MUSHROOM GROWING 



very general use. Details regarding Dr. 

 Ferguson's investigations on spore germina- 

 tion will be found in Bulletin i6 of the Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry, and my own studies 

 are reported in Bulletin 85 of the same se- 

 ries. I have not abandoned the hope that 

 a practical spore method may be developed 

 in this country, but even should such a 

 method be found, it is not at all certain that 

 it would be more practicable than the tissue 

 culture method which has been the first 

 cause of the rapid development of mush- 

 room growing in this country in recent 

 years. 



Commercial ^^brickf' As will be indi- 

 cated in some detail later, the compact com- 

 mercial brick spawn seems to exhibit a bet- 

 ter keeping quality than any other product 

 on the market. This spawn has also the 

 advantage of being easily handled. In 

 making the bricks, manure or compost is 

 compressed into a compact form, which, 

 when dry, ordinarily measures about 

 5^x85^x1^ inches. It will be neces- 



106 



