June 1896.] 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES, 



59 



import canes of improved varieties, and to cultivate it exten- 

 sively. The flavour of blackberry is much appreciated in jams^ 

 jellies, and preserves, and the demand for these is steadily in- 

 creasing. 



The Mushroom Industry of Paris. 



A recently published volume of the United States Consular 

 Keports contains detailed information on the culture of mush- 

 rooms in France. The following account is given regarding the 

 cultivation and preserving of mushrooms in Paris, where the 

 industry would appeal.- to have become one of tremendous 

 proportions, involving extensive skill and labour, and employing 

 a capital of about 1,600,000Z. 



Mushrooms are cultivated in caves specially prepared for their 

 growth. They grow every day in the year, each day producing 

 a new crop or growth, though cultivators of this vegetable divide 

 them into four seasons, which they call autumn, winter, spring, 

 and summer beds. They are planted, or rather the beds are 

 prepared, about three months before they begin to bear, and 

 when once started they continuously bring forth large quantities 

 each day, regulated more or less according to the atmosphere 

 of the caves, which is governed by the dryness or dampness of 

 the weather, until the soil is entirely exhausted. 



Growers of this vegetable say that a mushroom bed bears 

 daily for about three months, and at the end of the period the 

 soil is exhausted, of its substance, and new beds, which three 

 months previously had been prepared, then begin to bear ; hence 

 it is that this vegetable is found fresh in the markets every day 

 in the year. 



One of the most interesting sights around Paris is the mush- 

 room caves, which are nothing more or ]ess than tunnels con- 

 taining, at intervals of a few feet, small beds of horse manure 

 mixed with virgin soil. The caves where mushrooms are grown 

 are especially prepared, and great care and attention is given 

 to their keeping and perfect preservation. The temperature 

 varies but little in summer or winter, and only climatic 

 influences, that is to say, a very dry or very wet season, more than 

 one of heat or cold, tends to affect the daily production of the 

 beds. The mushrooms are gathered every morning, trimmed, 

 washed, and sorted according to size and quality preparatory 

 to marketing. Those that are to be preserved are sent to the 

 factories for canning, where they are again washed in salt and 

 water, selected and separated according to quality, and then 

 slightly cooked before being placed in tins. After the tins 

 have been closed and soldered they are then boiled again in 

 order that they may be more perfectly preserved. Mush- 

 rooms are never washed in salt water unless for preserving 

 purposes. 



