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proportioned to the size or extent of the bed, as 

 at the rate of about three or four large eart-loads 

 for a bed of twenty feet long. Some prefer the 

 droppings of well fed horses only, for this pur- 

 pose. 



In regard to the dimensions of mushroom beds, 

 they may be made of almost any extent in 

 length, from ten feet to fifty or more, according 

 to the quantity of mushrooms required ; and 

 from three feet to three and a half or four feet 

 wide at the bottom, both sides gradually nar- 

 rowed in a sloping manner upwards, till meeting 

 together in a ridge at top, about three and a half 

 or four feet high perpendicularly; which allows 

 for settling to three and a half or less : the 

 ridge-form is the most necessary to preserve the 

 bed and spawn always effectually dry, which is 

 very material in this culture. Besides, the slop- 

 ing sides more quickly discharge the rain and 

 snow, as well as afford the largest surface for 

 spawning, and of course furnish a greater pro- 

 duction. A single bed, of from ten or fifteen 

 to twenty or thirty feet in length, may be suffi- 

 cient for a small or middling family; and where 

 the demand is more considerable, a greater num- 

 ber of beds may be prepared. 



When the beds are made on the surface of the 

 ground, first mark out the width and length of 

 fhem ; and if two or more are intended, they 

 may be ranged parallel to each other, six or 

 eight feet asunder. 



In making the bed let the dung, prepared as 

 advised above, be wheeled in, both long and 

 short together, and with a light fork form the 

 foundation of the bed, by shaking some of the 

 longest dung evenly all along the bottom, four or 

 five inches thick : then take the dung as it 

 occurs, and work it into the bed, forming it at 

 first to the full width, and gradually narrow it 

 upwards, by drawing-in each side in a regular 

 manner ; and in advancing in length, raise it 

 gradually into the ridge-form, to the full height, 

 continuing it along regularly in the same manner 

 and proportion ; making the middle and sides 

 equally full, beating the dung in firmly with the 

 fork from time to time, as applied on the bed. 

 Care should be taken to form both sides of an 

 equal slope, the end being also equally sloped. 



After the bed has been thus made, it must be 

 permitted to remain some time, as a week, 

 fortnight, three weeks, or more, till the. first 

 great heat has subsided, and the bed is redu- 

 ced to a degree of mild heat proper for the 

 spawn to be planted in, being kept during this 

 interval fully exposed to the open air, day and 

 night ; and in case of excessive rains some dry long 

 straw-litter should be thrown at the top, or thick 

 garden mats spread over it, so as to shoot off as 

 3 



much of the wet as possible, lest it either retard 

 the heat, or occasion it to increase too violently. 

 The operation of the heat, both in its increasing 

 and decreasing state, should always be carefully at- 

 tended to, as much depends upon the spawn being 

 kept at a proper state of heat. In order to direct 

 this, some long sharp-pointed sticks may be thrust 

 down, in different parts, into the dung ; and by 

 drawing them up occasionally, and feeling them 

 in the hand, a judgment maybe more readilv made 

 of the state of the heat in the bed. The spawn 

 should, however, be inserted as soon as the bed 

 discovers a proper state of heat, and while it re- 

 mains of a moderate lively temperature. 



Others advise that these beds should be made 

 on dry ground, and that the dung should be 

 laid upon the surface ; the width of them at 

 bottom being about two feet and a half or three 

 feet ; the length in proportion to the quantity of 

 mushrooms desired : then the dung should be laid 

 about a foot thick, covering it about four inches 

 with strong earth. Upon this bed more dung is. 

 laid, about ten inches thick ; then another layer 

 of earth, still drawing in the sides of the bed so 

 as to form it like the ridge of a house, which 

 may be done by three layers of dung and as many 

 of earth. 



The author of the Scotch Forcing Gardener, 

 however, constructs his beds in this manner: 

 he first lays about a foot in thickness of fur- 

 nace ashes, brick-bats, or stone-chips, as a bot- 

 tom, then six inches of rich horse-droppings, 

 taken carefully from the stable every morning, and 

 kept as whole as possible : these he surfers not in 

 anywise to heat ; and the whole time the bed is in 

 preparation he exposes it to all the air in his 

 power, provided it is perfectly dry. After this 

 course has lain ten or twelve days, is quite dry, 

 and there is no apprehension of its fermenting, 

 he covers it to the thickness of two inches, with 

 half vegetable mould of decayed tree leaves, and 

 half light sandy loam, which should previously be 

 well mixed together. Another course of drop- 

 pings is then laid on as above, and, when it 

 is also perfectly dry and past fermentation, co- 

 vered with the same kind of mould as before. A 

 third course of droppings and mould afterwards 

 applied in the same manner finishes the bed. In 

 the making, it should be gently rounded in the 

 middle, especially if out of doors, in order to 

 better carry off the wet. In this way the bed is 

 generally a month or five weeks in making, and 

 in as much more begins to produce, unless the 

 weather or state of the droppings have been un- 

 favourable. It is obvious, he says, that from 

 the above mode of proceeding, a whole course of 

 droppings cannot be laid on at once, unless there 

 arc a vast many horses, or the bed is of trifling 



