114 
House b° Garden 
Hew Booklet 
Gift Suggestions No. 1 
on Request 
Parcel Post 
Paid On 
All Purchases 
PURE* 
TRADE 
MARK 
Useful Christmas Gifts 
TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT WTi ADVISE PLACING 
ORDERS NOW IE DELIVERY IS REQUIRED BEFORE XMAS 
BREAKFAST TRAY SET 
The fresh beauty of this Breakfast Tray Set will give more than the 
usual delight to the morning meal. It is of Pure Linen, daintily hem¬ 
stitched, and comprises one 16 x 24 in. Tray cover and two 14 x 14 in. 
Napkins, complete with hand-embroidered monogram, boxed and 
laundered. Price $10,50 Set 
HOUSEHOLD LINEN SPECIALISTS. ESTABLISHED I 
li LPL yrvG': cok. 
Also 587 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass. 
LONDON—DUBLIN—Factory: Waringstown, Co. Down, Ireland 
ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSES 
{Continued fram page 112) 
dwelling in this country. As labor stands 
today, here is a major obstacle, to be 
overcome only by that painstaking type 
of architect whose usual thanks is to be 
called “fussy”. He wiU insist, and pick 
materials and workmen, insist, supervise, 
and insist some more—and the thing will 
be done. 
The fourth essential would involve a 
sociological essay in itself, for it concerns 
itself with the different mode of living, 
about which has grown up the English 
country house as it is. \Ve adjust an 
English exterior with more, but usually 
with less feeling for its true imvard 
character, to suit our own scheme of 
liv'ing—and wonder why our house is 
different, somehow, from our English 
intention. 
We may build country houses exter¬ 
nally “in the English manner”, but 
because of these four essentials of type of 
house built by English architects as the 
homes of Englishmen, we in .America will 
not ever build English country houses. 
And, indeed, why should we expect to? 
Note: This is the first of a series of 
articles, to appear from time to time in 
House & Garden, on racial architectural 
styles. In each article Mr. Price plans to 
get beneath the superficial aspects of these 
styles, which are often deceptive, and 
state the real spirit of each type. 
MUSHROOMS in the CELL .4R 
DR. E. B.VDE 
M ushrooms, because of their con¬ 
tent of spices, are articles of food, 
although they consist of from 8 o% to 93 % 
of water. They are often called the meat of 
the forest since their meat value is equi¬ 
valent to that of animal meat, and their 
protein content is much greater than that 
of cereals. They are also especially rich 
in food salts, mannite, and sugars. .All 
mushrooms are hard to digest, much 
harder in fact, than meat, therefore they 
are considered more of a delicacy than 
a staple article of food. As the former 
they are appreciated everywhere and 
the edible mushroom, Agaricus campes- 
tris, is now world wide in distribution. 
Since all fleshy umbrella fungi are very 
delicate, a few degrees of an unfavorable 
cooler temperature will quickly kill them. 
For the growth of a fungus, at the period 
of fructification, nothing is so essential 
as plenty of moisture and a constant, 
unchanging temperature. If these con¬ 
ditions are satisfied, and if plenty of 
organic material is offered to the under¬ 
ground network of branching, hairlike 
threads, the fruiting body of the mush¬ 
room will appear above the surface of the 
soil in an astonishingly short time, for 
the fungus proper grows under the soil. 
In the food supply of a fungus, the 
ferments, which play such an important 
role in the decomposition of organic 
material, are essential factors. The ab¬ 
sorption of the food is accomplished by 
diffusion of the soluble constituents. 
These are then manufactured by the 
ferments within the cells, into other 
substances. These ferments, of which the 
enzymes are the most important, do not 
enter into the composition of the food, 
but only act as an accelerator, carrier, 
or catalytic agent, by whose presence the 
change is accomplished. 
Of all mushrooms, the edible mush¬ 
room Agarims campestris is the easiest 
to cultiv'ate. It is found wild in eight 
different species aU of which are edible, 
Agaricus sylvatkus excepted, which, 
although not poisonous, is not palatable. 
It is quite a simple process to cultivate 
mushrooms almost anywhere. Beds can 
be successfully made in any shaded part 
of the garden in summer, even the hot-bed 
can be used for this purpose if it is kept 
shaded. Light is not injurious to mush¬ 
room cultivation, but dryness and the 
direct heat rays of the hot summer sun 
act unfavorably upon the development of 
the fungi. 
The most desirable location for beds 
are in natural caves, tunnels, cellars, and 
any other places which can be kept at a 
uniform temperature of 60 ° Fahr. and 
which can be ventilated at intervals. 
{Continued on page llbl 
Fresh manure is placed in piles f high and 
well wetted; then, in about three days, fer¬ 
mentation begins to take place and steam 
rises from the heap. The manure should 
then be forked over daily until the whole 
mass has become evenly decomposed, after 
which it may be carried in baskets to the 
cellar and placed in the mushroom beds 
