THE COMPOST 



when the bedding material employed is ref- 

 use hay, weeds, etc., is the result of the 

 ^'shortness" of the product after fermenta- 

 tion. Experience indicates clearly that any 

 short, trashy compost does not make the best 

 substratum for mushrooms. It is probably 

 less retentive of moisture for one thing. 

 Manure from animals fed largely upon 

 grass has not proved satisfactory in such 

 tests as have been made, and French experi- 

 ence rules out that obtained from stables 

 employing chiefly leguminous fodders. The 

 French ideal is manure from grain-fed ani- 

 mals bedded with rye straw. A few years 

 ago when in France it was decreed that, to 

 save expense, other cereal straws should be 

 substituted for rye in the cavalry stables, 

 there was a strong but futile outcry on the 

 part of French mushroom growers. It has 

 been demonstrated satisfactorily that the 

 manure from grain-fed animals yields a 

 more vigorous bed of spawn than any other, 

 although I am also convinced that many 

 growers insist on a type of stable manure 



47 



