JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
360 
[ May 4,1882. 
indeed it is certain, that the gardener has not iinfre- 
quently had to bear the opprobrium of failure in the 
Mushroom house when the real cause of that failure 
was in the stable. This is one of those unfortunate 
cases where a man is not the keeper of his own repu¬ 
tation. Manure, therefore, must be had, wherever 
this is possible, only from those stables where the 
horses are fed chiefly or entirely on sound hard food, as 
Carrots, grass, and medicine given to the animals as 
a system mean blank Mushroom beds : and certainly 
no man should be accused of his inability to grow 
Mushrooms until he has failed to produce them by 
the use of manure of the proper kind. This being 
provided in sufficient quantity they can be grown if 
needed in the depth of winter in the middle of a field, 
but with a medium that is poisonous to them the most 
costly structure cannot avail to prevent barren beds. 
With manure of the character above recommended 
neither leaves, soil, nor any other ingredient is needed 
for mixing with it; but the condition as well as the 
nature of the material is highly important, and this 
phase of the subject demands special consideration. 
PREPARING THE MANURE. 
The foregoing remarks apply equally to manure for 
growing Mushrooms on a small scale in houses and 
for producing them in large quantities in the open air 
for market purposes. Those engaged in this latter 
work are few, far too few, in number, and they ought 
to increase in the environs of towns and in those 
country districts that are traversed by railways, and 
where stations are not far distant for receiving the 
produce for transit to those great centres of population 
where Mushrooms are ever in demand. Our remarks 
on preparing the manure will refer more particularly 
to that class of cultivators who almost exclusively must 
prepare the material in the open air. This proper 
condition of the manure is a matter of the greatest 
moment, and next to securing good spawn is the chief 
essential in the production of Mushrooms. Without 
good spawn profitable beds cannot be had, however 
suitable the manure may be; and on the other hand, 
even if the spawn is of the highest quality, unless the 
manure is of the right kind and in a proper state of 
decomposition for affording the requisite temperature 
and moisture, the mycelium cannot permeate the mass 
and the spawn will be wasted. It is not easy to deter¬ 
mine whether inferior spawn or unsuitable manure has 
been the most fertile source of failures in Mushroom¬ 
growing. It is satisfactory, however, to know that 
good spawn is plentiful, and the preparation of the 
manure not difficult. It is, in fact, much more easy to 
do the work properly than to describe it in a manner 
that will be intelligible to those who have no practical 
knowledge on the subject. But even such individuals 
possess one advantage—they have nothing to unlearn ; 
and on the same principle that a tailor is preferred to 
a jockey for conversion into a cavalry soldier, so we 
may hope there are many persons who have never seen 
a Mushroom bed made who will equal if not surpass as 
cultivators those who have had considerable experience 
in doing the work wrongly. 
A WORD TO THE INEXPERIENCED. 
For the encouragement of the uninitiated it may be 
stated that one of the most successful Mushroom 
growers in England is by trade a joiner, and did not 
relinquish his calling until he had been for some years 
a journeyman. The question now arises—If a man 
who has been trained as an artisan has by intelligent 
industry and perseverance established his fame, and it 
is hoped is making his fortune, by Mushroom-growing, 
cannot hundreds of others, even on a comparatively small 
scale, make themselves proficient in the same work ? 
Unquestionably they can if they will follow instructions 
intelligently and apply themselves with diligence 
towards acquiring competency in an occupation that 
is at once interesting and in a remarkable degree 
profitable. 
In the sketch of a Mushroom ground previously 
given the beds are covered; in the figure on page 359 
a portion of a bed is represented from which the crop 
is being gathered. It is not an ideal figure, but is 
“ taken from life.” So far from the engraving being 
exaggerated, strict accuracy compels the observation 
that on some other portions of the bed the crop was 
much heavier; indeed, the Mushrooms were crowded 
so densely as to admirably represent, in the struggle for 
development, the working of the celebrated Darwinian 
doctrine of the “ Survival of the Fittest.”— J. Weight. 
(To b« continued.) 
CENTROPOGON LUCYANUS. 
This old-fashioned occupant of our stoves proves to be one of 
the most serviceable plants I am acquainted with, whether it be 
for the enlivenment of our houses during the dull winter months 
or for cutting purposes. It is of easy culture, is not much liable 
to be infested with insect pests ; and a well-grown plant with 
stout branches, say a yard long, will during the season, which 
extends from December till late in March, push out a truss with a 
good footstalk of its curious, curved, funnel-shaped, bright red 
flowers at the axil of every leaf. Some of our plants were employed 
in the house and conservatory in December, and were thrown 
away early in March. Those kept in stove temperature for cutting 
purposes had first about 9 inches of the tips of branches cut, and 
later on the individual trusses as fast as they perfected down the 
full length, and from these plants we have just taken cuttings for 
next season’s stock. 
The whole of the plants grown for the past winter were struck 
late in April, the cuttings with and without heels striking readily 
in a moist, warm, and close frame. When struck they were gra¬ 
dually exposed to sunshine, then they were pinched back rather 
severely, and when starting afresh were placed singly into 3-inch 
pots, returned into heat, and shaded from bright sunshine. In 
most cases three shoots were secured at the first stopping, these 
being ample for our purpose ; but where this number failed to 
start we stopped them a second time. Before becoming root- 
bound they were shifted into 8-inch pots, in which size we bloom 
them. For the cuttings the soil employed consisted of sifted loam 
and leaf mould in equal quantities, silver sand being freely added, 
the well-drained pots being surfaced with the latter. When pot¬ 
ting a similar mixture is used, only less fine ; and for the final 
shift we use two parts of roughly broken turfy loam to one of leaf 
soil, with a good addition of decomposed manure, well limed, 
silver sand, and broken crocks. The latter is thought necessary 
owing to the liberal shift being given, and this season charcoal 
will be substituted as being more certain to keep the soil sweet 
and porous. The pots used are clean and well drained, moss being 
placed over the crocks. 
At no time were our plants heavily shaded, nor placed when 
growing in a lower temperature than that given to ordinary stove 
plants ; on the contrary, they were encouraged to form strong 
well-ripened growth, this being lightly supported by, but not 
bundled up to a single stake to each plant. A stake to and of the 
same length of each shoot gives the plant a stiff appearance, 
whereas if the shoots are only tied about the centre the points 
slightly curve, and this insures a greater length of flower at one 
time. Some of the shoots were furnished with blooms open at once 
to a length of 2 feet, and very effective they proved when in a 
group of other decorative plants. Water varied with liquid manure 
is freely given when the plants are well established and growing 
strongly, and also when developing bloom ; in fact at all times, 
except in the case of those disposed in a cooler conservatory tern- 
