216 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ September 7,1882. 
season without looking as if they would like better to be under 
glass. Still, when circumstances favour them, they look so 
grand in a garden that it is worth while everywhere to give 
them a fair trial, especially when they may be bought at the 
ordinary price of a Dutch Hyacinth. —C. Wolley Dod. 
MUSHROOMS FOR THE MILLION. 
(Continued from page 170.) 
SECURING THE CROPS. 
When Mushrooms are gathered for market it is im¬ 
portant, especially in cold weather, that only a small 
portion of a bed be uncovered at once—not more than 
a space over which a man can conveniently reach. 
From this the produce should he quickly pulled and 
the covering material promptly replaced. If the entire 
side of a long bed or ridge were uncovered before com¬ 
mencing gathering it would he exposed so long as to 
cause such a loss of heat as w T ould seriously check the 
succeeding crop and impair the value of the bed ; while 
even if the weather were not cold, yet dry, there would 
be a loss of moisture that it is most desirable to con¬ 
serve. Mushroom beds in hearing must always he 
moist, many being kept too dry ; and it is decidedly 
faulty practice to expedite the escape of moisture from 
them, and then have to make good the loss with the 
aid of the watering pot, as this, to say the least, involves 
needless labour, while the beds are not in such a satis¬ 
factory state as they would have been had they not 
been permitted to become dry. 
It is not unusual for 9 or 10 lbs. of Mushrooms to 
he secured at one gathering from the small space above 
indicated; and as these represent as many shillings, 
the work, if sometimes of a cooling nature, as it is 
during a period of frost and snow, is yet not disagree¬ 
able to the workman who is gathering his own crops. 
During mild weather in autumn and late spring it is 
customary, in the case of young beds, to clear off the 
crops twice a week. During colder weather or with 
older beds the produce is only collected once a week. 
As a rule a productive bed will yield ten gatherings, 
seven of them full, the first and two last lighter by 
comparison. 
In securing the crops it is convenient, as has been 
previously suggested, for the workman to have two 
baskets, one for the cups and buttons, the other for the 
broilers. This separation, w r hen the Mushrooms are 
first handled, results in a saving of time at the weigh¬ 
ing table, a matter of some moment when several 
bushels have to be divided into pounds, arranged in 
punnets, and tied down separately in the shortest pos¬ 
sible time. This is the form in which all Mushrooms 
are sent to market. They are packed with their stems 
entire just as gathered from the beds minus the soil 
that is drawn out with the roots, and which is shaken 
off as the pulling proceeds. They are snatched rapidly, 
and, as an inexperienced on-looker would think, roughly, 
from the ridges ; the collector always having a knife 
in his hand with which, for the reason previously stated, 
he quickly scoops out the stumps of any of the"clusters 
that snap off close to the surface. 
RETAINING THE STEMS OF MUSHROOMS. 
The retention of the whole of the stems obviously 
benefits the grower, as they materially increase the 
weight of the crop, and the practice is also advan¬ 
tageous to greengrocers and others who make large 
pure bases in the market with the object of retailing the 
Mushrooms to their customers. Consumers are in one 
sense, and that not an unimportant one, benefited, too, 
by the custom in question. No doubt there are readers 
who will be glad to know in what manner the two last- 
named classes can derive any advantage by purchasing 
what cannot be eaten, as before the Mushrooms are 
cooked the stalks must be cut off and thrown away— 
unless, indeed, they are utilised for making catsup, 
which is only practicable when they are collected in 
large quantities. The benefit arising from retaining 
the stems is this : Mushrooms keep sound and whole¬ 
some much longer than if the stalks were cut off. This 
is a distinct advantage to the retail vendor, as his goods 
are thereby rendered less perishable, and his liability 
to loss by a slow sale is materially reduced. If the 
vendor derives benefit by the freshness and good quality 
of his wares so also must the consumers, and by pur¬ 
chasing Mushrooms in their entirety he has them as 
far as is possible in possession of their full flavour ; 
whereas if divested of their stalks a few days previous 
to use they are insipid if not worse, as their virtues 
have escaped through their wounds, incipient decay 
has been accelerated, their constituents have been 
changed, and their wholesomeness impaired. Fresh 
Mushrooms—true samples of the Fungus, Agaricus 
campestris—are quite safe ; it is only false Mushrooms 
or stale Mushrooms that are questionable or dangerous. 
DIFFERENT GRADES OF MUSHROOMS. 
There are three distinct grades of Mushrooms in 
demand in the markets. These are known as Buttons, 
Cups, and Broilers, and 
each is in request for dif¬ 
ferent culinary purposes. 
“ Buttons ” are Mush¬ 
rooms in embryo—that is 
to say, the cap of the pileus 
is united to the stalk, and 
the laminae or gills are not 
visible. It does not matter 
what the size of these young 
Mushrooms may be, whether 
of the dimensions of a small 
Cobnut or a large Walnut, if the gills are veiled they 
are still buttons. “Cups” are a step advanced in 
development. Immediately the membranous covering 
that unites the hood with the stem breaks, the term 
“ buttons ” is no longer applicable, and the young 
Mushrooms are recognised as “ cups,” but only retain 
that designation so long as they are unopened and do 
not show more than a ring of the laminfe half an inch 
in diameter. When they expand fully and assume the 
form of an inverted tea-saucer, showing the gills clearly, 
they are matured for culinary purposes and become 
broilers ; but they are not perfect for the purpose of 
reproduction, as spores are not distributed until the 
laminae have changed from a lively pink colour to a 
brownish black, and they should be gathered, sold, and 
eaten before that change occurs. 
RELATIVE VALUE OF MUSHROOMS. 
As there are different grades of Mushrooms so also 
these grades have different values. As a rule, when 
large Mushrooms or broilers realise Is. per lb. the cups 
will sell for Is. 3d. and the buttons for Is. 6c/. It does 
not follow, however, that the latter are the more profit¬ 
able to the cultivator. Probably the reverse is the 
