186 HEPOKT OF THE STATE BOTANIST. 



sold in the markets, but is rarely found growing in the fields. 

 Its cap is of a brownish color and frequently adorned with 

 darker spots or scales. 



Variety griseus has a grayish shining silky cap. I have not 

 yet found it in New York, but it grows in Virginia. It occurs 

 in France and is figured by liichon and Roz6. 



Variety alha has the cap and stem white. It is our most 

 common form. 



Cap two to tour inches broad, stem one and a half to three 

 inches long, one-third to two-thirds of an inch thick. 



The Common mushroom grows in grassy places, in pastures, 

 manured ground and mushroom beds, never in thick woods. It 

 occurs mostly in August and September. In cultivation in a 

 suitable place it may be had in midwinter. Owing to the attacks 

 of insects it is better to raise mushrooms in winter than in sum- 

 mer, unless the insects can be effectually excluded from the beds 

 and the apartments and the temperature properly regulated. 

 The wild ones are thought by some to have a better flavor than 

 the cultivated ones, but the latter are good enough for any one 

 and sometimes command surprisingly high prices. Mushrooms 

 of all kinds are more eagerly sought and more extensively used 

 in Europe than in this country, but with the great influx of 

 Europeans into this country, bringing with them a taste for this 

 kind of food, and with the rapid increase in population making 

 an increased demand for all kinds of food, it is probable that 

 the demand for and the use of mushrooms will soon be as great 

 here as in Europe. The chief difficulty in the matter is the lack 

 of a sufTicient general knowledge of the species or of the means 

 of acquiring the knowledge necessar}' to make it safe to use them. 



In the wild state the Common mushroom usually grows in 

 gr()ui)s or a single one in a place, l)ut when cultivated they often 

 form large tufts. A kind of out-door cultivation is sometimes 

 employed in order to increase the abundance of mushrooms. 

 Neglected places in fence corners, pastures or roadsides are dug 

 up and manure incorporated in the soil if it is not already very 

 rich. Mushroom spawn, after having been soaked in warm 

 water or kept moist in a warm place for several hours to start it 

 into growth, is then planted in the prepared places and a coat of 

 fine manure spread over the surface. 



