KITCHEN-GARDENING. 99 



should be new from the stables, and must not be broken, and 

 the dryer the better. They may be collected every day until 

 the whole floor or sole be covered to the above thickness ; 

 but they must not be allowed to ferment nor to heat. In the 

 whole process of making up, the bed should be as much 

 exposed to the air as possible ; and it should be carefully de- 

 fended from wet, if out of doors. When this course is quite dry, 

 and judged to be past a state of fermentation, cover it to the 

 thickness of two inches with light, dry earth; if sandy, so 

 much the better. It is immaterial whether it be rich or not ; 

 the only use of earth here being for spawn to run and mass in. 

 Now lay another course of droppings, ajid earth them over as 

 above, when past a state of fermentation : then a third course, 

 which, in like manner, earth all over. This finishes the bed, 

 which will be a very strong and productive one, if properly 

 managed afterwards. 



" Observe, that in forming the bed, it should be a little 

 rounded, in order that the centre may not be more wet or 

 moist than the sides. This may be done in forming the sole 

 or floor at first, and the bed would then be of equal strength 

 in all parts. If it be made up against a wall in a cellar, stable, 

 or shed, it may have a slope of a few inches from the back to 

 the front, less or more, according to its breadth. I have some- 

 times been contented with two courses as above, instead of 

 three ; and often, when materials were scarce, have made them 

 up slighter, thus : three four-inch courses of droppings, with 

 one inch of earth between each, and a two-inch covering at 

 top. Such a bed as this I have had produce for ten or twelve 

 successive months; yet very much depends on the state of 

 the materials, on the care taken in making up the beds, and 

 on the after-management. 



"The droppings of hard-fed horses only are useful. Those 

 of horses kept on green food will, of themselves, produce few 

 or no Mushrooms. I have made up beds from farm-horses, 

 fed partly on hard and partly on green food, and from carriage 

 or saddle-horses, fed entirely on corn or hay, treated them in 



