CULTURE IN SHEDS, ARCHES, ETC. 53 



Holes are made in the bottom of each,, and a thin layer 

 of good soil is spread over them inside. They are then 

 filled with good well-prepared stable manure, just like 

 that used in the case of ordinary mushroom-beds, the 

 different layers of dung in each tub being well pressed 

 down. When the tub is half full, six or seven good 

 pieces of spawn are placed on the surface, and the re- 

 mainder is piled up with manure, which is well pressed 

 down, the operation being completed by giving to the 

 heap the form of a dome. The tubs thus prepared are 

 placed in a perfectly dark part of a cellar, and eight or 

 ten days afterwards the dung is taken up until the spawn 

 is visible, in order to see whether it has commenced to 

 vegetate and develop little filaments. If the spawn has 

 spread, the surface must be covered with soil, care being 

 taken to use only that which is fresh and properly pre- 

 pared. In this or any like way there should be no 

 difficulty in growing mushrooms : the boxes or tubs could 

 be filled anywhere, and then carried into the spare cellars, 

 &c. In this way objections against steaming manure 

 might in many cases be got over. 



Among the many and various structures in which 

 mushrooms may be grown, but which we rarely see 

 utilized for that purpose, may be mentioned all kinds of 

 greenhouses, stoves, pits, and frames. Some of the best 

 crops I have ever seen were in cold greenhouses almost 

 too ruinous to grow anything else. In mid- winter the 



