OCT.] THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 509 



Two or three beds may be made parallel to each other in this 

 way, with wide alleys between them, and if the whole were to be 

 covered with a shed, especially in the middle and eastern states, 

 it would be found of considerable advantage, in effectually preserv- 

 ing them from too much wet, which is as essentially necessary as 

 their preservation from frost. 



If your bed is in a due temperature, the mushrooms will begin 

 to appear in about four or five weeks after its being made, and 

 with proper care will continue in bearing several months : when you 

 find it ceasing to produce, in consequence of cold, lay a covering of 

 hot stable dung seven o-r eight inches, or in hard frosts, near a foot 

 thick all over the bed, observing to leave under this, between it and 

 the bed, about three inches thick of dry straw, covering the hot 

 dung over with the remainder of the straw or litter; this will 

 revive the heat, give new action to the spawn, and should be repeated 

 as often during winter as it may be found necessary, always observ- 

 ing to preserve the bed from wet, cold and frost. 



Sometimes it happens, that the beds do not produce any mush- 

 rooms till they have lain five or six months, so that they should 

 not be destroyed though they do not at first answer the expectation ; 

 for such, frequently produce great quantities afterwards, and 

 continue bearing a long time. 



A good bed may continue productive, for three, four, five, or even 

 twelve months ; but by that time it is generally worn out ; the dung 

 then makes excellent manure, and the interior part sometimes 

 furnishes very good spawn. 



The great skill of managing these beds, is that of keeping them 

 in a proper degree of warmth and moisture, never suffering them to 

 receive much wet : during the summer season they may be un- 

 covered occasionally to receive gentle showers of rain, when thought 

 necessary, and in very dry seasons the beds should be now and then 

 opened, gently watered, and covered up soon after ; but the summer 

 covering need be no thicker than what is necessary to preserve the 

 bed from the drying influence of the weather. 



This method of propagating mushrooms by the a/iawn^ or the 

 white fibrous radicles, is the most common ; but they may also be 

 increased by seed. When the latter method is used, the gills are 

 cut out and put into the beds : or else they are infused in water and 

 the beds sprinkled with the infusion. 



When the bed is in full bearing, it should be examined two or 

 three times a week, to gather the produce, turning off the straw 

 carefully, and collecting the mushrooms white, and of a moderate 

 size : taking care to detach them from the bottom, by a gentle 

 twist, pulling the stems out clean, for if broke or cut off, the re- 

 maining parts would become putrid and full off maggots, and conse- 

 quently infectious to the successional plants. 



Where mushrooms are greatly admired, and expence not con- 

 sidered an object, they may be had with more certainty, in greater 

 abundance, and in a regular succession, by making the beds as be-^ 

 fore directed, under a range of glass framing, made in the manner 

 of a hot-house, or the top sloped both ways like the roof of a house ; 



