48 HOW TO PLANT. 



ature. To secure the latter, the culture is often carried 

 on in cellars ; but any locality, such as frames, out- 

 houses, etc., will do, provided the temperature does not 

 exceed eighty degrees, or fall lower than fifty. They can 

 be grown in barrels sawn in two to form, tubs, or upon 

 the floor. Obtain good garden mould, and mix one 

 bushel of soil to two bushels of horse dung, as free from 

 straw as possible, and fill up the tubs solid with the 

 mixture ; or lay down a bed three or four feet wide and 

 twelve inches thick, and press it solid with the spade. 

 As it will likely get too hot, it is best to let the heat re- 

 cede until it is not over ninety degrees, then insert small 

 pieces of spawn, lumps two inches through, in holes twelve 

 inches apart, and cover firmly over. Let the bed remain 

 in this condition twelve or fifteen days, then cover with 

 an inch or more of good garden mould, which can be 

 slightly moistened. If the bed is exposed, and subject to 

 great changes in temperature, it is best to cover it with 

 about four inches of hay or straw. In six or ten weeks, 

 according to the temperature, the mushrooms will appear. 

 In gathering them, care should be taken to fill up the 

 holes with soil. The bed should bear two months. An 

 occasional watering with warm water about seventy-five 

 degrees is beneficial, with a little fertilizer or manure 

 water added with salt. One pound of spawn is enough 

 L - or a bed three feet by four. Beware of the poisonous 

 ones in gathering wild mushrooms. 



MUSTARD. (Brassica alba and B. nigra.) 



One of the best of salads and useful medicinally ; sow 

 the black mustard if seeds are wanted for medicine. The 

 White, the Creole and the Southern Giant Curled, are 

 the best for greens, and the last named is the best of 

 these three. In the North, sow in the spring as soon as 

 frosts are over. In the South, sow in March or April, 

 and in August and September, either broadcast or in 



