Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-06-19

TERMS $500 4 Year.
NUMBER 81.
9 FRENCH MUSHROOM oULTUR.
Some Curious Facts About How q
Dainty 10 drown and Sent 70 Ha
ket.
From the London Garden.
The epicure who enjoys 90 much
croute dux chompignons does not dreal
} OF the amount of work which has bee
gone through in order to crafty b
tastes. There are in the neighborhoo
of Paris from $50 to 800 mushrool
growers, who live under ground at
depth Of from 60 to 100 feet below th
surface. This subterranean world
reached by shafts furnished with W
right ladders, mp and down which th
labOrers are constantly passing. II
also down these shafts that the manur
for the beds is thrown, and when spen,
it is sent up again in buckets BY mean
of q rope and pulley.
In some Of the salleries The lsborer
can work upright, but there aro other
which are barely four feet high. Il
these latter the laborer il Obliged to worl
halt doubled or on his knoes, puahins
his wheelbarrow full of soil or manurs
before him in the same posture. He alst
has to look after the beds and gather the
mushrooms, lamp in hand, and work hi
way cleverly along the narrow paths be.
tween the beds, many of which are
barely eight or ten inches in Width.
without once straightening himself.
When the beds are made, trimmed and
soiled, the watering has to be regularly
performed-no easy task when Il is re-
membered that every drop Of water has
to be brought to the foot of the shaft
from above, and then carried by hand
along the galleries, often to distance of
600 or 900 feet.
The life of the mushroom grower ia
really hard one, and the mushroom
eater, while swallowing his dainty pro.
ductions, rarely gives him sufficient
credit for his efforts. It Is not all profit,
either, for his employer. First Of all,
he has to pay heavy rent for his quarry
from $50 to $l20 per month--accord-
ing to it's size. The cost of the manure
and its transport form a large item of
expenditure, and his crops very often
fail through one or other of causes de-
tailed above. Luckily for him the Par.
isian epicure ia excessively fond of
mushrooms, 80 that profiting by this
amiable weakness, the mushroom grower
often manages to bring up and educate
a large family, and yet be able to lay
by fsr old age. We know one
mushroom grower who owns property in
Paris, but all his brethren are not 20
fortunate.
The daily production of mushrooms in
and around Paris may be reckoned ct
$4,000 kilogrammes (abou. Is tonsl
which at one franc per kilogramme, gives
$4,000 francs, or 5000 day, or close
upon 81, ,OOO, 600 per annum. The whole
produce goes to the MARKET to the pre-
served vegetable manufactures, or to the
provinces. Formerly mushrooms were
sold in the markets in sleeves or small fat
baskets. NJ. Bourget Of the Rue de Ia
Petite Truanderie, agent and manufac-
turer of preserved provisions, was the
first to introduce the system of selling
them by weight. His firm uses over
200 tons of mushrooms per annum, either
for preserving or sending into the
His country orders for fresh
often reach ~ much as half q
ton per day.
Growers make special arrangements
with preserved vegetable manufacturers
It price all round of from about $40 to
b14 per cwt., the contracts being for six
months of year. In the markets they
ire sold by anction, IS they arrive.
Mushrooms are sent into the provinces in
baskets. They are carefully packed in
lay or straw, 20 as to keep them from
breaking or chatting. The baskets are
,arried in special vans, which travel the
whole distance, 10 that there is no need |
o disturb the baskets during the journey. |
A few figures will give an idea Of the |
Importance of the mushroom-growing
,rade Of Paris and its neighborhood. NJ.
Gerard, q grower at Houilles and the |
luarries near st. Dennis, employs nine |
zen horses and fifty laborers. His daily
expenses amount to 800. He has over
iour miles run of mushrooms beds in his
liferent guarries. NJ. Renaudot, Of
Mery-sur-Oise occupies the most import
int mushroom quarties of this district.
he receives flom Paris van full of ma
lure every day, or about three hundred
ons per month. He has little over two |
niles run of beds, and sends Is tons OF |
Mushrooms to the Paris market every
month. We may also mention n. Pous- |
art, of Grouvieux, in Picardy, who en-
,loysten horses and thirty workmen; n. |
Moulin, at nes Moulineaux, ten horses |
md ten workmen; II. Brique, Paris, twol
lorses and eight workmen; n. Moulin, |
Paris, ten horses and thirty workmen;
Y. Victor Grillet, ct vitry, has two
lorses and six workmen. He has about |
tx miles run of beds in his three guar
les. MN Gardieu, 1t Vendome; Bnsse,
It Saumur: Baloche at Baen, and Dun |
lis, at Lille, produced large quantities |
or the supply Of their own districts.
In order not to be troubled by the do
;ails OF the daily sales, the larger mush-
DOM growers make contracts for six |
months or q year with one Of the agents |
# the markets. The agent engages to |
AXE the whole crop at from 80 to 9T2i
,er cwt., accord ng to the season, for the
price of mushrooms falls sensibly when
he new years vegetables begin to arrive
n the market. Tho mushroom grower
IN his side, guarantees . certain mimi
mum Of production, and binds himself
rot to sell to other xgents.
There are in Paris fifty agents who