1048 



MUSHROOM 



MUSHROOM 



into a bed, a depth of from 9 to 12 inches being about 

 right. The manure is placed in layers and pounded as 

 hard as possible with a wooden mallet or brick; it can 

 be well trodden where treading is possible. We spawn 

 when the temperature of the bed has subsided to 90. 

 It is a little unsafe to spawn at a higher temperature, 

 and if left until the heat drops below 80, Mushrooms 

 will be much more tardy in appearing and of poorer 

 quality. English Milltrack spawn usually gives the best 

 results. The spawn is broken into pieces as large as a 

 walnut and inserted 2 or 3 inches deep, some 4 or 5 in. 

 apart each way, pressing the surface firm after the in- 

 sertion. Ten days later 2 inches of good loam is spread 

 over the surface and pounded in hard. The beds are 

 then covered with meadow hay or straw, and, given 

 proper atmospheric conditions, should require no further 

 attention until after Mushrooms have appeared, which 

 may be in four weeks or not until four months later. 

 The time when the first buttons will appear is very un- 

 certain. It does not do to be of a highly strung nervous 

 temperament in Mushroom culture. We have spawned 

 beds and despaired of success, when we have been grati- 

 fied by getting a first-class crop thirteen to sixteen 

 weeks after spawning. 



A dry atmosphere is inimical to the well-being of 

 Mushrooms, and success is uncertain where such condi- 

 tions exist. It is generally conceded that watering the 

 beds often does more harm than good, but it must be 

 remembered that the fact of the bed becoming dry only 

 retards the production of the crop, and does not lessen 

 the chance of Mushrooms appearing once the bed has 

 become sufficiently moist. If the beds are made very 

 compact there is less probability of them drying out and 

 less likelihood of their injury by any sudden excess of 

 either drought or moisture. When water has to be 

 given we prefer to use it of a temperature of 85 to 90 

 and to water only the dry portions of the bed, which are 

 wetted as evenly as possible. 



When the first crop is exhausted and the bed has be- 

 come somewhat dry, we use warm water and add a little 

 nitrate of soda to it, covering the surface with hay after 

 watering. This usually induces a good second crop to 

 come. 



We start to collect manure for the beds early in Sep- 

 tember, and continue to do so until early November. 

 Usually the beds are made under the benches of some 

 of the houses, where a temperature of 55 to 60 can be 

 maintained, but any cellars or caves where such a tem- 

 perature can be kept up are even better than green- 

 houses for Mushroom culture. The beds are always 

 kept as dark as possible. Cockroaches, wood-lice and 

 other pests must be poisoned or trapped, else they soon 

 ruin a crop. w> N- C RAIG. 



Mushroom-growing is interesting work, and it is the 

 uncertainty that is the cause of it. Most Mushroom- 

 growers are in doubt when spawning their beds as to 

 whether Mushrooms will appear, or the work be a fail- 

 ure. The writer has had excellent success with Mush- 

 room culture and remarkable failures. Failures in a 

 Mushroom crop are not easy to explain. The fault may 

 be in making up the bed, or it may be in the spawn. A 

 few years ago a bed was spawned with three lots of 

 spawn; two beds were a success, while the other was a 

 complete failure, a proof that the bed is not always 

 the cause of failure. Mushrooms may be grown suc- 

 cessfully under the greenhouse benches, providing the 

 drip can be kept off the beds ; also in cellars ; but the 

 preference is for a Mushroom house built for that pur- 

 pose. The house of which the writer has charge is 

 built into a bank in such a position as to require very 

 little fire heat to keep up the temperature. Of course 

 air-spaces must be provided in the walls, according to 

 the size of the house. 



Two methods of making the beds may be described: 

 (1) Collect fresh horse manure until there is enough to 

 make a bed. The manure should be kept where it can 

 be protected from rains, an open shed preferred. Turn 

 the manure every other morning for a week, or until 

 danger of burning is over. In making the beds, from 

 9 in. to a foot of manure is used. Beds should be thor- 

 oughly firmed, putting in a layer of manure, then firm- 

 ing, then another layer, until the desired depth is 

 secured. Assuming that the bed goes up after making 



to 300 or 110, then gradually drops, it is safe to spawn 

 at 90. Spawn should be inserted in the manure say 

 2 or 3 in. deep, and about 5 in. apart. In a week or ten 

 days after .spawning, cover with 2 in. of good loam. 

