HORTICULTURE. 



285 



Mushrooms are most speedily and certainly propa- 

 gated, by placing the germinating seeds, or rather the 

 white fibrous radicles, which produce tubercles in the 

 "*"*' manner of potatoes, called the tpavn, in a situation pro- 

 per for the devesopement of the plants. Without at all 

 abetting the doctrine of equivocal generation, we may 

 t our power to produce this spawn at pleasure, 

 i long stable dung, which has not lain in a heap or 

 rone any degree of fermentation, is mixed with 

 ; earth, and put under cover from rain : the more 

 r U excluded, the sooner does the spawn ap- 

 pear : a layer of old thatch, or any kind of litter that 

 has lain long abroad, and so i not apt to ferment, is 

 proper tor excluding the air. In about two months the 

 white threads of the spawn will be found penetrating 

 the dung and earth. When spawn is once procured, it 

 may be extended or propagated, as spawn, without pro- 

 ducing mushrooms. A mode of doing this, practised 

 by Mr John Hay, may here be mentioned. A quan- 

 tity of cow droppings is to be gathered from the pas- 

 tures ; some rotten wood, or spray from the bottom of 

 a badge, is to be collected, with a little strong loam. 

 These are mixed, and formed into a moist ductile sort 

 of mortar or paste, of such consistence that it can be 

 cut into pieces like bricks. When these are so far 

 dried that they can conveniently be lifted, a row is laid 

 in eoroe dry place, under cover, perhaps to a shade 

 at the back of a hot-house ; a little spawn is placed 

 upon the layer; then another layer of the spawn bricks, 

 and soon. In a few weeks the whole mass is pane- 

 trated by the spawn. The spawn brides may then be 

 laid and* for as* ; they will keep many months ; and 

 the drier they are kept, the more certainly do they af- 

 ford a crop of mushrooms when placed in favourable 

 circumstances for doing so. 



Trip UMj.ji rno*l % ot raiMnu BasssaMBaal m Mae prr- 



pared with layers of horse- droppings and fine mould, U 

 generally andentoed, and has been fully describe, i 

 preceding part of this work, (art FUNOI, vol. x. p. 57.) 

 It may be proper, however, in addition to what is there 

 said, to give an account of what is called Oldacre's 

 plan, this being generally considered as an improve, 

 ment on the culture of mushrooms. 



493. Mr Isaac Oldacre is an Englishman who for 

 many years held the office of chief gardener to the Eaa. 



Kof nil at 8t PeUCTbargh. In 181 , he visited 

 itlve country ; and on that occasion, at the desire 

 ar Sir Joseph Banks, put in practice at Spring Gswvvy 

 his improved mode of raising osawsoeas. In farming 

 the compost for the beds, he prefers fresh short dang, 

 from a stable or the path of a horse-mill. The dang 

 Bast neither haw been exposed to wet nor to fcrnim- 

 About a fourth or a sixth part of cow or sheep* 

 igs is added, and the whole ingredients are well 

 1 ami incorporated. The bed*, if they may be so 

 i are sunuvd on shelves, or in drawers er bakes, 

 m the mushroom-house, or in any out-house, where a 

 slight hmtitess of temperature can be commanded. A 

 <ratum of the prepared mixture, about three inrhai 

 thick, (King deposited, is beat together with a flat 

 wooden mallet. Another similar layer is added, and 

 beat together at before; and th is repeated, till the 

 bed. be six inches thick, and very compact. A degree 

 of faBjiHrtatiuii soon takes place m this mas. ; but if the 

 from thi process be not quickly u I reap 

 r layer must still be added, till nalriiiil 

 benched. Wheat the beds arc aaik warm, (or 

 between HO- and 90- Pabr.), some holes are dibbled 

 about nine inches apart, for receiving the spawn. These 



are left open for some time ; and when the heat is on Kitchen 

 the decline, but before it be quite gone, a lump of spawn t**"** -^ 



is inserted into each opening, and tie holes are then " 



-., ,, Muuuoom. 



filled up with the compost. 1 en days afterwards, the 



beds are covered with a coating of rich mould, mixed 

 with a fourth or sixth part of droppings, to the depth 

 of an inch and a half. This is beat down with the 

 back of a spade, and the bed may then be accounted 

 ready for producing. The mushroom-house is now 

 kept as nearly and equally at 55" Falir. as circumstances 

 will allow. When the beds become very dry, it is oc- 

 casionally found requisite to sprinkle over them a little 

 water, taken from a pond or river ; but this must be 

 done with great circumspection. 



Beds thus prepared, we are assured, yield abundant 

 crops of mushrooms. If a number of shelves or draw- 

 ers be at first prepared, a few only, at a time, may be 

 covered with mould, and brought into bearing ; the 

 rest of the shelves or drawers being cropped in succes- 

 sion, as mushrooms may happen to be in demand. It 

 U evident that they may thus be procured at all seasons. 

 The more that free air can be admitted into the mush- 

 room-house, the flavour of the mushrooms will be found 

 to be improved. 



In what particulars the advantage of Mr Oldacre's 

 plan over farmer modes chiefly consists, does not very 

 dearly appear. Beds made up in the usual way are 

 much leas compact, and are more damp : compactness 

 and dryness may therefore be considered as important. 

 Indeed, the beneficial effects of keeping the spawn dry, 

 were long ago noticed by Miller, in his Dictionary, 

 who found, that spawn which had lain lor tour months 

 near the furnace of a stove, yielded a crop in less time 

 and in greater profusion than any other. 



In some old authors, a very sage advice is given for 

 promoting the fecundity of mushroom beds constructed 

 on the ordinary plan, via. to take a few full grown 

 naaehromiii from pastures, and, breaking them down in 

 the watering-pot, to water the beds with the infusion. 

 This is plainly nothing else than sowing mushroom 

 seed, the minute seeds lodged in the gills being thus 

 suspended in the water, and introduced along with it 

 into the bed. 



454. Although the Agaricus ceaapeatris is theonly spe- 

 cie* cultivated, it is not the most delicate of the tribe as to 

 r, nut turban* the beet dssii liiia of culture, 

 of the others should be tried, and there seem* 

 to doubt of ultimate snores*. A. aurantiacus 

 i excellent qualities ; the flesh U tender, and 

 the Javour delicate : it U in high repute on the Conti- 

 nent, where it is gathered in pine forests, about the 

 end of summer. It is the orange of the French, and 

 is distinguished from another specie*, called the false 

 orange, by having a complete volva. A. solitarius i* 

 remarkable for its fine flavour. A. procerus is a great 

 favourite in France, where it is known by the name of 

 rruetie. A. deliciosus is much used in Germany and 

 Italy ; but though it is not uncommon in our fir plan, 

 tations, it is scarcely ever eaten in this country. The 

 Champignon (A. pralentu) is used in soup*, and is 

 therefore occasionally brought to market ; but, as re. 

 marked by Mr Sowerby, in " English Fungi," it is apt, 

 to be confounded, by the common mushroom gatherers, 

 with A. virosus, one of those most to be avoided. A. vio. 

 laceus i* sometimes sold in Covent Garden, under the 

 n**n* of Bluets : it is a harmless kind, but has no other 

 merit The specie* which most commonly forms the 

 circles and semicircle* on downs near the sea-shore, call- 

 ed /airy-ring*, i* A. arcades. Tib Mr Lightfoot, in 



