98 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, February 17, 1894. 

 A Meeting for Discussion was holden today at eleven o'clock, 

 Vice-President Francis H. Appleton in the chair. The follow- 

 ing paper was read by the author : 



A Talk About Mushrooms. 



By William Falconer, Editor of '• Gardening," Glen Cove, N. Y. 



As the modus operandi of growing mushrooms is detailed iu 

 almost every book ou horticulture, in the seedsmen's catalogues 

 and repeatedly in the gardening papei^s, I will confine myself to a 

 talk about mushrooms, rather than elaborate on how to grow them. 

 Mushroom growing is becoming quite an important industry in 

 this country and it is attracting great attention. Prior to a few 

 years ago a peculiar veil of mystery hung over this branch of 

 horticulture, and gardeners alone indulged in it. Mushrooms 

 were cultivated in the dark, in caves and in cellars ; the seed was 

 not sown ; the plants were not set out ; spawn was indefinable y 

 successful cultivators were silent, and the general public were kept 

 in darkness. But it is not so now. The people are beginning to 

 see through it ; they have an intuitive sense that thei'e is money 

 in it; they are throwing themselves into the venture. Within 

 the last four years mushroom growing in this country has quad- 

 rupled in extent. The production of mushrooms, however, has 

 not kept pace with the increased volume of cultivation, because 

 there have been many failures. But the industry has become 

 firmly planted ; the people are talking of it ; they are seeking 

 information about it ; they see an addition to their incomes in it, 

 and they are going to try it. This ambition is not peculiar to 

 horticulturists alone; it is more evident in amateurs — in fact some 

 of our largest nuishroom growers in the country are not horticul- 

 turists, but manufacturers and others, who, having unoccupied caves 

 or cellars, have gone into the business with the view of profitably 

 utilizing room that would otherwise be idle and unproductive. 



Florists have gone into the mushroom business in a surprising 

 manner ; tackling it systeuuitically ; occupying with it thousands 

 of square yards under their greenhouse benches, that otherwise 

 would be worthless to them. In these latter cases, mushrooms 



