(JO MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



Such spawn is preferred, and considered much more 

 valuable than that taken from old beds. Of spawn in the 

 form of bricks, such as is used in England, there is none. 



Fig. 19. Newly-made bed against wall of cave. 



The champignonniste pointed with pride to the way 

 in which the flakes of spawn had begun to spread through 

 the little beds, and passed on sometimes stooping very 

 low to avoid the pointed stones in the roof to where the 

 beds were in a more advanced state. Here we saw little, 



smooth, putty-coloured ridges running along the sides of 







the passages, and wherever the rocky subway became as 

 large as a small bedroom two or three little beds were 

 placed parallel to each other. These beds were new, and 

 dotted all over with mushrooms no bigger than sweet 

 pea seeds, affording an excellent prospect^ of a crop. Each 

 bed contains a much smaller body of manure than 

 is ever the case in our gardens. They are not more than 

 twenty inches high, and about the same width at the 

 base ; while those against the sides of the passages are 

 not so large as those placed in the open spaces. The 



