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HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



MUS 



only a harboring place for vermin, such as 

 slugs, wood-lice, etc., which are all great ene- 

 mies to the crop, and will devour both the 

 Mushrooms and the spawn, if they can get at it. 

 Some growers put covering on their beds to 

 keep the surface moist; but this can be eftectu- 

 ally done bv sprinkling the sides of tho house, 

 the surface of the beds, and paths, if there are 

 any; but I do not have any paths in the Mush- 

 room house. The beds are made to cover all the 

 floor, and there are no beds on shelves, as was 

 formerly the case; the work, in the former case, 

 is so much more easily done; the beds can be 

 made firmer; and if any enemies make their ap- 

 pearance, it is much easier to get rid of them 

 when all the surface can be seen at once. In 

 watering tho beds I use warm water; that is, 

 water about 95. It is used either for watering 

 the beds or for sprinkling. The vapor arising 

 from warm water is very congenial to the growth 

 of the Mushroom. At night I frequently pour 

 water on the hot -water pipes in order to imitate 

 a fog in autumn. When a bed is in bearing the 

 surface is never allowed to get dry; and when 

 the bed shows signs of exhaustion I give a dose 

 of liquid manure, previously warmed, about 

 once a week. The drainage from the manure 

 heap is found to be the best; but if that cannot 

 be had, a weak solution of guano will do, say 

 one pound to twenty-five gallons of water. 

 Sometimes, if an old bed has almost ceased to 

 bear, I have started it afresh by making holes in 

 the surface, and pouring in a very liberal quan- 

 tity of liquid manure, which, with, another sod 

 on top, will almost make a new bed of it. It 

 sometimes happens, after all the trouble of pre- 

 paring the material, making, and spawning the 

 bed, etc., that a spurious fungi will take posses- 

 sion of the bed, and bear a wonderful crop of 

 toadstools in about three weeks after the bed is 

 made ; and as a natural consequence the seeds- 

 man who sold the spawn is blamed, and the vic- 

 tim feels very much as if he had been swindled 

 out of his money, time, and trouble. I have 

 had the same disappointment when the beds 

 have been spawned with bricks of my own 

 make, which have produced excellent crops 

 when used in other beds, so that I know it 

 could not have been the fault of the spawn. I 

 have always found, however, that if the spores 

 of other fnngi than the edible Mushroom are in 

 the manure or the soil, it is always first to pro- 

 duce a crop; so I am never in a hurry to disturb 

 a bed if covered with toadstools, for their crop 

 is of short duration, seldom lasting more than a 

 week, and after that the real Mushroom fre- 

 quently makes its appearance, apparently none 

 the worse for the previous intrusion . If, how- 

 ever, after waiting a reasonable time for some 

 sign of a crop, and nons appears, and there is 

 no evidence of the spawn being in an active 

 state, it is best to take out the material, and 

 start afresh. The manure, sods, etc., make an 

 excellent compost for potting, if exposed to the 

 weather for a short time to destroy any of tho 

 spores that might be in it. There is that much 

 time, of course, lost; but Mushrooms are some- 

 times very capricious as to their choice of local- 

 ity, and with the best of attention often refuse 

 to grow satisfactorily; at other times, with the 

 least attention they sometimes produce tho best 

 crops. I do not attempt to grow them after the 

 end of May, for after that time the temperature 

 gets warm enough to develop the small fly that 

 lays its eggs in the stem of the Mushroom, and 



MUS 



in an incredibly short time these arc hatched, 

 and burrow through the whole Mushroom, 

 which renders it unfit for tho table. I do not 

 suppose they would do any harm if eaten in 

 that state, but people prefer their animal and 

 vegetable food kept separate. As before stated, 

 I have no path in the Mushroom house. The 

 beds are made only on the floor, which is noth- 

 ing but earth, and I prefer that to either bricks 

 or wood, provided it is drained, so that no water 

 can lodge in any part. This plan makes it nec- 

 essary to walk on the beds to gather the crop, 

 as well as to water and syringe the walls, pipe's, 

 etc., but I never saw any harm done by it; and 

 frequently, where the surface is trodden down 

 the hardest, there the best clusters push their 

 way through. There is a door at each end for 

 removing the old beds and bringing in fresh 

 material, so that all this can be done without 

 disturbing the beds that are at work. Often , in 

 removing an old bed, I find Borne of the best 

 spawn at the bottom, and if I have not got a 

 good supply, this is packed in barrels, alter- 

 nately with a little fresh manure, the whole 

 pressed down tight, and put in n cellar or some 

 dry place until wanted; but neither this nor the 

 flake spawn will keep as long as that made into 

 bricks. In regard to temperature, I have had 

 the best success when it has been kopt from 

 60 to 65. If it is kept higher tho Mushrooms 

 come much smaller, and the beds are sooner ex- 

 hausted; and if kept lower than 50 the Mush- 

 rooms arc very slow to grow, and are not tender 

 in cooking. Mushrooms can bo propagated by 

 taking the overgrown clusters, drying them, and, 

 when wanted, burying them in a small heap of 

 gently fermenting manure, tho same as recom- 

 mended for flake spawn. Some years ago a 

 cluster of Mushrooms came up in ono of tho 

 beds, which were quite different from the rest 

 of the crop, being larger, heavier, and irregular 

 in shape, and of higher flavor. Wishing to per- 

 petuate this variety, I allowed them to develop, 

 and before the spores began to fall from the 

 gills, spread some thin white paper underneath, 

 which was soon covered with spores, and looked 

 as if covered with soot. When the clusters had 

 withered I took the paper, old Mushrooms, etc., 

 and covered them with warm manure ; in a few 

 weeks I had a quantity of good spawn of the 

 same variety, which can be used ta spawn beds 

 in future. This new variety of Mushroom, 

 which might be called A. campestris truinmtheria, 

 is three-angled, somewhat resembling tho old 

 Continental military hat. It is found to be 

 much finer flavored than the common Mush- 

 room, and is in every respect worthy of general 

 cultivation. There has none of it thus far been 

 put in the market." 



Musk-Flower. See Mimulus moschatus. 



Musk Mallow. See Malva. 



Muskmelon. Oucumis melo. See Cucumis. 



The cultivation of the Muskmelon was carried 

 on at a very remote period. It is said to be a 

 native of the central part of Asia, and to 

 have been brought into Europe from Persia; 

 but the date of its first culture is so remote 

 that there is no certain knowledge on the 

 subject. It appears to have been brought 

 into Italy early in the first century, if not be- 

 fore, as it is mentioned by Pliny, who died from 

 suffocation caused by the great eruption of Ve- 

 suvius in A. D. 79. In his works he describes 

 the methods by which Melons wero grown or 

 forced, so as to be obtained for the Emperor 



