110 MASSACHUSETTS HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cap is deeper and broader, it is thinner, and hence lighter. Al- 

 though it does not burst its veil as soon as the other kind, it gets 

 old very quickly after its veil is burst. 



Is it good to eat? Yes, very. It has a pronounced mushroom 

 flavor ; exudes a fair quantity of juice and the flesh is tender. I 

 know several persons who prefer it to the common mushroom ; but 

 for my part, I am still inclined to favor my old and toothsome 

 friend A. cmnpestris. 



The best method of cultivation of the new mushroom is not yet 

 properly understood. That it requires more heat than the old 

 mushroom is generally conceded ; also that it needs more water. 

 By repeated practical experiment, it has been proven that it grows 

 as well in winter as in summer, provided that the cultural condi- 

 tions are favorable to its development. It will also grow in a 

 cellar of Egyptian darkness as well as in the daylight. In fact, 

 darkness whitens the mushrooms and takes away much of their 

 outdoor coarseness. 



The lavish success that we have had with it at one time, and the 

 perfect failure at another, when apparently under the same condi- 

 tions, convince me that there are vital points in its cultivation that 

 we do not yet understand. Sometimes we may plant a bed with 

 the spawn ; in four or five weeks mushrooms begin to appear, and 

 in two months from planting we have an enormous crop. Then, 

 again we may plant another bed in the same way ; the spawn runs 

 in it as prettily and thoroughly as in the other, completely per- 

 meating the whole mass of manure ; but it does not bear a mush- 

 room ; as yet we do not know why. What shall we do with such, 

 a bed? Take it out to a warm, dry, airy shed or loft and spread 

 it out to dry. It will make first-rate spawn, and the probabilities 

 are that the next bed you make up and plant with this spawn will 

 produce a heavy crop of mushrooms. 



Under date of January 31, last, Mr. Ferdinand Boulon, the 

 florist who grew it so successfully in 1892, wrote me : 



" Under my control the new mushroom has grown at all times 

 in the year, but I find that it is more productive in summer than 

 in winter. In winter, after one picking, we have to wait ten to 

 fifteen days for another picking. In summer the crop is more 

 regular. It is a good acquisition for summer use. The Agaricus 

 campestris cannot be grown well in summer on account of the 

 maggot, but .1. subrnfescen.s grows so quickly that the maggot has 