 Good loam from the pasture, soil from the garden, and 

 also old rose soil have been used with good results. It 

 is customary to mix a little soil through the manure 

 before making the bed. After the soil is on the bed 

 and firmed down, a covering of straw will be beneficial, 

 as it prevents the beds from drying out. Should they 

 dry out, water must be applied, which should be at a 

 temperature of 75 or 80. Mushrooms should be gath- 

 ered from six to eight weeks after making the bed. 

 Keep the house at a temperature of 55 to GO J . (2) The 

 second method, which see'ms to be the better, is for 

 every load of fresh horse manure to add a load of old 

 thoroughly rotted manure, or a load of old Mushroom 

 manure. The aim is to get enough old manure to pre- 

 vent the other from burning. The two are mixed, and 

 the following day the bed is made. This method does 

 away with a great amount of labor turning the manure; 

 the bed also has a tendency to hold the moisture a 

 greater length of time. The details of making the bed 

 are the same as in the other method. This is a simple 

 way to make the beds, but the results will follow with 

 as much certainty as with any other method. 



WILLIAM TURNER. 



The writer's first trial with Mushrooms was made in 

 a soap box under a bed, and the Mushrooms did well. 

 That was 45 years ago. The next year he went into the 

 business on a larger scale, growing them in the cellar, 

 and a good crop was the result. He received $1.50 a 

 pound, or $220 for the lot. A cellar under the parlor was 

 devoted to the crop, and $350 worth was sold. Then a 

 place was built under the ground with good ventilation, 

 but it was not a success. The drip was too much. A 

 cellar under the carriage house, which had no drip, 

 made a good place, leading to the belief that a place with 

 a Mushrojm house under a building is the best place in 

 which to grow them. They need a dry place. If we have 

 a dry summer and light rains in September, or heavy 

 dews, we will pick plenty of Mushrooms in the fall out- 

 doors. In growing Mushrooms, we must imitate nature. 

 The money that is wasted for spawn alone in one year 

 would make a fortune for some persons. People get 

 wild to grow Mushrooms. Some secure a crop, but others 

 get nothing. The young man must try a little at a time. 

 He should learn from the experiences of different men. 

 A man can make money in this business, and he can lose 

 it. The writer has had failure and success, but he now 

 x grows two tons every year. 



Mushroom spawn runs best in anything that is dry. 

 It is difficult to find out what moisture is wanted, and 

 to get the material in the right state. The writer pre- 

 fers to secure his manure on the cars fresh from the 

 stable. Turn it over eight or nine times, once every day, 

 so it will not burn, and put in dirt. To twenty tons add 

 five cart-loads of earth. This earth is secured from sod 

 from the hedges around the farm, taken the first of June 

 and piled up to rot, so it will be ready for mixing in the 

 manure. When the manure is in the right state, put it 

 in beds 8 inches deep. The beds (made in houses) are 

 made up like bunks on a ship and are 100 feet long, 4 

 feet wide and 3 feet between the beds to allow a man to 

 go through with a wheelbarrow. One house is 20 feet 

 wide. It contains 13 beds 100 feet long. It is heated by 

 hot water and the temperature is kept at 60. There are 

 three large houses, and all of them with greenhouses on 

 top, where lettuce, cauliflower, parsley, rhubarb and 

 radishes are grown with the same heat that grows the 

 Mushrooms. English spawn is used. It should be fresh 

 and new. The spawn is placed 6 inches apart in the 

 beds, in pieces the size of a black walnut. When the 

 heat goes down to 90 the spawn is put in, and in six 

 weeks the Mushrooms are ready for picking. The beds 

 last from three to four months. The Mushrooms are 

 packed in boxes and shipped to New York. 



S. W. WORTMAN. 



The Trade in Mushrooms. The trade in Mushrooms 

 has grown from a supply of 30 to 50 pounds a day to 

 the enormous quantity of one-half to three-quarters of a 

 ton. In fact, the trade has increased in proportion with 



