New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 335 



Spawning the Bed. 



After it was found that the temperature remained below ninety 

 degree Fahr, the bed was spawned, using either the "French" 

 spawn or the " English " spawn as desired. The French spawn is 

 prepared in loose flakes, the English spawn is prepared in bricks. 

 The spawn is imported by seedsmen from whom it may be obtained. 



The bricks from different sources are not always of tlie same size, 

 but the ordinary weight for a brick is one pound and the dimen- 

 sions are a little more than eight by iive inches and one and a quar- 

 ter inches tliick. Sixteen of these bricks make a bushel. A brick of 

 this kind is broken into a dozen pieces, nearly uniform in size, which 

 are inserted in the bed about nine inches apart so that the top of 

 each piece is at least an inch below the surface. The manure is 

 then packed firmly over the pieces leaving the surface of the bed 

 smooth as before. The flake spawn is used in a similar manner. 



Coating with Soil. 



About two weeks after the beds were spawned they were coated 

 two inches deep with fine mellow loam. Many gardeners prefer for 

 this purpose loam taken from sod ground but commercial growers 

 do not hesitate to use garden soil, or soil from plowed fields when it 

 is more convenient. The loam should neither be dry nor wet, but 

 simply moist. The coating of loam is not applied till the spawn 

 begins to spread in the manure. When the spawn begins to spread 

 it can be seen like a filmy, white, or bluish white, mold growing 

 from the pieces of brick or flakes that were planted, and extending 

 into the surrounding manure. 



The beds were then covered with excelsior two or three inches 

 deep to keep the surface of the soil from drying. A roof of heavy 

 paper was made over the bed to protect it from the drip from the 

 benches overhead. The strips were passed over a wire running 

 under the centre of the bench and the ends were fastened to nails 

 in the side of the bed by loops of twine. It is believed that this 

 paper roof was of some advantage also in protecting the bed from 

 draughts and helping to keep an even condition of moisture and 

 temperature . 



Watering. 

 Whenever the surface of the soil commenced to look dry it was 

 syringed with water, at 100 degrees, sufficiently to wet the soil. 



