The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life RationallyLoudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Cooking; Country life; Home economics
_Mushrooms_ are generally grown in the back shed of a vinery or
forcing-house, in beds made of fresh horse-dung, which has lain in
a heap under cover, and been turned over several times for about a
fortnight or three weeks, till every part has thoroughly fermented. A
bed is then marked out about twelve or fourteen feet long, and five
feet broad; and, if it is on the earth, a pit is made of that size by
taking out the soil about six inches deep. The bottom of the bed should
be formed by a layer of long fresh stable manure about four inches
thick. On this several other layers must be placed of the prepared
dung, each being beaten flat with the fork, so as to make the bed as
close and compact as possible, till it is about five feet high, when
the top should be finished off like the ridge of a house. In this
state the bed should remain about a fortnight, and then some bricks
of mushroom spawn having been procured from a nurseryman, they should
be broken into pieces about an inch or an inch and a half square, and
strewed regularly over the bed, each piece of the spawn being buried
by raising up a little of the dung and inserting it. After this, the
surface of the bed must be beaten flat with the spade, and the whole
covered with a loamy soil, and beaten quite smooth. The bed is then
covered about a foot thick with oat straw, and again with mats, and it
will require no further care for a month or six weeks, by which time
the mushrooms will be ready for the table. Care should be taken in
gathering them to twist them up by the roots, as, if they are cut off,
the root, which is left in the ground, will decay, and be injurious to
the young plants. Mushrooms may be made to grow in lawns, by procuring
some bricks of mushroom spawn, and, after breaking them into pieces
about an inch or two inches square, burying these pieces by raising
a little of the turf wherever the mushrooms are wished to grow, and
placing the spawn under it. This is sometimes done in April or May; but
if the season should be dry, the spawn will not germinate. Others put
the spawn into the ground in August, or in the first week in September;
the lawn is afterwards rolled, and no other care will be requisite
until the mushrooms are ready for gathering, which will be in a month
or six weeks after the spawn is buried.
LETTER XI.
THE MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES.--PLANTING.--PROTECTING THE
BLOSSOMS.--STONE FRUITS.--FIG TREES.--GRAPES.--MANAGEMENT
OF A VINERY.--GROWING PINE-APPLES.--FORCING PEACHES AND
NECTARINES.--STANDARD FRUIT TREES.--KERNEL FRUITS.--FRUIT
SHRUBS.--STRAWBERRIES.--TART-RHUBARB.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account