262 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Dee. 27th, 1884. 
Briefly stated, those were the foundation principles 
which guided the promoters, the managers, and com¬ 
petitors of the ideal Show. The friendly, neighbourly 
rivalry was strongly emulative of a keen search after 
better varieties of stocks and produce, a better system 
of growing that produce, and better ways of dressing 
and preparing it for the table. The influence of a 
Show like this was altogether good. The community 
felt the influence for good in that a more general and 
persistent industry of the people was stimulated, and 
out of this industry of the people came—in one phase 
of it—a better food supply. From this centre, good 
influences struck out like bright rays, covering a wide 
area. This was the ideal Show, the sentimental 
Show, the theoretical Show, and the nearest type 
was, perhaps, an old-fashioned village or parochial 
Show. 
The ideal country Show was, of course, only an 
enlargement of this base. The town and country 
magnates sent, to encourage gardening and make a 
festival, the ordinary occupants of their glass-houses 
and gardens, the local nurserymen did the same, and 
gentle and simple met together in a happy neighbourly 
way, and enjoyed their fete day in leisurely fashion, 
and with innocent gratification, everyone feeling 
■better for the Show all around. The influence for 
good of a Show like this was scarcely to be over¬ 
estimated. 
The real Show is, so I shall put it, the opposite of 
all this. It' is an accumulation, drawn together at 
some distinguished place, of all things connected with 
gardening that are ultra, extraordinary, sometimes 
eccentric, always (to be) exciting; where everything 
has been specially grown, forced, drilled, trained into 
its highest particular exhibition development; where, 
speaking of plants, they are of that shape, state and con¬ 
dition, which, Mrs. Grundy says, is fashionable; where 
fruits are staged that have been grown to an abnormal 
and often unserviceable size; and with respect to 
flowers, when they are set up that have been unnatu¬ 
rally, artificially, made stiff, firm, and semi-monstrous 
by dexterous manifestations (a sight which, to unso¬ 
phisticated eyes, is sad and offensive); and where 
what is striking and rare is considered to be more 
worthy of encouragement than what is useful. The 
fact is, money is the end and object of the real Show, 
from first to last; money the promoters want, money 
the exhibitors want, money everybody wants. The 
question always is (how many prizes representing so 
much money, the competitor can, by skilful manceuver- 
ing get, hold of ; and how many thousands of people 
they can attract past the paying place, is the chief 
consideration of the how’s officers. These are, in 
effect, the mainreasons or motives which actuate all 
those who are connected with the real Show; and 
benefits to gardeners or gardening in a professional, 
scientific, or knowledgable sense is never once thought 
of. The Manchester commercial school’s criterion 
is theirs, “ the worth of anything is as much money 
as it will bring.” 
And so, out of this what comes ? What is the 
influence of a Show like this ? Why, its influence on 
the gardener is sometimes to turn a decent man into an 
intolerable nuisance (for a time at least), for, if a prize 
taker, it makes him vain-glorious, conceited and un¬ 
bearably talkative about his splendid successes and 
triumphs to every person he meets—in fact, an unen¬ 
durable bore ; if a prize loser (or rather not a prize 
winner, for losers never rightly lose, its bad judgment 
that’s against them, partiality, favouritism, and all the 
rest of it), but if he does not get prizes, the man 
becomes wretched, dissatisfied, indignant, hurt, 
jealous, morose, a martyr, clamorous over his wrongs 
to every one whom he can buttonhole, and so 
insufferable as to make every friend he has feel that 
they would rather meet anyone else than him. On the 
man, as a man, the influence is pernicious. On the 
man, as a gardener, the influence is equally baneful 
and injurious, in that an unhealthy state of excite¬ 
ment is kept up in his mind—so that he cannot settle 
to real work—and in the garden generally, in the 
preparation of the things to show, a wrong standard is 
set up to work to, the powers of the place being drawn 
out towards what is showy— prize-winning —rather 
than to what is useful. This false, artificial standard 
of judgment so grows upon a man and a place that 
much mischief often comes to him from its extreme 
development. The more prizes he gets, as a rule, the 
more he wants, his selfishness is intensified, and he 
becomes blind, as it were, to the sure effect which is 
the result of too much showing —Buin ! 
