488 ANNUAL KErOKT OF THE Off. Doc. 



"Replying to the inquiry of your eorrespondeut 'A. F. H.' respect- 

 ing musliroom growing, 1 would answer as follows: 



"1. Not particularly, for those who understand the business. 



"2. In the long run, yes, but partial or even complete failures are 

 not uncommon. 



"3. The market is rather narrow and select. 



"4. The rate, 15 to 50 cents per pound, wholesale, is about the 

 winter's range. 



"Your currespoudeut is evidently a novice. If he desires to pro- 

 ceed further in the matter he should do two things. (1) Visit some 

 mushroom growing establishment and study it thoroughly; (2) 

 write to Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, for Farmer's 

 Bulletin No. 204, 'How to Grow Mushrooms.' Mushroom growing is 

 no more like ordinary cropping than cattle raising is like oyster 

 culture." 



I should give substantially the same advice regarding ginseng, 

 golden seal, peppermint and others. Each is in a special class by 

 itself, and no one should expect to be able to handle it successfully 

 without the special knowledge which careful observation and experi- 

 ence give. But, over and over again, someone chances on the highly 

 seductive advertisement or newspaper tale of the making of "big 

 money" on a small plat of ground in raising this or that special 

 crop. Deceived by the more or less exaggerated .accounts, which 

 carefully avoid any reference to the need of caution, and gratuitously 

 offer their one-sided experience, some, I am satisfied, rashly make the 

 venture which only the most dogged persistence in the face of years 

 of discouragement can turn to success. The same time, money and 

 energy put into some of the albeit common crops would generally 

 give, in the long run, more satisfactory returns. 



It is gratifying to see that the necessity, as well as the advantages 

 of pure seed, is becoming increasingly evident to farmers and gar 

 deners. Many have come to have a wholesome fear and dread of 

 dodder, and hence to scrutinize clover and alfalfa seed very carefully 

 before they use it, and to require some warrant that it is free from 

 at least this pernicious pest. Weeds, like the poor, we shall always 

 have with us, but reasonable care in the purity of seed used, careful 

 cultivated crops, and due regard to maintaining soil fertility will so 

 hedge about and restrict them that they need not be feared. I have 

 little faith in the practicability of weed destruction by spraying, at 

 least under the ordinary conditions which appertain in Pennsylvania, 

 whatever may be the case in the large, uniform, unobstructed fields 

 of other regions. 



When one considers the resisting power possessed by our old weeds 

 so long entrenched and habituated to their surroundings, it seems 

 idle to expect to control them exce]»t ]»y the most vigorous counter- 

 acting measures, such as have been used for all time. Spraying with 

 iron sulphate, salt and the gardener's weed killers of various sorts 

 may have their place, but only where the-conditons are fit, and then 

 one must carefully count the cost of machinery, materials and time, 

 or he will be left in the lurch. Unsatisfactory as such replies may 

 seem to be to my anxious inquirers, I can seldom answer them in any 

 other way. So long as life is a struggle and a competition, so long 

 must the obstreperous weeds be crowded out and kept out by stimu- 



