MUSHROOM GROWING 



returned. Into the manure of these trenches 

 the spawn would grow and spread vigor- 

 ously in an interval of some weeks. This 

 material was then available for spawn-mak- 

 ing or mushroom growing. Since the 

 method is based, usually, on first locating a 

 few mushrooms in the open, it has at least 

 the advantage of affording in a general way 

 a knowledge of the variety grown. In any 

 case virgin spawn was used either (i) di- 

 rectly to inoculate, or spawn, the mushroom 

 beds, or (2) more frequently to spawn com- 

 post which was intended to yield a large 

 amount of crop spawn. Crop spawn was 

 made (a) on the part of the grower (espe- 

 cially the French grower) by spawning 

 heavily with virgin spawn a small bed of 

 compost in which it was permitted to spread, 

 but not to proceed to the production of 

 mushrooms, the bed being taken down and 

 used to make flake spawn for crop purposes; 

 or, (b) this virgin spawn was used by the 

 commercial spawn-maker (in England) in 

 the inoculation of the compost bricks now so 



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