CULTIVATION. 257 



himself with a few barrowfuls of strawy dung to form the 

 foundation of his bed, so that the depth, when all is finished, be 

 not less than a foot. Let the temperature be up to milk heat. 

 He will then, when quite sure that the bed will not overheat, put 

 on his summer droppings. By this time these will be one mass 

 of natural spawn, having a grey mouldy and thready appear- 

 ance, and a smell like that of mushrooms. Let all be pressed 

 very hard ; then let mould, unsifted, be put on, to the thickness 

 of four inches, and trodden down hard with the feet and watered 

 all over ; and the back of a spade may now be used to make it 

 still harder, as well as to plaster the surface all over." * Mush- 

 rooms are cultivated very extensively by Mr. Ingrain, at Belvoir, 

 without artificial spawn. There is a great riding-house there, in 

 which the litter is ground down by the horses' feet into very 

 small shreds. These are placed in a heap and turned over once 

 or twice during the season, when a large quantity of excellent 

 spawn is developed which, placed in asparagus beds or laid under 

 thin turf, produces admirable mushrooms, in the latter case as 

 clean as in our best pastures.")" 



Other species will sometimes be seen growing on mushroom- 

 beds besides the genuine mushroom, the spawn in such cases 

 being probably introduced with the materials employed. We 

 have seen a pretty crisped variety of Agaricus dealbatus growing 

 in profusion in such a place, and devoured it accordingly. Some- 

 times the mushrooms will, when in an unhealthy condition, be 

 subject to the ravages of parasitic species of mould, or perhaps 

 of Hypomyces. Xylaria vaporaria has, in more than one instance, 

 usurped the place of mushrooms. Mr. Berkeley has received 

 abundant specimens in the Sclerotioid state, which he succeeded 

 in developing in sand under a bell glass. Of course under such 

 conditions there is much loss. The little fairy-ring champignon 

 is an excellent and useful species, and it is a great pity that 

 some effort should not be made to procure it by cultivation. In 



* Cuthill, " Treatise on the Cultivation of the Mushroom," p. 9. 



f 1 Mr. Berkeley lately recommended, at one of the meetings of the Horticul- 

 tural Society at South Kensington, that the railway arches should be utilized for 

 the cultivation of mushrooms. 



