394 FORCING GARDEN. 



time; and when the heat is on-the decline, but before 

 it be quite gone, a piece of spawn brick is thrust into 

 each opening, and the holes are closed with a .little 

 compost. A week afterwards, the boxes are covered 

 with a smooth coating, two inches thick, of rich loamy 

 mould mixed with about a fifth part of horse-droppings. 

 The apartment is how kept as nearly and as equably at 

 55° Fahrenheit as circumstances will allows When the 

 boxes become dry, a little soft water may be used, but 

 sparingly and with circumspection, and instead of water- 

 ing directly on the 'surface of the bed, it is better to 

 spread some hay over it, and to sprinkle the hay. The 

 more that free air can be admitted, the flavor of the 

 mushrooms is the better ; but the exclusion of frost is 

 indispensable. If a number of boxes have been pre- 

 pared at first, a few only at a time may be covered 

 with mould and brought into bearing, the rest being 

 covered and cropped in succession, as mushrooms may 

 be in demand. 



Mr. Edward Callow, in a tract on the artificial growth 

 of mushrooms, describes a method in which the pits are 

 wrought by means of dung heat. His structure some- 

 what resembles Atkinson's melon-pit, only the roof is 

 covered with thatch, and a suit of air-flues is formed 

 within the interior of the pit, with branches crossing 

 the principal bed which occupies the floor. Linings of 

 fermenting litter are applied on the exterior of the house 

 at the back and front. The atmosphere in the pit, in 

 the earlier stage, is kept at 55° to 65° Fahrenheit, and, 

 when the bed is in full bearing, about 70°. The other 

 details of this method scarcely differ from those of Mr. 

 Oldacr-e's. 



