240 



STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



making the beds usually i6 feet long by 4 feet wide, the boards 

 being 10 inches wide. In this case, the beds, after soiling or finish- 

 ing, are 9 inches deep, the material resting directly upon the rock, 

 the boards being used only to hold the material on the edges in posi- 

 tion. Figures 223 and 224 illustrate the position of the beds and 

 their relation to each other, as well as showing the general structural 

 features of the mine. The pillars of rock are those which were left 

 at the time of mining, as supports for the rock roof above, while 

 additional wood props are used in places. In this mine all of the 

 beds are constructed upon a single plan. 



Figure 2: 



-View in Wheatland cave, showing ridge beds, and one flat bed. 

 Copyright. 



At another place, Wheatland, New York, where the Wheatland 

 Cave Mushrooms are grown, beds of two different styles are used, 

 the flat beds supported by boards as described in the previous case, 

 and the ridge beds, where the material, without any lateral support, 

 is arranged in parallel ridges as shown in Fig. 225. This is the 

 method largely, if not wholly employed in the celebrated mushroom 

 caves at Paris, and is also used in some cases in the outdoor cultiva- 

 tion of mushrooms. As to the advantage of one system of bed over 

 the other, one must consider the conditions involved. Some believe 

 a larger crop of mushrooms is obtained where there is an opportunity, 

 as in the ridge beds, for the mushrooms to appear on the sides as 

 well as on the upper surface of the beds. In the flat beds the mush- 



