136 MARKET GARDENING. 



inflammation have frequently resulted from eating poison- 

 ous or unwholesome mushrooms, it is rare to hear of an 

 authenticated record of death from such causes. Mush- 

 rooms, which are safe with some persons, often disagree 

 with others; indeed, it seems the stomach may be edu- 

 cated to bear most noxious species, as there are records 

 of highly poisonous varieties being eaten with impunity 

 by mushroom tasters. 



As before remarked, soil and circumstances cause 

 fungi to assume different properties, and the novice, 

 when uncertain as to the merit of an unrecognized 

 species, will find it a good plan to try the new sort 

 with great caution. In no garden process is there 

 such contradictory practice as in mushroom culture, 

 and, while generally considered a subject requiring much 

 experience and skill, the diversified system of cultivation 

 would seem to point to simplicity in the requirements. 

 For instance, one successful grower will gather dry drop- 

 pings from horses, and still further dry them, by spread- 

 ing and frequent turning under cover. Another, equally 

 successful as a grower, dispenses with all this trouble, 

 taking stable dung fresh from the stalls, and mixing in 

 a fourth part of good friable loam, piling it up for a 

 week, then turning it over, and, if fermenting too strongly, 

 adding more loam. This mixture, made into beds, is 

 immediately charged with spawn. 



A third grower takes his manure from an ordinary 

 barnyard pile, and mixes in a fourth part of loam. 

 Other growers will not use manure which has been fer- 

 menting, claiming that it will not produce mushrooms 

 or a continuous crop. Another system is to take any 

 good stable manure, and, removing sticks, stones, very 

 long straw, or other coarse material, thoroughly mix 

 and pile it in beds two feet high, thoroughly wet with 

 water and stamp down. After a week or ten days, by 

 which time it is quite hot, the pile is re-worked and left 



