i8g8. 



' ' ' GARDENING. 



*55 



in such places every year. I now grow 

 them in a cellar where the temperature 

 varies from 50° to 55°, very seldom 

 higher, and neverfail to have good results. 

 I would prefer a uniform temperature of 

 60°. but not being able to have this, must 

 get along with the lower figure. But less, 

 1 think, depends on the temperature of the 

 cellar than on the careful mixing of the 

 manure, thoroughly pounding the beds 

 spawning at a proper temperature, leav- 

 ing the bed uncovered by soil while steam 

 is escaping (say from a week to ten days 

 after spawning) and on maintaining a 

 suitable moisture of atmosphere. 



It does no good to lose patience if mush- 

 rooms fail to aopear in the regulation 

 time of five or six weeks, I have known 

 them to show in four weeks, and on the 

 other hand a bed which had been looked 

 upon as a total loss gave a fine crop after 

 twelve weeks of weary waiting. Usually, 

 however, they show in about six weeks. 

 The first bed of the present season did not 

 show any pinheads for eight weeks, while 

 a bed similarly made in the same cellar, 

 using the same brand of spawn, came 

 into bearing in less than five weeks. 

 Those who have a cellar or some vacant 

 space underneath the greenhouse benches, 

 with a temperature anywhere between 

 50° and 60°, will find the early part of 

 February a good time in which to start 

 a bed. The first and most important 

 requisite is a supply of fresh horse drop- 

 pings from grain fed animals. This 

 should be collected every day if possible, 

 removing the coarse straw. When a 

 sufficient quantity has been collected and 

 turned over regularly for some days to let 

 the rank steam escape (a shed open on 

 one side or an empty horse stall are suit- 

 able places for this work), mix the ma- 

 nure with one-fourth its bulk of loam. 

 The beds here are madefromtentotwelve 

 inches in depth, placing the manure in 

 layers and pounding it as hard as possi- 

 ble with a wooden mallet or some similar 

 implement. When the bottom-heat ther- 

 mometer indicates a declining tempera- 

 ture in the bed, it is spawned with the 

 heat at about 90°. I have tried spawn- 

 ing at 95" with equally good results, but 

 below 80° the crop is never so satisfac- 

 tory. A covering of moist, heavy loam 

 is spread over the bed to a depth of two 

 inches when the steam has escaped and 

 beaten firmly, scattering a little hay on 

 the surface to prevent rapid evaporation. 



An examination of the beds is made once 

 a week, and where dry spots occur water 

 at a temperature of 100° is applied. 

 Watering is looked upon as a dire evil by 

 many growers, but in those cases where 

 a bed was slow in coming into bearing I 

 have found that a drenching of tepid 

 water causes a fine crop to appear almost 

 in a twinkling. The spawn imported 

 from England by the leading seed mer- 

 chants and known as "Milltrack" is the 

 most reliable for general purposes. I 

 have tried spawn made in Massachusetts 

 which also gave good results. For the 

 benefit of those readers who may not be 

 familiar with mushroom spawn, it should 

 be stated that this material consists of a 

 mixture of manure and soil into which the 

 mycelium or vegetative part of the mush- 

 room has been introduced. The presence 

 of the mycelium is indicated by whitish, 

 thread-like matter in the soil, and it is from 

 this peculiar substance that our mush- 

 rooms are developed. For convenience in 

 storing and transportation the spawn is 

 put up in the form of bricks. The compost 

 used as a base for the mycelium is pre- 

 pared from horse droppings, cow manure 

 and good loam, which by the addition of 

 stable manure liquid are brought to the 



consistency of a stiff mortar. This is then 

 shaped in bricks of the desired size, 

 which are placed on edge under cover 

 until they become partially dry. A hole 

 about an inch square is then made in the 

 center of each brick, and the cavity filled 

 with mycelium-charged soil from an old 

 mushroom bed or such other source as 

 may be available, plastering the surface 

 of the opening again with the material of 

 which the bricks are formed. 



A hotbed twelve inches thick of fresh 

 stable manure is now made ready on a 

 dry bottom, and the bricks built in a pile 

 over it with a vacantspace between every 

 second one, after which the entire mass i-i 

 covered with stable manure or straw lit 

 ter, imparting a gentle heat to all the 

 bricks. In two or three weeks the 

 mycelium will have spread through everv 

 portion of the bricks, which are then 

 thoroughly dried by exposure to sun and 

 air and stored in a dry, cool place until 

 required for shipment or for spawning 

 mushroom beds. As most growers onlv 

 require a fewbricksof spawn.it is scarcely 

 worth the trouble of manufacture for 

 home use unless one with plenty of time 

 at disposal is fond of experimenting in 

 this direction. Purchased bricks that do 

 not show the mycelium plainly are not of 

 the best quality, and should not be used 

 if others can be procured. In spawning 

 the beds, the bricks are broken in pieces, 

 each about the size of a walnut, and 

 inserted in the manure. Smaller frag- 

 ments, however, should not be discarded, 

 as they also will produce mushrooms in 

 many cases. W. X. Craig. 



Massachusetts. 



Societies. 



Hamilton, Ontario —A horticultural 

 society has recently been organized here. 

 At the first meeting eighty members were 

 secured, and it is expected that the num- 

 ber will soon be more than doubled. A. 

 Alexander was elected president, W. F. 

 Burton first vice-president, Jas. Ogilvie 

 second vice-president; Jas. Anderson, J. 

 Cape, J. Knox, Sam. Aylett, F. G. Foster. 

 T. f. Evel directors; Thos. Burns and J. 

 C. M'Keand auditors, and J. M. Dickin- 

 son secretary-treasurer. Open meetings 

 will be held on the first Monday of each 

 month, and exhibitions, to be held in 

 summer and fall, are to be free to both 

 exhibitors and the public. 



Wisconsin Societies —On February 1, 

 2, 3 and 4 a joint convention will 

 be held of the Wisconsin State Horti- 

 cultural Society, the Wisconsin State 

 Forestry Association, and the Wis- 

 consin Cheesemakers' Association, and 

 the alumni of short course school. The 

 meeting will be held at Madison, and the 

 headquarters will be at the Capitol 

 house. Following are the officers of the 

 societies: L. G Kellogg, president, A.J. 

 Phillips, secretary, State Horticultural 

 Society; B. S. Hoxie, president, S. L. 

 Cheney, secretary, Forestry Association; 

 A. S. Baer, secretary, Cheesemakers' Asso- 

 ciation; W. A. Moore, in charge of the 

 alumni. 



Nebraska State Horticultural So- 

 ciety. — The annual meeting of this soci- 

 ety closed its session January 13. It was 

 decided to hold the next meeting in 

 Omaha some time during the coming 

 summer. The state meeting of the Iowa 

 horticulturists will be held in Council 

 Bluffs simultaneously with the Nebraska 

 meeting, and invitations have been 

 exchanged. Prof. G. D. Sweezy of the 

 university read a paper on "An Elec- 



trical Method for Determining Soil Moist- 

 ure." Mr. C. H. Van Meter told "Why 

 Our Transplanted Trees Die." Mr. J. M. 

 Russell, of Wymore, who owns the largest 

 peach farm in Nebraska, spoke of his 

 experience in raising different varieties of 

 peaches. A resolution endorsing the plan 

 of the American Association of Nursery- 

 men in preventing the sale of infected 

 nursery stock was adopted. Mr. W. G. 

 Edwards, for the Iowa society, expressed 

 thanks for the manner in which delegates 

 from that state had been treated during 

 the meeting. 



E 



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: Bushel : 

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