CHAPTER XX. 



CULTIVATION OF MUSHROOMS. 



The increasing interest in mushrooms during the past few years 

 has not been confined to the kinds growing spontaneously in fields 

 and woods, but the interest aroused in the collection and study of 

 the wild varieties has been the means of awakening a general inter- 

 est in the cultivation of mushrooms. This is leading many persons 

 to inquire concerning the methods of cultivation, especially those 

 who wish to undertake the cultivation of these plants on a small 

 scale, in cellars or cool basements, where they may be grown for 

 their own consumption. At somewhat frequent intervals articles 

 appear in the newspapers depicting the ease and certainty with 

 which mushrooms can be grown, and the great profits that accrue to 

 the cultivator of these plants. While the profits in some cases, at 

 least in the past, have been very great to cultivators of mushrooms, 

 the competition has become so general that through a large part of 

 the year the market price of mushrooms is often not sufficient to 

 much more than pay expenses. In fact, it 'is quite likely that in 

 many cases of the house cultivation of mushrooms the profits are no 

 larger, taking the season through, than they are from the cultivation 

 of tomatoes or other hothouse vegetables. Occasionally some 

 persons, who may be cultivating them upon a small scale in houses 

 erected for some other purpose, or perhaps partly used for some 

 other purpose, may succeed in growing quite a large crop from a 

 small area with little expenditure of time and money. The profits 

 figured from such a crop grown on a small scale where the invest- 

 ment in houses, heating apparatus, and time, is not counted, may 

 appear to be very large, but they do not represent the true condi- 

 tions of the industry where the expense of houses and the cost of 

 time and labor are taken into consideration. 



Probably the more profitable cultivation of mushrooms in this 

 country is where the cultivation is practiced on quite a large scale, 

 in tunnels, or caves, or abandoned mines, where no expense is 

 necessary in the erection of houses. The temperature throughout 

 the year is favorable for the growth of the mushrooms without 

 artificial heating. It is possible, also, to grow them on a large scale 

 during the warm summer months when it is impossible to grow 



237 



