MUSHROOM 



in the country, or the persons that are in the habit of 

 gathering them? There are other circumstances, too, 

 which render them noxious ; if they grow near the hole 

 of a serpent, for instance, or if they should happen to 

 have been breathed upon by one when just beginning to 

 open; being all the more disposed to imbibe the venom 

 from their natural affinity to poisonous substances. It 

 will therefore be as well to be on our guard during the 

 season at which the serpents have not as yet retired to 

 their holes for the winter. The best sign to know this 

 by is a multitude of herbs, of trees, and of shrubs, which 

 remain green from the time that these reptiles leave their 

 holes till their return ; indeed, the ash alone will be quite 

 sufficient for the purpose, the leaves of it never coming 

 out after the serpents have made their appearance, or 

 beginning to fall before they have retired to their holes. 

 The entire existence of the Mushroom, from its birth to 

 its death, is never more than seven days." 



Two hundred years and more ago Mushrooms were 

 cultivated. The following directions, given by Philip 

 Miller in 1754, are very like methods which are some- 

 times advised to-day, with the exception of the method 

 of securing the spawn: 



"In order to cultivate them, if you have no Beds in 

 your own, or neighboring Gardens, which produce 

 them, you should look abroad in rich Pastures, during 

 the Months of August and September, until you find 

 them (that being the Season when they are produced) ; 

 then you should open the Ground about the Roots of the 

 Mushrooms, where you will find the Earth, very often, 

 full of small white Knobs, which are the Off-sets, or 

 young Mushrooms: these should be carefully gathered, 

 preserving them in Lumps with the Earth about them: 

 but as this Spawn cannot be found in the Pasture, ex- 

 cept at the Season when the Mushrooms are naturally 

 produced, you may probably find some in old Dunghils, 

 especially where there has been much Litter amongst 

 it, and the Wet hath not penetrated it to rot it; as like- 

 wise, by searching old Hot-beds, it may be often found: 

 for this Spawn hath the Appearance of a white Mould, 

 shooting out in long Strings, by which it may be easily 

 known, where-ever it is met with; or this may be pro- 

 cured by mixing some long Dang from the Stable, which 

 has not been thrown on an Heap to ferment; which 

 being mixed with strong Earth, and put under Cover to 

 prevent Wet getting to it, the more the Air is excluded 

 from it, the sooner the Spawn will appear: but this must 

 not be laid so close together, as to heat; for that will 

 destroy the Spawn: in about two Months after, the 

 Spawn will appear, especially if the Heap is closely 

 covered with old Thatch, or such Litter as hath lain 

 long abroad, so as not to ferment: then the Beds may 

 be prepared to receive the Spawn: these Beds should be 

 made of Dung, in which there is good Store of Litter; 

 but this should not be thrown on an Heap to ferment: 

 that Dung which hath lain spread abroad for a Month or 

 longer is best: these Beds should be made on dry 

 Ground, and the Dung laid upon the Surface: the Width 

 of these Beds at Bottom should be about two Feet and 

 an half, the Length in proportion to the Quantity of 

 Mushrooms desired: then lay the Dung about a Foot 

 thick, covering it about four Inches with strong Earth: 

 upon this lay more Dung, about ten Inches thick; then 

 another Layer of Earth; still drawing in the Sides of 

 the Bed, so as to form it like the Ridge of an House; 

 which may be done by three Layers of Dung, and as 

 many of Earth. When the Bed is finished, it should be 

 covered with Litter, or old Thatch, to keep out Wet, as 

 also to prevent its drying: in this situation it may re- 

 main eight or ten Days ; by which time the Bed will be 

 in a proper Temperature of Warmth to receive the 

 Spawn; for there should be only a moderate Warmth in 

 it, great Heat destroying the Spawn, as will also Wet; 

 therefore when the Spawn is found, it should always be 

 kept dry until it is used; for the drier it is, the better 

 it will take in the Bed: for I had a Parcel of this Spawn, 

 which had lain near the Oven of a Stove upward of four 

 Months, and was become so dry, as that I despaired of 

 its Success : but I never have yet seen any which pro- 

 duced so soon, nor in so great Quantity, as this. 



