the ascension of the woodlouse and beetles to the beds,
and cause the necessary vapour for the production of
really good Mushrooms.
No difficulty stands in the way of having Mushrooms
all the year through, if a convenient house like the
one in the illustration is built. They may then be
grown without houses for nine months of the year.
To have them in June it is necessary to make a bed
under some warm and sheltered wall or hedge, in the
month of March or the beginning of April. Having
chosen a favourable spot, commence by digging out the
184 THE FORCING GARDEN.
soil a foot deep and five feet wide, and of any desired
length. Turn the soil out on one side, if good ; and
then, having a sufficient quantity of well-fermented
manure ready, commence to make the bed. But before
that is done fill up the space which has been dug out
with some brushwood or faggots not, however, quite
to the outside, but from the back to within a foot of
the front edge. On this brushwood or faggots place the
dung stable dung it should be tread, and beat it
firm as you proceed, so as to ensure a solid bed of fully
two feet in depth, and then rake the surface over, and
beat it with the back of the spade as a finish.
The bed, if against a wall, should be at a moderately
sharp lean-to pitch (see fig. 34) ; but if on an open spot
it may be made a sharp span-roof. The manure or dung
must not be over-fermented, i.e. not exhausted in its
fermenting power, but half done. When the bed is
made, break up the soil turned out of the trench below
and make it as fine as you can with the spade. It
should be of a somewhat adhesive nature, but not cold
or poor clay, nor of a dry dusty kind ; good by nature
and made good by manure for other crops that have
been in the ground ; it should also not be too wet.
If dust-dry, water it before putting it on the bed ; it
should properly be half dry, so that it will adhere to-
gether when beaten, which it should be finally, so as
to form a tolerably smooth surface.
A few sticks as large as the finger should be plunged
into the bed a foot deep, to ascertain the heat of it by
pulling them out once within twelve hours, and taking
hold of the warm end ; if the heat is up, and they are
as warm as milk just from the cow, immediately put in
the spawn ; this is best done by the thick end of a hand
THE MUSHROOM BED.
185
dibber. First, make holes two inches deep and one
foot apart all over the bed ; then thrust in each hole
a piece of spawn the size of hole, and press it in tight.
Having spawned the bed, place a handful of fine half-
dry soil over each hole, and beat it in with a mallet.
This being done cover the bed over, first with dry old
hay or straw, and then with straw mats, to keep off
excessive wet.
.A
FIG. 35. SECTION OP STRAW MAT MAKING.
References. A, the door frame, in which the nails are driven to hold the cords, B ;
c, the first handful of straw tied in ; D, bundle of reed, or straw.
Here I may as well, for the convenience of the
inquirer and those who have never made, or seen straw
mats, just describe them. First, get some straw, called
' reed ' in some places straw that has not been machine
thrashed, and then some rope yarn or tar twine, and
fasten two long pieces of the twine on strong nails,
each two feet apart, driven into the head of a door
frame. Then take a moderate handful of the straight
straw, keeping the base ends of it quite even, and,
186 THE FORCING GARDEN.
beginning at the bottom, place the first handful the
width you intend the mat to be, bring up the twine
over the handful of straw, pass the end round the line
of twine behind and draw it tight this ties every hand-
ful in tight. Then place another handful of straw of
the same size on the last, and tie that, and so on till
you get to the top, and the mat will be of the width
you wish it. Now with a pair of sheep shears cut off
the corn ends of the straw to make the mat straight
and .even at that end. So the mat is made, and if
made well, and tied tightly as you proceed, it will last
two or three years. These mats are easily made, are
cheap, and far better than Kussian mats or any others
which are used for covering frames, Mushroom beds>
and various other things.
Place these mats like thatch on the Mushroom bed
just spawned ; examine the bed at intervals of twelve
hours to see if the heat is too much or too little ; if too
much, remove some of the covering for a short time ; if
too little, put on more dry hay, ferns or straw. If after
three weeks from the time the spawn is put in the bed
the surface has become very dry, give it a little water
without the rose, putting it between the original places
where the spawn was introduced, but not too much.
In the course of six or seven weeks the Mushrooms
will appear. Covering to the bed is necessary, but
merely sufficient to protect it from the hot sun, and
cold nights. This method of Mushroom growing may
be pursued by all who desire to have them at all times,
except in the dead of winter.
