March 2, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
183 
temperatures quickly get rid of what little moisture there is in the 
manure, and this is the commencement of the starvation procesi. Where 
the plan of daily syringing the beds, walls, and floors prevails it is no 
uncommon occurrence for the surface of the beds to be too moist while 
the manure underneath is quite dry. As fast as the tiny Mushrooms 
peep through the soil most of them change to a dirty brown colour, 
become soft, and make no further progress. Instead of the syringe being 
used daily in the Mushroom house under my charge it is never employed 
at all, the watering pot, and that only for thoroughly re-moistening an 
exhausted bed, being what we believe in. Very fresh manure ought not 
to be principally used in forming fresh beds. Much of ours is not less 
than a month, and not unfrequently some of it six weeks, old by the 
time it has been prepared for use, and rarely indeed does the heat rise to 
90°. More often than not the maximum would be 85°, and then for a 
short time only. Being somewhat stale or well advanced in decay rather 
deeper beds may safely be formed than is usually done. The best I have 
ever had, or indeed ever saw, was 18 inches deep at the back and 
15 inches deep in front, and within a week of its being spawned the trial 
sticks were scarcely warm. No attempt was made to hurry this bed, and 
no water was given, but in the course of about two months enormous 
masses of fine succulent Mushrooms were to be seen all over the surface. 
So much for being content to “ let well enough alone.” 
A mulch of strawy litter serves to conserve a considerable amount 
of moisture in a bed, and is to be commended accordingly, but that 
alone will not suffice to bring up a second crop. As I have previously 
hinted there ought, either with or without the aid of a mulch, to be 
enough moisture in a bed to start and sustain a first heavy crop with¬ 
out any being supplied from the surface. If there is not a partial 
failure is imminent. After the first crop has been cleared off, the old 
stumps with the mass of solid matter attached being duly scooped off 
according as the Mushrooms were pulled, and the holes refilled with 
fresh soil, about a week or ten days may well elapse, and then a 
thorough soaking of water should be given. Nothing but quite warm 
soft water ought to be used at first, this being applied through a fine 
rose, and repeated the following day. Even then the chances are the 
manure will not be really well moistened, but it will be in a better 
state for receiving liquid manure, or say a supply of either Thomson’s 
or Bentley’s Vine border manure. Nitrate of soda and common salt are 
also of good assistance in bringing up a second heavy crop of Mush¬ 
rooms, about an ounce of either of the four kinds named being 
dissolved in every gallon of well warmed soft water, and then applied 
through a fine-rose pot. This application following upon the waterings 
given should provide enough moisture and food to support the second 
crop, and the process may well be subsequently repeated with a view 
to bringing up yet another crop. 
A too free use of fire heat is very detrimental to Mushrooms, and 
should be dispensed with as much as possible. If there is a constant 
demand for them, then must a little warmth be given all the while, but 
at no time ought a temperature of 55° to be exceeded, from 15° to 50° 
being quite high enough as a rule. The fire heat invariably accelerates 
fermentation in the beds, and they dry all the more rapidly accordingly, 
poor starved Mushrooms being the result. Where the beds have over¬ 
heated the manure assumes a musty dry state, which nothing that can 
be done afterwards will render fit for the production of Mushrooms. 
Another extreme has also to be guarded against. When the manure is 
in a cold, saturated state the bed cannot be made productive. It is the 
happy medium that brings maximum crops.—W. Iggulden. 
A PLEA FOR HEPATICAS. 
How seldom do we find a really good collection of these early spring 
flowers cultivated! In many gardens they may be classed among 
neglected plants. One sometimes meets with a few grand clumps in 
very old gardens, or a solitary plant may occasionally be seen in front 
of a wayside cottage. 
With me they have always been especial favourites, and I think they 
are quite unrivalled among hardy herbaceous plants which flower during 
February and March. Nearly all the varieties I have seen succeed the 
best in a rich but rather light soil. If planted in positions where they 
obtain shelter from the north and north-east winds, the flowers are produced 
as early as Snowdrops grown under the same conditions. Should the 
weather prove wet and unfavourable at flowering time, the precaution 
of placing a handlight over the best clumps is well repaid, especially if 
the flowers are wanted for use in a cut state. When this course is 
pursued the flowers are kept perfectly clean, come better in colour, and 
the stems are considerably lengthened, a combination of advantages well 
worthy of the extra trouble involved in producing. Where large masses 
are wanted the clumps should be left undisturbed for several years. 
When it is necessary to increase the stock clumps may be divided 
into pieces having three or four good crowns each. If this is done in 
October, the divisions being placed in good soil, and afterwards receive 
proper attention in the way of frecpient stirrings of the soil during the 
summer months, and in dry weather are given a few good soakings of 
liquid manure, extra fine flowers are produced the following year. 
H, angulosa is, perhaps, the most showy variety grown, and produces 
very large flowers of a sky blue colour. H. triloba alba and triloba 
ceerulea are also good, and showy single varieties of the smaller flowering 
type, but I think the most useful among this class is triloba rubra, because 
it blooms very freely, and supplies a colour so much wanted in hardy 
flowers at the present season—viz., deep red. There is also a double form 
of this variety, which is perhaps the best known of all Ilepaticas. A 
double blue form also exists, but being a somewhat weak grower it is 
not plentiful.—H. Dunkin. 
URCEOCHARIS CLIBRANI. 
When a few flowers of this interesting hybrid were exhibited, under 
the name of Eucharis Clibrani, at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society last year by Messrs. W. Clibran & Sons, Oldfield Nurseries, 
Altrincham, a doubt as to what should be the correct designation of 
the plant was expressed. The raisers inform us that the plant is the 
result of a cross between Eucharis grandiflora (better known as 
E. amazonica) and Urceolina pendula, and on the suggestion of Dr. M. T. 
Masters, F.R.S., it has been named Urceocharis Clibrani. 
The character of the flower will be seen by referring to the engraving 
I'lG. 38.—URCEOCHARIS CLIBRANI. 
(fig. 38) which has been prepared from a small specimen sent to us by 
Messrs. Clibran. The individual flowers, as will be noted, bear a resem¬ 
blance to both parents. They are borne in umbels on strong stalks 
similar to the Eucharis, and, unlike the Urceolina, are erect on first 
expanding, drooping slightly when past their best. Being pure white 
and extremely beautiful in appearance, the flowers will prove invaluable 
for decorative purposes, aud when a stock of the plant has been prepared 
it will, no doubt, be extensively grown. The leaves are broad and as 
vigorous as those of the Eucharis. 
BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 
At the beginning of the second paragraph of the paper on this 
vegetable, page 135 (Journal of Horticulture^ February 16th), your 
correspondent writes, “ I cannot understand why it is advised that 
