September 27, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
277 
pound to three gallons of water. If the bed is nearly exhausted a little 
stable drainage added to the water in the proportion of about a pint to the 
gallon will materially benefit the bed. 
The system of gathering the crop adopted by the London market growers 
differs somewhat from that where a gardener is expected to send in a daily 
supply for his employer’s table. The London grower uncovers his bed only 
once a week, and he then gathers nearly all, big and little, that are grown. 
The gatherer has with him two baskets, into one of which the large Mush¬ 
rooms are placed, and the small ones, or buttons, in the other. They also 
attach much importance to the manner of gathering. They say it is espe¬ 
cially important that they be all pulled, not cut; and not only do they pull 
them up by the roots, rubbing the soil oil the stem as they go on before 
putting them in the basket, but each man has in his hand whilst gathering 
an old.table knife, and when any break off on the surface of the bed, leaving 
a portion of the base of the stem in the ground, he at once with his knife 
digs it out, making a hole in the face of the bed as big as a walnut, the edges 
of which hole he then scrapes clean and smooth with his knife. His reason 
for this is that the stumps of the old Mushrooms if left will produce a mass 
of fluffy stuff, a kind of mould or fungus, spreading out like a plate all round 
these old stumps, and that no more Mushrooms will come on the space 
covered by this mould, whereas if the stumps are scooped clean out small 
Mushrooms are formed almost immediately again around these holes. 
I said it was advisable in private practice to differ in the mode of 
gathering from the market growers, but I did not mean in respect of this 
pulling.the crop and scooping clean out the base of any requiring it, as I 
have tried and proved to my satisfaction this theory to be correct. I meant 
that it is not advisable to gather the whole crop, big and little, as they do. 
It answers their purpose, as there is a large demand for buttons, which fetch 
a much higher price than the full-grown Mushrooms. Also as they, as a 
general rule, uncover but once a week, those buttons if left till next gather¬ 
ing would, be too old for market purposes. In gathering the crop only a 
small portion of the bed should be uncovered at once, and that again covered 
before uncovering any further, as it is especially important to conserve as 
far as possible the warmth and moisture contained in the bed, both of which 
will evaporate considerably if the bed remains long uncovered. 
THE GARDENERS’ ROYAL BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. 
A short time ago a letter appeared in this Journal from a gardener, 
who was prepared to subscribe £10 to the funds of this Society provided 
he could see his way to do so justifiably to himself. To this end he asked 
a very pertinent question, which the Secretary was invited to answer, and 
which, without doubt, many others besides your correspondent would be 
glad to see answered. Hitherto no notice has beon taken of that letter ; 
and although it is not likely the question referred to could be answered in 
the affirmative, an excellent opportunity was and is afforded for the claims 
of the Institution for support, and the advantages it offers to subscribers to 
be placed before those whom it i3 intended to benefit, in a popular 
manner. 
Dry, formal, stilted rules, though essential, are not sufficient for 
gardeners to thoroughly understand the working of the Institution. And, 
besides, hundreds of persons who either are, or ought to be, interested in 
it, have never seen the rules, nor do they know where to apply for them. 
An advertisement of the Institution is rarely seen, and persons are only 
reminded of its existence by an allusion to the annual dinner, or sending 
round the hat occasionally. I am one of those gardeners who are prepared 
to subscribe, but it has never been made sufficiently clear to me whether by 
doing so I should in the hour of need have a distinct claim on the funds over 
those who have never subscribed. I can understand if I had subscribed 
for a number of years—say twenty—that it -would not be easy to pass over 
my name if I were an applicant for a pension ; but suppose I had 
subscribed for five years only, or had paid a life subscription of £10, and 
needed aid, is there not a chance that some non-subscriber with powerful 
friends on the Committee would not have a prior claim to myself when a 
pension was allocated P 
The truth is the working of this Institution is not well understood, and 
this being so, it necessarily fails to enjoy the full confidence of gardeners 
who support it, if they join at all, hesitatingly, and as if they were not sure 
they were doing right or wrong. Possibly the Secretary of the Institution 
has been enjoying his holidays, but now that the holiday season is over he 
might perhaps do worse than attend to the letter on page 175, and also to 
this if it happens to be worthy of his notice. One thing is e’ear, a 
benefit society is needed by gardeners, and if the “ Royal Benevolent ” 
does not, or cannot, be made to meet the requirements no one need be 
surprised if an institution is not started on a more popular basis, with the 
object of benefiting its members in the hour of adversity.— A Country 
Gardener. 
FRUIT TREES IN POTS. 
