MUSHROOM GROWING FOR AMATEURS. 



Many letters are received asking for information as to the cultiva- 

 tion of mushrooms. These inquiries come chiefly from those who 

 wish at the present at least to undertake the cultivation of mushrooms 

 on a small scale, probably for private consumption, or perhaps also 

 to furnish a small quantity for the market. To furnish directions for 

 the successful cultivation of mushrooms by the amateur grower some 

 experiments have been made in order to determine what success 

 might be expected where no special houses and no elaborate prepara- 

 tions are made for their cultivation. These are the conditions under 

 which most amateur growers must work. The present bulletin 

 describes briefly the methods to be employed for the cultivation of 

 mushrooms under these conditions. There is not room here to go 

 into any detail concerning the experiments on which this bulletin is 

 based; but before proceeding to a description of the methods to be 

 followed it may be well to state briefly the conditions under which 

 the nuishrooms were grown and an outline of the experiment. The 

 mushrooms were grown under two different conditions: First, in 

 boxes under benches in the greenhouse, the part of the greenhouse 

 where the temperature during the winter is about 55° F. at night 

 and from 60"-65" F. during the day except on- bright sunny days, 

 when the temperature ma}' go as high as 70"; second, a space under 

 a potting table in a small basement room was used for making up 

 another bed. 



The space under the bench in the basement was made into a bed 

 by placing a plank in front against the legs in order to support the 

 material. The material then was packed directly on the basement 

 floor and against the stone wall behind. Boxes were used under the 

 benches in the greenhouse. These were most convenient to handle 

 under the low bench of the greenhouse because the space was quite 

 wide. These boxes were about 3x3^ feet wide and one foot deep. 

 There were five of these. The space in these boxes together with 

 that under the bench in the basement made a total of about 90 

 square feet. Up to the present time, 181 pounds of mushrooms 

 have been picked from this area from one planting of spawn, prac- 

 tically two pounds per square foot. 



The manure was obtained and composted October 31st. By 

 November 9th it was cured and ready for putting in the beds. The 



