312 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ October e, iss?. 
blooms from early spring until autumn. Another useful plant, 
giving no trouble whatever, though only a biennial, as it sows 
itself so freely, is Claytonia siberica ; there is only the danger 
of getting too much of it. Some who saw it as grown in one 
of the very best bog gardens in this country admitted never 
having recognised its beauty so fully before. In this case it 
had strayed away from its first habitation amongst a rather 
dense carpet of the lovely Equisetum Drummondi, its stars of 
lovely rose alone peeping through here and there in patches. 
Comarum palustre, or Potentilla Comarum, need only be men¬ 
tioned as a Strawberry-like British plant for the wettest parts. 
If any low bush or trailing shrubs bo wanted the Daphnes 
will furnish some of the most easily adapted. In planting 
trailing species, either D. Cneorum or D. rupestre—relatives, 
the latter being rarer—a good plan to adopt is to just cover the 
bottom of a boulder ; place your plant to hang_ over this.to 
south, east, or west, and back the bare stems, if any, with 
another large stone, tilling the intervening space with peat and 
stones. Daphnes do not like limestone. 
All the American Cowslips are at home in well-drained peat. 
The varieties of D. Meadia do almost anywhere, but D. Jeffrey- 
anum and D. integrifolium nowhere so well as in peaty soil 
with stones. Erpetion reniforme, the New Holland Violet, is, 
as generally grown on the rock garden, only an annual ; but 
in a shady position amongst stony peat it becomes so much a 
perennial that at least a patch may be preserved for a very 
considerable time. Its seeds are carried about, and it appears 
in various places away from the parent patch, but in the case 
of such a lovely little plant that is not objectionable. The 
Dog’s-tooth Violets, especially the better kinds, are at home in 
company with the Erpetion ; like it they grow in any moist 
well-drained soil. It is generally noticed amongst growers of 
these special kinds—to wit D. americanum, D. albidum, D. gi- 
ganteum var. grandiflorum, and D. grandiflorum (the lovely 
dwarf twin-flowered species), that planted amongst ordinary 
alpines they yearly dwindle away both in quality and numbers ; 
the reverse, however, is the case in the bog. Gagea lutea, a 
British plant, if allowed to ramble about—a curious thing for 
a bulbous plant to do—is quite an interesting acquisition. The 
habit and character reminds me of Ornithogalum umbellatum, 
the flowers opening and closing with the sun, but they are 
yellow. 
It will be seen from the above that my idea of a bog is the 
inclusion of all, or nearly all, plants of merit which prefer a 
moist situation, whether well drained or swampy, and which 
prefer peaty soil in this part of the garden. To meet the 
various requirements soil and position can be easily altered in 
all the cases I have mentioned. I am writing principally for 
residents of the drier east coast, where my experience has 
generally been gained. I intend giving some further notes 
upon suitable plants for the bog gardeu.—M. B. 
MUSHROOMS FOR THE MILLION. 
MARKETING THE CROPS-PUNNETS. 
(Continued from page 217.) 
As previously observed Mushrooms are packed in 
punnets, and a few particulars relative to these articles 
that are sold by millions annually at such a cheap 
rate will not be uninteresting, but, on the contrary, 
may be serviceable to many readers of this treatise. 
Vast numbers of gardeners even know little or nothing 
about the manufacture of the small, handy, and cheap 
chip punnets that are seen in nearly every green¬ 
grocer’s shop and fruuerer’s window ; and if they were 
asked where they could be obtained, and at what 
price, it is certain that not one in twenty would be 
able to give an accurate reply. This being so, and 
the statement cannot be controverted, the need of in¬ 
formation on the matter becomes apparent. Among 
other places where these useful articles—indeed indis¬ 
pensable to the Mushroom grower—are made, Brentford 
and Hammersmith must be named as “ seats of manu¬ 
facture,” and it appears as natural for the industrial 
population, the old and young of both sexes, to make 
them there as it is for fowls to scratch in seed beds or 
boys to take Apples when they are offered, or when 
“ nobody is looking ” It is only by much practice 
and dexterity that the thick shavings can be so deftly 
worked into baskets, as, when sold at the current rates, 
to leave a margin of profit behind them. Many, liow- 
ever, are made in the evening after the regular labour 
of the day has ended, and thus odd moments are com- 
mendably turned to account, while children are taught 
habits of industry and are content to earn a few pence 
at the work in question. Thus it is that the punnets 
cost so little as often to be given away with fruit that 
is sold in them. But they are not quite given away 
with Mushrooms, as it is the practice in weighing 
them into pounds to throw a punnet into the scale and 
not on the side containing the weights ; still, if the 
scales were balanced with the greatest exactitude, the 
purchaser would not give more than a farthing for a 
punnet, and it is worth that for the convenience of 
carrying the Mushrooms home, apart from any use to 
which it may be applied afterwards. But in practice 
the weighing cannot be done with such great nicety, 
and as the “ draw ” of the scale is always in favour of 
the purchaser he practically gets his little basket for 
nothing. They are sold in rolls of three dozens, as repre¬ 
sented in the annexed sketch (fig. 52), which also affords 
an idea of the number required and used in a Mush¬ 
room-growing establishment. They are employed in 
three different sizes—namely, for “ buttons,” 5 inches 
in diameter and 3£ inches deep, and known as “ deep 
poundsfor “ cups,” 6J inches in diameter and 
2 inches deep, known as “ flat poundsand for 
broilers, 5| inches across and an inch deep, sold as 
“halves.” The price of course varies with the size, 
deep pounds and flat pounds being usually obtainable 
for 6s., and halves 4s. per gross. With the object 
of rendering these notes substantially useful it may be 
stated that the stock from which the figure was pre¬ 
pared was obtained at the prices quoted from Mr. 
P. Nicholls, 377, Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith. It 
may be that other makers may sell them even cheaper, 
and if so they need have no difficulty in making the 
facts known; in the meantime Mr. Nicholls will pre¬ 
sumably not seriously object to the mention of his 
name in connection with this apparently simple yet 
certainly not unimportant subject, for the question of 
punnets is one of the essentials in the industry of 
Mushroom-growing for market purposes. 
PACKING MUSHROOMS. 
When large quantities are gathered it is customary 
for two men to be engaged in weighing and packing— 
one sorts them from the hampers, quickly divests them 
of any loose particles of soil or manure from the tops 
or roots, and weighs them into pounds; the other places 
them in the punnets and ties them down. Packing 
must be neatly done, as a little care in this respect 
adds materially to the saleable value of the stock, while 
scarcely any more time is incurred in the process than 
by doing the work roughly and without thought. It is 
not the habit of experienced growers of garden produce 
for the London market to place the best samples at 
the bottom. If the produce is good all through, as 
it ought to be and often is, still care is exercised to 
select either fruit or Mushrooms of uniform size for 
