THE CAVE CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS. 63 



exception ; on half of the bed and for about ten feet along, 

 the little mushrooms have appeared and are appearing, 

 but they never get larger than a pea, and shrivel away, 

 " bewitched" as it were. At least such was the inference 

 drawn from the cultivator's expression about it. He 

 gravely attributed it to a ridiculously superstitious cause. 

 Frequently the mushrooms grow in bunches or " rocks," 

 as they are called, and in such cases those that compose 

 the little mass are lifted all together. 



The sides of one bed here had been almost stripped by 

 the taking away of such bunches, and it is worthy of 

 note that they are not only taken out, root and all, when 

 being gathered, but the very spot in which they grew is 

 scraped out, so as to get rid of every trace of the old 

 bunch, and the space is covered with a little earth from the 

 bottom of the heap. It is the habit to do this in every 

 case, and when the gatherer leaves a small hole from 

 which he has pulled even a solitary mushroom^ he fills 

 it with some of the white earth from the base, no doubt 

 intending to gather other mushrooms from the same spots 

 before many weeks are over. The " buttons* 7 look very 

 white, and are apparently of prime quality. The absence 

 of all littery coverings and dust, and the daily gatherings, 

 secure them in what we may term perfect condition. 

 I visited this cave on the 6th of July, 1868, and doubt 

 very much if at that season a more remarkable crop of 

 mushrooms could be anywhere found than was presented 



