MUSHROOM. J97 



to the bottom of the box, with a small pointed stick, 

 for the great heat to evaporate, which it will most 

 likely do in three or four days after, when it may be 

 spawned by pieces an inch and a half square being 

 inserted in the dung in cavities, to be filled up with 

 dung similar to that taken out. The whole is then 

 to be covered two inches thick with a kindly loam or 

 good kitchen-garden earth, not too finely sifted. 

 This should likewise be well beaten down, and 

 the surface covered thinly for a few days with dry 

 litter. Keeping the heat of the house up to 60, 

 will soon cause the spawn to work, and vegetation 

 to be brought on, so that within a month mush- 

 rooms may be expected, in the gathering of which 

 much care will be necessary, by disturbing as little 

 as possible the place where they have risen. 



Their after culture will principally consist in 

 keeping up a regular heat during the winter ; and 

 should it happen (which, however, is very rare in 

 winter) that any of the boxes are in want of mois- 

 ture, a very little soft water may be given, which 

 has been placed in the house two or three days 

 before. 



Shelves may be erected for growing mushrooms 

 in a warm shed, at the back of a hot or green- 

 house ; and also in dry, warm cellars, similarly to the 

 house culture : in the latter place, they have been 

 cultivated most successfully in hampers, and, in 

 short, in almost any place where warmth and dark- 

 ness prevail. 



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