FARM AND GARDEN.
•MATTERS OF INTEREST TO
v. AGRICULTURISTS
Soma tip to Data Uinta About Cultiva
tion of tlta Soil and Vlalila Thereof—
Horticulture VUlealturo and glorl
ealtaro.
Culture of Bluehrooms.
- Some time ago a correspondent of
the Farmers' Review requested more
Information on the growing of mush
rooms, which we promised to give when
opportunity presented. We will de
vote this article to the culture of
mushrooms in buildings, because such
culture is the only kind that is advis
nble during the remainder of the year.
We hope that some of our readers will
take interest in the subject sufllclently
to begin cultivating them on a small
acale. The outlay is 6mall and the
vork not hard. Resides, mushrooms
Are not particular as to conditions, and
may bo grown in cellars, barns and
other outhouses, especially old green
houses. We believe that many a family
might grow mushrooms with little
trouble, and find in them a valuable
food product, even if the family of the
grower consumed the entire crop.
Mushrooms are very nutritious This
Is contrary to the idea of those that
know nothing of them. Most people
suppose, because of tlieir rapid growth,
that they are unsubstantial in tex
ture and can possess little of food
value. On the contrary, It Is doubtful
If there be any other vegetable
possessing a like amount of nutri
ment. The statement is made that
mushrooms possess as much nutriment,
PYRAMIDAL MUSHROOM BID 1ST CELLAR.
pound for pound, as beef. This is
doubtless n faet. as mushrooms take In
nBd throw off carbonic
acid gas, as do animals, while nearly
all vegetables do the opposite; that Is,
'threw off oxygen and take in carbonic
add gas.
To those living within easy reach of
cities, the culture of mushrooms pre
sents a means of revenue. The de
mand for mushrooms is large and
prices are high. France supplies most
of the mushrooms used in American
hotels and restaurants, and even then
canned goods have to be used. With
an increase in the supply of fresh
mushrooms would come an increase in
the demand. It seems strange that
American gardeners have so long neg
lected growing this dellolous vege
table.
* tfa France caves and cellars are used
'extensively for the growing of mush
-kiooms. Most of our farmers have
..cellars, either in houses or barns, that
iar© sujted for this vegetab]g. A Jew
requisites are necessity; the cellar
-ahould be warm, dry and dark. Drafts
'hy means of doors and windows are to
he avoided, where the draft would
-oome immediately over the mush
■room beds.
‘Temperature and moisture should
he uniform, from day to day, as near
ly as possible. Sudden fluctuations
of temperature or of moisture are not
desirable. These are, however, but
-Abe requisites of a good cellar, and
-therefore any one that has a really
• good cellar can grow mushrooms. In
some parts of the east where the mar
tlcet gardeners are beginning to grow
imushrooms on a large scale, cellars
mre beinir built for this mimosa si am
VXD IX BOTTOM OF OLD CASK.
If it pays to excavate and build oel
lain tor this crop it eertalnly will pay
to grow them when the cellar is
otseady at hand. As the mushrooms
•re to be grown in the winter as well
■sain the fall months, care should be
token to make the cellar impervious
tooold, especially if the culture is to
'baon a large scale. If only a small
lied is to be made, it will be better to
(experiment with the cellar just as
it is, to save expense. If the
cufbure is in sufficient magnitude
to Warrant the outlay, make the win
dows tight tor the winter, by having
double sash. This is needed anyway
to moot oeliars to protect the vegeta
lkies stored there tor winter keep. If
sa door opens into the open air, it
Oheuld be supplemented by another
doer, thus insuring freedom from
igusta of cold air when the door is
.Open. But in most cases this is unnec
•Bleary, as there will be an entrance
-from the house above or from some
•other room. As to shape of beds,
tor re is no prescribed rule. The above
oat shows only one form. They can
ke made tot if desired, or put in a box
or on a shell
’ tome growers on a small scale uti
lise old casks, sawing them in two, and
jBsiag both end*. In such a case holes
ah—M be bored in the bottom of each
bah, and a layer of soil placed la Orel
At stable manure is then pat la*
sometimes mixed with s smell propor
tion of loam. The greater part should,
however, eonr.tst of manure. When
the tab is half full of this soil and
manure, pnt in the spawn, and fill
up tho tub with manure and earth
well pressed down. The manure or
compost may be rounded up if so
desired.
