66 GARDENING 



about occasionally, so that all scent is lost ; next 

 place it in a room or cellar, and make a bed ten inches 

 thick ; ram the manure firmly, and cover it with one 

 and a half inch thickness of soil, made firm and even. 

 When the bed has attained a falling temperature of 

 about 65°, insert the spawn, which should be put 

 in rows about a foot apart and eight inches in the 

 rows. Each piece of spawn may be put in one inch 

 deep ; a little water should be occasionally given. 

 The time it takes for the mushrooms to come up 

 depends upon circumstances — possibly in about six 

 weeks. A good temperature one month with an- 

 other is from 50° to 54°. 



Another way of making mushroom beds is to 

 make them on a brick floor, which should be made 

 in ridge form, as a greater surface is provided than 

 in any other form. The bed should be two feet 

 six inches wide at the base, two feet ten inches high, 

 and nine inches wide at the ridge. Collect some 

 stable manure and throw it into a heap, and protect 

 it from the wet. When enough has been collected 

 for a bed (it matters little how long the bed is made 

 beyond six feet), throw it into a close heap to fer- 

 ment ; if too dry, just wet it very slightly to induce 

 heat. The manure should be turned for three days 

 successively, when it ought to be just at the right 

 moisture to make up into a bed. The bed should 

 be rammed down as hard as possible to make it firm. 

 Fermentation will now set in after a few days, and 

 when the heat is at 85° it will be ready for spawning. 



I fdel sure mushroom culture would prove 

 lucrative to ladies who are endeavouring to supple- 

 ment small incomes, if they could manage space 

 enough from their gardens to cultivate them in, as 

 mushroom cultivation is not a difficult art. I read 



