17 



value of twelve thousand pounds of mushrooms at ten pence per pound 

 would be .£500 sterling- or $2,500. 



For the purposes of (•om])!irisoii the following n,ro quoted from the 

 Fall Mall Gazette, as exceptional prices realized in England for other 

 fruits and vegetables in recent years : 



Pounds sterling per statute acre : 



Very early gooseberries, 100 : onions, 192 ; early lettuces, 100 ; plums, 

 100 ; potatoes, 100 ; strawberries, 150 : black currants, 168 ; filberts, 200. 



It will be seen that onions and filberts head the list, but the product of 

 an acre of mushrooms has been shown to be worth more than double that 

 of either filberts or onions. 



In the localities speciallj' favorable to hop growing 30 cwt. of hops to 

 the acre is considered exceptional, while the average price has been 

 quoted at 3 pounds sterling, or about one-fifth of the sum obtained from 

 Mr. Barter's acre of mushrooms. Three months in the year the weather 

 does not favor outdoor culture, and these months Mr. Barter spends in 

 manufacturing brick spawn, which he exports to this and other countries. 

 Among those who have been very successful in indoor culture are Mr. 

 William Robinson, editor of the " London Garden," and Mr. Horace Cox, 

 manager of the " Field." 



In America, where mushroom culture is still comparatively in its 

 infancy, there have already been obtained very encouraging results by 

 painstaking growers. Most of the cultivation has been in the northern 

 and mid-western States, where the climatic conditions seemed most 

 favorable to indoor culture. A few figures as to the revenue obtained in 

 this way may be interesting to readers. 



An experienced Pennsylvania grower states that from a total area of 

 5,500 square feet of beds, made up in two mushroom houses, he obtained 

 a crop of 5,000 pounds of mushrooms in one season, or about one pound 

 to the square foot. These sold at an average of a little over 50 cents per 

 pound. A third house, with 19,000 square feet of beds, produced 2,800 

 pounds, or one and one-half pounds to the square foot. This house 

 yielded a net profit of one thousand dollars. This, however, can be 

 quoted only as showing the possibilities of careful culture by experienced 

 growers under very favorable circumstances. Amateurs could scarcely 

 expect such good results. Three-fourths of a pound to the square foot 

 would probably come nearer the average. A Philadelphia grower gives 

 the average price secured from fifty shipments of mushrooms in one 

 season at 54 cents per j^ound. New York dealers report higher rates 

 than this. A Washington fiorist who utilizes the lower shelves of his 

 propagating houses for the purpose of mushroom growing informed me 

 that during two seasons he received 60 cents per pound wholesale, ship- 

 ping to New York, and that he sold one thousand dollars worth in one 

 season. Mr. Denton, a market gardener of Long Island, who cultivates 

 in houses built for the purpose, markets from 1,700 to 2,500 pounds per 

 year. 



Thus far the market is in the hands of a comparatively few dealers in 

 the neighborhood of large cities, but there is certainly no good reason 

 why the growing of mushrooms should not be more generally undertaken 

 by the farming community. Certainly no one has better facilities than 

 are at the command of the enterprising American farmer. On most farms 

 the conditions are favorable or could easily be made so for mushroom cul- 

 ture, on a moderate scale, at least. Generally there are disused sheds, 

 old barns, etc., which with a small outlay could be transformed into mush- 

 room houses, and where timber is plentiful the cost of building a small 



