A G A 



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is white ; the diameter commonly from two to 

 four, but sometimes nine inches. The stem is 

 solid, from two to three inches high, and half 

 an inch in diameter. 



Culture. — There are are two different methods 

 employed in raising and propagating the Mush- 

 room : the first or most usual one is that by 

 means of the spawn or white fibrous radicles that 

 afford the knobby material from which the 

 mushroom is formed. The second is that by 

 seed; in which the gills of the mushroom are 

 cut out and deposited in the beds, or infused in 

 water, and the beds afterwards well sprinkled 

 over with it. This is, however, a less certain 

 and convenient method than the preceding, and 

 of course less frequently employed. 



The situations in which this sort of culture is 

 carried on are very different according to circum- 

 stances. It is sometimes attempted in the most 

 dry, warm, and least elevated and exposed parts 

 of the melon or cucumber grounds, or such 



Quarters of the kitchen garden as are the most 

 ry and warm ; in which cases the beds should 

 be formed on the surface of the ground, without 

 any trench being dug, as in this way they are 

 capable of being spawned more completely to the 

 bottom, as well as that part more effectually 

 preserved from the injurious effects of stagnant 

 water in the winter season. Coverings of straw, 

 thatch, or other litter, are applied for the purpose 

 of protection. This method is, however, ob- 

 jected to by some as inconvenient, not only on 

 account of the great difficulty and trouble of 

 fully sheltering the beds during the severe winter 

 months, but from the great destruction of the 

 young plants that unavoidably occurs in covering 

 and uncovering the beds in gathering the crops. 

 It is therefore suggested by Mr. Nicol in his 

 Scotch Forcing Gardener, that a frame con- 

 structed of half-inch feather-edged boards should 

 be made in the form of the roof of a house to 

 any suitable length, having the width of about six 

 feet at the bottom. It should also have slides 

 fixed in different parts, for the purpose of admit- 

 ting air occasionally ; and be very well painted or 

 laid over with pitch, in order to guard against 

 the effects of wet. It is to cover and protect the. 

 beds, being lifted oft" and on at pleasure by two 

 persons ; and in severe winters may be covered 

 over with some material, as straw, litter, &c. so 

 as to prevent the mushrooms or the spawn from 

 being destroyed. 



It is, however, a better method, where the 

 mushroom is much wanted at different seasons 

 of the year, to have compartments constructed 

 for the purpose; or the back sheds of hot -houses, 

 green -houses, cellars, and other similar places, 

 may answer the intention perfectly well, little 

 light or air being necessary. 



At fig. I. in the annexed plate is seen the re- 

 presentation of a mushroom-house of the first 

 kind, wrought by one fire, but divided in such a 

 manner as to produce the crops in succession. 

 It should have a dry situation, and may be co- 

 vered either by slate, tiles, or thatch. It is re- 

 commended by the author of the Scotch For- 

 cing Gardener, who has found it well adapted to 

 the purpose. 



Mushrooms may, however, be raised under 

 cover of a long range of glass-framing, erected 

 either in the manner of a hot-house, or the top 

 sloped both ways like the roof of a house, the 

 slopes being of glass work ; in which the bed 

 is made, spawned, and covered with straw, litter, 

 &c. as in the common method. This, from its 

 being fully protected from the outward air, and 

 all injuries from rain, snow, frost, and cutting 

 weather of every kind, as well as always dry and 

 warm, mostly proves successful. — Sometimes 

 they are also cultivated in a similar glass frame, 

 in which there is a pit like that of the hot-house, 

 in which the bed is made in the manner of a 

 common hot-bed, raised at top a little above the 

 pit in a rounding form, on which the spawn is 

 placed, earthed over, and then covered thickly 

 with straw. 



Nature, generation, and growth of the mush- 

 room. — The mushroom in some measure partakes 

 of both a vegetable and animal nature. In re- 

 spect to the manner in which it is generated 

 there are different opinions ; but the more mo- 

 dern writers in general suppose it to proceed from 

 seed, which is believed to be secreted in or be- 

 tween the gills, and that when the plants arrive 

 to full growth, the head expanding almost fiat 

 becomes a large flap, which falls to the ground ; 

 and in that way disseminates the invisible seed 

 to adjacent and distant soils and situations ; where 

 vegetating in its peculiar maimer, it produces 

 the white fibrous progeny called spawn, which 

 is formed within the surface of the earth, or 

 in dung, running and spreading in numerous 

 thread-Tike strings, or radicle-fibres of a white 

 colour, which produce a number of minute gra- 

 nulate knobs, or tubercles, of the same colour, 

 which are the embryo plants, and which gradu- 

 ally increase into small round heads, enlarging 

 quickly to the size of perfect mushrooms, effect- 

 ing their growth more or less within the ground, 

 and partly above it. Some accomplish a con- 

 siderable growth within the earth, suddenly 

 appear through the surface, and arrive to diffe- 

 rent-sized heads, frequently discovering them- 

 selves in a morning in places where there was no 

 appearance of any in the preceding evening. 



It is probably from the circumstance of the 

 invisible seed, in the form of fine dust, being 

 thus discharged on the ground and disseminated 



