518 THE KITCHEN GARDEN. [Oct. 



way, with wide alleys between them, and if the whole were to be 

 covered with a shed, especially in the middle and eastern states, 

 it would be found of considerable advantage in effectually preserv- 

 ing them from too much wet, which is as essentially necessary as 

 their preservation from frost. 



If your bed is in a due temperature, the mushrooms will begin 

 to appear in about four or five weeks after its being made, and 

 with proper care will continue in bearing several months: when you 

 find it ceasing to produce, in consequence of cold, lay a covering of 

 hot stable dung seven or eight inches, or in hard frosts, near a foot 

 thick all over the bed, observing to leave under this, between it and 

 the bed, about three inches thick of dry straw, covering the hot 

 dung over with the remainder of the straw or litter; this will 

 revive the heat, give new action to the spawn, and should he repeated 

 as often during winter as it may be found necessary, always observ- 

 ing to preserve the bed from wet, cold and frost. 



Sometimes it happens that the beds do not produce any mush- 

 rooms till they have lain five or six months, so that they should not 

 be destroyed though they do not at first answer the expectation; for 

 such frequently produce great quantities afterwards, and continue 

 bearing a long time. 



A good bed may continue productive for three, four, five, or even 

 twelve months; but by that time it is generally worn out; the dung 

 then makes excellent manure, and the interior part sometimes fur- 

 nishes very good spawn. 



The great skill of managing these beds is that of keeping them 

 in a proper degree of warmth and moisture, never suffering them to 

 receive much wet: during the summer season they may be un- 

 covered occasionally to receive gentle showers of rain, when thought 

 necessary, and in very dry seasons the beds should be now and then 

 opened, gently watered, and covered up soon after; but the summer 

 covering need be no thicker than what is necessary to preserve the 

 bed from the drying influence of the weather. 



This method of propagating mushrooms by the spawn, or the 

 white fibrous radicles, is the most common; but they may also be 

 increased by seed. When the latter method is used, the gills are 

 cut out and put into the beds: or else they are infused in water and 

 the beds sprinkled with the infusion. 



When the bed is in full bearing, it should be examined two or 

 three times a week, to gather the produce, turning off the straw 

 carefully, and collecting the mushrooms white, and of a moderate 

 si/.e: taking care to detach them from the bottom, by a gentle twist, 

 pulling the stems out clean, for if broke or cut off, the remaining 

 parts would become putrid and full of maggots, and consequently 

 infectious to the successional plants. 



Where mushrooms are greatly admired, and expense not consi- 

 dered an object, they may be had with more certainty, in greater 

 abundance, and in a regular succession, by making the beds as be- 

 fore directed, under a range of glass framing, made in the manner 

 of a hot-house, or the top sloped both ways like the roof of a house; 

 in such a place, they could be effectually defended from excessive 



