528 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 29, 1882. 
which the plants now referred to were raised. The leaves are 
lanceolate and tapering, very dark green, with a white or light 
greenish white central band, the lateral veins being similarly 
light, and contrasting strikingly with the dark ground ; thus, 
even when out of flower the plant is attractive. The flowers 
are bright yellow, in close terminal heads, each bloom having 
at the base a recurved deeply serrated bract of similar colour 
to the flowers. These impart a very distinctive appearance to 
the head, and a large specimen well flowered would be very 
handsome. 
BEGONIA ANNIE LAING. 
Amidst the multitudinous varieties of these beautiful summer¬ 
flowering greenhouse plants it may seem almost invidious to 
select one of special merit. Yet one may be named, even at 
the risk of provoking a retort that there are twenty others 
equally good. Among all that are excellent, is there a rose- 
coloured variety to surpass Annie Laing ? Is there one that 
produces larger, better formed, more wax-like flowers in greater 
profusion than this does ? Is there one of the colour—clear 
rose—possessing the above qualities, and at the same time a 
better grower of more agreeable habit than this ? If so it will 
be well to know what it is, so that all growers of these plants 
can include it in their collections. As a plant for the decora¬ 
tion of the conservator the above-named Begonia must rank 
as one of the best, and a large specimen well cultivated and 
clothed with its large and lovely blooms cannot be passed 
without admiration, even if it is surrounded by other superior 
varieties of the same type of the great and valuable genus of 
plants to which it belongs. 
ROSE WHITE BARONESS. 
Last week “ D., Deal,” directed attention to a “perfectly 
double" flower of Mabel Morrison that had been sent to him. 
Had he been at the evening fete of the Royal Botanic Society 
last Thursday he would have seen many plants bearing dozens 
of splendid blooms that he might have regarded as double Mabel 
Morrisons, exhibited by Mr. George Paul. On each side of 
the White Baroness were groups of Madame Lacharrne, but 
the blooms of the latter were neither so large, double, nor clear 
as those of the former. The Rose under notice originated at 
Cheshunt as a sport from Baronne de Rothschild, but its merits 
did not at the first appear to be fully appreciated, and plants 
were sold at a moderate price. As seen at Regent’s Park the 
blooms were very fine—far more double than those of the pro¬ 
totype are usually seen, and although not pure white they were 
less tinted than those of several plants of Madame Lacharrne 
referred to. This fine group of large symmetrical double light 
Roses attracted much attention, and the “ White Baroness " will 
henceforth be in greater demand than ever. 
YIOLET SWANLEY WHITE. 
Humbler flowers must not be omitted. Violets are favourites 
with all, and numerous as the single varieties are, a really 
good double white form was until recentl}' a desideratum. 
Now, however, thanks to Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons of Swan- 
ley, we have in the Swanley White a variety which, when 
produced in good condition, is undoubtedly beautiful. The 
flowers are extremely full ; we have seen them from 1 inch to 
1^ inch in diameter, and sometimes one flower contains as 
many as forty petals closely but symmetrically arranged. To 
add to its recommendations the fragrance is very sweet and 
powerful. It must be added that all the flowers are not alike 
large and full, and it is only by good soil and culture that 
blooms of the nature indicated can be produced ; yet Swanley 
White is a Violet of promise. 
MUSHROOMS FOR THE MILLION. 
( Continued from page 464.) 
MUSHROOM SPAWN. 
Where Mushrooms are largely grown, on outdoor 
beds especially, numbers of the larger specimens that 
have been left by accident or design to become old, and 
the laminae or gills have turned almost black, the top 
of the Mushrooms, the pileus, will assume a warm 
brown rusted appearance. This is produced by multi 
tudinous spores, which are eventually shed on the soil- 
But these spores or seeds never produce Mushrooms 
directly. They germinate under suitable conditions 
and produce white cobweb-like filaments, which spread 
through masses of manure of the proper kind, com¬ 
pletely permeating it, and render it mouldy or cottony 
in appearance by their numerous interlacings. This 
is the mycelium or spawn, which in a medium con¬ 
genial to its growth spreads rapidly, and thickens, 
eventually producing tubercles which develope into 
Mushrooms. This briefly is the manner in which 
Tig. 105. 
Mushrooms are propagated. In the late Mr. Smee’s 
beautiful work, “ My Garden,” published by Bell and 
Sons, Mr. Worthington G. Smith, the eminent fun- 
gologist, has represented for the first time the spores 
in the act of germinating (fig. 104), and he has also 
shown what gardeners term a “lump of spawn,” (fig. 
105), or the mycelium as it is preserved and used in 
the culture of Mushrooms. 
THE DISPERSION AND GERMINATION OF SPORES. 
In the dispersion of the spores of Mushrooms a 
curious fact may be noticed, and which presumably 
has not been previously recorded. It is this : When 
a number of Mushrooms are allowed to mature on 
the side of a steep ridge, no matter how acute its 
angle may be, even if the side of the bed is almost 
perpendicular, all the spores will be distributed on the 
soil above the Mushrooms, never below them, as we 
might naturally expect would be the case. After a 
careful examination of hundreds of Mushrooms not 
one instance has been found where the spores fell on 
the ridge below, but they are always cast off in an 
upward direction, and frequently in such numbers as 
to form a snuff-like semicircle on the soil above them. 
Mr. Barter, with his greater opportunities for observa¬ 
tion, states that after closely examining thousands of 
specimens he has never found an exception to the some¬ 
what singular rule mentioned. But the spores do not 
germinate there, as the conditions are not favourable. 
They germinate in manure which is of a suitable 
character as regards its constituents, temperature, and 
moisture, as is the case in some cattle sheds. Many 
carefully conducted experiments have been made by 
scientific men to induce the germination of the spores 
by artificial means, but it is not known that any authen¬ 
ticated instances of success have been recorded. 
MAKING “MUSHROOM BRICKS.” 
It were easy to describe the manufacture of Mush¬ 
room spawn in this form, for the hand that pens these 
lines has assisted to make numbers of bricks, but it 
would not be easy to make the process intelligible to 
those who have no practical knowledge on the subject, 
and “ object lessons ” are requisite for the matter to be 
satisfactorily comprehended. Nor is the knowledge 
necessary for the great mass of Mushroom growers. 
