SPA 



S P E 



and undisturbed any considerable time, lumps of 

 spawn are often obtained. It is also found in fine 

 perfection in the horse-rides belonging; to great 

 inns, livery-stables, and horse-dealers, especially 

 on the sides next the walls : likewise in horse- 

 mill tracks, where horses are constantly em- 

 ployed in working ; also in kitchen-gardens, 

 where anv piece of ground has been dunged in 

 the spring, with new, or but moderately-rotted 

 stable-dung, or ohl dry hot-bed dung, &c. 



And sQiiietimes it is produced naturally all 

 over the surface of an old cucumber or melon 

 hot-bed, both in the dung and earth, in autunm 

 or winter, where the frame and lights have been 

 continued over the bed ; and where the earth of 

 the bed is of a loamy nature, the spawn is often 

 remarkably fine and strong ; for in this kind of 

 earth, of a moderately-light quality, it is gene- 

 rally of a superior quality, and very productive ; 

 so as sometmies. in such old beds where the 

 frames and glasses remain, and the surface of 

 the bed is covered thickly with dry straw, litter, 

 or hav, under the glasses, to produce a full 

 crop of good mushrooms towards the spring. See 

 Agaricus. 



Mushroom spawn is also obtained in mea- 

 dows and pastures towards the end of summer 

 and in autumn, before the rain and cold com- 

 mences, as in the months of August and Sep- 

 tember, when the mushrooms rise naturally, 

 serving as a direction to the place where to find 

 it ; but that found in the other places is mostly 

 the be^t. 



k is necessary to observe, that there is also a 

 fruitful and barren sort of mushroom spawn ; 

 the former is distinguished by the substance of 

 the fibry or stringy white shoots, &c. and mush- 

 room-like smell, as before observed ; but in the 

 latter sort, the thready fibres are far more abun- 

 dant, fine, and downy, often appearing like a 

 fine white down, and, being of no substance, 

 prodi^ce only a flash of small white fungi desti- 

 tute of the fleshy part, and which^.by the mush- 

 room-men, is commonly called White-cup. 



Methods are sometimes practised to obtain 

 mushroom spawn more abundantly by art, by 

 the effects of horse-dung, both in hot-beds and 

 in compost heaps ; sometimes, in the former 

 case, by planting small pieces of spawn, or 

 spa-.\ ny earth, along the top edge of the later cu- 

 cumber hot-beds m summer, or in the sides of 

 any horse-dung heaps, having a little warmth 

 remaining; so that the moderate heat of the 

 dung in the bed or heap may set the spawn 

 a-ruiming, so as sometimes to produce a few 

 niushrooius in autumn, and increase it consider- 

 ably for future use in spawning proper mushroom 

 beds ; and in the second case, by a compost of 



dimg and loamv earth together; procuring in 

 spring, or early in summer, a quantity of fresli 

 horse-dunu:, consisting of plenty of short stulf, 

 and a due proportion of long ; and casting 

 the whole into a heap to ferment a fortnight 

 or a month, tliat the rank burning vapour may 

 pass away ; then having some loamy earth, or 

 other good substantial mould, or any spawiiy 

 soil from old bed^, form the dung into a long 

 narrow ridge, mixing some of llie earih occa- 

 sionally towards the outside ; and in a fortnight 

 or three weeks, when the heat becomes quite 

 moderate, covering the whole with dry long 

 litter to defend it from the wet, permitting the 

 whole to remain a considerable time, when good 

 spawn will often be produced. 



In collecting it from any O'f these places, the 

 lumps of dung and earth in which it appears 

 should be taken up as entire as possible, put in 

 a basket, and carried into some dry slied, or 

 other place, till wanted, of it may be immedi- 

 ately used. 



Sl'EAKAGE. See Asparagus. 



SFEAK-KING'S. See Asphodelus. 



SPEARMINT. See Mentha. 



SPEKAGE. See Asparagds. 



SFERMACOCE, a genus containing plants 

 of the herbaceous, annual, and shrubby kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Tetrandria 

 Mo/i(igi/nia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Slellutee. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a small 

 four-toothed perianth, superior, permanent : the 

 corolla one-petalled, funnel-shaped: tube cylin- 

 drical, slender, longer than the calyx : border 

 four-parted, from spreading reflexed, obtuse : 

 the stamina have four awl-shaped filaments, 

 shorter than the corolla, or st.ai)ding out : an- 

 thers simple : the pistiUum is a roundish germ, 

 compressed, inferior : style simple, but cloven 

 above : stigmas obtuse : the pericarpium has 

 two capsules, connate, oblong, gibbous on one 

 side, flat on the other, obtuse; each two-horned: 

 the seeds solitary, roundish. 



The species cultivated are: 1. S. tenu'wr. 

 Slender Button-weed; 2. S. verticillatu, VV'horl- 

 flowcred Button-weed. 



The first grows to the height of two feet and 

 a half: the stalks are stiff, a little angular, and 

 covered with a brown bark ; the branches come 

 out by pairs : there are two leaves at each joint 

 placed opposite, two inches long, and almost a 

 quarter of an inch broad ; between these come 

 out three or four smaller leavts, which stand in 

 whorls round the stalks ; they are smooth, and 

 have one strong nerve or rib in the middle : the 

 flowers gvuw in slender whorls toward the top 

 of the stalks ; are small, white, and sessile. 



