THE PREPARATION OF THE MATERIALS. lo 



firmly. Very soon the bed is ready to be spawned, and 

 encased in a couple of inches of soil; and in this way 

 we get the finest crops of mushrooms, the beds remaining 

 a lone: time in bearing. After the beds have been some 

 time, say from six to twelve weeks, in bearing, and begin 

 to get dry, and cease to bear well, we water them 

 thoroughly with very clear liquid manure, made from 

 sheep or deer or cow manure, which seems to start them 

 again into bearing, and then we manage to keep some of 

 the beds in bearing for many months at a time." In the 

 Field, Dec. 22, 1868, I stated that the manure for the 

 mushroom-beds in the Royal Gardens, Frogmore, was not 

 prepared in any elaborate way, but simply taken from a 

 great heap fermenting iu the yard, any parts of it that 

 had become white from heat being moistened with water, 

 and the whole being mixed with about a fourth part of 

 loam. Mr. Cuthill, an authority on mushroom culture, 

 tells us how the London market gardeners manage with 

 their manure. As the material is brought home from 

 the London stables, the short part is taken out of it, 

 and the long litter is kept for the purpose of cover- 

 ing, as well as for forming the interior of ridges ; for all 

 mushroom-beds out of doors are made into ridges. The 

 manure is not allowed to heat before it is put into the 

 beds, if that can be presented ; for previously heated 

 material does not produce such fine mushrooms. The 

 fresher the horse-dung is, the longer the crop will last 



