THE CAVE CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS. 73 



iu carts, as easily as if the beds were made in the open air. 

 Xcar Paris, on the contrary, everything has to be sent up 

 and down through shafts like those of an old well, and the 

 men have to creep up and down a rough pole like mice. 

 Many men are employed in the culture, the daily examina- 

 tion of sixteen miles of beds being a considerable item in 

 itself. Here and there a barrier in the form of straw nailed 

 between laths may be seen blocking up the great arch to 

 a height of six feet or so. This is to prevent currents of 

 air wandering about through the vast passages. 



The mode of preparing the spawn here is entirely 

 different to ours. They prefer virgin spawn that is to say, 

 spawn found naturally in a heap of manure. But as this 

 material cannot be obtained in sufficient quantity to meet 

 the wants of such extensive growers, they put a small por- 

 tion of it into a mushroom-bed to spread, and instead of 

 allowing this bed to produce mushrooms, it is all used as 

 spavrn, and is valued more than any other. Of course 

 abundance of spawn occurs in the old beds, but it is never 

 used directly. It is, however, frequently employed to 

 spawn a small bed when virgin spawn cannot be obtained. 

 In this case the small bed devoted to the propagation of 

 spawn is placed in the open air, and covered with straw, 

 and as soon as it is permeated with the spawn it is carried 

 into the caves and used. As the making and spawning of 

 beds is a process continually going on, a bed of this sort 

 must be ready at all times. It is never made into bricks 



