318 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [April 20, i 882 . 
slightest reservation on any point that may contribute 
to success, yet a little experience is requisite for the 
whole matter to be appreciated. A few “ object 
lessons ” are essential, and fortunately these may with 
slight risk and outlay be easily provided by at least 
a hundred thousand people in this country who have 
at their command every necessary for that purpose. 
In Mushroom-growing a safe principle to be acted 
upon is for many to commence on a small scale at first, 
rather than a few to attempt the work on a large scale ; 
then if the first effort should not be successful little 
will have been lost, while valuable experience will have 
been gained. Instead of one man who is inexperienced 
in the work purchasing manure largely and incurring 
much expense in labour by making half a mile of beds, 
let the thousands of those who have manure make beds 
from 5 to 10 yards in length as an experiment. The 
little labour requisite for this will not be missed ; and 
even should the beds prove barren, and there is no 
reason that they should, the material can still be used 
for enriching the laud. This is the system that the 
above-mentioned successful cultivator adopted, and 
that has also been pursued by market gardeners in the 
neighbourhood of London, with whom Mushrooms form 
one of the most remunerative crops. There is every en¬ 
couragement for a great number of persons to attempt 
th#ir culture on a small scale, with a determination to 
become competent, and what may be termed self-made 
Mushroom growers. There are “self-taught” indi¬ 
viduals in every craft and calling, and not a few of 
these have become masters in their vocation, but their 
competency was not attained without effort and with¬ 
out reverses. He who faints at failures is not likely 
to rise above mediocrity, if he reaches it. It has been 
said of Carey the cobbler missionary, by whose unceas¬ 
ing labour the Bible was translated into sixteen 
languages, that after being, when a boy, confined to 
his bed for many weeks in consequence of a fall from 
a tree he had determined to climb, the first thing he 
did on recovering his strength was to “go and climb that 
tree.” It is this spirit that should animate all who 
are engaged in any worthy occupation, and it is certain 
if they enjoy the blessing of health that they will 
sooner or later succeed in their object. 
(To b« eontinu«d.) 
The Journal has recently contained excellent directions for 
producing Mushrooms and also showed their value as an article of 
food. Allow me to supplement your notes by stating the best, 
the most nutritious, and the most digestible way of using Mush¬ 
rooms. We all like them, but alas ! how many cannot eat them 
fried or stewed without having to pay the sad piper, “ indigestion.” 
By the following mode of cooking them the most dyspeptic of your 
readers can enjoy Mushrooms without any fear of indigestion. 
Every cook knows how to make a beefsteak pudding ; let her pre¬ 
pare her basin and pastry, but instead of putting in beef or any 
other meat, stuff the pie dish lined with paste full of Mushrooms 
cut in slices ; season with pepper, and salt, add butter, boil the 
pudding two to three hours, and eat it by itself or with meat, and 
be thankful.—G. 0. S. 
PRIMROSES AT TYNNINGHAME. 
My love for Primroses commenced in boyhood’s days, for they 
were the first flowers I cultivated. The sight of one bloom brings 
back to me all the springtimes of a quarter of a century, and 
recalls scenes that can never again return. Different shaped, 
different coloured flowers call up before me different places and 
circumstances otherwise forgotten. 
A few days ago fortune so favoured me as to enable me to visit 
Tynninghame in East Lothian, and while I saw and experienced 
much that will not readily fade from my memory, one thing stands 
out more clearly than the rest, and that is the sheets of many- 
coloured Primroses that covered acre after acre of the grounds 
round the mansion. Such sights have visited me in my dreams ; 
I have read of them, and wanderers in Surrey lanes have described 
them to me, but I never saw them till I went to Tynninghame last 
week. Curiously enough, although the place is completely over¬ 
run with them, Mr. Brotherston finds much difficulty in cultivating 
them—that is, the finer kinds, in the garden. Here, where few 
Primroses grow wild, I find very little trouble in growing them 
luxuriantly, and that in a thin hungry soil. 
The herbaceous borders at Tynninghame are just now worth a 
visit, and are one of the great attractions of the garden. Mr. 