In the case of growing them in the house, shelves
and well-prepared horse droppings are necessary ; and
thoroughly well-made beds on shelves, which should be
MUSHROOM GROWING. 187
made of close oak or elm boards an inch and a half
thick, or even two inches will not be too much ; my
reason for this is, that the beds may not get too dry.
The bottom of the shelves need not be ploughed and
tongued, but merely fitted moderately close, then there
will be sufficient drainage to secure the beds from stag-
nant damp. These shelves should have side boards
rising from six to nine inches above the bottom. A
small flow-and-return pipe should run once round the
house, to keep the temperature at 55 or 60 during the
winter months. A two-inch pipe will heat a small house
quite enough ; and a three-inch pipe is large enough
for any house used for Mushroom growing. As will be
seen in the plan above, I prefer the pipes running round
the walls, instead of in the middle of the house ; one
flow-and-return pipe will be ample. Too much heat is
positively detrimental in growing Mushrooms. If we
consider the conditions under which they flourish best
naturally, we find that they do not require a great heat,
but a temperature of considerably less than 50. Many
a time have I been out early in the morning in the
months of September and October, ' mushrooming ' as
we used to call it, when I was young ; when it has been
so cold that one would be glad of a great coat, and the
dew has been quite heavy on the grass, like a hoar frost
dissolved, so that my boots have been as thoroughly
soaked as if I had walked in water over the tops, such
has been the condensing power of the cold through
the night. < Ah ! ' thought I, ' this is the morning for
Mushrooms,' and so it used to turn out generally. This
should teach us two important things : first, a good dry
heat to spread the spawn ; and secondly, a moist and a
lower temperature to grow the Mushroom.
188 THE FOKCING GARDEN.
The Agaricus campestris will grow to an immense
size under favourable conditions. I have gathered
them as large as an ordinary dinner plate, at least nine
inches in diameter, and so full of catsup that one pint
has been made from one of them, and many a time
they have been gathered as large as a small cheese
plate. I merely note these things to show under what
conditions the Mushroom will do best, and to modify
the idea that they can be grown by very clever men
only. In the plan at the head of this chapter I have
no doubt that it will be seen that the water at the
bottom of the beds is necessary everywhere in houses
where heat is indispensable in order to obtain winter
Mushrooms ; and, as I have said before, in localities
where the woodlouse and beetle abound, it will be a
bar to their getting at the beds. It is necessary to
thinly but securely cement the trough a little beyond
the uprights of the beds, so that the feet of these posts
are surrounded by water ; or the beds may rest on
brick pillars one foot high from the floor of the house.
This house is on a scale of one-eighth of an inch to
one foot. This gives four-feet pathways and eight-feet
beds, which may be rather wide, but they should not
be less than six feet wide ; then there is more body in
them, and they will not dry so soon. The beds should
be not less than one foot thick, and should be well
beaten together when made, with a mallet. The drop-
pings from the stable may contain some short straw ;
all should be well mixed and laid up in a heap to fer-
ment a few days before making the beds, and some
half-dry or old cow-dung may be mixed with the drop-
pings when the beds are made. The earthing of them
after they are made should be done immediately, and
MUSHROOM SPAWN. 189
the soil beaten firmly on them, and as soon as the
heat rises, put in the spawn. No light is needed in
the house for some time, and but little air at any
time. A slow fire may be put on in the winter as soon
as the spawn is in the beds, so as to keep a nice
warmth in the house, but too much heat is not good.
A house like the one above is capable of growing
any quantity of Mushrooms all the year round, and
would well repay market men. It may be built at a
lean-to pitch at the back of a house, but where the
woodlouse abounds it is better to build it independent
of any other building, and on this principle. The
walls, doors, and ceiling should be quite proof against
these pests, and the ventilators at the top made secure
by nailing perforated zinc over them.
Mushroom spawn may be bought of good quality at
5s. per bushel, but it can be made for less and by any-
one ; although it is scarcely worth while for anyone
except those who grow for the market to take the
trouble to make it. These men know how to make it
generally, but it may be had in abundance from mill
tracks ; that is, where corn-fed horses are used to work
malt mills and other machinery. In these places it
generates, and is of first-rate quality. To have Mush-
rooms all through the winter months, make beds in the
house in October and November, and again out of
doors in March for the summer.
