THE CAVE CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS, NEAR PARIS.
THE most extensive and successful culture of mushrooms in existence is
carried on in widely-ramifying caves far beneath the surface in the
vicinity of Paris. To give the reader as good an idea of it as I can we
must visit one of the great “Mushroom caves” at Montrouge, just outside
the fortifications of Paris, on the southern side. The surface of the
ground is mostly cropped with wheat; but here and there lie, ready to be
transported to Paris, blocks of white stone, which have recently been
brought to the surface through coalpit-like openings. There is nothing
like a “quarry,” as we understand it, to be seen; the stone is extracted
as we extract coal, and with no interference whatever with the surface
of the ground. We find a “champignonniste” after some trouble, and he
accompanies us across some fields to the entrance of his subterranean
garden. It is a circular opening like the mouth of an old well, but from
it protrudes the head of a thick pole with sticks thrust through it.
This pole, the base of which rests in darkness sixty feet below, is
the easiest and indeed the only way by which human beings can get into
the mine. I had an idea that one might enter sideways and in a more
agreeable manner, but it was not so. Down the shaky pole my guide
creeps, I follow, and soon reach the bottom, from which little passages
radiate. A few little lamps fixed on pointed sticks are placed below,
and, arming ourselves with one each, we slowly commence exploring dark,
still, tortuous passages. I have heard that the first individual who
commenced mushroom-growing in these catacomb-like burrowings was one
who, at a particularly glorious epoch of the history of France, when a
great many more brave garçons went to fight than returned from the
victory, preferred, strange to say, to stay at home and hide himself
rather than form a unit in “battle’s magnificently stern array.”
Industrious and discreet youth! You deserve being held up as an example
as much as the busy bee that improves each “shining hour.”
[Illustration: Fig. 18. Mushroom-cave, 70 feet beneath the surface, at
Montrouge, near Paris, July, 1868.]
The passages are narrow, and occasionally we have to stoop. On each hand
there are little narrow beds of half-decomposed stable manure running
along the wall. These have been made quite recently, and have not yet
been spawned. Presently we arrive at others in which the spawn has been
placed, and is “taking” freely. The spawn in these caves is introduced
into the little beds in flakes taken from an old bed, or, still better,
from a heap of stable manure in which it occurs naturally. Such spawn
is preferred, and considered much more valuable than that taken from old
beds. Of spawn in the form of bricks, such as is used in England, there
is none.
[Illustration: Fig. 19. Newly-made bed against wall of cave.]
The champignonniste pointed with pride to the way in which the flakes of
spawn had begun to spread through the little beds, and passed
on--sometimes stooping very low to avoid the pointed stones in the
roof--to where the beds were in a more advanced state. Here we saw
little, smooth, putty-coloured ridges running along the sides of the
passages, and wherever the rocky subway became as large as a small
bedroom two or three little beds were placed parallel to each other.
These beds were new, and dotted all over with mushrooms no bigger than
sweet pea seeds, affording an excellent prospect of a crop. Each bed
contains a much smaller body of manure than is ever the case in our
gardens. They are not more than twenty inches high, and about the same
width at the base; while those against the sides of the passages are not
so large as those placed in the open spaces. The soil, with which they
are covered to the depth of about an inch, is nearly white, and is
simply sifted from the rubbish of the stone-cutters above, giving the
recently-made bed the appearance of being covered with putty.
Although we are from seventy to eighty feet below the surface of the
ground, everything looks quite neat--in fact, very much more so than
could have been expected, not a particle of litter being met with. A
certain length of bed is made every day in the year, and as the men
finish one gallery or series of galleries at a time, the beds in each
have a similar character. As we proceed to those in full bearing,
creeping up and down narrow passages, winding always between the two
little narrow beds against the wall on each side, and passing now and
then through wider nooks filled with two or three little beds, daylight
is again seen. This time it comes through another well-like shaft,
formerly used for getting up the stone, but now for throwing down the
requisite materials into the cave. At the bottom lies a large heap of
the white earth before alluded to, and a barrel of water--for gentle
waterings are required in the quiet, cool, black stillness of these
caves, as well as in mushroom-houses on the upper crust.
Once more we plunge into a passage as dark as ink, and find ourselves
between two lines of beds in full bearing, the beautiful white
button-like mushrooms appearing everywhere in profusion along the sides
of the diminutive beds, something like the drills which farmers make
for green crops. As the proprietor goes along he removes sundry bunches
that are in perfection, and leaves them on the spot, so that they may be
collected with the rest for to-morrow’s market. He gathers largely every
day, occasionally sending more than 400 lb. weight per day, the average
being about 300 lb.
