AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



263 



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single Mushroom. In my apprentice days I 

 had known no such -word as fail in so simple a 

 matter ; but here, on my first attempt, on my 

 own responsibility, I was met by total failure. 

 Every authority was consulted, all the various 

 methods tried, but with no better success. In 

 all such cases something must be blamed, and 

 I pronounced the spawn worthless ; but this 

 could not well be, as a friend had abundant 

 crops growing from spawn received from the 

 same source. Driven into a corner by this 

 information, I made another exploration of 

 my 'authorities,' and was fortunate to find 

 in one of them a single sentence that at once 

 showed where my error had been; it was to 

 • be careful to delay the covering with mould 

 until ten or twelve days after the bed had 

 been spawned.' Now, in all the different 

 methods I had tried. I had in each invaria- 

 bly put in the spawn, and at once put on the 

 two-inch covering of soil, which had the 

 effect to shutdown the steam, thereby raising 

 the temperature in the bed to a degree that 

 destroyed the spawn, and consequently 

 defeated my whole operations. My excuse 

 for this digression is to show the importance 

 of what might otherwise be thought unneces- 

 sary details. Although spawn is procurable 

 at cheap rates in all horticultural stores, yet 

 to such as desire to make it themselves, I 

 give the following brief directions : Take 

 equal portions of horse droppings, cow dung. 

 and fresh loam, and mix tiie whole thoroughly 

 together, as you would make mortar; then 

 form it into cakes about the size of large 

 bricks; place these on edge, under cover, 

 until they become half dry; then insert into 

 each a piece of spawn half an inch or so 

 square, and let the bricks remain until they 

 are quite drv- ; then spread about eight inches 

 of horse dung over the floor of the shed, on 

 which build the bricks in a pile three feet 

 wide by three feet high, keeping the side in 

 which the spawn has been put uppermost ; 

 then cover them over with sufficient stable 

 manure, so as to give a gentle heat, not 

 exceeding 100°, through the whole. In two or 

 three weeks the spawn will have spread itself 

 through the whole mass of each brick ; they 

 are then removed to a dry place, and will 

 retain their vital properties for many years. 

 There is not the least question that the'culti- 

 vation of Mushrooms for market, forced in 

 the manner detailed, will give a larger profit 

 for the labor and capital invested than that 

 from any other vegetable. The supply has 

 never yet been half enough, and sellers have 

 had prices pretty much as they pleased. I 

 know of no house that has been especially 

 erected for the purpose, and the market's 

 have been supplied from beds formed in out- 

 of-the-way comers, giving only an uncertain 

 and irregular supply, very discouraging to 

 buyers. I have no doubt whatever that 

 Mushroom houses, roughly built, but exclu- 

 sively devoted to that purpose, would, in the 

 vicinity of any of our large cities, pay a profit 

 of fifty per cent, per annum on the cost of 

 construction." 



The following article was written to a re- 

 quest made by me to John G. Gardner, Jobs- 

 town, N. J., who has been eminently success- 

 ful as a grower of Mushrooms. 



"Having been interested in the culture of 

 Mushrooms for the past fifteen years, both in 



MUS 



England and in this country, and having read 

 almost everything written on the subject, 

 besides having had ample experience every 

 year, growing them successfully in various 

 ways, under green-house benches, in cellars, 

 and in houses constructed especially for 

 Mushroom culture ; it is only after close study 

 that I have been able during the last three 

 years to produce enough in quantity to com- 

 pensate for the expense attending their cul- 

 ture. Starting with these facts uppermost in 

 my mind — that I could not realize Mushrooms 

 enough in value as an equivalent of labor and 

 material expended, and that at some future 

 time I might have to grow them for market, I 

 concluded that I must become more familiar 

 with the conditions of their development, and 

 closely watched from day to day all stages of 

 operations, until the Mushrooms appeared 

 upon the surface of the beds. 



"The first serious drawback I saw, was the 

 falling off after two or three weeks of the 

 quantity gathered, and upon examining the 

 beds I found abundance of spawn in thread- 

 like form looking healthy, and Mushrooms 

 already formed upon the ends of the threads, 

 but only a few developed, ninety per cent, 

 becoming brown in color after showing upon 

 the surface th^ size of small peas. Now I was 

 at a loss to know the cause of this falling off; 

 with the spawn in perfect health, and as some 

 of the beds in the same house having had 

 exactly the same treatment, spawned and 

 commenced bearing at the same time were 

 still bearing well, being positive also that the 

 atmospheric conditions had not been changed, 

 and that the beds were moist enough, I came 

 to the conclusion that the food of the 

 Mushroom had been all absorbed, and nothing 

 left to develop the thread-like forms into 

 Mushrooms, and that what was needed was 

 food prepared in a soluble form that I could 

 apply at this stage of falling off. I had read 

 that the Mushroom abounds in nitrogen, and 

 that this substance must be a necessary ele- 

 ment, but in what form did the Mushroom take 

 it up? I knew also that from beds that would 

 not ferment although in a house of the proper 

 temperature, I could not get a crop, so it ap- 

 peared clear to me that fermentation was the 

 means of preparing the nitrogen, causing it to 

 take the form of ammonia, and that in this 

 state it became soluble, and fit for plant food. 

 At once then I saw this to be the cardinal 

 point— that this ammonia must be retained 

 in the beds, that the labor of turning and dry- 

 ing the material, and all the foundation that 

 took place in the manure was a loss, as the 

 nitrogen escaped in the form of ammonia, but 

 until some other material than horse-stable 

 manure be used for the beds (and I believe it 

 will be practical in the near future to use 

 other material), there will be a loss of am- 

 monia from the beds by fermentation in 

 different stages. I have been experimenting 

 with sphagnum moss and cocoanut fibre, 

 using hot water to get the proper temperature 

 to produce the spawn in an active state, and 

 covering with soil, charged with ammonia, I 

 have been successful in raising healthy Mush- 

 rooms. 



'•In October, 1886, being satisfied with the 

 result of my experiments, and feeling certain 

 that I had mastered the fundamental part of 

 ' Mushroom Culture,' I made a radical 