CHAPTEK VII.
HOW TO GET EARLY AND LARGE ONIONS.
FEW people are aware how the fine Portugal Onion
is produced. The Onion, I well know, requires heat ;
too much heat can scarcely be given to it ; therefore
plant or sow it in the best and most favourable spot for
the sunshine that you can find. To get the finest
Onions, choose some of the large-growing sorts, such as
Globe Tripoli, Giant Rocca, or Giant Madeira. Sow
the seed thickly on some poor ground exposed to the
full influence of the sun about the middle of August ;
or it may be sown in cold frames quite thick, and
induced to form small bulbs, which should, however,
be ripened, when they may be pulled up and well
dried, as for picklers ; but they should be kept in a
cold room till March or April when some thoroughly
rich ground should be prepared for them in the
hottest place you can find ; but the ground must be
thoroughly good. To make it so, rough-dig it first
in the month of February, mark it out into four-feet
beds, and then put the contents of the common sewer
on the top of them, all over, as a good thick dress-
ing, and let it remain exposed to the full influence of
the air. If this is done in January or the beginning
of February, the manure will get completely pulver-
ised, and lose its injurious qualities.
OMOX GROWING. 191
In the beginning of March or by the middle of the
month, go over the beds with a three-pronged dung
hook, and work the surface over five or six inches deep,
mixing the manure well with the soil, and then leave
it for a week, at the end of which rake down the
ground with a coarse rake, leaving a fine surface ; and
after the first shower that conies dib in the small bulbs
in rows across the beds, seven or eight inches apart
from row to row, and six inches from plant to plant ;
do not bury them too deep. These small bulbs will
give the earliest and best Onions, but they must not
be sown too early, nor allowed to be too thin, or else
they will run to seed. As soon as they begin to swell
off, and show no signs of running to seed, sow a slight
quantity of ' Groulding's Bone Manure,' or * Goulding's
Special,' over them, but mind not to overdo it ; in the
proportion of one pound to every thirty square yards
will be quite enough. Keep them clean, and clear out
the soil round each bulb when they are the size of a
breakfast cup ; the bulbs will then swell rapidly, and
come to a large size and ripen thoroughly by the
month of July. When the tops turn yellow, pull them
up and let them lie on the top of the ground to finish
off through the power of the sun, which they will do in
the course of a week, if the weather is fine. Then
they may be trimmed off and sold. By this means the
English grower may be able to fairly compete with the
French, and by perseverance will have finer Onions
ready for market before they can bring them here.
There is still another way by which the English
Onion grower can compete with the French for our
own markets. (ret some seed of Danvers's Yellow,
or the Banbury Yellow, and prepare a broad piece of
192 THE FORCING GARDEN.
good land well facing the south, and not at all shaded.
Dig it and manure it well in the month of July or
the beginning of August. Dig it deep, twelve or
fourteen inches, make the surface moderately fine,
and drill the seed in six inches apart from row to
row, and sow the seed thinly if you can depend
upon its vitality. If the seed comes up too thick,
thin out, as is usual in the case of spring-sown
Onions.
In the month of November spread a thick sowing
of fine cinder ashes over them, so as to cover the sur-
face ; this will prevent the frosts from drawing the
young Onions out of the ground, which long and severe
frosts are apt to do. In the months of March or April
sow over the whole a good dressing of bone manure,
about four pounds weight to the rod, hoe it in, and
then tread the beds over so as to make the surface
firm, and by the month of June or July fine ripe and
large Onions will be the result. Let our English
market gardeners thus try to meet the home demands
and keep out the foreigner. The Onion can be made
to meet the early demands at home if either of these
plans is adopted. If a suitable spot of land is chosen,
and they are grown on a large scale, it can be done ;
but to follow the ordinary course of sowing Onions in
the spring, and running the hazard of an unfavourable
summer to ripen the bulbs, is bad policy on our part.
Under the most favourable conditions as regards
weather, they will not ripen till after our markets are
filled with French Onions, which brings down the
price so that it does not pay to grow them.
