H. 7.] MUSHROOMS. 



er diftance ; and of what confcquence is 

 that ? it only requires beginning the fooner 

 to prepare the bed. Beds that are built 

 and fpawned in the common way feldom 

 produce above three or four months toge- 

 ther : I have frequently had them produ- 

 cing the year round in great abundance ; 

 and I once had a bed which produced two 

 complete years, and in fuch quantities, 

 that befides generally yielding a difh every 

 day, feveral gallons of ketchup were made 

 from it. However, Mufhroom-bed^ of all 

 kinds are fubjecT: to many misfortunes, and 

 the fpawn is of fo delicate a nature, that it 

 is quickly deftroyed by too much cold, 

 heat, drought, or wet. 



My mode of preparing the bed is this : 

 I firft lay about a foot of furnace-afhes, 

 brick-batts, or ftone-chips, fora bottom; 

 then fix inches of horfe-droppings =*, taken 

 carefully from the {table every morning, 

 and kept as whole as poffible : Thefe I fuf- 



fer 



* I have found, that the 'richer the feeding of the ani- 

 mal, the more produ&ive are their droppings ; and there- 

 fore prefer the droppings of coach or hunting horfes to 

 thofe of the farm. It may be worthy of notice, that 

 ilone-horfe droppings are the moil produ&ive of any. 



