HOUSE AND GARDEN 
283 
November, 1910 
which will produce diseased 
mushrooms. Of late, many 
improvements have been 
made in raising healthy, vir¬ 
gin spawn. The present cul¬ 
ture is on the pedigree system 
—only spawn from spores of 
the healthiest, largest mush¬ 
rooms being used, and this is 
sterilized, which renders it 
less liable to diseases common 
to this plant. 
As to the lucrative side of 
the experiment, the surplus, 
not used for the family table, 
always finds a ready local 
market. Hotels and restau¬ 
rants of the better kind are 
large consumers of mushrooms in the winter months. 
Wholesale prices range from twenty-five cents to one dollar 
per pound, according to the locality, season and demand. Large 
cities are naturally the poorest markets, as commercial growers 
ship to them in large quantities, often glutting the markets. 
A hand-basket, holding about a half bushel, lined and cov¬ 
ered with thick, brown paper, securely fastened, is the usual pack¬ 
age, if shipping to a distance 
is contemplated. 
Anyone with a country 
home and a good cellar can 
grow large enough quantities 
for home use, and a good 
surplus to sell. It is, alto¬ 
gether, an interesting, paying 
and, if the beds are once 
made, clean culture, and does 
not require any more skill or 
care than growing ordinary 
vegetables under good culti¬ 
vation. 
There are those who may 
object to having a mushroom 
bed, composed chiefly of ma¬ 
nure, in such close proximity 
to the living quarters of the house as its cellar. Where there is 
a stable, greenhouse or other convenient place that will meet the 
requirements of moisture and temperature, such a place should 
by all means be chosen. If the cellar alone remains available, 
however, whatever slight inconvenience may be caused by the 
character of the mushroom bed will be more than offset by its 
productiveness. 
Agaricus villaticus, showing the unusually solid stem which, when 
young, is quite as good to eat as the cap 
First Aid to Wounded Trees 
SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE METHODS OF PREVENTING THE COMMON WOUNDS, 
WITH DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR TREATMENT WHEN PREVENTIVE MEASURES FAIL 
BY J. J. Levison, M. F. 
ARBORICULTURIST, BBOOKLYN PARK DEPARTMENT 
Photographs by the author 
T LIE matter of shielding the bark of 
a tree from the bites of horses and 
from other forms of injury, and the sub¬ 
sequent handling of the wound where in¬ 
jury has already been incurred, are two 
of the most important problems in the care 
of trees. They both are far too generally 
overlooked in almost every part of the 
country. 
A tree like the one pictured in the ac¬ 
companying photograph is a most com¬ 
mon sight in the streets of almost every 
city or village. In one section of Brook¬ 
lyn I once counted fifty-one per cent, of 
the trees ruined in this manner. In New 
Haven four hundred and eight such mu¬ 
tilated trees were selected from a total 
of eleven hundred and forty-three, while 
in Washington, D. C., where the trees 
have been systematically protected for a 
great many years, I could hardly find a 
bruised specimen. 
With the bark thus injured, a tree can 
no longer produce the proper amount of 
foliage or remain in a healthy condition 
very long. The reason of this becomes 
very apparent when one looks into the 
nature of the living or active tissue of a 
tree and notes how it becomes affected 
by such injury. The live portion of a 
tree is the “cambium layer,” which is 
a thin tissue situated immediately un¬ 
der the bark. It must completely en¬ 
velop the stem, root and branches of the 
tree. The outer bark is a protective cov¬ 
ering to this living layer, while the en¬ 
tire interior wood tissue is composed of 
dead cells and merely serves as a skele¬ 
ton or support for the tree. The cam¬ 
bium layer is the real active part of the 
tree. It is the part which transmits the 
sap from the base of the tree to its 
crown; it is the part which causes the 
tree to grow by the formation of new 
cells, piled up in the form of rings 
around the heart of the tree; and it is 
also the part which prevents the entrance 
of insects and disease to the inner wood. 
From this it is quite evident that any 
injury to the bark, and consequently to 
this cambium layer alongside of it, will 
not only cut off a portion of the sap 
supply and hinder the growth of the tree 
to an extent proportional to the size of 
This is the result of leaving unprotected a 
tree that is planted in front of a city or 
suburban home 
