Plant gooseberries or currants, and mulch the whole ground between the bushes, and give them no other cultivation, and the berries will grow nearly twice as large as the same varieties standing neglected, to grow up to weeds, in the usual way. Mulching with clean, dry straw, or with charcoal, is a preventive of mildew. It is the easiest method of taking care of strawberries after they are in blossom; the vines will bear much more and finer fruit, and it will be clean and neat. Mulching vines is a great means of insuring a crop. Every crop that can be mulched will be greatly benefited by it; hence, all the straw and litter that can be saved is money in the pocket; for mulching alone, it is worth five times as much as it can be sold for. Burning or in any way destroying cobs, cornstalks, stubble, old straw, or decaying wood, is extravagant wastefulness. MUSHROOMS Are vegetables growing up in old pastures, or on land mulched and the straw partly covered with soil. They are also cultivated in beds for the purpose. Picked at the right stage, they are a fine article of diet, almost equalling oysters. The use of the wild ones, however, is attended with some danger, for the want of knowledge of the varieties, or of the difference between the genuine mushroom, and the toadstools that so much resemble them. Persons have been poisoned unto death by eating toadstools instead of mushrooms. When of middle size, mushrooms are distinguished by the fine pink or flesh color of their gills, and by their pleasant smell. In a more advanced stage, the gills become of a chocolate color; they are then apt to be confounded with injurious kinds. The toadstool that most resembles the true mushroom is slimy to the touch, and rather disagreeable to the smell. The noxious kind grows in the borders of woods, while the mushroom only grows in the open field. It is better, however, not to eat them unless gathered by a practised hand, so as to be sure of no mistake. With the help of one accustomed to gathering them, you will learn in a few moments, so as to be accurate and safe.