i8 97 . 



• ' • GARDENING. 



ii 



come, and these will be grown in soil. 

 But for winter culture manure is needed, 

 and tbe best is horse manure. Get enough 

 of it together to form a bed fifteen inches 

 deep, and if your cellaris cold a few inches 

 more will not matter; the whole secret of 

 mushroom growing being to have the 

 manure in proper shape to begin with. I 

 think more failures can be traced to poorly 

 prepared manure than any other cause. 



My mode of growing mushrooms, and 

 which has always been successful is this: 

 I go to the manure pile, just as it is 

 thrown out of the stables, shake out suf- 

 ficient moist manure to make up my bed, 

 putting it under a north facing shed to 

 keep all rains and sun from it. It is then 

 gone over again and all the short manure 

 shaken out, putting the straw to one 

 side. Each pile is then turned over once 

 a day, if needed, until the rankheat isout 

 of it. If it should get too dry the hose is 

 turned on it and a good watering given. 

 In the pile of short manure we put one 

 part soil to four of manure and mix the 

 whole together thoroughly, it being ready 

 for the beds when the heat has declined 

 to say 120°. It is better to have it a lit- 

 tle too hot than too cold. In the bottom 

 we put the long strawy manure, saj' one 

 foot of it, making it as firm and solid as 

 possible. On the top of this we put four 

 to six inches of the finer manure, this like 

 the rest being made quite firm. A ther- 

 mometer is plunged in the bed, and when 

 the heat declines to 95° the bed is ready 

 for the spawn. 



There are two kinds of spawn, namely 

 English and French. The English is pre- 

 pared in brick form, the French in flakes. 

 We have tried them both, but have 

 always been more successful with the 

 English and it is this kind we would ad- 

 vise being used. In spawning a bed, 



break the cake into about fifteen pieces, 

 making holes with the hand about two 

 inches deep and nine inches apart, then 

 put your pieces of spawn in, filling up the 

 holes again with the manure and beating 

 it in. After the bed is spawned, coverthe 

 whole with a few inches of straw to 

 retain the heat and moisture. In 

 eight days the bed will be ready for 

 casing. 



By casing is meant putting two inches 

 of soil over the entire bed; any kind 01 

 soil will answer. I have used all kinds but 

 have never noted any difference in the 

 result. Next put it through a half inch 

 sieve, letting the soil be somewhat moist 

 and spread it evenly over the bed an inch 

 and a half or two inches deep. Beat the 

 "whole as firmly as possible with the back 

 of a spade and the operation is finished. 

 Cover the whole up with about six inches 

 of straw from which the chaff has been 

 taken out, as this keeps the bed clean. 

 Salt hay is also good where it can be ob- 

 tained. In about six weeks the covering 

 should be removed as the mushrooms 

 will then be beginning to show, though it 

 may take them a trifle longer, it all de- 

 pending upon how the heat was main- 

 tained in the bed. 



The best way in which to grow mush- 

 rooms is in boxed beds, say four feet wide 

 and twenty inches high and as long as is 

 wanted. If they are grown where a fur- 

 nace is used, it is well to have the bed 

 boxed in as the dry heat of the cellar will 

 have a bad efiect on the beds. Again, if 

 the beds are made in a cold cellar, where 

 no artificial heat is used (and this is how 

 we grow ours), and where the tempera- 

 ture goes below the freezing point, a 

 heavy covering will have to be put over 

 the bed to keep it warm. 



Mushrooms like a temperature of about 



50° to 55°, but a good crop can be gath- 

 ered from a cellar in which the tempera- 

 ture is much less. Early in September is 

 the time to begin, for then a crop can be 

 gathered before very cold weather comes. 

 Watering is a part of the work that has 

 to be done carefully. At the end of six 

 weeks, when the straw is removed from 

 the beds, if they appear at all dry a good 

 watering should be given, which should 

 be at a temperature of about 90°. Use a 

 watering pot and a fine sprinkler and 

 water evenly over the bed. 



In gathering the crop they should be 

 taken out by the root by a twist of the 

 hand. If they should break off do not leave 

 the broken part in the bed, as it will rot and 

 killthelive spawnthatis running through 

 the bed. Fill all holes with soil after any 

 mushrooms have been gathered and make 

 the same firm with the hand. After the 

 first crop is gathered, if a light coating of 

 soil is put over the bed and a watering 

 given, a second and even third crop may 

 be had. What I have found to be the 

 most important point in mushroom grow- 

 ing is to have the manure quite moist 

 belore it is put in the bed, and if attention 

 is paid to this I cannot see why any 

 one should make a failure, providing good 

 fresh spawn is used. 



A good guide for amateurs' use is 

 "Mushrooms — How to Grow Them," by 

 William Falconer. This is a plainly writ- 

 ten book, explaining the methods of cul- 

 ture and is well illustrated. But we may 

 mention here, that the work is apparently 

 far more difficult and complicated on 

 paper than it proves to be in practice, as 

 it can be accomplished by any one. 



Mahwah, N. J. David Fraser. 



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