What is the influence of the real Show on the 
Society which gets it up ? Well, speaking generally, 
it parts with its real objects and principles, “doing 
good to horticulture,” and, for the time, turns itself 
and all its powers into that of showman. To get 
people to come to the Show, extra attractions of music, 
fun, frivolity, Punch and .Judy,tight-rope performances, 
questionable songs and dances, and other music-hall 
fascinations have to be resorted to, in order that 
money may be wheedled out of the pockets of much- 
desired visitors. Is not, I say, the influence bad and 
unwholesome of a Show like this, which turns into 
showmen the officers of a Society which is largely an 
educational body, as all real horticultural societies 
are, or should be, teaching its members their duties, 
and how best to perform them, and so elevating them 
individually and professionally. 
The evil influence does not end here ; the Society, 
if successful on its Show day (and it depends on the 
weather), draws a lot of money into its exchequer, and 
this fulness of gold acts prejudicially on the officers, 
as sudden prosperity generally does on humanity : 
weakens their heads, demoralizes their judgment; 
makes them think that good times have come to them 
and never mean to go away again. That “ to-morrow 
shall be as yesterday; yea, and much more abundant,” 
and so very often their easily got money is spent on 
fads, fancy schemes, or wild speculations, and they are 
only brought to their senses when they have to draw 
up the annual balance-sheet. If the Show is unsuc¬ 
cessful, as in our fickle climate it so often is, then 
their comes to the officers a cruel experience; their 
expenses are reckoned in pounds, and their income 
in shillings, or even pence, and they are compelled to 
stand almost as beggars, hat in hand, either elegantly 
or silently pleading their poverty. 
I ask, Can this be right? Is this the outcome, the 
influence either way, of the present day real Show ? 
If so, the sooner it is given up the better. 
The great question then is, Do Shows—the real 
Shows—benefit horticulture; do good to gardeners 
and gardening ? If not, why continue them ? How 
to make them good, useful, and full of beneficial 
influences, then, is the main question to consider. 
Let each man ask himself the question and speak 
accordingly. 
MUSHROOM CULTURE. 
When Mushrooms are required either in large or 
small quantities, the want of such a convenient place 
to grow them in as a Mushroom-house should not in the 
least deter any one from attempting their cultivation, 
as we have some time since given up the system of 
growing them in houses in favour of beds, made up in 
greenhouses, in sheds, and out-of-doors. Short straw 
and manure, or droppings collected from the stables, 
forms the bulk of the material used for making Mush¬ 
room beds, and if to this is added one-third of turfy 
loam or even common garden soil, and the whole 
is thoroughly mixed together, so much the better. As 
soon as a sufficient quantity has been collected 
together, it should be turned over every day till the 
rank heat has passed off, and the whole looks a 
mouldy mass neither too dry nor too wet, but a 
medium between the two. The manure from cattle 
fed with green food or Carrots I believe will not 
produce Mushrooms, but the manure from stables, in 
which fern is used as litter, is as good for producing a 
crop as where straw is used. One year I had no other 
to use, and I felt there was no alternative but to give 
it a trial, and to my surprise I-found it produced 
excellent crops. Peat moss when used in stables, I 
am told, makes excellent material for forming beds 
with, and to swell the bulk for beds outside I have 
frequently used some of the half-decomposed leaves 
and manure from Melon frames, and with success. 