During the fall months, at least,
mushrooms may be grown in the sheds
or barna If the beds are to be ex
hausted during the summer and fall
months even the open sheds might be
used, especially when they are in pro
tected localities. It will be safer to use
▲ MUSHROOM HOUSE.
dosed sheds, ss then the beds will
survive any sudden fall frosts. In the
cow shed, the horse stable, the car
riage house and tool sheds may be
found warm corners where mushroom
beds will thrive. If the shed is with
out a window, so much the better, as
darkness is desired. If there is no
room on the floor a shelf may be con
structed on a side or in a corner. This
has the advantage of being out of the
reach of rats and mice. The beds
should be made and treated the same
as those constructed upon the floor or
ground, and are said to be as product
ive. These beds will not do In winter
after water will freeze in the sheds,
uhless they are carefully covered each
night It is best to use them only for
Bummer and fall production.
The methods we have mentioned
above may be easily adopted by nearly
all readers of the Farmer’s EeviewJ
The growing of mushrooms in green
housos applies to comparatively few—
those that have green houses, or that
desire to conduct regular mushroom
houses. Hot houses are generally too
warm for the mushrooms to do well in
them. Green houses are better, as the
temperature is more suitable for the
growth. Nearly all green houses are
suitable, and the beds can be placed
in parts that are not used for other
things, as under benches. As most
plants can not grow in the dark, dark
places can bo the better utilized for
this purpose. In cool weather the
beds may be covered with straw or
old carpets to keep the temperature
from getting too low. Above we show
an illustration of a house made
especially for growing mushrooms. It
is a sort of green house, but no glass
enters into its construction, being un
necessary and also a detriment The
building is especially designated for
SHELF BED IN STABLE.
growing mushrooms throughout the
year without the use of artificial
heat It la built with the idea
of rendering it Independent of
outside atmospheric conditions. An
excavation is first made like a
small cellar, an<J the dirt tnken from
this excavation is subsequently used
for banking up. The walls are built
hollow, thus giving a dead air space,
and the house is banked up to the eves
of the roof. The roof may be thatched
with reeds, slabs or anything that will
keep out air and rain. A hollow space
may be left in the roof to be filled with
sawdust. The floor may be of burnt
clay, or any material that will give a
dry, hard surface. Drains may be
necessary to keep the place free of
water.
The illustration below shows three
mushroom beds in an open garden in
Paris. This represents winter culture
in that city, where the temperature is
not generally so low that the beds can
not be protected. In the cut the beds
are covered with old mats, carpets,
et», and held in place with stones,
bricks and boards. The beds are cov
ered at nights and cold days. Usually
the method followed is this: The horse
manure is collected for several weeks
before it is to be used. All chips,
stones and rubbish are taken out, and
the manure is then placed in heaps two
feet thick and pressed down with
a fork. The bed is stamped down,
watered and stamped again. It is
then left for about ten daya till fer
mentation has begun to set in, when
the bed is all forked over, care being
taken to put the manure that was on
the sides in the oenter. The bed is
treated as in the first making. Ten
days more elapse, and the manure is
then in condition to be used in the
bed. The permanent beds are then
made, about two feet high and wide
and as long as desired. The beds are
packed solid and soon begin to heat
MUSHROOM BEDS IK PARIS.
again, but on account of the , previous
treatment are not so hot that the
spawn will be killed. The spawn la
placed in the manure near the base of
the beds, and the whole is then cot*
ered with several inches of straw or
other litter. In about ten days more
the white filaments are seen spreading
in the beds, and at this time a layer of
about one inch of rieh earth is placed
over the bed. Theee beds hare some
times to be watered, especially it the
Mason is T«ry dry.
DEFUNCT TREASURY.
TARIFF AND FINANCIAL BLUN
DERINQ THE CAUSE.
Tlia Democratic Party Is Hopelessly In
competent to Do Anything Kxcept
Plunder the Masses of Work and learn
ings—Hot Shot.
Just before the country passed into
control of the present administration,
Jan. 31, 189:%, the gold reserve in the
national treasury amounted to 810",
000,000. QA year later, Jan. 31, 1891,
it had been reduced to 803,000,000. lly
the aid of a 830,000,000 bond gold loan,
and the premiums of $8,000,000 on that
loan, the reserve {was again restored
above its legal limit of 8100,003,000.
Last month, July 33, the gold reserve
had again fallen to 800,373,095. De
ducting therefrom the $50,000,000
gold loan and the 88,000,000 of premi
ums on the loan, we would have only
83,375,005 remaining as the balance of
the treausry's gold reserve to main
tain the credit of the country after
less than eighteen months of a demo
cratic administration that has threat
ened the country with free trade.
i. uus:
NATIONAL GOLD RESERVE.
