DECEMBER. 359 



send you a few plain directions for amateurs who might wish to under- 

 take its cultivation. 



To grow Mushrooms, then, a quantity of fresh horse droppings from 

 Ihe stable, having the long Utter separated from them, should "be col- 

 lected ; these should be spread rather thinly, under cover of some kind, 

 and occasionally turned over ; the object is to keep them dry, and 

 prevent their heating ; when the quantity is sufficient to make up a bed 

 about one-third of the bulk of dry turfy loam, from a sandy soil, may 

 be added, and mixed with the droppings. So far the materials for 

 making the bed are ready. 



IMushrooms will grow well in any shed, outhouse, or cellar, where 

 the beds can be protected from rain. I have grown very fine Mush- 

 rooms in open sheds in the summer months, but in winter outhouses 

 are too cold ; and if no other place can be found (I am supposing there 

 is no regular Mushroom house), a cellar, where the temperature is 

 never low, will answer extremely well, as will any warm, thatched 

 building, where the frost will not penetrate. The bottom of the bed 

 should be made dry, if it is not so, and a front board 6 or 8 feet from 

 the wall, and a foot in height, will be all that is required to keep up 

 the bed ; this done, bring in the mixture, and let it be well trod or 

 rammed down as brought in, for the closer it is put together the longer 

 will the bed keep in bearing. Make the bed level with the board at 

 the front, rising gently towards the back wall, where it will be about 

 18 inches deep ; it must now remain for a week, placing some trial 

 sticks in it, to ascertain how it heats. If the droppings have been 

 carefully dried, the heat will never be very great ; and, besides, the 

 loam added will help to keep this down. Persons accustomed to manage 

 Mushroom beds can easily tell when the beds are at the right heat for 

 spawning ; but for those who do not, the bulb of a thermometer should 

 be placed five or six inches deep in the bed. If the heat rises above 

 110°, holes should be made thickly in the bed, with a blunt-pointed 

 stake, to let out the heat. If, however, the bed does not get warmer 

 than 95° or 100°, it may remain for a few days, when, should it not 

 increase, the bed may be spawned at once ; the heat in which the 

 spawn will run the best being from 90° to 98°. To spawn the bed, 

 insert small pieces of good fresh spawn (which can be procured of any 

 nurseryman), an inch or two square, three or four inches deep in the 

 bed, and about nine or ten inches apart. If there is any indication of 

 the bed heating again, leave the holes ojjcn for a few days, after which 

 close the holes, and beat the bed over to make it firm. The bed should 

 now be earthed over, the soil for which should be dry turfy loam ; if 

 possible select such as produces I\Iushrooms naturally, but if that cannot 

 be obtained, any good garden soil will do. In the course of two or 

 three weeks, if on examining the trial sticks the heat has perceptibly 

 declined, cover the bed over with clean dry straw, or waste hay ; this 

 will slightly increase the heat in the bed, and assist the spawn to run. 

 The bed should be examined in about five weeks after spawning, to see 

 if the spawn is running through the soil, which is easily detected in the 

 shape of white fibrous threads spreading itself through the soil. The 

 covering may now be removed (unless the bed is in a cold place), and 



