514 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF TARIS. [Chap. XXX. 



cannot be obtained in sufficient quantity to meet the wants of 

 such extensive cultivation, tliey frequently put a small portion 

 of it into a freshly made Mushroom bed to spread, and instead of 

 allowing this bed to produce Mushrooms it is all used as spawn. 

 In this case the small bed devoted to the j)ropagation of spawn 

 is placed in the open air, and covered with straw, and as soon as 

 it is permeated with the spawn it is carried into the caves and 

 used. As the making and spawning of beds is a process continu- 

 ally going on, spawning-beds of this sort must be ready at all 

 times. It is never made into bricks as with us, but spreads 

 through short, partly-decomposed manure. 



A bed in the open air, which is exposed to all the accidents of 

 the weather, may be spawned with dry old spawn, such as may be 

 taken from the stock kept for sale. Experience, however, has 

 shown that, for Mushroom-beds in cellars or quarries, it is better 

 to allow the spawn to become damp, and undergo a kind of 

 stratification before being used. For this purpose, the cakes are 

 placed in rows on the floor of the cellar or cavern, and allowed to 

 remain for about eight or ten days, until the dampness of the 

 atmosphere has caused the filaments of spawn to swell up and 

 resume their normal roundish form, whitish colour, and felted 

 appearance. It is of importance only to expose a sufficient 

 quantity of spawn to the damp for immediate use, for it will not 

 bear being dried and damped again. It must also be remembered 

 that the spawn must be exposed at such a time that it will be 

 ready for use when the Mushroom-bed is at the proper temperature. 

 If the spawn remains too long in this preliminary damping its 

 sporules become swollen with the damp, and, not finding a 

 suitable temperature for their development, they wither away. 

 The stratification of the spawn advances the gathering of the first 

 crop of Mushrooms by eight or ten days. It is for this reason, 

 amongst others, that the Mushroom-growers in the Paris quarries 

 often take their fresh spawn from beds already in work, except 

 when they desire to obtain an entirely new " strain." When the 

 bed has reached the proper temperature, the Mushroom-grower 

 chooses from among the beds already in bearing the one which 

 appears in the healthiest condition, that, in fact, in which the 

 spawn-filaments are most numerous, thickest, and cling most 

 closely to the particles of the manure. The best time for taking 



