COMMONPLACE NOTES. 



223 



and B. Darivinii, Aucubas, American and English Blackberries, and 

 many other plants, such as Elders &c. ; but when this undergrowth is 

 near the house or drive the sense of tidiness causes all the fallen leaves 

 to be raked up, and very often the ground dug every year, to the serious 

 detriment of the underwood plants, which thus have all their best roots 

 annually mutilated and destroyed. If the leaves must be raked up to 

 keep the place neat, then a mulch of manure, soil, or burnt garden refuse 

 should be given annually to compensate for the loss of plant food by the 

 removal of leaves ; and instead of digging it in, allow the mulch to lie 

 on the surface, where the roots will soon find it, and benefit exceedingly. 



Mushrooms in the Open Fields. 



Several Fellows have recently inquired how it is that no Mushrooms 

 grow in their fields, although apparently the land is suitable. Provided 

 the land is good and not subject to floods, there is no difficulty in having 

 plenty of Mushrooms in the open fields almost every year, though, of 

 course, some seasons are so wet and cold that few, if any, Mushrooms are 

 produced ; but, given an average season, the small expense incurred is 

 paid over and over again. Early in May procure some good fresh spawn 

 and break it up into pieces about the size of a hen's egg, inserting each 

 piece about three inches deep in pasture land and covering it over firmly 

 with soil. A very good plan that we practised most successfully was to 

 take a sharp spade and, after inserting to the proper depth, raise the turf 

 by leverage on the spade and drop the Mushroom spawn underneath, then 

 withdraw the spade and tread down firmly. By this means the turf is 

 not injured, and should dry weather follow it continues green, which 

 would not be the case if the turf were lifted bodily and replaced. The 

 distance apart between the pieces of spawn may vary from six feet to six 

 yards. In a field of five acres that we once spawned at the latter 

 distance we gathered Mushrooms in enormous quantities for over a 

 month, this particular field having never produced more than one or two 

 solitary specimens before. The following year we did not respawn the 

 field, but dressed it with 4 cwt. of agricultural salt per acre, with the 

 result that we had nearly as good a crop as in the previous year. It is 

 important that horses, cattle, or sheep should be excluded immediately 

 the Mushrooms appear, otherwise they will spoil half the crop by treading 

 it down &c. 



Mealy Bug. 



A Fellow writes in anguish : " Mealy Bug has got into our vineries. 

 Are there any publications on this subject, and is there any cure other 

 than cutting down the Vines ? And if one house is cut down and 

 replanted, will the bug from the next house get into the new canes, as we 

 cannot replant all the houses at once? " 



We do not know of any publication dealing very specially with the 

 eradication of "Mealy Bug." In " Vines and Vine Culture," by the late 

 Mr. A. F. Barron, V.M.H., it is mentioned. But it is by no means easy to 

 get rid of this pest, as it needs constant vigilance during the growing 

 season, killing all the bugs that can be seen daily by touching each 



