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summer renders it difficult to keep the bed sufficiently moist for their growth.

The Rev. William Williamson, of Westbere, near Canterbury, makes use of this method; and should it be advisable to have Mushrooms during the depth of winter, he is of opinion that they might be obtained, at a trifling expense, by lining the bed with hot dung, and using other precautions to keep out the cold air. Hort. Trans. Vol. iii. p. 6.

Mushroom Spawn.

In June or July, to any quantity of fresh horse droppings, mixed with short litter, add one third of cow's dung, and a small portion of mould to cement it together; mash the whole into a thin compost, and spread it on the floor of an open shed, and let it remain till it becomes firm enough to be formed into flat square bricks, which being done, set them on edge, and frequently turn them till half dry: then with a dibble make two or three holes in each brick, and insert in each hole a piece of good old spawn, the size of a common walnut; the bricks should then remain till they are dry. This being completed, level the surface of a piece of ground, three feet wide, and of length sufficient to receive the bricks, on which lay a bottom of dry horse dung, six inches thick; then form a pile by placing the bricks in rows one upon another (the spawned side uppermost), till the pile is three feet high next cover it with a small portion of warm horse dung, sufficient in quantity to diffuse a gentle glow through the whole.

When the spawn has spread itself through every part of the bricks, the process is ended, and they must be laid up in a dry place for use.

Mushroom spawn made according to this process will preserve its vegetative power many years, if well dried

before it is laid up; if moist, it will grow, and soon exhaust itself. Hort. Trans. Vol. ii. P. 345.

43. MUSTARD.

The only species of Mustard cultivated in our gardens is the Sinapis alba, or White Mustard: it is an annual plant, and cut in its young state, when the seedleaves are fully expanded, and used with Chervil and Cress, as an ingredient among salads.

The ripe seeds were, a few years since, recommended to be taken whole, as a tonic and detergent; and the public was amused for a time with inflated accounts of the medical virtues of this stimulant for debility of the digestive organs.

It requires to be grown in the same manner, and at the same times, as the common garden Cress.

44. NASTURTIUMS, OR INDIAN CRESS.

There are two species of Nasturtium cultivated in our gardens they are both hardy annuals: natives of Peru.

1. Large Nasturtium.
Tropaeolum Majus.
Introduced in 1686.

2. Small Nasturtium.

Tropaeolum Minus.
Cultivated in 1596.

In its native country, the Tropaeolum endures several seasons; but here, being unable to sustain our winter, it is treated as an annual, and requires to be sown every

year.

The flowers and young leaves are frequently eaten in salads. The flowers are also used to garnish dishes. The pods are gathered green, and pickled, in which state they form an excellent substitute for capers.

To those who cultivate Nasturtiums in their gardens, for the sake of their seed-pods to pickle, the second sort is preferable. The common Nasturtium, Tro

pæolum majus, and its dwarf variety are both runners, and require the support of stakes; without which they will extend widely over the borders. Tropæolum minus is much smaller than the dwarf variety of T. majus, not exceeding ten or twelve inches in height, and it grows to about two feet in length.

Both sorts may be sown in March; the former at the feet of pales, or where the plants may be staked; the latter on the borders of either the kitchen or flower garden, where they will not require any support.

45. ONIONS.

The common bulbous Onion, Allium Cepa, is a biennial plant, supposed to be a native of Spain, though neither the native country, nor the date of its introduction into this country, are correctly known. It is distinguished from other alliaceous plants by its large fistular leaves, swelling stalk, coated bulbous root, and large globular head of flowers which expand the second year, in June and July. The following are the sorts cultivated in our gardens:

1. Blood-red.

Dutch Blood-red.
French Blood-red.
Ognon Rouge foncé.

2. Deptford.

3. Early Silver-skinned. Ognon blanc hâtif.

4. Globe.

5. James's Long-keeping. 6. Lisbon.

White Lisbon.

Ognon blanc de Florence.

7. Pale red..

Ognon Rouge pâle.
S. Potatoe Onion.
Under-ground Onion.

9. Silver-skinned.

Ognon blanc gros.

10. Spanish.
Reading.
White Portugal.
White Spanish.
Ognon d'Espagne.

11. Strasburgh.

Essex Onion.
Flanders Onion.

12. Tripoli.

Ognon pyriforme.
13. True Portugal.
Brown Portugal.

14. Two-bladed.
15. Welsh.

16. Yellow.

Ognon jaune.

All the varieties of onion, raised from seed, grow freely in any common good garden soil, in an open situation. They are sown from the middle of January to the end of March, for the main summer crops of keeping onions, and in August for smaller crops to stand the winter for green young onions, in the spring.

To obtain large Onions, Mr. Knight says, " Sow the seeds thick of the Spanish or Portugal, at the usual time, on poor land, generally under the shade of a fruit-tree; and in such situations, the bulbs, in the autumn, will seldom exceed the size of a pea. Take them up and keep them till the following spring, and plant them out; they will arrive at five inches in diameter, and considerably more, and be as sound and good as those imported from Portugal. Plants obtained from seed sown in August, and put out in March, grow also to a very large size, from a pound to twenty-five ounces. Hort. Trans. vol. i. p. 158.

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In adopting either of these methods, it is necessary the ground should be good, in an open situation, and the bulbs planted at a foot distance from each other, hoeing between them frequently, to stir the surface and destroy the weeds. Should the soil be light, it ought to be made firm before planting.

The Potatoe Onion, is so called from its producing its crop generally under the surface, like the Potatoe; hence it is called the Under-ground Onion, and is never obtained from seed. It cannot be ascertained, perhaps, at this time, when it was introduced into this

country, or from whence it came. It appears to have been cultivated in Mr. Driver's nursery, near London, in 1796; and it has probably been known in some of our gardens much longer. There are several ways of cultivating it: the two following have been practised with very good success.

The first is to dung and dig the ground well, and

form beds four feet wide, in February, on each of which plant three rows, placing the roots ten inches apart, and inserting the bulb about half its depth in drills drawn lengthways on the beds to receive them. As they grow, earth them up like potatoes: small bulbs become large ones, and produce offsets; the middle-sized and large ones, large clusters. Under this management, sixty roots planted out in February, produced 360 in the July following.

The second method is that adopted by John Wedgewood, Esq. a gentleman possessing very extensive horticultural knowledge. He says, "When the Onions have shot out their leaves to their full size, and when they begin to get a little brown at the top, he clears away all the soil from the bulb, down to the ring from whence proceed the fibres of the roots, and thus forms a basin round each bulb, which catches the rain, and serves as a receptacle for the water from the watering-pot. The old bulbs then immediately begin to form new ones; and if they are kept properly moist and the ground good, the clusters will be very large and numerous; besides, bulbs grown thus above ground are much sounder than those grown below, and will keep much better quite as well as many others." Hort. Trans. vol. iii. p. 403.

It will be right, however, in adopting Mr. Wedgewood's plan, to make the experiment upon the half of one of the beds planted out according to the first method: it will be the means of clearly ascertaining whether the last method is, or is not, an improve

ment.

The Potatoe Onion is a very valuable acquisition to our gardens, and its cultivation cannot be too strongly recommended. It is most hardy, productive, and of mild quality, equally so with the Spanish; possessing this advantage, that its roots are perfectly ripened and

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