24 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
the beds after they are made and spawned. I obtain an abundance of beautiful 
Mushrooms, and I have some beds at the present time one mass of Mushrooms. 
Of course plenty of good horse-droppings is the main point, and getting them 
fresh from the stables and spreading them out in a shed, then mixing plenty of 
good loam among them when making the beds. When these matters are 
attended to and the spawn is good, then Mushroom-growing is a very simple 
affair indeed. I am sure nothing can be more simple than my mode of growing 
Mushrooms, and its results are most satisfactory ; I get plenty of fine Mush¬ 
rooms, and rarely have I seen them better, even when very great labour has 
been bestowed on their culture. 
I need hardly mention how useful a good supply of Mushrooms during the 
winter is to those who have to provide for the wants of a first-class establish¬ 
ment. Those who can get a tolerable quantity of horse-droppings and have any 
out-house, shed, or cellar where they can make some beds, need not hunt for 
plenty, if they follow the plan I have pointed out above. I may mention that 
I find it a good plan to make one large bed or two tolerable ones early in the 
autumn; one has then plenty of Mushrooms to start with, and by making beds 
at intervals of a month or six weeks the supply is easily continued through 
the season. 
Stourton. M. Saul. 
PHAJUS GRANDIFLORUS. 
What a glorious old Orchid for winter-blooming—suitable for vases and 
in-door decoration as well as for the warm conservatory ! It looks admirable in 
any position, its majestic spikes towering above its Flag-like foliage ! A dozen 
well-grown and well-bloomed plants of this, with the same quantity of the 
charming sweet-scented Zygopetalum Mackayi, will beautify and perfume any 
house of moderate proportions, and that amply enough to gratify the fastidious 
senses of an eastern monarch. 
Those who possess a plant-stove need not despair of growing and flowering 
the Phajus most successfully. Some old plants at this place, which, I believe, 
have been inmates of the Pine-stoves for the last twenty years, bloom annually 
most profusely, and are in as good condition now as ever they were. The culti¬ 
vation of the Phajus is so extremely simple and so well known to all who grow 
plants, that I consider it would only be uselessly taking up the valuable space of 
the Florist and Pomologist to enter into minute details. I would, however, 
remark, that I find it most advantageous in order to bloom this Orchid success¬ 
fully to remove the plants for three months in the height of summer to a cooler 
position—say under the shade of Vines in a late vinery—that is, after they have 
completed their growth. This, I consider, as far as my practice goes, to be the 
main point in order to ensure success. A No. 24-sized pot I consider large 
enough, for if flowered in larger sizes the plants are, in the majority of cases, 
useless for in-door decoration. A few larger plants will answer in a large 
house. 
Wrotham Park , Barnet. John Edlington. 
CULTURE OF THE NEPENTHES, OR PITCHER-PLANT. 
A few remarks on these wonderful plants may not be out of place, for we 
seldom see them grown at all, and still more rarely in a flourishing condition. 
The plants here are grown in boxes a foot from the front lights, and imme¬ 
diately over the hot-water pipes in the Amherstia-house, and of course obtain 