"The bed being in a proper Temperature for the 

 Spawn, the Covering of Litter should be taken off, and 

 the Sides of the Bed smoothed; then a Covering of 



MUSHROOM 



1047 



light rich Earth about an Inch thick, should be laid all 

 over the Bed; but this should not be wet: upon this 

 the Spawn should be thrust, laying the Lumps two or 

 three inches asunder: then gently cover this with the 

 same light Earth, above half an inch thick; and put t e 

 Covermg of Litter over the Bed, laying it so thick as to 

 keep out Wet, and prevent the Bed from drying: when 

 these Beds are made in the Spring or Autumn, as the 

 Weather is in those Seasons temperate, so the Spawn 

 will then take much sooner, and the Mushrooms will 

 appear perhaps in a Month after making: but those 

 Beds which are made in Summer, when the Season is 

 hot, or in Winter, when the Weather is cold, are much 

 longer before they produce. 



"The great Skill in managing of these Beds is, that 

 of keeping them in a proper Temperature of Moisture 

 never suffering them to receive too much Wet: during 

 the Summer-season, the Beds may be uncovered to re- 

 ceive gentle Showers of Rain at proper times ; and in 

 long dry Seasons the Beds should be now-and-then 

 gently watered ; but by no means suffer much Wet to 

 come to them : during the Winter-season they must be 

 kept as dry as possible; and so closely covered, as to 

 keep out Cold: in frosty or very cold Weather, if some 

 warm Litter, shaken out of a Dung-heap, is laid on, it 

 will promote the Growth of the Mushrooms : but this 

 must not be laid next the Bed; but a Covering of dry 

 Litter between the Bed and this warm Litter: and as 

 often as the Litter is found to decay, it should be re- 

 newed with fresh : and as the Cold increases, the Cov- 

 ering should be laid so much thicker. If these Things 

 are observed, there may be plenty of Mushrooms ob- 

 tained all the Year: and these produced in Beds are 

 much better for the Table than any of those which are 

 gathered in the Fields." 



Probably the first book in English to be devoted ex- 

 clusively to the Mushroom was written in 1779 by John 

 Abercrombie, London, and published under the title of 

 "The Garden Mushroom: Its Nature and Cultivation. 

 A Treatise, exhibiting Full and plain Directions, for 

 producing this desirable Plant in Perfection and Plenty, 

 according to the true successful Practice of the London 

 Gardeners." Aside from the manner of securing the 

 spawn, the advice given by Abercrombie would apply 

 very well at the present day. He says that the spawn 

 may be obtained from the dung of horse stables, from 

 hotbeds, composts, cucumber and melon beds, old Mush- 

 room beds, livery stable yards, horse mill-tracks, old 

 dung-heaps where " some straggling Mushrooms are seen 

 to rise naturally in the autumn, "in kitchen-gardens in 

 which Mushrooms have been seen, and in old pastures 

 and meadows. The best season to find the spawn is in 

 the autumn and the early part of winter. The frequent 

 occurrence of Mushrooms in the covered mill-tracks, 

 where horses worked on tram-cars and on power ma- 

 chinery, led to the use of the thoroughly tramped manure 

 as spawn. This spawn gave very excellent results, prob- 

 ably because it was partially seeded from the spores of 

 the Mushrooms which ripened there and were tramped 

 into it. It is probable that this mill-track spawn gave 

 rise to the idea of the Mushroom brick, which is now the 

 chief means at least, in England and America of 

 growing Mushrooms. The name "mill-track" is still 

 used as a trade name for Mushroom spawn, although 

 very little, if any, of it really comes from mill-tracks. 



In America there is only one book devoted wholly to 

 the growing of Mushrooms. This is by William Fal- 

 coner and known as "Mushrooms: How to Grow Them" 

 (1891). The Department of Agriculture and one or two- 

 experiment stations have issued bulletins on the sub- 

 ject. L. H. B. 



For Mushrooms, a supply of fresh horse manure 

 should be procured, if possible each morning, that from 

 grain-fed carriage horses being the most desirable. 

 The strawy portion we discard. The manure is thrown 

 in a heap on the floor of an open shed, and is turned 

 over each morning for a few days. Before the heat of the 

 manure has subsided sufficiently to permit the bed being 

 made, mix about one-third as much loam screened 

 through a %-inch sieve as there is of manure. We 

 have had better success with loam mixed with the 

 manure than when it was not used. The rank heat 

 having escaped from the heap, it can at once be made 



