Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-05-25
french Mushroom Culture.
SOME CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT HOW THE DAINTY
IS GROWN AND SENT TO MARKET.


The epicure who enjoys so mucn crouts
dur champign0ns does not dream of the
amount OF work which has been gone through
in order to crafty his tastes. There are in the
nelghborhood of Paris from 80 to 300 muSh-
room growers, who live under ground at
depth of from so to 100 feet below the surface.
This Subterranean world is reached by shafts
furnished with upright ladders, up aud do xn
which the labOrerS are constantly passing. 1t
is also down these shafts that the manure for
the beds is thrown, and, when spent, it Is sent
up again in buckets by means of a rope and
pulley.
barely four feet high. In these latter the la.
borer is obliged to work half doubled or On his
knees, pushing his wheelbarrow full of soil or
manure before him in the same posture. He
also has to look after the beds and gather the
mushrooms lamp in hand, and work his Way
cleyerly along the narrow paths between the
or ten inches in width, with tut once straight
ening himself When the beds are male,
trimmed and "soiled," the watering has to be
regularly performed-no easy task when it is
remembered that every drop of water has to
be brought to the foot of the shaft from aDove
and then carried by hand along the Galleries,
often to the dis ia nee of 6OO feet or go feet.
The life of the mushroom grower is really a
hard one, and the mushroom eater while Swal-
lowing his dainty productions, rarely gives
n nm eIe 6s ir hS efforts II is not all
has to pay heavy rent for his quarry-from
$50 to $l2O per notwithstanding to its size
The cost of the manure and its transport form
large item of expenditure, and his crops very
often fail through one or other of the causes
detailed above. Luckily for him the Partisan
ep1cure is excessively fond of mushrooms, SO
that, prOfiting by this amiable weakness the
mushroom grower often manages to bring up
and educate large family, and yet be able to
lay something by for old age. We know one
mushroom grower who owns property in
Paris, but all his brethren are not SO fortu-
nate.
The daily production of mushrooms in and
apiS mo no nh md nnn
grammes tabOut Is tOns) which, as franc per
kilOgramme, gives $1,000 francs, or 5000 a
day, or close upon s.. 100000 per annum. The
whole produce goes to the market, to the pre-
served vegetable manufacturers, or to the
provinces. Formerly mushrooms were sold in
the markets in sleeves or small fiat baskets. M
BOurget OF the Rue de la Petite Truanderie
agent and manufacturer of preserved prOyiS
ions, was the first to introduce the system of
selling them by weight. His firm uses over 2lO
tons of mushrooms per annum, either for pre-
serving or sending into the country. His coun-
try orders for fresh mushrooms often reach as
much as half ton per day.
Growers make special arrangements with
preserved vegetable manufacturers at price
all around OF from about $lj to $l4 per cWt., the
contracts being for six months or a Year. In
the markets they are sold by auction, as they
arrive. Mushrooms are sent inO the prov
!nceS In baskets. They. are carefully packed
In nay or straw, so as to keep them from
breaking shdns or chafng. The baskets are carried
lance. SO that there is no need to disturb the
baskets during the journey.
"A few figures will give an idea of the impor-
and its neghborhood II. Gerard dag grower rat at
H0ullleS and the quarrieS near st. Denis en-
P.oys nineteen horses and fifty laborers. His
daily expenses amount to 500. He has over
Tour miles run OF mushroom beds in his differ
ent quarrles. M. Renaupot of Merry Disc
occupies the most important mushroom quar-
rles OF this district. He receives from Paris
van full of manure every day, or about three
hundred tons per month. He has a little over
two miles run of beds, and sends eighteen tons
OF od mhshT %o to the Paris market, every
Gouvieux in Pcardy, who employs ten horses
and thirty wOrkmen; Nj. MOnin at Les Mou-
nneaux, ten horses and ten wOrkmen; NJ
Brlque, iarlS, two horses and eight wOrkmen;
NJ. Moulin, Paris, ten horses and thirty work
men; NJ. Victor Grillet, at Nitry, has two
horses and six workmen. He has about six
miles run OF beds in his three quarries. NM
Garden, of Vendome; Busse, at Saumur;
Baloche, at Caen, and DupuiS, at Lille, pro-
own districts.
In order not to be troubled with the details
OF the daily sales, the larger mushroom grow
ers make contracts for six months or a wear
with one OF the agents of the markets The
agent en- engages to take the whole crop at from
the price of mushrooms falls sensibly when
the new years vegetables begin to arrive in
the market. The mushroom grower, on his
side. guarantees certain minimum of pro,
ductlon, and binds himself not to Sell to other
agents.
There are in Paris fifty agents who have the
grocers' shops and restaurants, the stalls in the
markets, the manufactures of preserved vege
tables and, toa certain extent, the provinces
The Gold of the World.
The bulk of gold in the world steadily in
cIeases, th9uen the amount is but roughly ap
a ahoMf o Ien ysarS ago it vas estimated
greatly larger now, though we have no fixed
data for .approximating the amount. But it
may De OF interest to see what the bulk of the
all melted and run together. Pure gold is more
than nineteen times as heavy as water, and a
cubic foot OF water weighs thousand ounces
avOirdupOis: A cubic foot of gold would weigh
then over nineteen thousand ounces avoirdu-
pols, and every such ounce of fine gOl / is worth
according to our coinage) somewhat more
t t elghteen dolIars-so that the whole cubic
a third Of million dollars. A cubic yard of
solid gold would be worth twenty seven times
as much as that, or over nine million dollars
more than the S., $50 100000 of gold in the world
ten years ago. These CO. cubic yards would be
contained within q room about fifteen feet
on wd par ana eg
moderate size. But" says some One 'gOld is
SO very malleable that even this small bulk of
1t would gid over the whole earth" But he
either OVereSt1mateS the malleability of gold
or, more likely underestimate the size of the
earth. 1t takes I2SO,OsO leaves of the thinnest
gold foil to make an inch in thickness or about
l5,333, 600 to make foot, or 49, 0OO 900 to yard
cubic yard of gold then. could be beaten out
SO as to cover 100000 square yards, some
what less than 10000 acres, for there are 4,S4O
square yards to the acre. Then, as there are
GU acres to the square mile, the whole $50 cubic
yards OF gold could be beaten out so as to cover
about 10000 square miles; that is, track only
lOO mlleS-less than the extent of Vermont aud
little more than fifth of either New York
or Pennsylvania Philadelphia Ledger.
SUNDAY IN Professionally was bright
and beautiful day, and during the afternoon
and evening all Paris seemed to be out OF doors
1t was the first day that had been warm
enough to attract visitors to the out door cafes
and to the amuSements on Champs Elysees
The ParisianS all attend church in the morn
ing, as usual, but after II o'clock the balance
OF the day Is appropriated tOIpleasure seeking
and enjoyment. The races in the afternoon,
the opera and theatres and circuseS in the
evening, and the cafes and gardens were ali
thrOnged with people. Champs Eysee and the
BOlS de BOOgne were almost packed with vehi-
cles, the strangers and poorer classes in hired
hacks, and the wealthy in their splendid car
rlageS drawn by fine teams. These private
turnOuts are very numerous and elegant, and
the horses are generally black, and lively trot-
ters and steppers. The triple row OF chairs,
extending almost from the Place de Ia ConcOr.
de to the Arch of Triumph, were constantly
occupied by prOmenhders viewing the process