476 



MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



the gatherer leaves a small hole from which he has pulled 

 even a solitary Mushroom^ he fills it with some of the white 

 earth from the base^ no doubt intending to gather other 

 Mushrooms from the same spots before many weeks are over. 

 The Mushrooms look very white^, and are apparently of 

 prime quality. The absence of all littery coverings and 

 dust^ and the daily gatherings^ secure them in what we may 

 term perfect condition. I visited this cave on the 6th of 

 July^ 1868^ and doubt very much if at that season a more 

 remarkable crop of Mushrooms could be anywhere found 

 than was j^resented in this subterranean chamber — a mere 

 speck in the space devoted to Mushroom culture by one 

 individual. 



When I state that there are six or seven miles run of 

 Mushroom beds in the ramifications of this cave^ and that 

 their owner is but one of a large class who devote themselves 

 to Mushroom culture^ the reader will have some oppor- 

 tunity of judging of the extent to which it is carried on 

 about Paris. These caves not only supply the wants of the 

 city above them^ but those of England and other countries 

 also, large quantities of preserved Mushrooms being ex- 

 ported,, one house alone sending to our own country no less 

 than 14^000 boxes annually. There were some traces of 

 the teeth of rats on the produce^, and it need not be said 

 that these enemies are not agreeable in such a place ; but 

 they did not seem to have committed any serious ravages^ 

 and are probably only casual visitors^ who take the first 

 opportunity of obtaining more varied food than is aff'orded 

 them by these caves. To traverse the passages any further 

 is needless — there is nothing to be seen but a repetition of 

 the culture above described^ every available inch of the cave 

 being occupied. "We again find our way to the bottom of 

 the shafts carefully mount the rather shaky pole one by 

 one^ and again stand in the hot sun in the midst of the 

 ripe Wheat. In traversing the fields^ two things relating 

 to Mushroom culture are to be observed — ^heaps of white 

 gritty earth, sifted from the debris of the white stone^ and 

 large heaps of stable manure accumulated for Mushroom 

 growing, and undergoing preparation for it. That prepara- 



