A TALK ABOUT MUSHROOMS. Ill 



no time to develop iu it. Its cultivation is very easy and it needs 

 very little cave. If one does not wish to make a special bed for it 

 he can plant the spawn between early cucumbers, or melons, or 

 other early crops under glass." 



Writing to me last September, Mr. William H. Daniels, a florist 

 and mushroom grower of Mamaroneck, N. Y., told me that he had 

 made up two beds, each sixty feet long by two and one-half feet 

 wide, and planted them with the new mushroom. The manure 

 was just right. About two weeks after planting, the spawn had 

 run through the beds, appearing like a thick film at every crack 

 between the bottom boards. Then he moulded them over with 

 loam, and otherwise treated them like the common mushroom. In 

 due time they came into bearing, the young mushrooms appearing 

 all over the beds. When about one-fourth grown growth ceased 

 and they stood like that for three or four days. Something was 

 lacking. Then he thought of water and gave the bed a good 

 soaking ; the result was that the mushrooms swelled up splendidly 

 and he had an immense crop. 



He made up succession beds and February 2 he wrote again : 

 ' ' I have not yet gathered a mushroom of the new variety this 

 winter. I made up a bed in my violet house and spawned one- 

 half of it with the common mushroom, and the other half with the 

 new mushroom. I am now gathering plenty of the common 

 variety, but not one of the new variety, although the bed is a solid 

 mass of spawn. I had an idea when I spawned the bed that the 

 house would not be warm enough for the new mushroom, but 

 concluded to try it. 



"I sold some of the spawn of the new mushroom to a private 

 gardener near me and advised him to put it in a warm house, 

 which he did. The result with him has been a grand crop. I saw 

 his bed about two weeks ago and it was a picture then. He told 

 me that he had been picking from it for over eight weeks and was 

 delighted with it. After the success I had with it last summer I 

 shall certainly grow it again next summer. I do not think it is 

 quite as good for shipping as A. ram.2Jestris, but for home trade, 

 gathered when fresh open, my customers tell me that it is superior 

 in quality to the old mushroom." 



I wrote to Mr. Daniels asking him for particulars as to how his 

 neighbor grew the mushroom. Under date of February 8, he 

 kindly replied, as follows : 



