The Canadian Horticulturist. 



45 



only to all amateurs for home use, but to commercial gardeners near all large 

 towns. Some of the largest profits the writer has ever made in gardening were 

 by growing mushrooms under greenhouse benches in winter, and selling them, 

 in the Buffalo market, at from 50 cents to $1 a pound at wholesale. 



The conditions necessary to success consist in growing them in very rich 

 soil, the indispensable ingredient of which is horse manure, and in a steady 

 temperature. Any place, such as a cellar, shed, greenhouse pit, space under 

 the benches, etc., where, either naturally or by the use of artificial means, a 

 temperature of from 50° to 60° may be had, will answer. Good drainage must 

 alio be provided, hence, a shelf as in the lower figure, or a series of shelves, 

 may readily be employed to hold beds. 



The manure should be dry and freed as much as possible of straw or other 

 litter by shaking out. Manure alone can be used in which to grow them, by 

 repeatedly treading it down and throwing over to get rid of its greatest heat, but 

 usually it is preferred to mix from one-fourth its bulk to equal its bulk with good 

 garden soil. It is best to allow something of an accumulation before putting 

 down into beds. 



Fm. 7'22 — Mushroom 1)Eu on Shelf xkar the floor. 



The manure ready, and it may at once be made into beds. The beds may 

 be of most any shape or size desired, but exf)erience proves that to have them 

 from two to four feet wide, and about 20 inches deep answers about the best- 

 Where there is a good deal of room it is well to make the beds more or less 

 sloping at the sides Beds may also be made in old tubs, in casks sawed in 

 two, or in boxes. In this way they could, after the making and for cropping, 

 be carried into cellars or other parts of dwelling houses where one would not 

 like to bring in the manure in its rough form. We see no reason indeed why 

 the preparing and selling of mushroom boxes, to be grown in houses, should 

 not in some places become a profitable branch of the gardener's business. 



In putting down the manure and soil, it should be firmly packed, layer by 

 layer, with a brick or other weight. A thermometer should at some central 

 point be imbedded into the soil, with its bulb some three inches below the sur- 

 face. The probability is that the temperature in the bed will rise for a few days 

 and then begin to lower. When it reaches about 80° the bed is ready to spawn. 



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