LIGHT FROM THE SOCIETIES. 



44 



be taken to pick out all foreign stuff, such as pieces of 

 wire, tin cans, old boots and cloth, as the spawn or 

 mycelium does not seem to take kindly to such things. 

 After the manure has been conically piled, it will heat 

 rapidly ; turn the pile at least every two days, so as to 

 secure even heating. If it is quite moist shelter the pile 

 from heavy rains ; water if too dry. The manure is too 

 wet if water can be squeezed from it, and it is too dry if 

 it will not pack well. The pile should be turned at least 

 twice before packing into mushroom-bed'--, S ime loose 

 soil may be added to the pile at the 

 last turning, not to exceed one-fifth of 

 its bulk, and a tenth will be sufficient 

 to absorb nearly all the unpleasant 

 odor that might become obnoxiou 

 in a close room, or spread through 

 the building if the beds were made 

 in a cellar. Make the beds 8 to 12 

 inches deep, and of a suitable width , 

 pack them firmly with the back of a 

 shovel as you proceed. Put a ther- 

 mometer in the beds as soon as they 

 are finished, placing the 

 bulb down three or four 

 inches from the surface. 

 Within three or four 

 days the temperature 

 should go up to 100^, 

 or 120'^ if the manure is 

 in prime condition. If 

 the heat should reach 

 over 130' the bed will 

 have to be turned over 

 to cool it ; if it does not 

 heat 10° or 15° above 

 outside temperature, 

 liquid manure must be added. 

 When the thermometer has gone 

 down to 75° or So° the bed is 

 ready for spawning. Spawn can 

 be purchased of nearly all the seedsmen 

 Usually two kinds are advertised, the pound 

 cakes or English, and the loose flakes or 

 French. The former is pressed into cakes an 

 dried, the latter are simply dried when the 

 mycelium has grown through the manure and 

 before the mushrooms begin to form. Break 

 the cakes into pieces about 1)2 inches square, 

 make a hole in the bed about 3 inches deep and 

 10 to 15 inches apart ; place the spawn in these 

 and pack the manure firmly over it with your hand. 

 If the thrermometer stands as low as 65° or 70°, 

 cover the bed at once with about two inches of fine 

 loamy soil ; if the temperature is 80° or 85°, do not 

 co\ er for 8 or 10 days, as the heat is nearly always in- 

 creased by covering, and there may be danger of killing 

 the spawn. Eight or twelve weeks after spawning, you 

 may look for mushrooms. If the bed gets too dry, it 

 may be watered lightly with a fine spray ; warm water at 



Sprig of Prunus 

 Davidiana. 



Reduced one-half. 



a temperature not to exceed 85° or go^ is preferred. — 

 ]V. S. Turner, Colutnbus (0/iio) Ilort. Society. 



David's Almond. — Among the most striking plants ex- 

 hibited in the early spring months before the Royal 

 Horticultural Society was Prunus amyffdalus David- 

 iana, both in its pink and in its white form. The latter 

 is here illustrated. An illustration of the shrub and a 

 brief notice of it were also given in the May issue of this 

 magazine, page 312. "The plant," says Gardener's 

 Chronicle, "was first described by M. Carriere so long 

 ago as 1872. Its great value for gar- 

 den purposes consists in the early 

 date at which it flowers. Those who 

 saw the specimens can warmly testify 

 to its beauty, and the Abbe David, 

 who introduced it into Europe, 

 speaks of it as lighting up the country 

 in the neighborhood of Pekin in the 

 spring. As a fruit-tree it is of no 

 importance, unless, as 

 there is good reason to 

 suppose, this may be 

 the prototype of our 

 cultivated peaches." 



The Garden in His- 

 tory.— It is not claimed 

 that Adam and Eve 

 were m e m b e r s of a 

 regular horticultural so- 

 ciety, with efficient of- 

 ficers and a full treasury — but they 

 were gardeners, nevertheless, and 

 had a beautiful site for their gar- 

 den. We know, too, that animal life 

 was there to add to the beauty of Eden 

 — so that the introduction of squirrels, 

 rabbits, peacocks, robins and doves, 

 into modern gardens, is not a new thought. 

 It is as old as that first garden. The garden 

 mits, too, of architecture and statuary, and 

 calls for the highest type of landscape. Fountains 

 and lakes, and waterfalls, and lawns, all have an 

 appropriate place in the garden. In the book of 

 Ecclesiastes we find Solomon's account of his 

 gardens. He says: "I made me great works, I 

 builded me houses ; I planted me vineyards. I 

 made me gardens and orchards, and planted trees 

 in them of all kinds of fruits. I made me pools 

 of water to water therewith the wood that bringeth 

 forth trees." That there were gardens of beauty 

 and plenty in the age succeeding Solomon's we may 

 be sure from poetic descriptions of them, given by 

 Homer, Virgil and other old writers. 



In modern times the garden has had a somewhat 

 gradual development. The Berlin botanical garden was 

 once the hop-garden for the Electoral brewery. Fredrick 

 William changed it to a fruit and vegetable-garden in 

 1679. What a happy thing for our country, if many 

 more such transformations could be made on this side ot 



