SEPTEMBER 



IRISH GARDENING 



137 



30- 



Thorns, white 



beautiful. 

 Viburnum or Guilder 



trusses of bloom. 

 Weigela (or Diervilla). 

 in summer. 

 Winter Sweet (Chimtananthus frag-rans). Usually 



Pro- 



and red. Common but very 

 Rose. Throws out largfe 

 A pretty shrub, flowerings 



Iramed to grow ag-ainst a wall, 

 duces its deliciously-scented flowers 

 winter. 



the 



Mushrooms. 



fr ^:, 



THE cultivated mushroom is the species known as 

 Agaricus campcstris that grows wnid in pastures, 

 feeding upon the dead roots of grasses and 

 other plants. Like all fungi it requires organic matter, 

 as not having chloro- 

 phyll it cannot feed 

 as ordinary green 

 plants do, and for 

 the same reason it 

 can make no use of 

 light, preferring in 

 fact to live entirely 

 in the dark. The 

 eatable poition of 

 the mushroom is, as 

 we know, pushed up 

 into the light, but 

 this part of the fun- 

 gus is not the feed- 

 ing body of the plant 

 at all but simply an 

 organ for the pro- 

 duction and distri- 

 bution of its spores. 

 The " vegetative " 



structure of the mushroom keeps under the green sward 

 and in the dark always. This part consists of long 

 branching interlacing threads, each consisting of a deli- 

 cate tube containing the living protoplasm and nutritive 

 sap of the plant. The threads may be felted together 

 into whitish cords. The whole system of tubular threads 

 IS spoken of as the mycelium, and it is this mycelium, 

 mixed with manure and dried, that forms the "mush- 

 room spawn " used in the propagation of the fungus. 

 Tile spores liberated in such enormous numbers 

 of the gills underneath the cap are not used by culti- 

 vators. As with strawberries, it is rnuch easier to pro- 

 pagate from the runners than from the spores in the one 

 case, or seeds in the other. The chief cultural require- 

 ments of mushrooms are— (i) food of an organic nature, 

 (2) moisture, (3) air. and (4) a suitable temperature! 

 So far as is at present known the best kind of organic 

 matter to use as food for mushrooms is the manure from 

 horse stables. It contains dung, straw, and urine. 

 The dung consists in the main of more or less finely 

 divided portions of fodder or other food-stuff that 

 resisted digestion during its passage through the 

 mtestme of the horse. When dropped, it already con- 

 tams a vast number of putrefactive and other bacteria, 



A Home. 



living and multiplying in the warm, moist vegetable 

 refuse of digestion. These bacteria continue their 

 growth when the manure is gathered in a heap, and it 

 is owing to the great quantity of heat that they give off 

 while thus actively engaged in chemically changing the 

 composition of the constituents of the dung that the 

 high temperature of a heap of fermenting manure is due. 

 The mushroom grower then takes advantage of this 

 natural source of heat to supply the necessary warmth 

 required in starting his spawn into growth. But at first 

 the activity of the bacteria is so intense that the 

 temperature rises far too high, and the operation of 

 spawning must be delayed until the temperature falls 

 between 75° F. and 80° F. These decay-bacteria 

 require air, and firming the heap so as to give a 

 limited supply of oxygen to it will lesson the activity 

 of the bacterial population. In fresh manure from 

 the stable there is always a certain amount of 

 urine in the straw, and the urea in this being soluble in 

 water is always the 

 first to be attacked 

 by bacteria. As it 

 ferments, ammonia 

 is given off, and this, 

 together with other 

 gases liberated in 

 the heap during the 

 first vigorous rush of 

 fermentation, are, 

 when present in ex- 

 cess, likely to harm 

 the delicate running 

 spawn; therefore 

 these hurtful gases 

 must be given an 

 opportunity of 

 escaping. 



These, then, are 

 the chief underlying 

 principles of suc- 

 cessful mushroom culture. Now, as to the ''practical" 

 cultural methods which are usually adopted by the best 

 gardeners. 



The fresh manure as received from the stable is first 

 shaken out and all the long straw (any beyond a foot in 

 length) is thrown in a separate heap, to be afterwards 

 used for covering the made-up bed. The separated 

 manure should be at once made up in a heap, the usual 

 size being \i feet wide and five feet high, and left to 

 "heat up." It must then be thoroughly turned, bring- 

 ing the inside material to the outside and outside 

 material to the inside of the heap. This will allow all 

 the free gases to escape and at the same time equalise 

 the fermentation ahd, therefore, temperature of the 

 manure. If the manure appears to be too dr^' it must 

 be watered with a coarse "rose," and here again great 

 judgment must be observed. It is impossible to give 

 exact instructions as to time and number of turnings, 

 as so much depends upon the age and quality of the 

 manure, but the process is a very critical one, and a 

 great deal depends upon doing it rightly. Uniform fer- 

 mentation and sweetening of the heap are the two 

 objects to aim at. When toned down to the proper 

 condition of mellowness the manure is then mixed with 



