Feb. 14th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
373 
CAULIFLOWERS AND BROCCOLI. 
In your issue of January 10th these are especially 
alluded to both at pp. 293 and 294, but the time at which 
theycan be produced depends so much on management, 
even with a mild climate, that a few more words thereon 
will not, perhaps, be amiss. Now, in these days of 
progress, sowing Cauliflower seed in the fall and keep¬ 
ing the plants through the winter is time wasted, seeing 
that you can sow in January and cut in May, proper 
kinds being used and proper management adopted. 
If Cauliflowers or Broccoli are required any time 
before Christmas they must be sown in rich soil 
and never receive a check. When planting them 
out in their final quarters take out a spadeful of soil 
and water well a day or two before planting with 
soapy water, to which add a wine-glassful of paraffin 
to each pot of water. Loosen the soil, take up the 
plant with a large trowel, disturbing the earth about it 
as little as possible, and fill up the hole with good 
rotten dung and earth in equal proportions. Never let 
them want for moisture, and when you water do it 
effectually and use weak liquid manure, as sprinkling 
the plants with -water is both a waste of time and 
injurious to the plants. Of sorts I prefer Yeitch’s 
Extra Early Forcing, which, in my opinion, is 
surpassed by none. Sow early in January and again 
in February under glass ; early in March sow Eclipse 
under glass and at the end of the month in the open 
ground, when Veiteh’s Autumn Giant should also be 
sown. Of this it would be -waste of time to allude 
further, as it is praised by everybody who 
has grown it, and -who has not ? These are 
all the Cauliflowers I consider necessary. 
Of Broccoli all that come in after 
Christmas should be sown in ordinary 
garden soil without manure, and when 
finally planted out, make a hole only 
just large enough to take the plant on 
hard ground (I believe Mr. Gilbert makes 
liis holes with a crowbar). Fill the holes 
with soapy water and paraffin, but do not 
break down the earth in any way, all that 
is required is to get your plants strong 
and hardy to stand the winter, and how 
this is to be gained by rich soil and 
quantities of manure I cannot conceive, 
as, by adopting such a plan we make the 
plant tender, gross, and succulent, and 
Jack Frost does the rest. But as no 
manure has been used till after Christmas 
it must be made up for in the early spring, 
when the earth should be drawn away 
from the plants, a good spadeful of 
rich manure, without earth, be placed 
round each plant, which must be 
covered and trodden firmly. For sorts the earliest I 
use is Sander’s Mammoth White Autumn, respecting 
which I can fully endorse the testimony of Mr. 
Gilbert, as alluded to by Mr. Knight, but Mr. Knight 
is in error as to the distribution of it as new this 
season. I have an illustration of it, taken from the 
catalogue of Messrs. Lamoureux & Co., Plymouth, some 
years since, and I have grown it for three years in succes¬ 
sion. It is truly a magnificent variety, and the only 
one needed in the fall. We have many grand kinds in 
thejjseedsmen’s lists, but it must not be forgotten that 
Eclipse and Veitch’s Autumn Giant Cauliflower carry 
us well through the autumn, and when they are to the 
fore Broccoli are at a discount. Yeitch’s Self-Protecting 
is my next kind, a splendid variety, followed by 
Snow’s Winter White, a valuable sort, no doubt, but 
I should like to get a substitute for it, as I quite 
agree rvith “ B.” (p. 294) that it is tender, and all the 
principal seedsmen admit that it is difficult to get true. 
Before reading Mr. Knight’s report at p. 293 I never 
heard that it was at all hardy. As to Cornish growers 
depending on it that fact is of little value to growers 
generally. I remember reading in one of the horti¬ 
cultural papers a reply made to a gardener at St. Ives, 
Cornwall, who asked for advice, stating that for many 
years he had lived there and had not seen any ice, 
and the reply was that they could not advise a man 
living in such a climate, as it was one of which they 
had no experience. Knight’s Protecting and Lauder’s 
Goshen Late White Protecting follow, then Cattell’s 
Eclipse and Sutton’s Late Queen complete the list. The 
latter is the most compact, but not quite so hardy as 
Cattell’s, which, sown in April, produces splendid heads 
in the following May, and sown at the end of June, at 
back of a north wall and planted out in the same 
position, produces quite through June the following 
year. Purple Sprouting I, of course, grow, and I quite 
agree with “ B.” that it should be grown by everybody 
and that it is not half appreciated, other kinds may 
fail, this never docs. — T., Dorset. 
