PREFACE. 



MY reasons for writing this book are : First, that Mush- 

 room Culture is but little practised in this country com- 

 pared to the extent to which it ought to be, considering 

 the abundance of the necessary materials in all parts of 

 these islands, both in town and country, and the high 

 estimation in which the Mushroom is held. I now refer 

 to ordinary Mushroom Culture as practised in our best 

 private gardens. I believe it possible and desirable to 

 extend this, the only phase of the Culture that can be 

 called popular, in a tenfold degree, and that every place 

 in which a gardener and horses are kept should be abun- 

 dantly supplied with Mushrooms throughout the greater 

 part of Uie year. Secondly, that although Mushroom 

 Culture as usually practised is perfectly well known to 

 good cultivators, a simpler and fuller account of it than 

 has yet appeared in any English book on the subject is 

 desirable for the unpractised amateur and cultivator. 

 Thirdly, that Mushroom Culture is at* present confined 

 to a too narrow groove ; and a belief that the general 



110001 



