THE MUSHROOM. 37* 



pact. The boxes are then placed in the mushroom-house, 

 or in any out-house where a slightly increased temperature 

 can be commanded. A degree of fermentation generally 

 takes place ; but if heat be not soon perceptible, another 

 layer must still be added, till sufficient action be excited. 

 When the beds are milk-warm, or between 80° and 90° 

 Fahrenheit, some holes are dibbled in the mass to receive 

 the spawn. The holes are left open for some time ; and 

 when the heat is on the decline, but before it be quite 

 gone, a piece of spawn brick is thrust into each opening, 

 and the holes are closed with a little compost. A week 

 afterwards, the boxes are covered with a smooth coating, 

 two inches thick, of rich loamy mould mixed with about a 

 fifth part of horse-droppiDgs. The apartment is now kept 

 as nearly and as equably at 55° Fahrenheit as circum- 

 stances will allow. When the boxes become dry, a little 

 soft water may be used, but sparingly and with circum- 

 spection, and instead of watering directly on the surface 

 of the bed, it is better to spread some hay over it, and to 

 sprinkle the hay. The more that free air can be admitted, 

 the flavor of the mushrooms is the better; but the exclu- 

 sion of frost is indispensable. If a number of boxes have 

 been prepared at first, a few only at a time may be cover- 

 ed with mould and brought into bearing, the rest being 

 covered and cropped in succession, as mushrooms may be 

 in demand. 



Mr. Edward Callow, in a tract on the artificial growth 

 of mushrooms, describes a method in which the pits are 

 wrought by means of dung heat. His structure somewhat 

 resembles Atkinson's melon-pit, only the roof is covered 

 with thatch, and a suit of air-flues is formed within the 

 interior of the pit, with branches crossing the principal bed 

 which occupies the floor. Linings of fermenting litter are 



