JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 3, 1882.] 
97 
it is readily used. By applying it in winter, then, it gets pre¬ 
pared to do its work just when it is required. Last, but by no 
means least, often urine cannot be had except during winter. 
Among plant foods water occupies the chief place, just as 
water is the chief item in every bill of fare for animals. That 
is pretty well understood, and it would have been hardly worth 
while repeating it here. Many Vines are allowed to suffer by 
want of a proper supply. The amount of water that a healthy 
Vine will evaporate is very great, especially in hot weather, 
and no matter what other food is provided, unless water is 
used very freely first-rate results need not be expected. Those 
who have been most successful have all used water freely. In 
many cases as much as 70 or 80 inches are given in the course 
of a summer with advantage. 
On this point I will not further enlarge, but feel constrained 
to point out that water is Nature’s great cleanser, and that soils, 
more especially those heavily manured, such as Vine borders, 
will not long remain sweet and healthy unless water passes 
through them freely. When manure is always being washed 
into borders and none ever washed out it must remain there, 
and even the best composed border will become surcharged in 
time, and that time not a distant one, when food much in ex¬ 
cess of what the roots remove is continually applied. The 
case is very simple. No one need fear the impoverishment of 
a properly made border by passing water through it. Only 
that which the clay cannot hold will pass away, while the clay 
will continue to hold an ample abundance. No border need 
ever become sour if enough lime and sufficient water be applied 
—that is, if it is well drained and properly constructed of 
suitable materials. 
Such is an outline of my practice and the reasons for it, so 
far as the application of food to Vines is concerned. The 
results of this I have previously given, and they speak for 
themselves. At the same time the use of proper materials 
for forming borders and for maintaining them in a state of full 
and healthy fertility is only one phase, although an important 
one, of successful Grape culture. The management of the 
tops was recently discussed, no doubt with profit to all, and 
I then gave my practice, holding nothing back. I have done 
the same in this case, and in whatever discussion may follow 
I expect equal frankness.— Single-handed. 
MUSHROOMS FOR THE MILLION. 
{Continued from page <52.) 
CASING THE BEDS. 
A section of the casing is shown in the figure pre¬ 
viously referred to (page 468, last volume). The thick¬ 
ness of the soil on Mushroom beds must be governed by 
its nature. If very heavy it will only need to he an inch 
thick when beaten as firmly as possible ; if of medium 
texture it may be H inch thick ; if light or of a sandy 
nature 2 inches. When the work of casing is well done 
it seals up the heat in the bed to a surprising extent; but 
it will not do this effectually if the orthodox plan is fol¬ 
lowed of dipping the spade in water, and plastering the 
soil, making it smooth as a cement floor. It should be 
made firm and also smooth, but the soil must be suffi¬ 
ciently moist for the necessary compression, and should 
be watered to make it so, if needed, before being placed 
on the beds. There is a very good reason for this 
which all who are engaged in growing Mushrooms, or 
trying to grow them, do not fully comprehend. When 
the surface is plastered like mortar it shrinks sooner 
or later and forms fissures. If these are produced 
quickly the heat and virtues of the bed escape through 
them ; if they do not form for some weeks and the soil 
has become permeated with the mycelium the delicate 
threads are broken, and when this is the case we have 
no more right to expect an abundance of fine Mush¬ 
rooms than we have to expect that a telegraphic 
message will be transmitted when the wires are cut. 
It is this cutting off the lines of supply from the in¬ 
terior to the surface of the beds that is the primary 
cause of Mushrooms ceasing to grow after they have 
formed, turning brown, and withering. The shrinkage 
of the soil breaks these slender lines of communication, 
and they are not unfrequently severed by the weight of a 
man being suddenly thrown on the bed, that weight, as 
is common, resting on one hand for the purpose of some 
portion of the bed being more easily reached with the 
other. It is not the mere weight that does the injury, 
but the jerking manner in which it is applied. This 
may appear a small matter to dwell on, but like a 
number of other small matters it is of more importance 
than is apparent at the first glance. The withering of 
thousands of Mushrooms have perplexed many culti¬ 
vators. The beds and house have neither been too wet 
nor too dry, too hot nor too cold, yet the pea-like 
Mushrooms have refused to move, except backwards. 
The snapping of the extremely brittle and cobweb-like 
mycelium is with much confidence submitted as the 
chief cause of the evil, and it is a little surprising it 
has not been submitted before. 
TEMPERATURE FOR MUSHROOMS. 
September being the month in which Mushrooms are 
produced the most bountifully in pastures, the tem¬ 
perature of that month will indicate their requirements 
under cultivation. It is certain that not a few failures 
occur in Mushroom houses by too much heat accom¬ 
panied by an unduly dry atmosphere, such as is pro¬ 
duced by hot-water pipes and a deficient supply of 
moisture. As a rule those houses in which Mushrooms 
succeed the best are kept at a temperature ranging 
from 55° to 60°, a genial atmosphere being at the 
same time maintained. Now, what do we find in the 
open air during the Mushroom-growing month—Septem¬ 
ber ? Those who will take the trouble to examine the 
daily September (London) temperatures for the past ten 
years and will take the means for the whole period will 
find the maximum to be 67 - 7° and the minimum 48-8°, 
or a general mean of 58-2°. How far is this from the 
temperature of a well-managed Mushroom house ? 
“ Rather too high,” perhaps some may say. Possibly 
it is. Neither is the average quite fair as applied to 
Mushrooms, as the figures represent the temperature 
at 4 feet from the ground, and Mushrooms do not grow 
there, at any rate in the open air. On the contrary, 
they nestle among the much colder dew-bespangled 
grass, where the mean minimum radiation temperature 
of the past decade averaged only 47‘1°. Now if we 
take the average between this, the lowest point, with 
the above-mentioned highest, we reduce the average by 
1°—viz., 57 - 2°. This temperature is thus ample for 
Mushrooms; indeed, it is practically too high, as they 
grow much quicker during the colder air and moister 
surroundings of night than under the increased heat 
and drier air of the day. Still, were it not for the com¬ 
paratively high day temperature of nearly 70°, the 
earth’s heat would not be retained at the requisite 
degree for the crop; and what is this ? The average 
for the period named is at a foot below the surface 
58T° ; or, what is a little curious, almost identical with 
the average mean of the air, 58-2°. As near, then, as 
can be ascertained from the book of Nature from 55° to 
58° Fahr. may be stated as the proper temperature for 
Mushrooms. That they will endure more heat than 
