August 22nd, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
805 
Beauty of Waltham, Duke of Albany, Earl of Pem¬ 
broke, Francis Michelon,La France,Merveille de Lyon, 
and White Baroness. The kitchen garden is not of 
large extent, but quite a model of neatness. Heavy 
crops of everything are seen, including a remarkable 
crop of Onions for their size; Apples and Pears are 
plentiful, and there are many other things worthy of 
mention, did space permit. Suffice it to say, that 
from the most treasured piece of Orchid down to the 
most humble plant in the borders, all are living monu¬ 
ments of Mr. Grossart’s abilities as a gardener.— 
R. C. F. 
- g— ' "T,J <> €T- - - 
AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION. 
In very dry seasons there is a great demand for water 
in the garden, on the lawn, and in conservatories, and 
any apparatus which effects a saving of the gardener’s 
time, must of necessity prove invaluable. Messrs. 
Merry weather, of Long Acre, have devised various 
systems for automatically distributing water. They 
devised a system of non-corrosive metallic tubes in 
short lengths, mounted upon easy running carriages 
and connected with flexible joints, the metal pipes 
being perforated throughout its whole length, so that 
by simply attaching one end to a hydrant or standpipe, 
the water will run through a length of 60 ft. or 90 ft. 
of piping, dispersing itself on the land through the 
whole course of pipes by means of the perforation?. 
It is very easy to move the apparatus from place 
to place at intervals. 
Another system consists in similar movable pipes 
without the perforations, to open at the extreme 
end, to which a distributing nozzle is attached. This 
nozzle is capable of throwing the stream in either a 
jet or a spray, at the will of the operator, who can of 
course walk about freely, dragging the tubes after him. 
A third apparatus is both ornamental and useful, 
as it consists in a portable revolving fountain upon a 
stand, to which hose may be connected. Garden hose, 
or lead or iron pipe, so small as ^ in. diameter, can 
be connected to the inlet coupling, and the water 
supply taken from the house cistern 8 ft. or more above 
the fountain, or direct waterworks pressure. The 
sprinklers are beautifully nickel plated, and they 
rapidly rotate by the action of the issuing water, 
scattering a most genial shower over a wide area. 
The adaptation of this latter appears to be a happy 
idea, as it is arranged inverted to screw up to the 
ceiling of a fernery or conservatory, and thus scatter 
the water downwards and sideways. 
Messrs. Merryweather & Sons appear to be making 
good progress in the matter of water distributing 
appliances; their great experience derived from 
distributing water by their fire engines on to fires 
having doubtless given them some useful ideas for 
effectually dealing with gardens in periods of drought. 
— e=—=5— 
THE GARDENERS’ ROYAL 
BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. 
The success which for the last four years has atten¬ 
ded the collection in aid of the Pension Augmentation 
Fund has been so marked that the Committee have 
been enabled to increase the Reserve Fund of the 
Institution to £21,000, and to raise the pensions by 
£4 per annum each. By thus raising the pensions, an 
annual additional liability of £416 has been incurred, 
and to meet this liability, and also, if possible, to 
increase the number of pensioners, the Committee 
have resolved to make, for the future, a yearly appeal 
to the sympathies of the gardening world; thus 
enabling gardeners to assist their poorer brethren, 
and at the same time affording them an opportunity 
of making themselves life members, and so securing 
a provision in their old age. Under these circum¬ 
stances I am now sending out collecting cards, and 
the Committee trust that gardeners will do their 
utmost (particularly by bringing it to the notice of 
their employers), to aid the funds of the Institution, 
which is now conveying assistance and comfort to 104 
families. I am desired to draw your special attention 
to the following “ resolutions ” of the Committee, 
viz. :—“ That upon any person collecting the sum of 
£10 10s., he will by virtue of such collection become 
a life member with all its privileges, from the date on 
which such amount was completed; ” and, “ That any 
person who may collect ten guineas (should he be 
already a life member), may nominate a friend as 
a life member.”— Edward R. Cutler, Secretary, 20, 
Spring Gardens, S.W. 
MUSHROOMS, EATABLE AND 
POISONOUS.—I, 
Now that the rains and storms of autumn have 
commenced, our woods, fields, and roadsides will soon 
be ornamented with a variety of Mushrooms, some 
good for food, others indigestible or poisonous. In 
attempting to discriminate the good from the bad, one 
of the chief points to be observed is the colour of the 
spores or seeds. This observation is very easily made, 
as the spores are, as a rule, the same in colour with 
AGARICUS MUSCAEIUS. 
the gills beneath. Agarics or Mushrooms may have 
spores either white, pink, purple, brown, or black, 
and there are both good and bad species belonging to 
each set. Everyone knows that the gills of common 
Mushrooms are at length purple, purple-brown, or 
purple-black in colour, and the spores of Mushrooms 
are of precisely the same hue. If ripe Mushrooms 
are laid gills lowermost on a sheet of white paper, the 
purple spores will be deposited as a dusty purplish 
stain in the course of a few hours. By far the larger 
number of Agarics have white spores or seeds, and to 
see these spores well the tops of the Agarics should be 
laid gills lowermost on black or dark-coloured paper, 
or some other material, or glass ; the white deposit 
will after a very brief time be thrown on to the sub¬ 
stance upon which the Agarics have been placed. 
