up one side of the ridge and down the other, and the work is done
expeditiously and well, without exposing any part of the bed more than a
minute or two at a time. It is necessary that the uncovering be done by
rolling the straw down from the top of the ridge; if it were rolled up
the covering on the other side of the ridge would be sure to slip down a
little, and break off many small mushrooms. The mushrooms as gathered
are of three grades; the large or wide-spread ones are called
"broilers," the full-sized ones whose neck frill is merely broken about
half an inch wide are "cups," and the small white ones whose frills are
not broken at all are termed "buttons." All of these are kept separate.
They are marketed in different ways, but the growers who make mushrooms
a specialty assort and pack them in chip baskets, boxes, or otherwise,
as the metropolitan and provincial markets demand or suggest. Mr. John
F. Barter, writing to me from London, says: "As to punnetts, we use the
same as for strawberries or peaches" (the abundance of peaches we have
in America is unknown over there), "they hold just one pound. But it is
getting more general now to have little boxes made to hold say three to
five pounds each; these are better for packing in larger cases for long
journeys."

The first cutting is a light one. After this the bed is cut twice a week
for three weeks in mild weather, or once a week in inclement weather.
The last two or three pickings are thin and only secured once a week.
Altogether ten or eleven good pickings are gathered from each bed.

I never knew of a single instance in which any attempt was made to
renovate an old or worn-out bed. But when the beds become so dry as to
need watering a small handful of salt is dissolved in a large pailful of
water and with this solution the beds are freely watered over the straw
covering, but never, to my knowledge, under it.

My old friends, George Steele and Mr. Bagley, of Fulham Fields, used to
run part of their beds east and west, not only for convenience sake so
far as the beds themselves were concerned, but with the view of growing
early tomatoes against the south side of these beds in summer, and here
they got their finest and earliest crops, for the London gardeners can
not grow tomatoes out of doors in the open fields as we can in America.
Other gardeners clear away the manure for use elsewhere in their fields,
and as it is so well rotted it is in capital condition fo