MUS 



[ 555 ] 



MUS 



As the compost, the formation of the 

 beds, &c., are very different from the 

 common practice, we will give Mr. Old- 

 aker's directions. The compost employed 

 is fresh horse -dung, which has been 

 subject neither to wet nor fermentation, 

 cleared of the long straw, but one-fourth 

 of the short litter allowed to remain, with 

 one fourth of dry turf-mould, or other 

 fresh earth. 



The beds are to be made by placing a 

 layer of tbe above compost, three inches 

 thick, on the shelves and floor, which 

 must be beaten as close as possible with 

 a flat mallet, fresh layers being added and 

 consolidated until the bed is seven inches 

 thick, and its surface as level as possible. 

 If the beds are thicker, the fermentation 

 caused will be too powerful ; or if much 

 less, the heat will be insufficient for the 

 nourishment of the spawn. As soon as 

 the beds intimate a warmth of 80 or 90, 

 they are to be beaten a second time, to 

 render them still more solid, and holes 

 made with a dibble, three inches in di- 

 ameter and nine apart, through the com- 

 post, in every part of the beds ; these 

 prevent too great a degree of heat arising 

 and causing rottenness. 



If the beds do not attain a proper heat 

 in four or five days after being put to- 

 gether, another layer, two inches thick, 

 must be added. If this does not increase 

 the heat, part of the beds must be re- 

 moved, and fresh horse-droppings mixed 

 with the remainder. The spawn is to be 

 inserted in three or four days after mak- 

 ing the holes, when the thermometer in- 

 dicates the desired degree of heat, the 

 irisides of the holes are dry ; and while 

 the heat is on tbe decline, every hole is 

 to be filled, either with lumps or frag- 

 ments of spawn, well beaten in, and the 

 surface made level. 



In a fortnight, if the spawn is vegetat- 

 ing freely, and the beds are required 

 for immediate production, they may be 

 earthed over; but those for succession 

 left unearthed, three or four weeks in 

 summer, and four or five in winter. If 

 the spawn is introduced in hot weather, 

 air must be admitted as freely as possible 

 until the spawn has spread itself through 

 the beds. 



The soil employed should be maiden 

 earth, with turf well reduced; neither 

 too dry nor too wet, otherwise it will not 

 be capable of being beaten solid. It must 

 be laid regularly over the beds two inches 



thick. From the time of earthing, the 

 room is to be kept at a temperature of 

 50 or 55. If higher, it will weaken or 

 destroy the spawn ; if lower, it will vege- 

 tate slowly ; and if watered in that state, 

 numbers of mushroom swill be prevented 

 attaining perfection. Water must be ap- 

 plied with extreme caution, being nearly 

 as warm as new milk, and sprinkled over 

 the beds with a syringe or small watering- 

 pot. Cold water destroys both the crop 

 and the beds. If suffered to become dry, 

 it is better to give several light than one 

 heavy watering. 



Beds thus managed will bear for se- 

 veral months ; and a constant supply of 

 mushrooms kept up by earthing but one 

 bed or more every two or three months. 



If, when in full production, the mush- 

 rooms become long-stemmed and weak, 

 the temperature is certainly too high, 

 and air must be proportionately admitted. 

 As the beds decline, to renovate them 

 the earth must be taken off clean, and if 

 the dung is decayed they must be re- 

 formed, any good spawn being preserved 

 that may appear; but if the beds are dry, 

 solid, and full of good spawn, a fresh 

 layer of compost, three or four inches 

 thick, must be added, mixed a little with 

 the old, and beaten solid as before. 



Mushrooms may be grown in a cellar, 

 or other vaulted place, with equal suc- 

 cess, and not unfrequently with a greater 

 advantage, the same rules being adopted ; 

 but no fire is necessary, and less water. 



Spawn : where to be found. Spawn is 

 constituted of masses of white fibres, 

 arising from the seeds of mushrooms 

 that have fallen into situations suitable 

 for their germination, from which it is to 

 be obtained : such places are stable dung- 

 hills, dungy horse-rides in stable-yards, 

 horse mill-tracks, dry spongy composts : 

 the droppings of hard-fed horses also 

 produce it in greater abundance than the 

 dung of any other animal, and more 

 sparingly under sheds, where horses, 

 oxen, or sheep have been kept. The 

 dung of the two latter affords it in greater 

 perfection than that of grass-fed horses. 

 It has also been found in pigeons' dung ; 

 but the most certain mode of obtaining it 

 is to open the ground about mushrooms 

 growing in pastures, though it is said not 

 to be so productive. 



Time of Collecting. July, August, and 

 September, it being reckoned in the 

 greatest perfection in this last month. It 



