March 21.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
sweetened and in a pulverized state by the sowing¬ 
time; which with us, to obtain a winter supply, is 
from the middle of April until the end of May, about 
two or three sowings. If an early autumn supply is 
required, a sowing may be made at the end of this 
month, or the beginning of April. A good deep 
drill should be drawn, or a shallow trench formed 
similar to an old-fashioned celery trench, and the 
seeds dropped in three or four inches apart, thinning 
the plants as they grow, until at their final shifting 
the distance from each other is as much as 15 or 18 
inches. 
Celery. —Full sowings of celery may now be 
made. A small portion only of the early sown plants 
are worthy of pricking out on a slight hotbed, to be 
encouraged to luxuriant growth by liberal applica¬ 
tions of tepid liquid-manure. 
Cabbages and Early Cauliflowers. —The latter 
should at this season meet with good attention, as 
previously directed. Sow now, in succession, a good 
variety or two of cabbage, lor planting in succession 
throughout the summer months, on spare ground as 
it comes to hand, so as to have a good supply of 
young cabbages and colewort greens. Sow the Pur¬ 
ple cape and Hammond's white cape brocolis, Borecole , 
Buda kale, Savoys, and Drum-head cabbages, that 
plants may always be at hand to crop at once every 
piece of ground that becomes vacant. 
Radishes. —Sow in succession at this and the 
coming season, away from warm borders, that they 
may be produced crisp and tender, without being 
disagreeable in their flavour, which is sometimes the 
case late in the season, when sown in warm situations, 
and exposed to heat and drought. 
Frame Potatoes. —Water should not be applied 
too liberally : indeed, the less the better ; and when 
the liaum or stalks have grown to about their natural 
height, no more water should be applied. Thin all 
those now coming up under slight protection, &c., to 
one single strong shoot. This takes but little time, 
and the reward in the produce, of having all good 
even-sized tubers instead of a quantity of small ones, 
will well reward the little trouble taken. 
Cucumbers and Melons. —Keep the early cucum¬ 
bers freely growing by frequent applications of tepid, 
weak liquid manure-water; stop or pinch out the 
point of every shoot a joint above the fruit: keep 
the vine thin, and the fruit laid in a position so that 
it may grow straight. There are many contrivances 
for this purpose: any one may obtain laths, say a 
three-feet lath, cut in three pieces, tacking, with a 
thin twopenny clout-nail, one piece on each side of 
the other—forming, as it were, a trough with two 
sides and a bottom. Double-laths of a pretty good 
width are, of course, the best; and many may be made 
in this simple way in an hour or two. Keep up a 
liberal heat also about the melon; and sow of each 
in succession. 
Broad-beans. —Plant in succession some of the 
best long-pod kinds, unless any other particular 
kinds are preferred. Johnson s wonderful is the best 
and most productive sort that we know. 
Peas. —Continue to sow in succession ; the present 
is a good time for sowing any of the Tall Knight's 
marrowfats. Attend to earth stirring amongst those 
already up, and let this be done frequently. Keep a 
keen eye upon the birds and slugs, and draw up 
plenty of earth along both sides of each row of peas, 
so as to form a trench previous to sticking, in case 
water should be required by and by ; and let all be 
sticked that are forward enough, without delay. 
337 
Carrots and Radishes. —Thin out well with the 
finger and thumb, and keep the earth stirred well 
among them. A little trouble will be well rewarded 
amongst these pet crops. 
Routine Work. —Divide and plant out thyme, 
marjoram, sage, tarragon, chamomile, penny-royal, 
mint, and sorrel. 
Sow Parsley seed, and sow also small salading in 
succession. 
Sea-kale seed should also be sown on good well- 
prepared soil. James Barnes & W. 
MISCELLANEOUS INEORMATION. 
MUSHROOMS. 
It you think the following worthy of a place in your 
useful publication, you are at liberty to insert it, and 
to make use of the real names and addresses after- 
mentioned. 
Last February, Mr. Joshua Starkey, a respectable 
farmer, living at Agden, near this place, sowed on his 
grass and pasture lands a ton weight of common salt. 
I'o his surprise, last autumn, a large crop of excellent 
mushrooms made their appearance; indeed, he sold 
at the Manchester market, upwards of TG worth 
during the season—besides, as he thinks, giving to 
his neighbours half as many more. What makes the 
above more remarkable is, that he sowed one old pas¬ 
ture completely over with the salt, as well as several 
portions of other fields, which had recently been laid 
down for grass. The old pasture produced a most 
enormous crop of mushrooms, and the parts of fields 
which he sowed produced more or less; whilst upon 
the other parts of the same fields, upon which no salt 
had been sown, not a mushroom was to be found. A 
farmer of the name of Stannier, residing in the same 
neighbourhood, a year or two ago, also mixed a quart 
tity of salt with some compost (ditch semirings, &c.), 
and laid it, during the winter months, on one of his 
fields; he also gathered a large crop of mushrooms 
upon it—indeed, he states that he actually mowed 
them with a scythe off the land ; and that he sold, in 
one week, 12 hampers of them, at £1 each. It seems 
to be a fact, well known at the salt works at North- 
wich, in this county, that salt is an article capable of 
producing mushrooms, when applied to grass lands; 
for, when Mr. Starkey’s servant fetched from that 
place the salt which he used, he was told he might 
expect a crop of mushrooms. As the above commu¬ 
nication may be of use to those of your readers who 
wish to produce mushrooms on their grass lands, I 
beg to leave it in your hands, to make? such use of it 
as you think proper.— James Brownell, Solicitor, 
Lymon, near Warrington, Cheshire. 
[The statements in this letter are so contrary to the 
results we should have anticipated, that we should 
have inserted it doubtingly, if not verified, as it is, 
by real names and addresses. We know that salt, 
applied in a large quantity to a gathered mushroom, 
is the cause of its total destruction; and that, in ket- 
sup, sprinkling over them salt is all that is required 
to reduce them to a black liquid mass. We shall be 
glad to hear from any one who has had any experi¬ 
ence relative to this subject. It would be worth 
while to sprinkle a little over part of the surface of a 
mushroom-bed, to test its effect there.—E d. C. G.] 
