MUSHROOM GROWING 



dence has been brought to my attention in- 

 dicating that any special consideration was 

 accorded this species in those times. 



The methods involved in the cultivation 

 doubtless became more precise as caves v^ere 

 employed, but no progress whatever was 

 made in the matter of maintaining varieties 

 found, or in the development of varieties 

 until about 1900. It seems rather strange 

 that a product so long successfully grown in 

 France and England should have remained 

 a rarity in the United States, in spite of the 

 great progress made in agricultural pursuits 

 generally. 



Until very recently the seed trade every- 

 where has handled spawn as "mushroom 

 spawn," professing to give no indications 

 regarding varieties. That is to say, after 

 several centuries of cultivation it was not 

 possible to take varieties into consideration. 

 In recent years, however, owing to the de- 

 velopment of pure culture work both in 

 France and in the United States, the dif- 

 ferent varieties of mushrooms — just as of 



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