- 6 ="=— 
MUSHROOMS FOR THE 
MILLION.* 
As good wine is said to need no bush, so it may be 
taken for granted, we think, that when a book reaches 
a third edition, it requires no praise. For the best of 
all reasons—thefact of The Gardening World not being 
in existence when Mr. Wright’s valuable manual made 
its appearance in the spring of 1883, -we were unable 
at the time to join in the general chorus of praise 
with which its advent was received. The publication 
OUT-DOOIi JIUSHU003I BED. 
of the third edition, however, affords a fitting oppor¬ 
tunity for directing the attention of our readers to a 
work which we have read with much pleasure, and, 
we hope, with not a little profit, and which we 
heartily commend to the serious perusal of all who 
would grow their own “ buttons,” yet -who are not 
familiar with the practical details of Mushroom 
cultivation. 
In the introductory chapter, Mr. Wright states that 
he was asked to treat the subject as fully as a some¬ 
what lengthened experience of the work and great 
facilities for observing the work of others enabled 
him to do, but that he preferred to take “a broad 
view of the matter, and to regard the crop as one 
which the greatest possible number can have a share 
in growing and enjoying, rather than being content to 
consider it as a luxury for the affluent, who alone 
obtain a more or less adequate supply.” This is the 
key note, and from the first page to the last it is -well 
kept in view. 
The earlier pages are devoted to short chapters on 
such important subjects as the nutritive properties of 
Mushrooms, the means for growing them, and the open- 
air system of cultivation, followed by a comparison of 
the profits of various outdoor crops, which shows that 
the remunerative character of Mushrooms surpasses 
them all, that it is, in fact, the most remunerative 
outdoor crop known. 
Details then follow on the cost and profits of 
Mushroom culture, based on the experience of Mr. 
J. F. Barter, of Lancefield Street, Harrow Koad, an 
* Mushrooms for the Million. By John Wright, 
Third edition. London : 171, Fleet Street, E.C. 
extensive and successful grower of Mushrooms for 
market, and which fairly make the mouth to water as 
we read of £853 4s. being the actual profit for an acre 
of Mushrooms. In succeeding chapters we are shown 
how it is done, what manure is suitable and what is 
unsuitable, how to prepare it for use, the best site to 
select for the bed, and finally, how to make it of 
the form shown in the annexed illustration, which 
represents a portion of a bed “ taken from the life” 
from which the crop is being gathered. Had our 
valued correspondent, Mr. Warden, not recently 
described in our columns, p. 262, the method of 
making these outdoor Mushroom beds, we should 
have been tempted here to reproduce the sound 
practical advice which our author gives on the 
subject. We pass on, however, to the 
all important matter of “ the spawn,” 
and its manufacture into “ Mushroom 
bricks,” a knowledge of which, though 
interesting, Mr. Wright does not consider 
necessary for the great mass of Mushroom 
growers. “ When a man builds a house 
it is of no advantage to him to know how 
to make his own bricks, for he can purchase 
them better and more cheaply; so it is 
with the vast majority of cultivators of 
Mushrooms, and beginners especially will 
find it more economical to purchase good 
Mushroom spawn than to endeavour to 
make it, and fail,” and with that remark 
we entirely agree, for how to make good 
“Mushroom bricks ” is one of those things 
that cannot altogether be learnt from the 
books, but must be acquired by practice. 
As regards soil for Mushrooms, it 
appears that Mr. Barter uses heavy and 
turfy loam, “ just such as a gardener 
w'ould covet for growing Boses and 
Chrysanthemums, and the produce is 
large, Mushrooms often being cut weighing 
half-a-pound each,” which proves clearly enough 
that the character of the soil used is not such a 
matter of indifference as many imagine. In 
connection with the subject of temperature, Mr. 
Wright clearly brings out an important fact, which we 
suspect is not known to most growers, i.e., that “ cold 
does no real injury to Mushroom beds, it only arrests 
the growth of the mycelium—does not destroy it,” 
but he truly observes that while a low temperature 
must not be sought for, it may, on the other hand “ be 
asserted with much confidence that a high temperature 
and dry atmosphere are inimical to Mushrooms, and 
the cause of many failures and unsatisfactory beds.” 
On the subject of gathering Mushrooms we read:— 
“ If the old practitioners who gathered the crops so 
tenderly, and almost in fear and trembling lest no 
others should follow, could see the manner in which 
Mushrooms are gathered for market, they -would 
scarcely believe their own eyes. Not only are they 
torn ruthlessly from the beds, but the roots are dug 
out if they are not sufficiently broken in the process of 
pulling. It is usual to have two baskets, the large 
Mushrooms being placed in one, and the ‘ buttons)’ 
in the other, the soil being knocked off the roots as 
the work proceeds. When the stems are separated, as 
many are, close on the surface of the bed, leaving the 
stump undisturbed in the soil, this stump is at once 
scooped out with a knife, leaving a round open cavity 
in which a Walnut might be placed. This to the 
uninitiated appears barbarous work; it looks like 
spoiling the beds and preventing the production of 
successional crops. That it has not that effect is 
certain, or those to -whom every pound of Mushrooms 
is an object would not adopt it.” 
