February 28, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
167 
- “ G. H. R.” requests the insertion of the following question : — 
“ Can any correspondent inform me the best way to get rid of slugs on 
outside Mushroom beds otherwise than picking them off by hand ? ” 
- At a recent monthly meeting of the North of Scotland 
Horticultural Association in Aberdeen, Mr. J. Sim delivered a very 
interesting lecture on the Strawberry, in the course of which he remarked 
that the varieties grown in America have peculiar characteristics not 
common to British Strawberries, and he thought many of them should 
have a fair trial in this country. With reference'to recent remaiks by 
Mr. Gladstone on fruit-growing, he (the lecturer) considered it an 
industry more fitted for owners of the soil than for tenants, as two years’ 
notice to quit would be required for any kind of fruit-growing, and five 
or six years for some descriptions. Large quantities of Strawberries are 
sent out from Aberdeen to other parts of Scotland, and to England and 
Ireland. 
- Gardening Appointment. —The following appointment has 
been made through Messrs. John Laing & Co., Forest Hill:—Mr. Ch. 
Fowell, late foreman to the Duke of Grafton, Euston Hall, as gardener 
to Ed. A. Ball, E?q., Rolls Park, Chigwell, Essex. 
- A correspondent writing respecting the Edinburgh Shows 
in 1884, observes that “ The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society are 
to be congratulated on their arrangements for 1884. As an ordinary 
prize list theirs is the best T have seen issued. The total amount of £876 
is offered in prizes. Well done, Edinburgh ! It will no doubt be the 
ardent hope of every horticulturist that this substantial inducement to 
produce fruits, flowers, and vegetables of the highest quality will meet 
with the reward it so well merits. Collectively more is given in 
Edinburgh for vegetables than is offered at the Dundee International, 
and I am very glad to see that at each of the Edinburgh Shows vegetables 
will be well represented. In fact, I cannot understand the way this 
leading International of 1884 has ignored our kitchen garden produce. 
The newly introduced prizes for honey is an excellent addition to the 
Edinburgh list, and I hope to see many other societies follow their 
example.” 
- The Paris correspondent of the Daily News remarks that 
“ eaters of Truffles, esteemed the greatest of French delicacies, are 
now terrorised by an extraordinary panic. It is familiar knowledge 
that they are often adulterated in various ways. It is hard to believe 
that lozenges of black cloth garnishing the cuticle of a turkey can be 
passed off as Truffles to any great extent, but harmless blackened bread 
crumbs, potato, and Turkish flour are often fraudulently introduced into 
the jackets of the Perigord black Potato, and are eaten with perhaps the 
remark that the Truffles of the year are wanting in perfume. Now it is 
alleged that ten general officers were taken very ill after eating Truffles 
at a Palais Royal banquet. The police have arrested a man who they 
say had a great manufactory of false Truffles at Versailles, and obtained 
the right perfume by means of an essence of a highly deleterious cha¬ 
racter. He awaits his trial, and meanwhile orders have been given to 
visit all shops and market stalls where Truffles are sold, and bring 
specimens for analysis to the municipal laboratory. 
- The Glasgow and West of Scotland Horticultural 
Society announce that their Shows for the present year will be held on 
March 26th and September 3rd, both in the City Hall, Candleriggs. 
At the first sixty-five classes are provided, the prizes amounting to 
£73 12 s. Gd. : at the other 140 classes are enumerated, and the prize 
money £185 Is. 
- The monthly general meeting of the Notts Horticultural 
and Botanical Society was held at the Mechanics’ Institute, Not¬ 
tingham, on Thursday evening, the 21st inst., when Mr. J. H. Walker of 
Hardwick House Gardens, Nottingham, read a very interesting and 
exhaustive paper on “ Mushrooms and Mushroom-growing.” There was 
a crowded attendance of gardeners and others interested in horticulture. 
Mr. Chas. E. Pearson of Chilwell Nurseries occupied the chair. There 
were upon the table some splendid flowering Orchids, sent by Mr. 
Meadows, gardener to J. C. Cox, Esq., Basford, amongst them being a 
remarkably fine plant of Odontoglossum Rossi var. majus, carrying over 
eighty fully expanded flowers, and which was awarded the Society’s 
certificate of merit. The same exhibitor had also a very highly coloured 
variety of Dendrobium “ maxillare ” (?) which was much admired. Samuel 
Thacker, Esq., the Vice-President, sent six fine forms of Dendrobium 
nobile and cut blooms of Anthurium Andreanum. Messrs. S, Sc T. Bar- 
ratt of Ratcliff-on-Trent had splendid bunches of the pretty Clematis 
indivisa lobata covered with its beautiful flowers. 
