November 17, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
179 
DACCC FOR INDOORS ' 
FOR OUTDOORS. 
Many thousands, all classes, including the latest novelties 
H.P.'s for Garden Decoration or Exhibition, 6/-and 81 - per 
dozen; 50/-and 65/- per 100. TEAS and NOISETTES, 15/- 
and 18/- per dozen. Climbing sorts with long shoots, 2/6, 3/6, 
and 5/- each. See New Catalogue (No. 129) for full particulars 
of.our immense collection. Also for Fruits, Shrubs, Trees, 
Rhododendrons, American plants, Climbers, &c., Post Free. 
■ WM. CLIBRAN & SON, 
OLDFIELD NURSERIES, ALTRINCHAM, 
Also at Manchester, Llandudno Junction, &c. 
FOR PLEASU RE AND PR OFIT ! 
.wRUIT' 
■ fUf. ■&:, NOTHING SO PROFITABLE 
;!]![• AND EASY TO GROW. 
| Kiglity Acres in Stock. 
THE BEST PROCURABLE. 
joists J'ree. 
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS. 
Bushes in variety. Packing and 
Carriage Free, for cash with order. 
&S. perdoz., GO S« per 100. 
All other Nursery Stock 
carriage forward. 
nPOTS From 15/- a doz. 
Ornamental Trees, 91 Acres. 
Four Acres of Glass. 
Clematis (8o,ooo) from 15/= 
per doz. 
N.B.—Single Plants are sold at 
slightly increased prices. 
GENERAL CATALOGUE 
(lfi4 pages) of Nursery Stock, 
artistically produced, containing 
some hundreds of illustrations, 
and full of valuable information, 
_ sent free. 
RICHARD SMITH&C9 Worcester 
SPECIAL CULTURE 
OF 
FRUIT T REES & R OSES. 
A Large and Select Stock is now offered for Sale. 
The Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue of Fruits post free 
The Descriptive Catalogue of Roses post free. 
THOMAS RIVERS & SON, 
The Nurseries, SA W BRIDGE WORTH, Herts- 
HYACINTHS, TULIPS, 
Narcissi, Lillies, 
Snowdrops, 
Crocuses, 
Soil las, 
Irises 
&c. 
lanuimi 
DICKSONS“"‘Chester 
BEST 
QUALITIES 
AT LOWEST 
RATES. 
Delivered Free by 
Bail or Parcel Post. 
Descriptive Catalogue No. 441 
Post Free on application 
wiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiimiiiiiBiiiiiuuaniiianaaiiiiuiuaniiiim 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS 
NORMAN DAVIS has much pleasure 
in announcing that his new Catalogue of 
Chrysanthemums is now ready, and can 
be had free by post. This Catalogue is 
issued simply as a guide, such as a Cata¬ 
logue should be, and will be found com¬ 
prehensive and useful. You are welcome to 
a copy, even it not a purchaser. 
NORMAN DAVIS, 
Chrysanthemum Nurseries, 
LILFORD ROAD, CAMBERWELL, LONDON, S.E. 
FRUIT TREES A SPECIALITY. 
An immense stock of all the best varieties for Garden, 
Market, or Orchard :— 
Special Quotations for quantities to grow for market. 
New and Rare sorts not obtainable elsewhere. 
Apples.—A grand stock of Standard and Half-standards, 
Dwarfs, Cordons, and Trained. 
Pears, Plums, Cherries, Peaches, and Apricots in all forms. 
Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries. 
Strawberries, all the best of the old and new varieties, open 
air plants or in small pots. 
Send for Descriptive List and Guide, Post Free, 6d. Gratis 
to Customers (one of the most complete issued). Ordinary 
List Free. 
JOHN WATKINS, 
Pomona Farm Nurseries, Withington, Hereford. 
ORCHIDS. 
Clean Healthy Plants at Low Prices. 
Always worth a visit of inspection. Kindly send, for Catalogue. 
JAMES CYPHER, 
Exotic Nurseries, CHELTENHAM. 
For Index to Contents see page 190. 
“ Gardening Is the purest of human pleasures, and tho greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Monday, Nov. 19th.—National Chrysanthemum Society ; 
Meeting of General Committee at 7 p.m. 
Bulb Sale at Protheroe & Morris’ Rooms, and every day. 
Sale of Nursery Stock at the Windlesham Nurseries, Bag- 
shot (6 days). 
Tuesday, Nov. 20th.— Chrysanthemum Shows at Woking, 
Hanley, Chester, and Ripon (all 2 days), and Helensburgh. 
Sale of Imported Orchids at Protheroe & Morris' Rooms. 
Wednesday, Nov.2ist.—Chrysanthemum Shows at Newcastle- 
on-Tyne, Southwell, Lichfield (2 days), Glasgow (3 days), 
and Ayr. 
Sale of Palm Seeds at Protheroe & Morris’ Rooms. 