Jan. 81, 18113.*108,000,000
July 83, 1804. *80,375,003
Deduct:
Gold loan.*50,000.000
Premiums. 8,000,000 58,000,000
Balance without loan. *3,375,085
No account has been here taken of
the *10,000,000 in gold secured from
New York bankers last month, by a
transfer of funds, in order to relieve
the treasury gold fund. Without this
*10,000,000 and without the loan the
gold reserve would have been com
'Tariff Reform.''
TUB GOLD GOES*
pletely wiped out of existence, and
there would have been a deficiency of
§7,024,03‘i in meeting the demands for
gold that have actually been made
upon the treasury with not a dollar of
gold security left for the payment of
treasury gold notea This is the re
sult of less than eighteen months of a
democratic administration and the
fear of free trade.
DECREASED USE OF WOOL.
A Large Falling Off In Our Manufacture
of Woolen Goods.
The Ameiican clip of 1993, the larg
est ever known, will have passed
into consumption by the end of the
fiscal year, June 30. For the nine
months ending March 31, the imports
of raw wool were nearly 100,000,000
pounds below those for the same
period of the previous year, and esti
mates on this basis for the whole
twelve months would indicate a fall
ing off of about 120,000,000 pounds, a
decrease of 71% per cent for the year
in the imports of raw wool. The de
crease in imports of manufactures of
wool estimated on the same basis to
gether with the raw wool, shows a
falling off in the total imports for the
present year of 105,000,000 pounds
of wooL It is estimated that
the American people will have con
sumed during the present fiscal
year only 491,000,000 pounds of un
washed wool, or less than one-fifth of
the world's production, as against
615,000,000 pounds, or over one-fourth
of the world's supply, consumed in
the previous year. Notwithstanding
the increase of 31,000,000 pounds, in
the domestic clip of last year, a fall
ing off in the consumption of 134,000,
The Knock-out In November.
000 pounds has taken place in the
United States While there has been
an increased consumption of Ameri
can grown wool, the total consump
tion shows a large decrease, which
has fallen entirely upon the imported
article. This would not have been
the case If the McKinley law had been
repealed when it was first menaced.and
while nearly all of the-benefits of this
law hare been nullified since active
steps for its repeal were set on foot,
it has yet given some advantages to
the American wool grower in the
hours cf its repeal.
, ■ . ■- V ,, ■ :
A Democratic I.lar Unmasked.
We are in receipt of a letter from
Mr. G K. Kennedy, editor of the Be*
view, Villisca, Iowa, in which he In
closed the following article:
There is a firm at Eagle Pass, Texas,
said J. It Ware, who has lived there
for years, that sells Ames' shovels.
They cost them 80 per dozen. The
same firm has a store just over the
river in Mexico There they sell the
same shovel, bought of the same firm,
and what do they cost? Only 83.00
per dozen. Who gets the extra
'Tariff Keform.”
ITS EFFECT 05 LABOR.
83.10 which all this vast country
of ours pays on each and every
dozen used? Is it the govern
ment? Does the laborer who makes
the shovel receive it as a present?
“No,” answers the last two questions.
It is the protected manufacturer. We
want every reader to remember when
he goes to the hardware store to buy
a common shovel with which to earn
his bread by the sweat of his brow,
that a millionaire manufacturer
reaches into his pocket and takes out
35 cents more than a legitimate profit,
in the name of "protection.” What
is true of shovels is true of nearly all
hardware. Protection, thy name is
“thief.”
This was clipped from a local demo
cratic paper in Iowa. We referred it
■to the Ames company, which manu
facture shovels, nnd asked them to
furnish us with the facts. Here is
their reply:
North Easton, Mass., August, 1804.
Dear Sib: In reply to the letter of
Mr. W. P. Wakeman about our
shovels of same quality being sold at
Eagle Pass, Texas, at 8C per dozen
and over the line in Mexico at 83.90
per dozen, it is the same old lie that
was circulated in spring 1893, and we
enclose you a copy of letter written to
Mr. Henderson July 3, 1892. The
present price of our best Ames quality
crucible steel No. 2 size shovel to the
largest trade is 88.10 net, and our
cheapest shovel is 83.75 net per dozen.
The 80 shovel mentioned must have
been our fourth or fifth grade and the
83.90 our very poorest Our Ames
quality of goods have never been sold
at anywhere near the price mentioned
—say 8*1 The very lowest price for
our poorest shovel is 82.75 net per
dozen, delivered in New York, and
freight would have to be added to
Mexico. And wn sell them at same
price to large jobbers and export trade
in all cases Yours truly,
Oakes A. Ames, President ■
---jfer. .r . • j
They Were a Long Time Reaching It I
Cheap Wages Competition.
