2. _Morelles a l'Italienne._--Having washed and dried, divide them across, put them on the fire with some parsley, scallion, chives, tarragon, a little salt, and two spoonfuls of fine oil. Stew till the juice runs out, then thicken with a little flour; serve with bread crumbs and a squeeze of lemon. MUSHROOM GROWING.[A] [A] A part of the matter presented under this caption was contributed by the author to the Health Magazine and appeared in the March number (1897) of that periodical. To France is due the credit of being the first country to cultivate mushrooms on a large scale, and France still supplies the markets of the world with canned mushrooms. The mushroom which is cultivated in the caves and quarries of France, to the exclusion of all others, is the Agaricus arvensis (the "Snowball"), a species of field mushroom. Of late years France has found a formidable competitor in the culture of mushrooms in Great Britain. The English market gardeners find their moist, equable climate favorable to outdoor culture, and abundant crops are grown by them in the open air, chiefly, however, for the home market. That mushroom growing can be made a lucrative business is shown by the experience of a well-known English grower, Mr. J. F. Barter, who on one acre of ground has produced in the open air, without the aid of glass, an average of from ten to twelve thousand pounds of mushrooms annually; the price obtained for them varying according to the season, but averaging ten pence, or twenty cents, per pound for the whole year. The value of twelve thousand pounds of mushrooms at ten pence per pound would be L.500 sterling or $2,500. For the purposes of comparison the following are quoted from the Pall Mall Gazette, as exceptional prices realized in England for other fruits and vegetables in recent years: Pounds sterling per statute acre: Very early gooseberries, 100; onions, 192; early lettuces, 100; plums, 100; potatoes, 100; strawberries, 150; black currants, 168; filberts, 200. It will be seen that onions and filberts head the list, but the product of an acre of mushrooms has been shown to be worth more than double that of either filberts or onions. In the localities specially favorable to hop growing 30 cwt. of hops to the acre is considered exceptional, while the average price has been quoted at 3 pounds sterling, or about one-fifth of the sum obtained from Mr. Barter's acre of mushrooms. Three months in the year the weather does not favor outdoor culture, and these months Mr. Barter spends in manufacturing brick spawn, which he exports to this and other countries. Among those who have been very successful in indoor culture are Mr. William Robinson, editor of the "London Garden," and Mr. Horace Cox, manager of the "Field."