140 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



break the cakes of spawn into pieces the size of a hen's egg, 

 and tuck them into the sloping side, only put far enough to 

 hold in while you put two inches of mould over them. Some 

 pretend that a portion of the top should be left unmoulded 

 until all danger of too much heat has passed over ; but the 

 fact is, that the bed should not be spawned or moulded at all 

 until all danger of over-heating has gone by. Straw may be 

 placed over the whole, and it must be left to time to get into 

 working. Another way of making a bed is to lay the mate- 

 rial against the wall under a temporary roof, or under a shed, 

 or in a barn, or at the back of a greenhouse, or vinery, or 

 stove, making -one sloping side only ; but the process is to be 

 the same. 



We have, before this, seen mushroom beds on the floors of 

 all the vineries of an estabhshment, where the droppings, or 

 short dung, have been laid along the ground in a tolerable 

 heap, and merely patted down with a fork to something like 

 a flat bank. Here they were spawned and covered, and very 

 shortly jDroduced heavy crops ; but the theory may be reduced 

 to a rule that is unerring as to the production of mushrooms, 

 in numerous ways. First ; horse droppings, or short-dung, 

 with body enough to generate heat, and two inches of mould 

 at the top, will always produce the crop if the spawn be 

 inserted. Consequently, so that it be kept dry, no matter 

 where it is made. Second ; horse droppings, or short dung, 

 in too small a quantity to generate heat of itself, Avill never- 

 theless produce the mushrooms when spawned, if the tem- 

 perature of the house be kept up. Consequently, a large pot 

 filled all but two inches with horse-droppings, a lump of 

 spawn put in, and two inches of mould at the top, will yield 

 mushrooms in great plenty if put in a stove. Shelves two 

 feet wide, with a two-inch ledge in front, may be filled as full 

 as possible on a slope with droppings, or short dung, by 

 which means the waU of a shed, or out building, capable of 

 being closed from the weather, may be made to hold several, 

 one above another, two feet distance being enough from one 

 shelf to the other, the moulding and spawning being similar 

 to all other beds ; but the temperature ought to be steady, 

 and no draught admitted. This mode of culture in a cellar 

 is very desirable, light being not at all requisite to the pro- 

 duction of the mushroom. The principal attention required 

 is, to have the dung of a good genial warmth at the time the 