- In the paper on Mushroom-growing above noted Mr. J. H 
Walker spoke of the possibility of distinguishing edible from poisonous 
Fungi, and said there was only one way in which the test could be 
applied with absolute certainty—namely, that by bringing to bear a 
thorough knowledge of the individual species and the situations in which 
they were grown. It was upon the so-called common Mushrooms that 
he wished to speak. The growth of these in their wild stale was very 
uncertain, large quantities being found in one season where few or none 
were found in the previous year. Having stated that he had no doubt 
situation had a great deal to do with the nutrition as well as with the 
poisonous qualities of the Fungi, Mr. Walker observed, as a curious fact, 
that the common Mushroom (Agaricus campeBtris), which was so much 
eaten and esteemed in England, was prohibited from being sold in the 
public markets of Rome on account of its poisonous qualities, and he 
said he could himself testify to the fact of a fellow workman having been 
made seriously ill on two occasions through eating Mushrooms which 
were grown in close proximity to stagnant water. Having referred to 
the means of cultivation in vogue in Italy, Austria, and France, and men¬ 
tioned that it was estimated that the value of Mushrooms grown in 
Paris alone last year amounted to over £89,000, the lecturer said Mush¬ 
room-growing in England had now become so simple that it was well 
worthy the attention of those who were engaged in agriculture and in 
horticultural pursuits, as the fact could not be overlooked that the con¬ 
tinuous increase of the population would eventually demand a free 
development of the resources of the country. For this reason Mr. 
Walker expressed his opinion that the Mushroom would in the future 
occupy a most important place in the dietary of the English nation, and 
he then mentioned what in his opinion were some of the chief points 
connected with the indoor cultivation of the edible Fungus. A short 
discussion followed, and some questions were put to Mr. Walker, who 
replied to them. In the course of the discussion one speaker said he 
knew a person living in the neighbourhood of London who last year 
realised as much as £950 from Mushroom-growing, and who hoped this 
year to clear £2000 from this source. 
- With regard to the notice of the meeting of the Notts Horti¬ 
cultural Society (page 109), it may be stated that a prize of £1 was 
offered for the best report sent to the horticultural papers. This was 
awarded to our correspondent Mr. N. H. Pownall, who worthily proposes, 
with the consent of the Committee, to re-offer it as two prizes of lOa. 
each to under-gardener members of the Society for the best two papers 
upon “The Rotation of Crops in a Kitchen Garden,” to be 
illustrated by a plan, and not to exceed twenty minutes in reading. The 
subject will be very instructive and useful. 
-The International Forestry Exhibition, which will be 
opened in Edinburgh on 1st July next, is intended to include everything 
connected with, or illustrative of, the forest products of the world, and 
will be open to exhibitors from all countries. Applications for space 
must be sent in before 31st March. The Committee will endeavour to 
obtain from the various British railway companies special terms for the 
conveyance of exhibits to and from the Exhibition. Medals, money 
prizes, and diplomas for exhibits and essays will be awarded by com¬ 
petent jurors. Contributors to the Loan department are requested to 
communicate with the Secretary, who will supply special forms to be 
filled up by them. Free space will be given for workmen’s approved 
models. Specimens will be shown of the various kinds of axes used for 
felling trees, as also of the different descriptions of machines for pre¬ 
paring the timber for constructive purposes. There will also be on view 
examples of textile fabrics manufactured from bark. The literature of 
the subject will be illustrated by reports of the schools of forestry in all 
parts of the world. Closely allied to this branch of the subject is the 
preparation of working plans, showing the age of plantations and the 
stage of growth at which cutting should be resorted to. The Loan collec¬ 
tion of the Exhibition will, it is anticipated, prove one of the most 
attractive of all, including notable specimens of carving, wood-engraving, 
photographs, paintings of famous trees, and also sporting trophies from 
all parts of the world. Her Majesty has graciously consented to allow 
her name to be placed on the list of patrons, an example which has been 
followed by their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, the Dukes of 
Edinburgh, Connaught, Albany, and Cambridge. The Lords of the 
s Committee of Council on Education have been pleased very warmly to 
