33 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Boaed of Ageicultuee. 



THE GROWING OF MUSHROOMS. 



By Dr. Geo. E. Stone, Prof essor of Botany , Mussac/iusetts Agricultural College. 



During the past decade considerable increased interest has been mani- 

 fested in edible mushrooms of all kinds. Numerous publications, some 

 of which are extensive and j^rofusely illustrated volumes, have made 

 their appearance, and in recent years mycological societies have been 

 established in many localities. The members of these societies are 

 enthusiastic in studying mushrooms, and, as a consequence of a large 

 amount of diligent study, together with the testing of various types of 

 «dible species, a vast amount of information has been secured on this 

 subject. 



There is also an increased interest pertaining to the growing of mush- 

 rooms for the market, especially existing among amateurs and those 

 who wish to indulge in some form of gardening on a small scale. 



It is the purpose of this article to present in a brief manner an account 

 of mushroom growing. 



What Mushrooms are. 



Mushrooms are low, humble plants, belonging to the large group 

 collectively known as fungi. Fungi are white plants, and are not infre- 

 quently called colorless, since they contain no green coloring matter 

 such as is characteristic of leaves. On account of the absence of green 

 coloring matter, or chlorophyll, they are incapable of decomposing the 

 carbon dioxide of the air and building up compounds of starch, sugar, 

 etc., which constitutes one of the chief characteristics of green plants. 



Mushrooms are what botanists term " Saprophytes," that is, they 

 obtain their food from decomposed organic matter contained in the soil. 

 They do not j^ropagate by seeds, as the higher jilants do, but have 

 instead numerous microscopic spoi'es, which possess a similar function 

 to seeds, but are much more simple in their make-up. On this account 

 mushroom spores do not possess the same chance for reproduction of 

 the individual as seeds, hence the necessity for spores to be reproduced 



