524 FORCING THE MUSHROOM IN BRITISH GARDENS. 



height ; each shelf having a slate or stone curb nine inches deep. The 

 manner in which mushrooms are grown in such a house is as follows : 



The spawn may be either made or purchased. Cake or brick spawn 

 is the sort best worth making, and the best sort of materials to make 

 it of are, equal portions of horse-droppings, cow-droppings, and loam, 

 well mixed, and pounded or beaten, adding only as much water as will 

 bring the materials to the consistence of brickmakers' moulding clay. 

 Then let a circular mould without a bottom, nine inches in diameter 

 and three inches deep, be placed on a table, with the wide end upper- 

 most, and filled with this mortar and straked level ; before it is turned 

 out of the mould, let three holes be made in each cake with an iron- 

 shod dibber, one inch and a half deep : the mould must be shaped like 

 the frustum of a cone, that the cakes may easily part with it. When 

 the cakes are all but hand dry, let them be spawned, by putting a 

 piece of spawn about the size of a pigeon's egg in each hole, closing 

 it up with a little of the original mortar. Then pile the cakes in pairs, 

 with their spawned ends together, resembling a cask ; and in this state 

 let them be cased up in brick-shaped batches, and sweated and kept 

 up to about 85, by placing a layer of sweet dung all around and over 

 the batch, varying it in quantity, to obtain the desired heat. The 

 spawn must be examined as it runs in the cakes, and when one is 

 broken and appears mouldy all through, and smells of mushroom, it 

 is mushroom spawn in the highest state of perfection. It must not be 

 allowed to run so far as to form a thread-like substance. To preserve 

 it, it must be thoroughly dried in an airy loft, and kept dry for use. 

 It will retain its properties for several years. 



To Grow the Mushroom. Collect a quantity of horse-droppings ; lay 

 a little in an open shed. Allow the moisture to evaporate ; and to 

 facilitate this, turn the heap several times. Let the condition of the 

 droppings be the same throughout, as, if a portion of the mixture be 

 sweetened and other parts sour, the bed will give an irregular fermen- 

 tation, and will be less congenial to the mushroom. Then lay a stratum 

 of turfy loam, two inches or three inches deep, in the bottom of the 

 bed, and over this three layers of droppings, each about two inches 

 deep, rendered as compact as possible, by giving each layer a good 

 pummelling with a hand-mallet. When the last layer is made up, 

 thrust a few " watch sticks " into the bed, in order to ascertain when 

 it begins to heat. When the heat has declined to about 80, the spawn 

 may be inserted. If the heat is violent a few deep narrow holes may be 

 made to let it escape ; and if too slight it may be aided by a covering 

 of dry hay, or a layer of warm dung ; and when all danger of violent 

 heat is gone by, and the spawn beginning to run, put on the upper 

 stratum of loam, mixed with a little cut hay or dry horse-droppings 

 to make a tough firm crust, about one inch deep. A temperature of 

 from 55 to 00 is found best for the atmosphere in the house, and 

 about 80 of bottom heat will set the spawn actively to work. 



Growing the mushroom in a cellar may be readily accomplished 

 where the temperature does not fall below 45, or rise above 70. 

 Take a quantity of fresh manure, with short litter intermixed, from a 