[Illustration: Fig. 20. View in mushroom-cave.]
A moment more and we are in an open space, a sort of chamber, say 20
feet by 12, and here the little beds are arranged in parallel lines, an
alley of not more than four inches separating them, the sides of the
beds being literally blistered all over with mushrooms. There is one
exception; on half of the bed and for about ten feet along, the little
mushrooms have appeared and are appearing, but they never get larger
than a pea, and shrivel away, “bewitched” as it were. At least such was
the inference drawn from the cultivator’s expression about it. He
gravely attributed it to a ridiculously superstitious cause. Frequently
the mushrooms grow in bunches or “rocks,” as they are called, and in
such cases those that compose the little mass are lifted all together.
The sides of one bed here had been almost stripped by the taking away of
such bunches, and it is worthy of note that they are not only taken out,
root and all, when being gathered, but the very spot in which they grew
is scraped out, so as to get rid of every trace of the old bunch, and
the space is covered with a little earth from the bottom of the heap. It
is the habit to do this in every case, and when the gatherer leaves a
small hole from which he has pulled even a solitary mushroom, he fills
it with some of the white earth from the base, no doubt intending to
gather other mushrooms from the same spots before many weeks are over.
The “buttons” look very white, and are apparently of prime quality. The
absence of all littery coverings and dust, and the daily gatherings,
secure them in what we may term perfect condition. I visited this cave
on the 6th of July, 1868, and doubt very much if at that season a more
remarkable crop of mushrooms could be anywhere found than was presented
in this subterranean chamber--a mere speck in the space devoted to
mushroom culture by one individual.
When I state that there are six or seven miles run of mushroom-beds in
the ramifications of this cave, and that the owner is but one of a large
class who devote themselves to mushroom culture, the reader will have
some opportunity of judging of the extent to which it is carried on
about Paris. These caves not only supply the wants of the city above
them, but those of England and other countries also, large quantities of
preserved mushrooms being exported, one house alone sending to our own
country no less than 14,000 boxes annually. There were some traces of
the teeth of rats on the produce, and it need not be said that these
enemies are not agreeable in such a place; but they did not seem to have
committed any serious ravages, and are probably only casual visitors,
who take the first opportunity of obtaining more varied food than is
afforded them by these caves. To traverse the passages any further is
needless--there is nothing to be seen but a repetition of the culture
above described, every available inch of the cave being occupied. We
again find our way to the bottom of the shaft, carefully mount the
rather shaky pole one at a time, and again stand in the hot sun in the
midst of the ripe wheat.
In traversing the fields two things relating to mushroom culture are to
be observed--heaps of white gritty earth, sifted from the _débris_ of
the white stone, and large heaps of stable manure accumulated for
mushroom growing, and undergoing preparation for it. That preparation is
different from what we are accustomed to give it. It is ordinary stable
manure, or very short stuff, not droppings, and is thrown into heaps
four or five feet high, and perhaps thirty feet wide. The men were
employed turning this over, the mass being afterwards stamped down with
their feet, a water-cart and pots being used to thoroughly water the
manure where it is dry and whitish.
As many will feel an interest in the cave culture of the mushroom, and
perhaps wish to see it for themselves, I may state that it is difficult
to obtain permission to visit the caves, and many persons would not like
the look of the “ladder” which affords an entrance. Even with a
well-known Parisian horticulturist I had some difficulty in entering
them. I was informed that one champignonniste in the same neighbourhood
demands the exorbitant price of twenty francs for a visit to his cave.
As the visit is the work of some little time, no visitor should put the
cultivators to this trouble without offering some slight recompense--say
not less than five francs. The above cave is but a sample of many in the
immediate neighbourhood of Paris.
