Mushroom Growing for Amateurs. 171 



Casing the Beds. 



This consists in covering the beds with an inch to an inch and one- 

 half of good soil, the same kind of soil as is used for mixing in with 

 the manure. The object in casing the beds with soil is to retain the 

 temperature within the material, which is necessary for the mainte- 

 nance of the growth, and it also provides a firmer and cleaner sub- 

 stratum in which the stems of the mushrooms are mostly formed and 

 they are thus cleaner when picked. In from six to seven weeks 

 mushrooms should begin to appear. 



Form and Growth of the Mushroom. 



For full discussion of the form and growth of the mushroom, the 

 reader is referred to Bulletin 138, Cornell University Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms* No. 1, 

 but a brief description may be made here. The mature plant is 

 somewhat umbrella-shaped, having a cap, the expanded upper part, 

 which is borne on a stem. Near the upper part of the stem is a collar 

 known as the ring or annulus. On the underside of the cap are the 

 gills. These are thin long plates, something like the blade of a knife, 

 which radiate outward from near the stem and lie very close together. 

 These gills are called the fruiting portion of the plant, because they 

 bear on their surfaces the minute germs or spores by which the plant 

 is distributed and sometimes reproduces itself. These spores are 

 developed in great numbers. They are dark brown when ripe. 

 They easily fall from the plates or gills when ripe, as is seen by placing 

 a cap on white paper for a few hours, when a beautiful spore print is 

 formed from the large number of spores which fall down on the paper. 

 Where mushrooms are growing in a clump, the upper ones when 

 mature shed their spores on the caps of the lower ones, giving them a 

 so^ty-brown appearance. 



Growth of the mushroom. I have just said that these spores some- 

 times serve to reproduce the plant. They perform the service for 

 the mushrooms which seed perform for the higher plants, but they 

 are not true seeds. The spores are very light and are easily wafted 

 about by the gentlest breeze, so that in the fields the winds scatter 

 the spores far and wide, and thus give an opportunity for the mush- 

 rooms to grow in fields where food and other favorable conditions are 



*See also Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc., Henry Holt & Co., New York 

 City, in which is a 40-page chapter on the cultivation of mushrooms in houses 

 constructed for the purpose and in caves. See algo Farmers' Bulletin 204, U. S, 

 Dept. Agr. 



