This Calculation you will fee exactly fits your fixty Rods of Ground, in which I have introduc'd as many Sorts of Things as I thought Neceffary and Ufeful; and I think, as I have difpos'd it, there will hardly be a want of any Herb or Plant throughout the whole Year, even tho' you do not declare your particular Fancy till after all is planted; for otherwife, as I hinted before, fuch a Spot of Ground adapted to the Mind or Cuftom of a Family, fo that it should contain only fome particular things; fuch a Ground, I fay, might be made to fupply ten or twelve in Family, Peafe excepted, provided it is not fhaded with Standard Trees, for when thofe are found in fuch a Piece of Ground as this, altho' they are not planted very close together, yet fuch Herbs, Plants, or Roots, as are under or near their Shade, never thrive or come to good, tho' the Seeds were of the best kind.

The Reason why I except against common Pease in fuch a Piece of Ground, when it is to furnish ten or twelve in Family, is, because they, in the first Place, take up more Room than any Plant belonging to the Kitchen Garden; and, in the next Place, a Crop of common Peafe, when it becomes fit for the Table, foon grows beyond the Table ufe; they grow old prefently, and become fit for nothing but to fave for Seed. Indeed fome of the Spanish Moretto or Rouncevals, will bring good Crops, and laft a long time, with good Management; or we may fet fome of the Imallest Dwarf-Pease, fo as to bring their Crops at different times from those planted in the Neighbourhood.

From what has here been faid, I fuppofe, it will be not difficult for any one to judge of the Product of any Quantity of Ground, and to direct how

L 4

how much of each fort of Herb, Plant, or Root, fhould be raised in a Year for the Ufe of a Family of fix, of ten, twenty, or any greater Number of Perfons: And befides, we may yet expect no fmall Benefit from fome Fruits which may be trained in Efpaliers, and from Gooseberries and Currans, which may be planted in proper Places in the fame Garden; but we must always have a Regard to place fuch Plants at good Distance from one another, fo as to have the Air and Sun free and open where we raise any of the Herbs or Roots which we fow annually, otherwife they will run upright, and never Set to any Substance.

I cannot well conclude this Letter, without putting you in Mind, that in Auguft and September it will be a proper Time for you to examine the Fields for Mushrooms: In order to provide yourself with that fort of Earth which is found about their Roots, and is full of fine white Threads, and fometimes has little white Knots appearing here and there in it; for this Earth contains what is neceffary for the Production of Mufhrooms. The Mushroom is fo great a Curiofity, and is fo useful a Plant in a Garden, that I cannot help giving you the following Account of the Method of making the Beds for them.

Of Mushrooms, the manner of their artificial Production.

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Otwithstanding the Value which is set upon the Champignon or Mushroom, by Men of polite Tafte, and the extraordinary Price which thofe of the best Sort will bring in the Market; I have not been able to perfuade any of our Market Gardeners, to make that Branch of Gardening their Study or Practice; nay, even tho' they

have been invited to it by Perfons of Honour, who would take all off their Hands that they could raise. In the Autumn Seafon indeed, it is common to fee them appear naturally upon old hot Beds that have been ill made; and then it is almost as frequent, that we are told thofe Beds were made on purpofe to produce them; but these Beds are inconftant, giving a few for a fhort Space, and leave us the greateft Part of the Year without them; whereas, if the Beds are rightly difpos'd and order'd according to Art, we may have them at Pleasure in any Season.

I have already obferv'd in fome of my former Works, that the French Way of making Mushroom Beds, (I mean the Method which is us'd about Paris, where we may continually find feveral Acres of these Beds) is to make each Bed at twice, and that we must only use pure Stone-Horse Dung; each Parcel to be tofs'd up fifteen Days in a dry Place before we use it, and kept during that Time free from Wet; which muft unavoidably be observ'd, or we cannot hope for good Success, and there feems to be good Reafon for it; for by this making of the Bed at twice, the Bed partakes of two different Heats at the fame Time; the first Part by that time it has been made fifteen Days, begins to decline in its Heat, and then the fresh Dung coming to be laid upon it, increases in its Heat as the firft Part declines, which affords us much fuch another changeable Variety as we find in the Season, when Mushrooms appear of their own Accord; and it is fuch Irregularity of Seafon, that gives Life to the Seed or Spawn of the Mufhroom already in the Ground. It is to be obferv'd likewise, that when the Bed is quite made, we must not cover it above an Inch thick with fineEarth; for if it is more than that thickness, and the Mufh

rooms

rooms chance to come up, they will be small and watery, efpecially, if the Earth be fomewhat stiff; indeed if the Earth be extream Light and open, though it be laid a small matter thicker than an Inch, it will not do much Harm.

I have obferv'd that the French Gardeners, when they make Beds every Month, put Pieces of the Mushroom Earth, as large as Walnuts into the Earth which covers the Bed, juft in the Line where the two Makings of the Bed joyn; for 'tis in fuch a Place where the Mushroom Earth, i. e. that which is full of the little white Strings and Bulbs of the Mushrooms, meet with the declining and encreafing Heat, which is fo neceffary to make them fpread and grow; and moreover, the Horfe Litter which covers the Bed, contributes to retain the Vapour which rifes from the Bed, and imitates in fome Meafure, what we call a Fog; and befides, only admits a glimmering Sun to reach the young Buttons of the Mushrooms; for too much Sun dries the young Mushrooms, and stops their Growth, and too little, fuffers them to rot; therefore it is neceffary the Litter we cover our Bed with, fhould be clear'd from all Dung, and be laid upon the Bed very light and free. I am the more particular in these Obfervations, because fome Beds have been made for the Production of Mushrooms after my Directions, as has been faid, that wanted every one of the Particulars I have here reafon'd upon; and at last when it was found that no Mushrooms appear'd, the Fault was laid at my Door. But befides thefe Errors of making the Beds at once, and with old Dung; when I came to fee them, they were made flat at Top, which is a Pofition that a Mushroom does not like, it holds the Water too much, and they become rotten

thereby ;

thereby; but upon the Side of a Slope, as in the Bed I direct, is the Situation they delight in. We ought alfo in two or three Days after we have planted our Bed with Mushroom Earth, to be very careful to examine it Day after Day; for if a Mushroom should come up, and rot upon. the Ground, it will breed Maggots or Worms, that will deftroy all the young Spawn or Buttons in the Ground, and then our Labour is all loft; and befides, this Examining our Beds every Day, will keep the Litter light and open upon the Beds, and so promote the Mushroom Growth.

To examine the Course of the Mushroom Fibres, we fhall find at proper Distances, Knots or Knobs joyning to the Strings of the Roots, each Knot about the Bignefs of a Pin's Head, running just under the Surface, in the Manner of Potatoe Roots; which Knots in a few Days, if the Bed has any Heat, will come to be Mushrooms fit to gather; and we must by no means let any of them remain upon the Bed after they begin to spread, or open their Caps, for then they will breed Worms that will deftroy all the young ones; fo in the gathering them, we must have no lefs Care to take all the broken Parts of the Mushrooms away, and particularly every broken Stalk, for they first are attack'd by the Worm; fo likewife when we gather them, or pull them out of the Ground, if we find any Imall spawn about the Roots, we are to feparate it from the Root, and plant it immediately in fome Part of the Bed where there are the fewest Mushrooms, using this Spawn very gently, fo as not to bruise it; and in a few Days, in proportion to the Heat of the Bed, it will grow and produce Mushrooms.

When