhere else seen adopted. The 

 leading principles in successful mushroom cul- 

 ture may be comprised under the following 

 heads: Procure proper material, such as high- 

 fed horse droppings ; keep them moderately 

 dry ; never allow them to come to a high state 

 of fermentation ; keep the beds in an atmo- 

 spheric temperature of from 55° to 65°, and 

 while the spawn is running, the temperature in 

 the bed should not exceed those limits above 

 from 5° to 7°; plant the spawn when the beds 

 are at a temperature of from 65° to 75°; keep 

 them dry while the spawn is running; cover, 

 when it has sufficiently run, to the depth of 

 3 inches, with sound loamy soil, beat hard down ; 

 water, when the crop is wished to appear, and 

 as may be necessary afterwards, with water at a 

 temperature a few degrees above that of the air 

 in the house ; admit abundance of light ; mode- 

 rate ventilation ; never cover the beds with hay, 

 straw, or litter ; make up the beds in March, 

 June, July, August, and September ; 'apply water 

 as nearly in the form of dew as possible ; heavy 

 waterings are injurious. 



No doubt many of the edible fungi might be 

 as successfully grown as the common mush- 

 room, if sufficient attention were paid to their 

 habits. 



The insects most injurious to the mushroom 

 are slugs, snails, and wood-lice. The presence 

 of the two former pretty clearly indicates that 

 the surface of the bed is rather too damp. 

 They must be captured at night, by examining 

 the beds with a candle. The latter is easily en- 

 trapped, as it seeks shelter during the day under 

 pieces of slate, or any other similar thing laid on 

 the floors or bed. 



The European names for the mushroom are — 

 Champignon comestible in French; Hamper- 

 noclje in Dutch ; Essbare blatterschamme in 

 German; Pratajuolo in Italian; Seta in Spanish. 



§ 2. — THE MOREL. 



Fig. 97. 



The Morel {Morchella e«CMfewtaPers.),fig.97, be- 

 longs to the same natural order, class, and order 

 in the Linnsean arrange- 

 ment, as the last ; it is a 

 native of Britain, found in 

 wet banks and woods, and 

 in moist pastures ; it is 

 pretty abundant some sea- 

 sons in Dalkeith Park, ap- 

 pearing in April, May, and 

 June. In some parts of 

 Dumfriesshire, as about 

 Langholm, it is also abun- 

 dant, but by no means a 

 common fungus. It is used 

 for the same purposes as 

 the truffle, and if gathered 

 when dry, may be kept for 

 several months. Its cultiva- 

 tion has not, so far as we are 

 aware of, been attempted; of 

 its capability of submitting 

 to culture we think there can 

 be little doubt. If the spawn were collected from 

 its natural habitats in June, and planted in beds 

 differently formed, but approximating as nearly 

 as possible to its natural conditions, a proper 

 mode of cultivation would assuredly be in time 

 arrived at. Lightfoot, the author of the first 

 " Flora Scottica," says he reared the morchella 

 from. seed. The great value of the morel, which 

 is one of the most expensive luxuries furnished 

 by our Italian warehouses, and which is by no 

 means met with in the same abundance as some 

 others of the fungi, deserves to be better known 

 than it is at present. The genus Morchella 

 comprises very few species, and they are all good 

 to eat : of these, according to Dr Badham, M. 

 esculenta and M. semilibera only are indigenous 

 to Britain. The " Hortus Britannicus," however, 

 enumerates three species, viz. M. esculenta , pa- 

 tula, and hybrida ; as well as two varieties of the 

 former, rotunda and vulgaris. Dr Badham re- 

 marks, " It is less generally known that this 

 fungus, though by no means so common with 

 us as some- others (a circumstance partly attri- 

 butable to the prevailing ignorance as to when 

 and where to look for it, or even of its being 

 indigenous to Britain) ; occurs not unfrequently 

 in orchards and woods towards the beginning 

 of summer ;" and Persoon remarks that it pre- 

 fers a chalky or argillaceous soil to one of a 

 sandy nature ; and adds that it not unfrequently 

 springs up where charcoal has been burnt, or 

 where cinders have been thrown. It is singular 

 that, while the morel is held in such high 

 estimation in Britain, it is little cared for in 

 the Roman markets ; and, as an anomalous 

 case, we may mention, on the authority of Bad- 

 ham, that the common mushroom, Agaricus 

 campestris, considered by most people in Britain 

 as the only wholesome fungus, is " almost the 

 only one condemned to be thrown into the 

 Tiber by the inspector of the fungus market : 

 indeed, in such dread is this held in the Papal 

 States, that no one knowingly would touch 

 it." 



