180 
THE FLORIST AXD POMOLOGIST. 
[ August, 
is not usually attempted in summer^ the heat acting upon the littery covering, 
giving rise to insects which destroy the mushrooms; but with care their culture 
is quite practicable even at that season. There are many acres of ground covered 
with beds made thus in the market grounds round London. 
In' France vast quantities of mushrooms are grown in caves from whence 
building stone has been quarried. In the open spaces and along the passages of 
them the mushroom beds are foianed side by side wherever space can be found for 
them. The beds are not more than 20 in. high and of about the same width at 
the base, those made up against the sides of the passages being still smaller. 
Spawn in flakes from a heap of stable manure into which it has run is preferred^ 
or else that taken from old beds. These caves, of which an illustration is here 
given (fig. 2), not only supply champignon-eating Paris, but large quantities of 
preserved mushrooms—40,000 boxes annually from one house—are also exported. 
To those who do not possess the more expensive books which give coloured 
figures of esculent fungi, a series of capital woodcuts of the more important kinds, 
drawn and engraved by Mr. W. G-. Smith, himself an excellent fungologist, will 
be found of much interest. We subjoin the figures given of the True or Meadow 
Mushroom, the Horse Mushroom, and St. George’s Mushroom. The True Mush¬ 
room, Agaricus campestris (fig. 4), occurs in pastures in the autumn, attaining a 
diameter of from 3 in. to G in., and is known by its white or pale brown colour, 
and its salmon gills, which at length turn black. The Horse Mushroom, Agaricus 
avvensis (fig. 3), which is the species exposed most commonly for sale in Covent 
Garden Market, is found plentifully in pastures in the autumn, attains a diameter 
of from 6 in. to 24 in. and is known by its yellowish colour, and its dirty-white 
gills, which turn black. It is nearly allied to the True Mushroom, but of coars er 
quality. The St. George’s Mushroom, Agaricus gainhosus (fig. 5), is found in pastures 
in the spring, attains a diameter of from 4 in. to 6 in., and is of a creamy colour 
and a most savoury character ; its early appearance, and its growing in rings, 
together with the thickness of its pileus, the narrowness of its gills, and its solid, 
bulging stem, suffice to distinguish it. Mr. Berkeley’s estimate of it is that 
it is excellent in flavour and particularly wholesome. Figures of some fourteen 
other species of edible fungi are given, with notes on their qualities, and the 
modes of cooking them, and these it may be hoped will do something towards 
( extending a knowledge among the masses of the vast amount of nutritious 
wholesome food to be obtained from the suspected family of Fungi.—M. 
ON THE GROWTH OF TIMBER TREES. 
HE following account of the comparative growth or increase in height and 
circumference of stem of some of the various Coniferous plants which 
have been introduced into this country within the last half-century, may 
be found interesting at the present time, when the question of the 
adaptability of such trees to cultivation on a large scale with a view to profit, as 
