40 .MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



s 

 \ 

 vered with hay or litter, it will be necessary to remove 



this and allow them time to retreat into their hiding 

 places ; and if the beds are made in any position that 

 permits of the woodlice hiding in other places than the 

 interstices round them, these places should be sought 

 out, marked, and receive a searching dose of the scalding 

 water all at the same time. It need hardly be added 

 that, as it is not mushrooms, but creatures that rival 

 ourselves in their love of mushrooms, that we wish to an- 

 nihilate, the scalding water must not in any case be 

 applied to the surface of the bed. If on the surface of 

 old or dry beds, or those from which a good many 

 mushrooms have been cut or pulled, there are any loose 

 hollows or crevices in which the woodlice can take shelter, 

 they should be sought out, cleared of vermin, leva 1 led 

 up, and made firm, so that the enemy cannot take up a 

 position in which we cannot attack him. Should this 

 plan fail, half an ounce of sugar of lead, mixed with a 

 handful of oatmeal and laid in their tracks, will quickly 

 destroy the pests. 



The small mite is most destructive in a high tempera- 

 ture, and in summer, Mr. Cuthill says, "the maggot" will 

 not breed in a house where the temperature does not ex- 

 ceed sixty degrees, and it is in hot, dry, and half-neglected 

 houses that this pest is usually seen in summer. At 

 that season there is little need to grow mushrooms indoors, 

 and how they may be produced otherwise in great abun- 