We will next visit a mushroom-cave of another type at some little
distance from that city. It is situated near Frépillon,
Méry-sur-Oise--a place which may be reached in an hour or so by the
Chemin de fer du Nord, passing by Enghien, the valley of Montmorency and
Pontoise, and alighting at Auvers. There are vast quarries in the
neighbourhood, both for building-stone and the plaster so largely used
in Paris. The materials are not quarried in the ordinary way by opening
up the ground, nor by the method employed at Montrouge and elsewhere in
the suburbs of Paris, but so that the interior of the earth looks like a
vast gloomy cathedral. In 1867 the mushroom culture was in full force at
Méry, and as many as 3000 lbs. a day were sometimes sent from thence to
the Paris market; but the mushroom is a thing of peculiar taste, and
these quarries are now empty--cleaned out and left to rest. After a time
the great quarries seem to become tired of their occupants, or the
mushrooms dislike the air; the quarries are then well cleaned out, the
very soil where the beds rested being scraped away, and the place left
to recruit itself for a year or two. In 1867 M. Renaudot had the
extraordinary length of over twenty-one miles of mushroom-beds in one
great cave at Méry; last year there were sixteen miles in a cave at
Frépillon. This is a clean, lonely village, just touching on the
gigantic cemetery which M. Haussmann projected.
[Illustration: Fig. 21. Entrance to large subterranean quarry.]
The distant view of the entrance to the quarries has much the appearance
of an English chalk-pit. But there is a great rude arch cut into the
rock, and into this we enter, meeting presently a waggon coming forth
with a load of stones, the waggoner with lamp in hand. To the visitor
who has seen the mushroom caves near Paris, where it is sometimes
necessary to stoop very low to avoid knocking one’s head against the
roof rocks, the surprise is great on getting a little way in. At least
it is so soon as one can see; the darkness is so profound that a few
candles or lamps merely make it more visible. The tunnel we traverse is
nearly regularly arched, masonry being used here and there, so as to
render the support secure and somewhat symmetrical, the arches being
flat at the top for six feet or so, and about twenty-five feet high;
sometimes five feet higher.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.
Plan of large subterranean quarry at Fortes Terres, Frépillon. _S_, _S_,
_S_, represent the plan of the bases of the huge supporting pillars, and
the dotted lines their union with the roof. _D_, _C_, shows the line of
the section shown in the following cut, and _P_, place for preparing the
plaster. Sept. 1868.]
[Illustration: Fig. 23. Section following the line _C_, _D_, in Fig.
22.]
Presently we turn to the right, and a scene like a vast subterranean
rock temple presents itself. At one end are several of us with lamps,
admiring the young mushrooms budding all over the rows of beds, which,
serpent-like, are long and slim, and coil away into the darkness. At
about 150 feet distance there is a group of three men and a boy, each
with a lamp, again dispelling the darkness from the mushroom beds, and
occupied in placing small quantities of a sort of white clayey sand in
the spots whence gatherings have been made a few hours previously. From
both sides of this gloomy avenue the dark openings of others depart at
short intervals, and the floor of all is covered with mushroom-beds,
sometimes running along the passages, sometimes across them. These beds
are about twenty-two inches high and as much in diameter, and are
covered with silver sand and a sort of white putty-like clay in about
equal proportions. Running along in parallel lines, and disappearing
from view in the darkness, one knows not what to compare them to, unless
it be to barked pine trees in the hold of a ship.
Everywhere on the surface of these little beds small mushrooms were
peering forth in quantity; as the beds are regularly gathered from every
day, no very large ones are seen. They are preferred when about the size
of a chestnut, and are removed root and branch, a small portion of
finely sifted earth being placed in each hole, so as to level the bed as
in the caves at Montrouge. If the old superstition that a mushroom never
grows after being seen by human eyes were true, the trade of a
champignonniste would never answer here, as the little budding
individuals come within view every day during the gathering and earthing
operations. The most perfect cleanliness is observed everywhere in the
neighbourhood of these beds, and the whole surface of each avenue is
covered by them, leaving passages of ten inches or a foot between the
beds. At the time of my visit (Sept. 29, 1868) the crops of the
cultivator were reduced to their lowest ebb, and yet about 400 lbs. per
day were sent to market. The average daily quantity from this cave is
about 880 lbs., and sometimes that is nearly doubled.
In some parts of the cave the work of ripping out the stone by powder
and simple machinery continually goes on. The arches follow the veining
of the stone, so to speak; their lower parts are of hard stone, the
upper ones of soft, except the very top, which is again hard. There is
but a slight crust of stone above the apex of each arch, and above that
the earth and trees.
It may be supposed that the profits from such an extensive culture are
great; and so they are, but the expense is great also. The proprietor
informed me that culture on a more limited scale than he pursued last
year at Méry gave the best return in proportion to expense, the care and
supervision required by so many miles of beds being too great.
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Extracting the stone in subterranean quarries.]
