FOOD VALUE OF FLESHY FUNGI 353 



vated in any country. Psalliota campestris, the common mush- 

 room, is apparently the species most widely grown under arti- 

 ficial conditions. Precise directions for the commercial growing 

 of this mushroom are available but are not relevant to this account. 

 A few of the general features involved in its culture, however, 

 seem pertinent. Caves, cellars, abandoned mines, and special types 

 of glasshouses are suitable for growing mushrooms, provided that 

 temperature, moisture, and ventilation are properly controlled. 

 Of these factors, temperature is perhaps the most vital; it should 

 be kept within the range 53° to 63° F. High relative humidity 

 is required, but the site should not be wet. 



Mushroom growers attach great emphasis to proper prepara- 

 tion of the manure. Stable manure, including the litter used for 

 bedding, is piled deeply, mixed with loam, and turned and re- 

 piled until a suitable compost is formed. The compost is then 

 placed in beds and is implanted with spawn, that is, with blocks 

 of humus permeated with the mycelium of the mushroom. After 

 several weeks the beds are cased. This process consists in cover- 

 ing the beds to a depth of 1 or 2 in. with a layer of loam. The 

 beds then require occasional sprinkling to keep them moist. The 

 mushrooms should soon begin to appear. In France morels are 

 grown in much the same way, except that bits of fruit bodies are 

 used as spawn. 



In parts of China Hirneola polytricha, under the Chinese name 

 Mil Erh, is grown under semiartificial conditions. Sapling oaks 

 {Quercus variabilis) are cut into poles, allowed to lie on the 

 ground for several months, and then stacked in small piles in moist 

 places. The gelatinous fruit bodies are developed the following 

 year. The Chinese similarly grow the large sclerotia of Poria 

 cocos on partly buried pine poles. 



The fruit bodies of Armillaria shii-take are produced artificially 

 on a large scale in Japan and are marketed under the name shii- 

 take. The name shii applies to an evergreen oak, Quercus cuspi- 

 data. Recently cut logs of this oak are soaked in water, and the 

 bark is loosened by pounding; holes are then made in the logs, 

 and pieces of wood decayed by the fungus are placed therein. 

 After about 2 years the mushrooms appear. By proper manage- 

 ment of cutting, the coppice growth from the stumps attain 

 cutting size in about 20 years. Tracts are thus reforested to con- 

 tinue the production of crops of shii-take. 



