Page images
PDF
EPUB

Catacombs Furnish Eatables

By William George

ORKING like moles in the earth, deep down under the streets of some of the greatest European cities, there is a class of men engaged in a strange industry. To meet a demand from the tables of the rich they are delving among the rocks, hunting out old catacombs and forgotten tunnels and paying for the privilege of using them. They have utilized old cellars, too dark and damp and unhealthful for other purposes, and even, in some instances, are operating in galleries of subterranean quarries which have been lost to the remembrance of most men for hundreds of years.

What for? Mushrooms. It is the way they are grown nowadays-these fungi which are considered a delicacy the world over, and the work is so profitable that available space of the sort described is at a premium. Under the streets and buildings of Edinburgh a single tunnel 3,000 feet long shelters beds which produce 5,000 pounds of prime plants per month, worth eighteen cents a pound wholesale, at an average. In Paris some 1,600 men burrow in the holes which abound under that city of secrets in pursuit of a like employment. In other cities of France and of Germany also the idea has been developed and the industry is growing. And, near

[graphic]

MUSHROOM GATHERER WITH HIS "HARVEST" EMERGING FROM TUNNEL.

[graphic]

PREPARING MUSHROOM BEDS IN UNUSED RAILROAD TUNNEL UNDERNEATH THE CITY OF EDINBURGH.

London, England, is a manufactory which is devoted exclusively to production of the spawn from which the fungus is produced. This factory's output is 3,000 bushels per month and every bit of the spawn is sold and used.

- The growers of the mushroom aim to make it one of the staple articles of diet, like the tomato or the banana, and to create a general demand for it. As a matter of fact the demand just now exceeds the supply, but it is expected that a steady increase in the amount of the product grown will call for an extension of the market at no distant date. American cities are taking up the culture and this means that wide advertising will follow.

The handling of the spawn, or "Mycelium," is an interesting process. This is the "seed" of the fungus. It appears as masses of white, cobweb-like filaments, running through a kind of mildew and, for convenience, it is made up with a fertilizer and common dust into bricks. In this brick form, the spawn, which is amazingly tenacious of life, has been known to retain its power of germinating during a period of twenty years.

The mushrooms are grown either on flat beds or on ridges constructed for the purpose, as illustrated in one of the photographs herewith. The beds are made up in these subterranean gardens by a combination of litter and fertilizer laid in depths varying from six to sixteen inches. The chambers in which the growing is to be done are heated to a temperature of 75 degrees and the spawn is planted by breaking off portions of the brick and dropping them into the beds. at points separated by about a foot. If the spawn is in proper condition about a month is required for the mushrooms to grow. Proper temperature and air supply are very important and a constant fight must be carried on against insect pests peculiar to the mushroom. The "plants," when they are grown to proper size for market, are picked by men who understand this art and who use special instruments for their task. The product varies in selling value according to size, delicacy and color, and is priced accordingly.

In France alone, the product is said to mount up into the millions of dollars.

[graphic]

That Every Posting You
Made To-day
Is Correct"?

If you would let us show you the Burroughs Proof of Posting System, which shows you how to prevent errors in posting and will guarantee a Trial Balance when used with the Burroughs Balance Systems. Complete explanations and some sample forms sent for a request on your business letter

[graphic]

head.

This great labor, time and money saving short-cut is

but one of the many equally valuable economies the Burroughs makes possible.

It is one of the reasons why the Burroughs is built in the largest adding machine factory in the world. Ninety per cent. of all adding machines sold are Burroughs.

Over 50,000 Burroughs are in use by more than 25,000 business houses. It is the only adding and listing machine-why, the Burroughs sells one machine every fifteen minutes of a ten-hour day and keeps over 1800 men busy meeting the demand, AND, the Burroughs is guaranteed to do more, do it better, and to last longer than any other make. 51,336 users (May 21, 1907).

1

the

[graphic]
[ocr errors]

Entered at the Postoffice, Chicago, Ill., as second-class mail matter

« PreviousContinue »