PREPARATION OP TTTK COMPOST, 35 



fermentation, which may require a month. When (lio manure shows 

 a tendency to fall to the temperature of the room it is spawned. 

 Meanwhile, it will doubtless be found that a heayy cro]) of some 

 small species of Coprinus will ha ye appeared. The presence of this 

 funo'us is not injurious, but rather it may be taken as an indication 

 that the conditions are fayorable. 



Ordinarily the manure is obtained as fresh as possible. It should 

 include the straAV used in bedding the animals, and the quality of the 

 straw will determine to some extent the yalue of the manure. The 

 straw of cereals is far better than that of most other grasses. The 

 more resistant straws seem greatly to improye the texture of the com- 

 post for mushroom purjDoses. Commercially it is a mistake to 

 attemi)t to get the manure free from straw. If fresh manure is not 

 obtainable, that which has been trampled by the animals is ordinarily 

 rich, well preseryed, and desiral)le. It ferments l)est in large piles, 

 and these may be of considerable extent, about 3 or 1 feet deep 

 throughout. If not uniformly moist the material should be sprink- 

 led. At no time is a yery heayy wateriniJ: desirable. In from four 

 days to a weelv or more the compost should be turned, or forked oyer, 

 and a second turning will be required a week or ten days later. 

 Water should be added only when necessary to maintain a moist (but 

 not a wet) condition. With this amount of moisture, and with the 

 piles deep enough to become fairly compact as a result of their own 

 weight, there will be little danger of any injurious fermentation. 

 During the normal fermentation the temperature may rise highei- 

 than 150° F. In from fifteen to twenty-one days or more, depending 

 uj^on the conditions, the temperature yN'ill begin to fall, and the com- 

 post may be used in the construction of the beds. Allien used in the 

 beds, it has ordinarily lost all objectionable odor, and the color of the 

 straw has changed from yellow to brown. In figure 2 on Plate V 

 is shown a shed in which the manure is composted during the summer. 



As stated in Farmers' Bulletin No. 204 : 



It is the eustoiii with some growers to mix a small quantity of loam, about 

 one-fourth, with the manure. This enables one to use the manure earlier: and. 

 indeed, under such circumstances it may sometimes be used with ]»ut little or no 

 composting. Nevertheless, the niajoi-ity of growers have obtained gr(>ater suc- 

 cess by the use of the manure alone, and this is also the writer's experience, 

 yery well-rotted compost should not be used in nuishroom growing if large and 

 solid mushrooms are d(>sired. \yhen sawdust or shavings are employed for 

 liedding the animals, the comi)ostiiig iii.-iy require a somewbal longer ]iei-io(l. 



It has been the experience of some of the most successful growei's 

 that the use of shayings for bedding material in the stables does not 

 injure the yalue of the product for mushroom work. The presence 

 of a lai'ge amount of saw^Iust is, howeyer, objectionable so fai- as the 

 writer's experience goes. Compost containing uuich sawdust is 



