438 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 June, 1898. 
AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT AT THE PERA BORE. 
Last month the gratifying news was received that at Port Pirie, South Aus- 
tralia, water had been struck in the artesian bore, and that the flow amounted. 
+o 1,000,000 gallons daily. The value of these artesian wells is only beginning 
to be felt. We have shown how settlement around the sites of some bores in 
Queensland is increasing, and how arid country is becoming valuable as the 
result of successful tapping of the subterranean supplies. Now we learn that 
the Pera Bore, described in Vol. I., Part 3, of this Journal has been the means 
of promoting agricultural settlement in its neighbourhood. The bore is situated 
eight miles from Bourke, New South Wales; is 1,054 feet deep, and yields 
700,000 gallons per diem. The settlers, who at first got their returns from 
vegetable growing, have now gone in for the cultivation and irrigation of fodder 
crops. Large areas have now been planted with fruit trees, such as apricots, 
prunes, figs, raisins, currants, &c. At the same time market gardening has 
been carried on vigorously. ‘Ihere are other bores in the Bourke district where 
orchards have been planted for some time, and the settlers are now drying 
fruit for export. There is every prospect of a large and profitable business in 
this direction. 
THE CULTIVATION OF MUSHROOMS. 
By A. J. BOYD, 
Queensland Agricultural Department. 
Musurcoms grow profusely in many parts of Queensland, and are eagerly 
sought after in the neighbourhood of cities and towns. Dairy farms and 
horse paddocks are the most prolific localities for these excellent vegetables. 
Growing mushrooms in the open is one of the simplest forms of gardening. 
All that has to be done is to prepare a bed, “ spawn’’ it, and the mushrooms will 
appear in due season—namely, in the autumn. But mushrooms really grow all 
the year round, and may be gathered in quantities in the spring season. Hence 
beds should be prepared in time to admit of a crop appearing at the most 
suitable time. The spawn is obtained from the parent plant, and much 
resembles a cobweb. ‘his is preserved in bricks made of a mixture of turf 
and manure, and will last a long time in this condition. 
PREPARING THE BED. 
During January or February a quantity of fresh horse-droppings should be 
collected. They must not be piled up in a heap, but rather spread out thinly 
under a shed until required. Dig trenches 1 foot deep and about 4 feet wide ; 
into the trenches throw the droppings to a depth of 9 inches. Then ram or 
tread them down firmly to exclude the air as much as possible, thus preventing 
the droppings from heating too much. Now break up the spawn bricks into . 
pieces the size of a large marble, and set them a foot apart almost on the 
surface of the manure. Lf no rain should come, give the beds a fair sprinkling 
of water, and a few days afterwards cover the manure and spawn with 3 inches — 
of fine soil. In Queensland we often have heavy rains in February. ‘Too 
much water is injurious to the spawn, so it would be well to provide some 
shelter for the beds. If the weather is suitable, within a month or six weeks 
after covering up the spawn with earth, tiny white buttons spring up at 
intervals ali over the bed, the spawn being distributed in spaces about 1 foot 
apart. These little buttons rapidly develop into mushrooms, and in about three 
weeks they are large enough to cut for the market. 
They do not grow steadily, but after » week or two of slow progress they 
suddenly begin to expand, and in a few days double or quadruple in size. 