Brotherston has so often written so well on the cultivation of these 
plants that I need not describe them here. I only wish detractors 
of herbaceous plants could stand at the conservatory door and 
look down the long vista as I did. In autumn their appearance 
will be still finer. 
I may mention one sight more. It is a melancholy one. It is 
the wreck wrought by the storm of October last. Great giants 
had fallen as if they were pigmies after standing unharmed the 
storms of centuries. Thousands such were to be seen everywhere, 
still Tynninghame is not left bare as is the impression generally. 
Indeed had the storm instead of clearing huge avenues made a 
judicious thinning the thousands would have never been missed. 
Events it is Tynninghame is yet grandly furnished with fine old 
trees.—S. D 
APPLES. 
Locality has a great influence upon the successful cultivation 
of the Apple ; tastes also vary considerably, and to these circum¬ 
stances is probably due the partiality shown by some writers for 
particular varieties. I should perhaps be able to endorse all that 
“ Wiltshire Rector ” advances had I his climate and soil, and 
we northmen think that the sunny south has advantages that we 
are deprived of. In our locality it will be some time before Lord 
Suffield will oust the old favourite Keswick Codlin. With me 
Lord Suffield cankers badly. Last year the fruit after being 
gathered turned black and was useless, otherwise they were all 
that could be desired. The Codlin is free from canker, but our 
soil being heavy may perhaps account in part for the former’s 
failure. Stirling Castle is not with us what “ Wiltshire Rector ” 
says it is with him ; we can only use it for culinary purposes. 
Blenheim Pippin as a standard in the orchard, unattended until it 
had attained a large size, and then occasionally shortening the 
branches, proves to be one of the best we have—an Apple for all 
purposes. Warner’s King grows like a Willow and cankers as 
fast as it grows, and is therefore condemned. Cellini is also going 
the same way. Whatever may be said of the New or Winter 
Hawthornden, I shall not part with the old friend for the sake of 
the new. I find them both of service side by side ; there is not 
much to choose. Normanton Wonder, Wellington, or Dumelow’s 
Seedling is one of the very best Apples in our locality, to us 
indispensable ; but what of Tom Putt, and from where has it 
sprung? Dutch Mignonne (Copmanthorpe Crab, local), with us 
one of the very best of Apples in every respect. Hollandburv, 
left to itself as an orchard tree, is of the greatest service, and we 
prize it highly. Emperor Alexander produces most beautiful fruit. 
Yorkshire Greening and Cluster Golden Pippin serve us well, but 
the latter is subject to canker. It is very useful for sauce. As 
an orchard tree most seasons it produces a good supply. Norfolk 
Beefing is perhaps the best of all for keeping ; with this variety 
we have little difficulty in having Apples all the year round. 
I have not yet decided to give the first place of Ribston Pippin 
to Cox’s Orange Pippin. To find Ribstons in perfection we 
must go to Herefordshire, they are there all that can be desired ; 
but to have them passable in our northern climate they must be 
grown against a wall. Cox’s Orange Pippin deserves all the 
praise it has received. It does well as a pyramid. I should have 
been glad to have tasted the Cornish Gilliflower with the Rector. 
I have been longing for that pleasure for some years, but here we 
can only get the bloom. The late Mr. Rivers said it is the finest 
flavoured Apple in cultivation, perhaps it was at Sawbridgeworth. 
I appreciate the notice of the Gravenstein ; it has been a favourite 
with me for fifty years, and I wonder it is so little grown. The 
Summer Golden Pippin from a wall is all that can be desired, but 
the Irish Peach from a wall must have the palm among the earliest, 
and is not so well known as it deserves to be. I find Lewis’s In¬ 
comparable in our locality a grand autumn Apple. Sam Young as 
a keeping Apple for winter dessert is of first-rate quality, and is 
appreciated. Why is it so seldom grown ? I cannot remove such 
old favourites as the Margil, the Old Nonpareil, Golden Harvey, 
and others that have occupied a first place in my memory for the 