The illustrations given beneath, and those to be 
published in our next, are all representations of 
white-spored Agarics. 
Agaricus muscarius. —The first figure shows one- 
quarter the size of nature a plant of Agaricus 
muscarius. It was named muscarius by Linnaeus, on 
account of its use in former times by housewives to 
keep off flies—muscae. The stem is yellowish, and 
the top bright scarlet studded with warts. An infant 
example cut in two is shown on the left, and a section 
through a mature fungus is given on the right. The 
volva or wrapper at the base of the stem, the ring 
round the stem, towards the top, and the peculiar 
attachment of the gills as seen in the section on the 
right, are essential characters. This plant grows in 
woods chiefly of Birch and Fir, from August to 
November. Owing to its extremely brilliant colour 
it is one of the most easily recognized of all fungi, 
and is'poisonous. 
Agaricus saponaceus. —The second illustration 
shows, one-third real size, Agaricus saponaceus. This 
plant, like the last, grows in woods. It was named 
saponaceus by Fries in reference to its deterrent and 
soapy odour. It is very firm in all its parts, dull grey 
in colour, and both stem and top are clothed more or 
less with minute scales or flecks as shown. A section 
through a mature plant is given in outline. Both 
the above fungi are common ornaments in Epping 
Forest. 
Agaricus vaginatus. —One of the commonest of all 
fungi is Agaricus vaginatus, shown one-quarter the 
size of nature in our third illustration. It was named 
vaginatus by Bulliard, on account of the vagina or 
wrapper at the bottom of the stem. This vagina 
encloses the entire plant in infancy, as shown in the 
section of the young plant on the right. A section of 
a mature plant is shown with the vagina in section 
on the left. The whole plant is mouse-grey in colour, 
the stem is hollow and has no ring, and the top is 
more or less covered with whitish-grey patches. The 
plant grows in woods and woody places, and is 
extremely common everywhere. It belongs to the 
esculent class. 
—— 
COMPETITION IN THE FLOWER 
TRADE. 
From a commercial standpoint, attention must be 
especially directed to the intense competition which 
prevails in this as in every other trade now-a-days. 
The extraordinary retail prices which are asked and 
obtained by florists during the London season are of 
course no criterion of the grower’s profits. With so 
perishable a stock in trade, original cost bears no 
definite relation to the selling price ; for instance, a 
profit of over 400 per cent, may frequently be made 
by the sale of Gardenias at Is. each, which have 
cost 2s. 6 d. the dozen. But when the immense loss 
from waste is added to the ordinary risks of business, 
it is doubtful whether the florist is, in the long run, 
as well off as neighbouring grocers or ironmongers, 
who can afford to price their goods only 20 per cent, 
above the wholesale quotation and wait contentedly 
for an opportunity to sell. The prices in Covent 
Garden, which regulate those of the whole kingdom, 
are very low indeed. The large growers, if left to 
themselves, might be trusted to maintain prices at 
a fairly remunerative level, but the market is largely 
influenced by a body of small producers, men who 
are contented if they make a labourer’s wage out of 
their one or two greenhouses, and are forced to sell 
at any knockdown price, in order to procure the bare 
necessaries of life, for which, being without other 
resources, they depend almost entirely upon the 
proceeds of each day’s sale. This form of competi¬ 
tion, however, cannot permanently reduce prices 
below the cost of production; but a far more serious 
blow is dealt at the prosperity of professional growers 
by the unprincipled trading habitual to gentlemen’s 
gardeners in the neighbourhood of large towns. 
Immense ranges of glass have, at one time or 
another, been erected in the precincts of nearly all 
large country seats, either to gratify some old freak 
of fashion, or the hobby of a former proprietor. Far 
in excess of the present owner’s requirements, unless, 
as rarely happens, he is devoted to a scientific study 
of horticulture, they generally constitute a species of 
white elephant, with which he would gladly dispense. 
But various difficulties present themselves as soon as 
any suggestion is made of cutting down the establish¬ 
ment, and in the end the advice of the head-gardener 
is usually followed—-a clever fellow who is not 
without an eye to the main chance in recommending 
his master to seek an equivalent for uncalled-for 
