126 FORCING MUSHROOMS. 



beds in gardens ; thus, when the spawn begins to run, a 

 spurious breed is often found to precede a crop of genuine 

 Mushrooms. The poisonous toad-stool, Agaricus cirocus, 

 may generally be detected by the presence of a sickly, nau- 

 seous smell, though some hurtful kinds are so free from any 

 thing disagreeable in the smell, as to make any criterion, 

 drawn from that alone, very unsafe. The wholesome kinds, 

 however, invariably emit a grateful, rich odour. The Jlga- 

 ricus campestris is most generally cultivated. Dr. Withering 

 mentions other eatable varieties, which grow considerably 

 larger, but are inferior in flavour ; he says " that a plant of 

 the variety Georgia was gathered in an old hot-bed at Bir- 

 mingham, which weighed fourteen pounds ; and Mr. Stack- 

 house found one fifty-four inches in circumference, having a 

 stem as thick as a man's wrist." 



Mushrooms may be obtained at any season of the year, 

 by a proper regulation of the time and manner of forming 

 the beds. A good crop is sometimes collected without ma- 

 king a bed on purpose, by introducing lumps of spawn into 

 the top mould of old hot-beds. 



The methods of procuring and propagating spawn, and 

 of forming Mushroom beds, are numerous. Indigenous 

 spawn may be collected in pasture lands in September and 

 October, or it may be found in its strength and purity in the 

 paths of mills worked by horses, or in any other horse-walks 

 under shelter ; it is frequently found in old hot-beds and 

 dunghills in the summer season, and Mushrooms of good 

 quality may often be seen beginning to form on the surface, 

 like large peas ; when these are absorbed, it is time to take 

 out the spawn, which is generally in hard, dry lumps of dung, 

 the spawn having the appearance of whitish coarse pieces 

 of thread. The true sort has exactly the smell of a Mush- 

 room. If spawn thus collected be required for immediate 

 use, it may be planted in the beds at once, or it will keep 

 three or four years, if laid to dry with the earth adhering to 

 it, and afterward placed in a warm, dry shed, where there 