The Japan Mail, published at Yoko
hama, is authority for the following,
in regard to the wages of mill opera
tives in Japan; also as to the value of
Japanese money and the cost of coal,
all of which may throw some light
upon the problem of successful indus
trial competition with the “Yankees
of the eaBt;”
The daily wage of a factory girl in
Hiogo is 9 Ben, whereas in Tokio it is
13 sen, and 10,000 pounds of coal, cost
ing from 23 to 23 yen in the latter
city, can be had in the former for
from 18 to 19 yen. One yen equals a
Mexican dollar. One Mexican dollar
equals 50 cents United States gold.
One sen 1-100 of a yen or 14 cent gold.
Nine sen for a girl per day is equiva
lent to 4K cents gold per day. Wages
of a girl for one year, or 300 days,
$13.50 gold, or $27 silver, per year.
Coal at 19 yen for five tons equals
about $1.90 per ton.
Good for England.
The new tariff bill of the United
States, which has now passed its
third reading, will remove a great
burden from many sections of indus
try in this country. The Sheffield
cutlers, whose commodities were sad
tiled with duties varying from 70 to
100 per cent, and in some cases a great
deal more, under the McKinley bill,
will enjoy immunity from taxation to
the extent of about $0 per cent, while
cither branches of the hardware in
dustry will benefit almost in the like
proportion. Other circumstances
therefore being propitious, we may
have the pleasure of observing a re
vival of an American trade, although
nothing much in that respect, it is to
be feared, will be accomplished dur
ing the present year.—London Indus
tries, July 6, 1894.
OUB FLAG IN COBEA.
TH£ FIRST TP TEACH THE
COREANS MANNERS.
'Dow the Massacre of tha Crew of the
American Schooner Gen. Bhermnn
Was Avenged by Our Aslatle Squadron
In 1871.
for an opportunity to crush the
American army aa soon as it had »«!
tered the ravine lying' below the f0„
To defeat these tactics five howit*
ers and two companies of infant
were posted as a rear guard on risin*
ground, while the main body morJ
forward to storm the citadel. ThI
Coreans attacked the howitzers h
large numbers, but the excellent pra*
tice made by the American gunner,
under Master A. V. Wadhams scat
tered them effectually and prevented
any large body of them from gettin»
into close quarters with our men. *
Presently, at a signal previous,
agreed upon, the firing from the
Monccacy ceased, and amid a hail o!
bullets from the enemy our meg
sprang up the steep incline to attack
the citadel. They swarmed over the
ramparts or through the breaches.and
in a twinkling were at close quarter,
with the defending garrison. The
Coreans fought stubbornly to the la,,
without asking for quarter, and wen
all of them slain. After that the re
maining subsidiary forts were soot
captured, and fifty flags and 481 piece,
of artillery fell into the hands of the
LIEUT. M’EEE.
conquerors, The citadel was named
Fort McKee, in honor of the gallant
young officer who was the first over
the parapet
The defeat of 1871 probably rendered
the Coreans more ready to treat
peaceably with foreigners than they
were before. In any case the hour for
opening up the country was at hand.
The process began in 1876, when s
treaty was made- with Japan. A party
of Japanese sailors, while landing for
water on Kang-wa island, were mis
taken for Americans or Frenchmen
and were fired upon by a neighborin’
fort Japan saw her opportunity, ant
her fleet demanded as an indemnity
that certain privileges in trade w
granted her. This was ihj first stet
N ORDER TO
trace the history of
America’s relations
with Corea and the
general opening up
of the country to
the influences of
western civi 1 i z a
tion, it is necessary
to go back to the
year 1866. At that
i time Corea was
uio iieriuit Kinguum m U1ULC
than name. The present king
had ascended the throne a couple of
years before, but being a mere boy
the government was wholly in the
hands of his regent father, who
was a bitter hater both of foreign
ers and of change. Some French mis
sionaries, who had braved the law of
the country and boldly advanced into
the native cities, were horribly massa
cred in 1866, and a French expedition
sent to chastise the Coreans ascended
the Seoul river and attacked several
forts, but lost so heavily that the ex
pedition sailed away without having
accomplished the end aimed at, and
having left the Corean soldiers with
the impression that the foreigner
could not fight, and that the Corean
was invincible.
