206 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



as if more, it would heat too violently, and if less, it 

 would not heat enough. Into this bed plunge a ther- 

 mometer ; in two or three days the bed will heat, so that 

 the thermometer will rise to 100 or over. As soon as the 

 temperature declines to 90, take a sharp stick and make 

 holes an inch or so in diameter all over the bed, at about a 

 foot apart, and six inches deep ; into these holes drop 

 two or three pieces of " spawn," and cover up the hole 

 again with the compost of which the bed is made, and 

 beat it slightly again, so that the bed will present the 

 same level surface as before the spawn was put in. Let 

 the bed remain in this condition for ten or twelve days, 

 by which time the spawn will have run all through it. 

 Now spread evenly over the surface of the bed about two 

 inches of fresh loam, press it down moderately with the 

 back of a spade, and cover up the bed with hay or straw 

 to the thickness of three or four inches. If this opera- 

 tion is finished in November or December, and the place 

 has an average temperature of 55, you may look out for 

 a crop in January or February. The bed will continue 

 bearing about three or four weeks, and the crop is usually 

 enormous, often producing a bushel on two square yards 

 of space. After the first crop is gathered, a second, and 

 even a third, can be taken if desired, from the same bed 

 without further trouble than to spread a little fresh soil 

 on the surface, giving it a gentle watering and covering 

 up with hay as before. Great care must be taken that 

 after placing the spawn in the newly made bed, the 

 earth covering is not put on sooner than ten or twelve 

 days ; in my first attempt at mushroom growing, I failed 

 two years in succession, because I put on the soil 

 when the spawn was first put into the bed ; by so doing, 

 the steam arising from the manure was prevented from 

 passing off, and the result was, that the spawn rotted. I 

 believe this very common error is the cause of most of 

 the failures in raising mushrooms. 