In some of the mild counties of England where the
ONION GROWING. 193
soil is of a sandy and favourable kind the Onion crop
will pay well on a large scale when grown on either of
these plans ; the land may be ploughed deep two or
three times over, well manured, harrowed and made fine,
and the seed drilled in, and finally rolled for the seed.
CHAPTER VIII.
ON WATERING PLANTS, ETC.
THE importance to be attached to the watering of crops
and plants in pots is greater than may be imagined.
If any part of gardening operations requires a practical
knowledge it is watering. When to water, what to
water, and how much water to give, are very important
things to be considered ; plants often suffer by having
too much water given them as well as by not haying
enough. Watering the plants should be the study of
those in charge of them, as doing it indiscriminately
often proves fatal. Amateurs frequently come with com-
plaints to the person from whom they purchased the
plant, now presenting a sickly appearance, which perhaps
has been supersaturated with water, or perhaps merely
wetted on the top while the roots are thoroughly dry.
Some plants must be supersaturated with water to
succeed well with them, while this treatment would
destroy others ; and then again the physiological condi-
tion of the plant is another thing to be duly considered.
Take, for instance, a plant of a gross-feeding constitu-
tion : when the roots fill the pot and there is no soil for it
to feed upon, sufficient water must be given to enable
it to live and perhaps to flower. I know from long expe-
rience that many plants will not only live, but even do
WATERING PLANTS. 195
well as regards both foliage and flower for many years
without shifting, by supplying them with an abundance
of water ; while on the other hand too much water given
to plants not so circumstanced would cause them to
suffer.
It is not only requisite to know the physical consti-
tution of the plant, but also the circumstances connected
with its root. A plant, for instance, that is well esta-
blished in the pot, i.e. the pot being full of root and the
plant coming into or being in flower, will require more
water than it would when it was first potted into fresh soil
and was in a more inactive stage of growth. As an ex-
ample, a Geranium that has just been cut back and re-
potted does not require half the water that it does when
it begins to show flower. Again, the Cactus is an in-
stance of what is required by way of abundant watering
and then a period when no water should be given. The
Heath is an instance of careful watering ; too much or
too little will surely prove fatal to it.
The Heath may be considered a safe guide for care-
ful watering, a sort of medium rule in the matter ; and I
think if this tribe was made a sort of criterion in this
respect, no great harm would ever arise from the opera-
tion ; for there are few plants indeed but require some
such regular root treatment in watering. There are how-
ever some exceptions, and these consist of the Cactus
tribes, the Tydseas, Orchids, Agaves, &c. which require
an entire season of rest, when no water is required,
while on the other hand aquatics always require water
in abundance. Still the Heath may be taken as a rule
for careful watering in general ; but note this : no
plants require half so much water during the winter as
o 2
196 THE FORCING GARDEN.
they do in the summer, nor half so much during dull
and sunless days in summer as they do when the sun
bears upon them and in windy weather. Never give
water when the plant is damp ; most plants except the
Heaths and some Ferns will bear a little drought ; when
they are watered give them enough to soak quite through
the pot, but never (except in the case of aquatics) allow
the saucers to hold the water under the pot longer than
it has drained from the pot after watering.
In the case of watering plants in the ground, one
thing should be observed, and that is, when beds require
water they should have it so as to thoroughly soak the
soil. Never water over the ground a second time during
the same watering ; do all that is required for the sub-
jects as you go along, and do not go over the ground
twice at the same time, for you will find that by doing
so the surface gets into a muddy state, and when it
becomes dry it will get baked under the action of the
sun, forming a surface impervious to the air. This
applies to all ground watering among annual crops, bed-
ding plants, &c. For this reason I condemn all those
waterpots that let out the water over large areas by
driblets; they are simply injurious, by first damping the
surface and then working it into a mud pool, which
should be studiously avoided. But the old-fashioned
rose gives out the water over a small area, and by hold-
ing the pot pretty close to the surface (as close as you
can), the water can be controlled at pleasure by moving
the hand slowly or quickly in a regular way according
to the quantity required ; the watering is thoroughly
done without injury to the soil.
After beds and crops are watered, the next morning
at furthest, they should be lightly hoed over to form
WATERING PLANTS. 197
a dusty surface so as to prevent evaporation, and thus
avoid the necessity of watering again for some days.