In the same year an American
ecliooner, the General Sherman, chart
ered by a British trader, sailed for
China on an experimental voyage of
trade and discovery. The vessel en
tered the Ta-tong river and never re
turned. It was burned by natives,
and those on board were slaughtered
to the last man. On the news of this
massacre being received Commander_
now Rear Admiral—R. \y. Schufeldt,
visited the peninsula with the war
steamer Wachusett on a mission of in
quiry. No satisfaction, however, was
obtained, and a similar mission, under
Commander Febiger, of the Shenan
doah, despatched a few months later,
proved equally barren. Finally, in
1871, our Asiatic squadron, consisting
of the flagship Colorado, the corvettes
Alaska and Benicia, with the gunboats
Monocacy and Palos, was despatched
under Rear Admiral Rodgers, to Co
rean waters.
It was intended to secure a treaty
for the protection of Americans ship
INTERIOR OP PORT McKEE.
wrecked on the coast of Corea, to in,
quire into the Gen. Sherman affair
and to obtain if possible a treaty of
commerce. Peaceful negotiations,
however, proved to be impossible.
The natives garrisoned the forts along
the river and prepared to make things
hot for the foreigners should they at
tempt to ascend the river toward the
capital. A survey expedition, under
Capt Horner Blake, consisting of the
Monocacy and Palos, with four steam
launches, was sent up the river. When
they were close to Kang-wa island the
Corean batteries, containing some
eighty guns, suddenly opened fire
upon them. The redoubt was in
stantly wrapped in a sheet of flames,
discharging in a few seconds about
three hundred shots One account
says that these rasped the water like
i hailstorm. The veterans of the
eivil war had never known such rapid
Bring. Yet only one American was
wounded.
Fortunately the order to fire had
been given a few seconds late; the
American vessels were already out of
the line of fire, and as the guns of the
natives were fastened on logs, they
could not be manipulated and were of
no further use. The answering fire
rrom the gunboats and launches soon
cleared the fort of its defenders and a
week later a punitive expedition was
anded in order to teach the Coreans a
necessary lesson. The force, com
posed of 650 men, was led by Com
mander L. A. Kimberly, the adjutant
beinw Lieutenant Commander
IV. ocott Schley, who was afterward
to win fame as the rescuer of Lieut,
ireely.
The first battesy, which was at
tacked unexpectedly in the rear, was
.akeL without difficulty; the works
were completely demolished and the
:annon rolled into the river. On the
ollowing day the next fort—“Fort
Uonocacy,” as it was christened—was
sleared by shells from the Mono
racy’s guns and was then dismantled
>y the landed troops An ad
vance was next made upon the citadel
>r principal fort, which was perched
>n the crest cf a rocky hill. Tne
Koreans were hovering beyond the
reach of onr guns in vastly superior
toward the opening of the country to
foreign intercourse. The Corean
Japanese treaty of i870— the first en
tered into by the Coreans—was con
cluded on the basis of free-trade, only
a small amount of tonnage dues on
shipping being payable. In a subse
quent convention in 1877 Japan was
granted the privilege of opening three
coaling stations on the coast; in J6’9
the harbor of Gensan, and later
Chemulpo, were thrown open to
Japanese commerce, all other nations
being excluded from the benefits
granted to Japan. In the meantime.
China, which has always regarded
Corea as a dependency of her empire,
began to grow jealous of the increas
ing influence of Japan, and to counter
act this hold of her inveterate enemy,
encouraged, if not actually instigated,
foreign powers to follow in the foot
steps of Japan in concluding treaties
with this “hermit kingdom,” and it
™as 7Uh her helP that Admira'
ahufeldt led the way and successfully
carried throngh a treaty between the
United States and Corea in 188a Later
on commercial treaties were also ne
gotiated by Great Britain, Germany
h ranee, Russia and Italy.
Becoming a Nation of Musician*.
Formerly all the mandolins us<
In this country were imported fro
Germany and Italy; now nearly s
that are used here, and a great mar
are used, are made in this countr
in the past year and a half or t"
years the mandolin has become vei
popu ar here, and its popularity sliov
no sign of diminishing. The denial
for mandolins come from all parts <
and U is *° great th;
wholesale dealers in musical instn
ments are not able to keep up with
promptly. It is said that we mak- i
this country mandolins better tba
the imported, and the same is said '
American guitars. Guitars mad - i
this country are now used throneh •'
the land, and they are also ...
to aU Spanish-American emm rie .
A ®*h "wilh a head and b-!v
sembling that of „„ „lVi or • - i
cently captured off F„lt vVi.i e :
It weighed one ai d a half^-otn-c