Anything that is inexpensive and likely to give satisfaction in 
the shape of culture I think should be brought before the readers of your 
widely read Journal. Last year, after having read a work on fruit 
culture in pots, I procured a few maiden trees of Apples, Pears, 
and Plums, and had them placed in 10-inch pots. 1 tended them care¬ 
fully with water last summer and winter, and this spring kept them 
protected when in bloom till the fruit was fairly set ; then in May I set 
them out upon the gravel walk (did not plunge them), every day 
supplying them with plenty of rain water which I kept in store for the 
purpose, giving them also about once a month a draught of liquid 
manure made with soot and hen-pen refuse. I send you a sample of the 
fruit herewith, and the quantity upon each tree :—Victoria Plum, fifty- 
five ; Jefferson Plum, two trees each, forty-five and fifty ; Stirling Castle 
Apple, twelve; Lord Suffield, seven ; Pears various up to twenty, the 
name of these latter I did not get. I have found the greatest pleasure 
in looking after these trees. First, we have the most lovely bloom, which 
in my way of thinking, nothing is so beautiful, then the prospect of 
splendid fruit instead of a decayed tree after the attention. If this is 
thought worthy of a place in your Journal, and this method of fruit 
culture is practised by any of your readers and they find as much 
pleasure in it as I have done, I shall not have written in vain.— 
Jedburgh. 
[We congratulate our correspondent on his success, which is both 
satisfactory and encouraging. The fruit sent was highly creditable to 
the cultivator.] 
GARDEN CHEMISTRY. 
THE CARE OF MANURES. 
In the majority of gardens farmyard manure will continue to be 
regarded as manure par excellence and indispensable. It is un¬ 
doubtedly a good article when properly cared for and applied. 
Often enough it is neither. Bearing in mind that the chief value 
of manure of any kind depends on the nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, 
magnesia, and other mineral matters which it affords, in addition to 
the effects of humus, it may not be out of place here to give a typical 
analysis of ordinary farmyard manure. Of course no two samples 
will be exactly the same, but ordinary mixed manure will approxi¬ 
mate to the foilowing :— 
COMPOSITION OF FARMYARD MANURE. 
Fresh. Decayed. 
Water. 71-0 . «. 790 
*Organic matters . 24T> . 14‘5 
|Ash . 4-4 . 6 5 
1000 100-0 
*Containing nitrogen . 
Equal to ammonia . 
■[Containing potash . 
,, soda . 
„ lime . 
„ magnesia . 
„ phosphoric acid 
„ sulphuric acid.. 
„ chlorine . 
„ silica . 
Fresh. 
045 . 
Deca} r ed, 
. 0 58 
0 54 . 
. 0-70 
052 . 
. 0 50 
0-15 . 
. 013 
0 57 . 
. 0- 8 
0 14 . 
. 018 
0-21 . 
. 0-30 
012 . 
. 013 
0-15 . 
. 0T6 
1-25 . 
.. 1'70 
In the preparation of ordinary manure great mistakes are made. 
The manure from stables where hunters and carriage horses exclu¬ 
sively are kept and hard fed is, chiefly owing to its dryness and the 
careless manner in which it is thrown into heaps, generally reduced 
in value by one-half or even more. Gardeners are all familiar 
with the pungent odour that arises from such heaps, but it does not 
seem to be known generally that the pungency is owing to the 
carbonate of ammonia which the excessive heat is driving into the 
air. Nevertheless such is the fact, and no greater mistake can be 
made than to suppose that turning and damping such until it is. 
wet and greasy will make matters all right. The heating has driven 
off the best part of the manure, which is, not the moisture, but the 
nitrogen. 
If stable waste were put up into heaps, properly moistened and 
trodden down as hard as possible, and turned and damped again and 
again if need be whenever the heat threatened to rise too high, this 
would not occur. But another danger here presents itself, if too 
much water be given it will filter through and carry with it the 
ammonia dissolved in the water ; for in the various forms it assume 
(as in the ulmate, humate, carbonate, &c.), it is easily washed away. 
Any urea in the manure is thus easily carried. Because of this all 
gardens should be provided with manure yards with cemented 
bottoms so inclined that all moisture shall run info a sunk space 
whence it can be drawn to baste the heap or be otherwise economically 
used, instead of being allowed to drain away. The littery mass is, 
weight for weight, far from being equal to this liquid. Failing a 
waterproof bottom, much may be done by placing a layer of loam 
or even ordinary garden soil under each heap. This will absorb 
much of the escaping liquid and filter from it its virtues—becoming 
itself, when sweetened by exposure, the very best thing to be found 
for top-dressing Melons just as they are setting, covering roots of 
any kind of trees that have been enticed to the surface by good 
treatment, or, indeed, anything. 
Manure is seldom half made. The common idea is that when by 
fermenting and turning a ton of farmyard manure is reduced tu 
15 cwt., that 5 cwt. has been lost. Unless through carelessness 
nitrogen, phosphates, &c., have been allowed to escape the very 
reverse is the case. When fresh manure is applied to soil it is not 
prepared for the first year’s crop, and in consequence the following 
> winter’s rains wash much away. This is lost. When very thoroughly 