All the manure employed is brought from Paris by rail, as the place is
twenty-five miles from that city by road. In the first place, so much
per month is paid in Paris for the manure of each horse; then it has to
be carted to the railway station and loaded in the waggons; next it is
brought to the station of Auvers, and afterwards carted a couple of
miles to the quarries, paying a toll for a bridge over the Oise on the
way. That surely is difficulty enough for a cultivator to begin with!
Then it is placed in great flat heaps a yard deep by about thirty long
and ten wide, not far removed from the mouth of the cave, and here it is
prepared, turned over and well mixed three times, and as a rule watered
twice. About five or six weeks are occupied in the preparation, long
manure requiring more time than short. The watering is not usually done
regularly over the mass, but chiefly where it is dry and overheated.
Every day manure is brought from Paris; every day new beds are made and
old ones cleared out--the spent manure being used for garden purposes,
particularly in surfacing or mulching, so as to prevent over-radiation
from the ground in summer. The chief advantage the cultivator here has
is the facility of taking his manure or anything else in or out in
carts, as easily as if the beds were made in the open air. Near Paris,
on the contrary, everything has to be sent up and down through shafts
like those of an old well, and the men have to creep up and down a rough
pole like mice. Many men are employed in the culture, the daily
examination of sixteen miles of beds being a considerable item in
itself. Here and there a barrier in the form of straw nailed between
laths may be seen blocking up the great arch to a height of six feet or
so. This is to prevent currents of air wandering about through the vast
passages.
The mode of preparing the spawn here is entirely different to ours. They
prefer virgin spawn--that is to say, spawn found naturally in a heap of
manure. But as this material cannot be obtained in sufficient quantity
to meet the wants of such extensive growers, they put a small portion of
it into a mushroom-bed to spread, and instead of allowing this bed to
produce mushrooms, it is all used as spawn, and is valued more than any
other. Of course abundance of spawn occurs in the old beds, but it is
never used directly. It is, however, frequently employed to spawn a
small bed when virgin spawn cannot be obtained. In this case the small
bed devoted to the propagation of spawn is placed in the open air, and
covered with straw, and as soon as it is permeated with the spawn it is
carried into the caves and used. As the making and spawning of beds is a
process continually going on, a bed of this sort must be ready at all
times. It is never made into bricks as with us, but simply spread
through short, partly-decomposed, manure.[A]
[A] Mr. Speed, superintendent of the gardens at Chatsworth, has recently
prepared his own spawn, as described on p. 73, and with perfect success.
I was informed that coal-mines are not adapted for growing mushrooms,
and the smallest particle of iron in the beds of manure is avoided by
the spawn, a circle around it remaining inert. It is said to be the same
with coal. If an evil-disposed workman wishes to injure his employer, he
has only to slip along by the beds with a pocketful of rusty old nails,
and insert one here and there.
[Illustration: Fig. 25. View in old subterranean quarries devoted to
mushroom culture, and in the occupation of M. Renaudot. Sept. 29, 1868.]
The beds remain in good bearing generally about two months, but
sometimes last twice and three times as long. A useful contrivance for
facilitating the watering of the beds has lately been invented; it
consists of a portable water-cistern to be strapped to the back and
fitted with a rose and tubing, so that a workman may carry a larger
quantity of water, and apply it more regularly and gently than with the
old-fashioned watering-pots--while one hand is left free to carry the
lamp. An iron frame has also been invented, in which the bed is first
compressed and shaped, the frame being then reversed and the bed placed
in position. Another invention for earthing the beds over as soon as the
spawn has taken will soon be in operation if not already so. As on an
average 2500 yards of beds are made every month, simple mechanical
contrivances to facilitate the operation will prove of the greatest
advantage to the cultivator.
In addition to the caves in the localities above alluded to there are
other places near Paris where the culture is carried on--notably at
Moulin de la Roche, Sous Bicêtre, near St. Germaine, and also at
Bagneux. The equability of temperature in the caves renders the culture
of the mushroom possible at all seasons; but the best crops are gathered
in winter, and consequently that is the best time to see them. I,
however, saw abundant crops in the hottest part of the very hot season
of 1868. These mushroom caves are under Government supervision, and are
regularly inspected like any other mines in which work is going on. As
regards the depth at which this culture is practised, it usually varies
from twenty to one hundred feet, sometimes reaching one hundred and
fifty and one hundred and sixty feet from the surface of the earth. They
are so large that sometimes people are lost in them. In one instance the
proprietor of a large cave went astray, and it was three days before he
was discovered, although soldiers and volunteers in abundance were sent
down. Is it possible that in a great mining and excavating country like
ours we cannot establish the same kind of industry?