1900-1901. | Mushroom-Culture. 179 
hardly compensate any one to attempt it. In such a place as 
Edinburgh, and with such a ready access to the Scotland 
Street tunnel by rail, we can always command a large supply 
of manure, and so the initial cost is much lightened. In the 
works there all the manure is taken down by rail to the sheds 
at Warriston. It is then unloaded and put through a course 
of turning. First, the long straw is all taken out, and the 
manure allowed to lie for a day or two. It is then again 
very carefully turned over, and this operation is repeated three 
or four times, as required, in order to allow the extreme heat 
to escape. When the heat is sufficiently reduced the manure 
is then loaded into trucks, and taken up the tunnel by the 
engine to the place where the beds are to be made. It is then. 
unloaded, and the making of the beds is at once proceeded with. 
To do this different growers adopt different methods. In our case 
we have a mould the exact size of the bed, open at the top, into 
which the manure is thrown and pressed down hard. When 
the mould is full it is lifted off, and the bed is then seen to be 
made. We make our beds 12 feet long by 24 feet high and 
3 feet broad at base, tapering upwards so that at the top each 
bed is only about 18 inches broad. The beds are laid trans- 
versely in the tunnel. When in full operation we have 800 
beds, giving a surface measurement of about 12 acres. The 
tunnel is 1200 yards long, about 21 feet high, and 24 feet 
broad. 
After the bed has been made by the mould it is left for a 
few days in order to allow it to gradually lower its temperature, 
for if the bed were spawned immediately after being made, 
the heat would burn the spawn and render it useless. The 
scientific mode of determining when the bed is ready for the 
Spawn is by using a thermometer, when the heat should be 
about 90°. But for all practical purposes the right tempera- 
ture can be decided by inserting a stick into the bed, allowing 
it to lie for a minute, and then withdrawing it and feeling the 
heat by the hand. The spawn is then broken up into the 
proper sizes, and inserted after a hole has been dibbled in the 
bed. 
The bed is now ready for soiling, a duty which has to 
be very carefully done. We find it advisable to procure the 
