138 PRACTICAIi GARDENING. 



all their vitality preserved. Hence tlie droppings of horses 

 laid together, under peculiar circumstances, will encourage 

 the growth of the seeds which have been preserved, and only 

 want favourable circumstances to germinate. It is found that 

 the droppings of horses which have been fed on corn and hay, 

 are more productive of the mushroom than that of horses fed 

 on grass, or other animals fed any how. It is therefore con- 

 cluded that the seeds abound in harvest or hay time, and that 

 corn and hay are favourable mediimis for collecting and pre- 

 serving them, and it is known that, by laying the droppings 

 close together in heaps, mushroom spawn has germinated so 

 rapidly, when it once commenced, that the whole heap has 

 become a mass of spawn. But it is also found that in places 

 where cows, horses, and sheep congregate, mushrooms abound, 

 whereas in woods, and fields, not fi-equented by such animals, 

 the mushroom is rarely produced ; but on the contrary, what- 

 ever fungi are found are poisonous, or at least unwholesome. 

 From this it would appear that it is necessary the seed should 

 pass through the intestines of cattle, horses, or sheep, to secure 

 its germination. But the seeds may be found in ether matter, 

 remaining in a dormant state for any length of time, until a 

 proper degree of heat and moisture brings it into life. Mcol, 

 a celebrated writer on this subject, says he has produced 

 safer, better, and more lasting beds by the following simple 

 means, than he ever could by any other process. He gathered 

 up horse droppings, of which he made a layer on dry ground 

 of six inches thick, then let them get dry, and when beyond 

 the danger of fermenting, covered with two inches of light 

 earth ; then got another layer of horse droppings, whole and 

 dry ones are better than others, and when the second layer has 

 dried, put two inches more earth. A third course is desir- 

 able, but two may do ; a two-inch covering at top finishes the 

 bed. The bed can be finished in five or six weeks, and if 

 under cover, in a moderately warm shed, it will produce in as 

 much more time. The beds so made are, according to the 

 authority we have mentioned, far more certain and more 

 lasting than those made any other way. It is mentioned that 

 the higher the keep of the horses, the better, and that grass- 

 fed horses would yield but few, if any, and not yield any 

 sometimes. These beds become a complete mass of spawn, 

 and last a long time. The old practitioners, in our young 

 days, used to prefer the sweepings of a mill track, when horse- 