If the surface is not hoed it will soon dry, and the
watering must be done again much sooner than would
be required if the surface was stirred.
PAET IV.
MONTHLY CALENDAR FOR THE FORCING
GARDEN.
FOR the sake of a ready reference I think a Calendar of
operations may be convenient here.
JANUARY.
THE EARLY VINERY. In the beginning of the month
the house may be fairly started if not already done, and
pots of Strawberries may be introduced. French Beans
may also be sown in pots (see p. 179), and Rhubarb
roots may be introduced and placed in tubs or large
boxes, being covered to keep the light from them ; a
moist heat should be kept in the house.
All vine pruning must be finished or the vines will
bleed. When bleeding does occur, stop it at once
with some painter's knotting put on with a brush.
THE LATE VINERY. All pruning should be done at
once and the vines dressed over with a thick solution of
Grishurst compound, or soft soap, sulphur vivum and
soot made into a thick paint. Strawberry pots may now
be put into this department and set on the ground floor,
and where they are set let them remain for fruiting,
as the roots will get through the pots very soon and
MONTHLY CALENDAR. 199
get into the border, which will feed them ; give little
or no water to them for some time.
THE PEACH HOUSE. Keep the Peaches as quiet as
possible, but if in pots give water to keep them from
shrivelling. Introduce Strawberry pots. A little ven-
tilation at the top may be given if the weather is mild
and sunny.
THE PLUM HOUSE. All pruning and thinning of the
spurs should be finished and the house kept cool. The
Cherry house the same.
THE GOOSEBERRY HOUSE. All pruning should be
finished, and the trees dressed with soot all over. This
will prevent the Gooseberry fly from attacking them, as
it will do, if it has not probably done so already.
THE CUCUMBER HOUSE. This department will now
require close attention ; a good brisk heat of 70 must
be kept up ; should the weather be frosty no syringing
must be done. Close attention must be paid to insect
pests, and the remedy applied if the least signs of them
appear (see p. 64). Stopping and training must be
duly attended to.
THE MELON HOUSE. Some early plants may now be
planted in the pits and a good brisk heat kept up. Be
sparing with the water, and never water these imme-
diately on the root-stems. Pots of Beans and Potatoes
may be introduced.
THE PLANT HOUSE. As a rule, most of the
inmates of the stove plant-house will be quiet, and
therefore water must be cautiously given. The shrubby
Begonia, Coleus, Gloxinia, Euphorbia, Streptocarpus,
Deutzia, Hoya, &c. must now be carefully watered;
while others, such as the Gardenias, and those that are
moving and coming into flower, may be dealt with
200 THE FORCING GARDEN.
more liberally ; but it is safer to err on the right side,
and not water too freely at this time, when there is
not much sun. Some plants may be shifted and re-
potted, and such as are required for early flowering
may be introduced. The temperature should be kept-
on the rise from 60 to 70.
THE CAMELLIA HOUSE. The early sorts will now
be in flower, and coming into flower. Keep the tem-
perature a few degrees elevated, say at 50 or under,
and never much above that just enough to drive off
damp, so that the opening flowers may be kept clear of
any damage from condensed moisture, and to ensure a
free circulation of pure air ; but in no case allow the
fire heat to exceed 55: air must be admitted as soon
as the thermometer indicates any rise above that.
The plants in tubs and pots may have a little stimulant
given them, but not much ; half an ounce of guano to
one gallon of water will help them to produce fine
flowers. The buds on those plants possessing too many
of them should be thinned out at once.
THE EOSE HOUSE. The Eoses will be breaking into
bud, and will require frequent syringing; fumigating
will also be necessary, for the aphides will soon appear.
By the middle of the month, more plants may be
introduced for succession. Cut back those introduced
as soon as they are in the house; give some liquid
manure to such as are showing flower, and keep up a
heat of 70 or 75, allowing a fall of 15 or 20 by night,
Give no air for the present.
THE LILY-OF-THE- VALLEY PIT. Keep up a nice
mild heat, give air on sunny days, and plenty of
water, especially to the Christmas Eoses coming into
flower, and also to the advancing Lily buds.