Thursday, Nov. 22nd.—Chrysanthemum Shows at Thame 
and Neath. 
Sale of Greenhouse Plants, &c., at Protheroe & Morris’ Rooms. 
Friday, Nov. 23rd.—Chrysanthemum Shows at Man¬ 
chester and Stockport. 
Orchid Sale at Protheroe & Morris’ Rooms. 
Saturday, Nov. 24th.— Chrysanthemum Shows at Birstall and 
Dundee. 
Edited by BRIAN WYNNE, F.R.H.S. 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER i jth, 1894. 
/jausHROOMs on the House-tops.— Many 
and strange are the places we have 
seen or heard of in which the votaries of 
these favourite esculents cultivate or simply 
collect the natural product. In gardening 
establishments it has been the custom for 
many years to cultivate the common Mush¬ 
room (Agaricus campestris) in a systematic 
manner, in houses constructed for the 
purpose, with the view of furnishing a 
regular supply ail the year round. Some 
are very successful, while cultivators of 
repute amongst other classes of plants often 
find the greatest difficulty in securing any¬ 
thing like a satisfactory crop, if indeed they 
succeed in getting a crop at all. On the 
other hand there are those who utilise 
sheds and out-houses, while sorrm success¬ 
ful market growers cultivate Mushrooms 
extensively on ridges of manure protected 
with a thick layer of straw in the open air. 
Extensive cultures have been carried on 
for some years in a disused railway tunnel 
at Edinburgh. In the vicinity of London 
is an old wine cellar, on the top of which a 
mansion once stood, but this has long since 
been pulled down and a new house built 
over a site at a short distance away. A 
regular supply of Mushrooms all the year 
round is obtained from a series of properly 
constructed beds, arranged so that their 
produce affords a constant succession. 
All of the above means and methods may 
be regarded as perfectly legitimate, but 
others of doubtful propriety are sometimes 
pursued. For instance, the tenant of a 
certain building on the northern outskirts 
of London, was brought before the magis¬ 
trate to answer a charge concerning the 
cu'tivation of Mushrooms in the basement 
of the tenement in which his family was 
housed. The vapour and effluvia arising 
from fermenting manure, must have been 
anything but beneficial to the inmates, and 
the cultivator' was ordered to have the 
nuisance removed. We have seen good 
Mushrooms produced from beds of manure 
in the basement of a conservatory, adorned 
with the usual occupants on the floor above 
the Mushroom beds. Another establish¬ 
ment, long famed for its collections of 
Orchids and Cacti, having been broken up, 
the garden was turned into a nursery, 
while the beds, and even the pathways of 
some of the plant houses, were filled with 
manure and utilised for Mushroom growing. 
This latter case, though not exactly illegiti¬ 
mate, shows to what base uses Orchid 
houses in their day of misfortune may be 
put. 
Nature also sows and rears Mushrooms 
in strange places, as might have been seen 
some time ago upon the thatched roof of a 
snug cottage by the wayside in the old- 
fashioned village of Wytham, near Oxford. 
The little garden in front had been a model 
of neatness and care all through the summer 
months, and a Plum tree upon the wall 
blossomed a second time just as the first 
crop commenced to colour. A few days 
ago the tree was leafless, revealing some of 
this second crop of Plums, and the happy 
and contented cottagers were pleased to 
rehearse their history. The husband, 
pointing to the roof of the house, declared 
with evident pride that they had a crop of 
Mushrooms up there, and some fine ones 
too, while his wife interposed with a satis¬ 
fied smile, stating that they were of the 
real sort. While it would be useless to 
speculate upon the possibility of a supply 
of Mushrooms from such a source, the 
incident gives rise to many reflections and 
much mental pabulum upon which to 
ruminate, and has even a poetical leaning. 
We all remember the happy idea of peace 
and plenty represented by the parable of 
“every man sitting under his own vine and 
under his own fig tree.” Here is a case of 
family life, sitting, feeding and sleeping 
under its own Mushroom beds, towards the 
production of a crop from which it con¬ 
tributes nothing. It reminds us, too, of 
some tropical, eastern countries, where the 
natives often sit for long periods under the 
wild Durian trees waiting for the fruits to 
fall. There is a seamy side to the case, 
compared with the last, for, while the 
Durian fruits are being produced by living 
and healthy trees, the Mushrooms under 
notice have been feeding upon and wasting 
the roof of the house over the heads of 
the contented cottagers. One wonders, 
too, while reflecting upon the fields that 
are raided by trespassers in search of 
Mushrooms in various parts of the country, 
whether the roof of a cottage would be 
held sacred by such depredators, and thus 
enjoy immunity from spoliation. 
The common mushroom is cosmopolitan, 
that is, it grows wild in all the five con¬ 
tinents of the globe. It is capricious, how¬ 
ever, in its appearance in a wild state, and 
equally fickle under cultivation, so that the 
