470 PITS AND 



the garden wall, a lean-to roof would 

 have been cheaper, and would have 

 carried off the rain-water better. It is 

 rather a novel, but still a good plan, to 

 have the inner roof constructed of a brick 

 arch, as it will of course save the outer 

 one from decay, to which all mushroorn- 

 house roofs are liable more than any other 

 kind of garden building. This house 

 struck us at first sight as very complete, 

 excepting . in breadth, which we would 

 increase to 9 feet — that is, 3 feet for the 

 breadth of the beds on each side, and the 

 same for the footpath, which at present 

 is inconveniently narrow. 



The mushroom-house of the Baron 

 Joseph D'Hoogvorst, of Limmal, near 

 Brussels, in which we have seen abundant 

 crops, is confined to very neatly fitted up 

 wooden cases arranged in his extensive 

 stables, and covered in with canvass cur- 

 tains, which at first sight induces one 

 to believe them repositories of stable- 

 furniture, rather than mushroom cases. 

 The annexed fig., 667, will give a perfect 



Fig. 667. 



idea of their form and arrangement. Some 

 peculiarity in the Barons mode of culture, 

 as will be seen by a reference to his pub- 

 lished treatise — " Methode nouvelle, facile, 

 et peu couteuse, de cultiver la Champig- 

 non," will satisfy those who would dread 



FRAMES. 



the creation of an unhealthy atmosphere 

 for their horses, that such is not the 5 

 result in his case. A French or Belgian 

 stable of the first class is, however, a 

 very different affair from most of those 

 in this country, which are, when com- 

 pared with the others, little better than 

 close-boxes. 



Forsyttis mushroom-house. — This intel- 

 ligent cultivator has described, in the 

 "Gardeners' Magazine," the following 

 structure, which, he very justly remarks, 

 has durability as one of its objects. After 

 pointing out the false economy of growing 

 mushrooms in beds in the open air, which 

 requires great labour in covering and 

 uncovering, to say nothing of the value 

 of the materials, and showing also that 

 mushroom beds made on wooden shelves 

 hasten their decay, as well as that of all 

 the wooden materials of the house, he 

 proposes a house of the following descrip- 

 tion : — Fig. 668 "represents the ground- 



Fig. 668. 



plan, which shows the size and shape of 

 the beds and alleys, the piers for the 

 arches, the boiler e, and the direction of 

 the pipes." 



Fig. 669 is a longitudinal section, 

 showing the kirbs of the beds, and the 

 form of the stalls and arches. 



Fig. 669. 



Fig. 670 is a transverse section, show- 

 ing the arches under and over the beds, 

 the thoroughfare a in the middle, and the 

 position of the hot-water pipes c. b is an 

 open shed and general workshop, the re- 

 ceptacle of everything requiring protec- 

 tion, too clumsy to be otherwise housed. 