Mushrooms are grown with great success in caves 
around Paris, and it has been said of the Frenchmen 
that they grow them better than any gardeners in the 
world; but I think this would hardly hold good at the 
present day, for who succeeds better than Mr. Barter, 
in the Harrow Boad, London, or Mr. B. Gilbert, of 
Burghley, with the outdoor system of culture? Get 
together the manure, &c., and prepare it as above 
described, and then select the site for the bed, which 
should, for convenience, be in the frame ground, and 
if it has a southerly aspect, for winter growing, so 
much the better. The base of the bed should be 
about 3 ft. wide, and, when completed, about the 
same in height, tapering to the top. A few sticks are 
set in the ground to mark the edge of the bed, and the 
manure is wheeled and tipped between them, and 
thoroughly trod down. This is continued until the 
bed is brought to about half its height, when that 
which has rolled beyond the stakes and the trimmings 
will be found sufficient to top it up. Sticks should be 
thrust into the bed for drawing out occasionally to 
ascertain the temperature, and when it is found to 
have passed its greatest heat, and the sticks tell that 
it is steady, the bed may be spawned. Fresh spawn 
should be procured from some respectable firm, for 
although we are told it will keep good for years, I 
prefer that which has not been long on hand. Break 
the bricks into six pieces, and insert them 1 in. under 
the surface of the manure and 1 ft. apart, flat side 
outwards; cover them up, and make the bed as firm 
as possible. After the bed has been spawned it will 
be ready for soiling over, but if the surface has 
become dry between the time of making up and 
spawning, it should receive a good watering. 
The whole surface of the bed should then be soiled 
over, and for that purpose I have found ordinary 
garden soil to answer the purpose well. It should be 
sufficiently moist to adhere and form a smooth surface 
when beaten with the back of a spade, and when 
finished should be at least 1-|- ins. thick. The whole 
should then be covered with litter and that which has 
been rejected when preparing the manure will be found 
to answer well. After a time the bed should be 
examined, say in three .weeks or a month, and have 
some dry hay shaken over it, on which place the litter 
again, leaving it a foot or more in thickness. In wet 
weather if some mats or shutters are at hand to throw 
off the heavy rains, it will help them a great deal. 
I have never failed with any beds treated as I have 
described, although the time of their coming in is 
somewhat uncertain. I have never seen such fine 
Mushrooms obtained under any other system of 
cultivation as many we have gathered have turned 
the scale at 8 ozs., and I can think of no better way of 
describing them than in the words of Mr. B. Gilbert, 
viz., “Umbrellas compared with small parasols,” the 
latter being those grown inside. It is usually recom¬ 
mended to make beds out-of-doors in September and 
October, but I find they may be made with success 
from then till it is unnecessary to make them at all, 
choosing for the spring ones, a shady spot. 
Beds may also be made up in sheds or under the 
stages in a greenhouse, or indeed in many places which 
will readily suggest themselves, but if made under 
stages it is necessary to put something over them to 
carry off the drip. These beds are usually made fiat 
or nearly so, and from 18 ins. to 2 ft. deep, keeping 
the manure nice and compact by means of boards 
along the sides. The soil used and the precautions 
taken as to heat are the same in both cases ; but either 
in a shed or greenhouse it would not be necessary to 
put more than a few inches of dry hay over the surface 
to prevent it from becoming too dry. 
Mushroom beds, either indoors or out, require 
water sometimes, and when water is given it should 
be applied warm, and a slight coating of hay or straw 
be left over the surface while the water is being given, 
especially if the Mushrooms are coming up. I have 
frequently seen button Mushrooms turn brown and 
fail to develop after a watering, even with a very fine 
rose, but I have never seen the same result follow 
when a slight coating of litter has been left on the 
surface.— C. Warden. 
—— 
The Captain Stkawberey. —Mr. Laxtou describes 
this new variety as being a “ very large and handsome, 
glossy scarlet fruit of good flavour, ripening early in 
June; very prolific, flesh firm, and an excellent 
traveller; this variety is also more perpetual than any 
other sort, the first crop coming in before Sir Joseph 
Paxton, and a second crop after it; fine large fruit 
continue also to follow up to October. For market 
and general purposes it is unequalled, and is alto¬ 
gether the most remarkable Strawberry of recent 
introduction.” 
