MUS 



384 



MUS 



spawn as soon as the violence of the I tention to the fire, and in admitting fresh 

 heat has abated, which it will in two or I air as it may be required. The house 

 three weeks, though sometimes it will 1 is heated by open tanks, which run 



subside in eight or ten days. 

 Spawning. — The large 



through the centre of it, and which re- 

 lumps of! turn again into the boiler, giving out a 



spawn, being broken into moderately ' sufficient quantity of moisture for the 

 small pieces, are to be planted on both ! necessary development and growth of 

 sides of the bed and ends, if it is hip- ' the mushroom. During night, the 

 ped; each fragment just beneath the grassy turf becomes copiously loaded 



surface of the dung, in rows six or eight 

 inches apart each way. Some gardeners 

 erroneously scatter the spawn irregular- 



with moisture ; and should the foil ow- 

 I ing day prove fine, I never omit giving 

 abundance of fresh air by the doorway. 



ly over the surface. Fine rich loam, j The temperature of the house ranges 



rather light than otherwise, is tlien to be 

 put on, two inches deep, the stones 

 being carefully separated. Some gard- 

 eners, endeavouring to imitate the natu- 

 ral mode of growth, spread an inch in 

 depth of mould over the beds, in which 

 they set the spawn, and gently cover it 

 with half an inch more. Others lay a 

 ledge of mould, four inches high, and 

 two thick, all round the bed ; upon this 

 close to the dung, they lay the spawn ; 

 then a second ledge, six inches, of 

 similar thickness, on this they set an- 

 other row of spawn, and so proceed 

 until the bed is finished ; but this has no 

 advantage over the first mode described, 

 and is much more tedious. Lastly, a 

 covering of straw, six or twelve inches 

 thick, according to the temperature, is 

 to be laid on, and continued constantly. 

 When the earthing is finished, the sur- 



from 60^ to 6o^ during the day, and at 

 night it is frequently allowed to fall as 

 low as temperate. 



" The great advantage of growing 

 the mushroom upon fresh grassy turf is 

 obvious to any one accustomed lo its 

 cultivation. I have been in the habit 

 of growing it, and with great success, 

 upon coal refuse for the last two years; 

 and at present I have two boxes at 

 work, one covered with coal dust, the 

 other with turf; the produce of these 

 shows the relative advantage of the two 

 methods, for although those from the 

 coal dust are large and of good fiavour, 

 they are decidedly inferior in both re- 

 spects to those produced by the grass 

 covered beds; indeed, such is the supe- 

 riority of the latter, that if the mush- 

 rooms from both beds were gathered, 

 and mixed indiscriminately, any one 



face must be gently smoothed with the 1 could, without difficulty, select those 



back of the spade, which fixes it pro- 

 perly, and if in the open air throws oft" 

 any excessive rain. If, after the bed has 

 been spawned and covered up, the heat 

 appears to be renewed in any consider- 

 able degree, the greatest part of the 

 covering must be removed, but restored 



grown upon the turf from those raised 

 on the beds covered with the small 

 coal." — Gard. Chron. 



In four or five weeks after spawning, 

 in spring and autumn, the bed should 

 begin to produce, but not until much 

 later in summer and winter ; and if kept 



again during rain, if the bed is not under I dry and warm, will continue to do so 



cover; and to guard against this con- 

 tingency it is a good practice to mould 

 over only two-thirds of the bed at first, 

 leaving the top uncovered to serve as a 

 vent for the heat and steam, but when 

 all danger is passed it may then be com- 

 pleted. 



Mr. Haukin, gardener to Capt. Nut- 

 ford, thus completes his preparations: 



for several months. 



A gathering may take place two or 

 three times a week, according to the 

 productiveness of the bed. It some- 

 times happens that beds will not come 

 into production for five or six months ; 

 they should not therefore be impatiently 

 destroyed. 



Watering. — In autumn, the bed will 



— " In about a week or ten days after- : not require water until the first crop is 

 wards, I finish off the beds with green gathered, but it is then to be repeated 

 turf, one inch and a half in thickness, I after every gathering; a sprinkling only 

 making the beds in my boxes, in all j is necessary. In spring and summer, 

 about nine inches in depth. I beat down during dry weather, the same course is 

 the turf very firmly with the back of a to be pursued. As excessive or un- 

 spade ; in finishing afterwards, I have 1 equal moisture is studiously to be 

 no farther trouble except in paying at- 1 avoided, the best mode of applying the 



