156 THE PRACTICAL GARDEN -BOOK 



loam, the tendency to intense heating is lessened and its 

 usefulness not at all impaired. Some growers prefer short 

 manure exclusively, that is, the horse droppings, while others 

 like a good deal of straw mixed in with this. The writer's 

 experience, however, is that, if properly prepared, it matters 

 little which is used. 



Ordinarily the beds are only 8 to 10 inches deep; that is, 

 they are faced with 10 -inch- wide hemlock boards, and are 

 only the depth of this board. In such beds put a layer of 

 fresh, moist, hot manure, and trample it down firm until it 

 constitutes half the depth of the bed ; then fill up with the 

 prepared manure, which should be rather cool (100 to 115 

 F.) when used, and pack all firmly. If desired, the beds can 

 be made up entirely of the prepared manure. Shelf beds are 

 usually 9 inches deep; that is, the shelf is bottomed with 

 1-inch boards and faced with 10- inch- wide boards. This al- 

 lows about 8 inches for manure, and 1 inch rising to 2 inches 

 of loam on top. In filling the shelf beds the bottom half may 

 be of fresh, moist or wettish, hot manure, packed down solid, 

 and the top half of rather cool prepared manure, or it may 

 be made up of all prepared manure. As the shelf beds can 

 not be trodden and can not be beaten very firm with the back 

 of the fork, a brick is used in addition to the fork. 



The beds should be spawned after the heat in them has 

 fallen below 100 F. The writer considers 90 F. about the 

 best temperature for spawning. If the beds have been 

 covered with hay, straw, litter or mats, these should be 

 removed. Break each brick into twelve or fifteen pieces. 

 The rows should be, say, 1 .foot apart, the first one being 6 

 inches from the edge, and the pieces should be 9 inches 

 apart in the row. Commencing with the first row, lift up 

 each piece, raise 2 to 3 inches of the manure with the 

 hand, and into this hole place the piece, covering over 

 tightly with the manure. When the entire bed is spawned 

 pack the surface all over. It is well to cover the beds 

 again with straw, hay or mats, to keep the surface equally 



