Mushroom Culture

" Cincinnatus:" We do not know of any one who is now growing mushrooms as a specialty. We think we can answer your question, that there is "money in it." But the hap-hazard method which we apply to most of our gardening operations, will not do in mushroom growing. If any one choose to master the culture of the mushroom, they usually are surprised at its simplicity. Yet simple as it is, the knowledge must be acquired thoroughly. Are there many of our readers now growing them?

Scotch Pine Timber

This has been found in Europe to require replacing as railroad ties every three or four years.

The Paulownia

This rapid-growing Japan tree is rather coarse in growth and foliage, but when it can get a chance to stand out by itself, and develop freely on all sides, it is not a bad sort of a fellow. Its great redeeming point is its lovely blue flowers, which throw a fragrance around for a long distance away. It is, we think, a valuable timber tree, though we know of no American experiments with the wood.

Wattle Bark

Wattle is the name given to different species used in tanning leather. It is said the production of wattle bark promises to become one of the most profitable industries of Australia.

Alcohol From The Prickly Pear

Don Fernando de la Camara, a member of the Society of Natural and Physical Science at Malaga, has been experimenting for over a period of twelve years with this plant (Opuntia vulgaris), and has at length obtained results which may be regarded as being satisfactory. He states, in rocky ground at Malaga 2600 Figs, weighing about 13 kilos, are an average crop on 10 square metres, and the proportion of spirit obtained from the juice amounts to about 8 per cent.

Yucca Paper

Mr. A. A. Dance, Argyle Lodge, Bournemouth, England, desires the address of any firm in America, making paper from Yucca. There was one in Denver, Colorado, a few years ago, probably there still.

The Mistletoe In Florida

Mr.W. C. Steele, Switzerland, Florida, says: " Mistletoe is quite common here. It grows most abundantly on the hickory and water oak. It is also found on the common native persimmon, the wild cherry, pru-nus serotina, the prickly ash, and in one instance on a wild plum, prunus umbellata. Though found in large masses on other trees standing among live oaks, I have never seen a single specimen of mistletoe on a live oak".

The Mistletoe In California

Mr. Lester says: "As the mistletoe subject is not yet exhausted, allow me to say I found it very plentifully in 1870, high up on large oak trees in the neighborhood of Saratoga, Santa Cruz Co., California, also in the year after on low scrub willows on Mormon Slough, in San Joaquin (pronounced wa-keen) Co., in the same state. Both places are about an equal distance from San Francisco, in a different or opposite direction.