SEPT.] KITCHEN VEGETABLES. 1O9 



cient covering of straw and litter ; but much wet 

 or damp is its destruction, though gentle showers 

 and waterings put it in action and a state of vege- 

 tation. Light is not necessary to the production of 

 this vegetable ; and it may be as successfully raised 

 in a cellar as anywhere, provided it be not over 

 damp. A shed, stable, or any out-house, will an* 

 swer, where it can be defended from wet, and from 

 frost. 



Many have flued sheds, or what are called mush- 

 room-houses, for the production of them in winter ; 

 and in that way mushrooms may be cultivated with 

 great success, on account that the temperature can 

 be regularly kept up, and the spawn can be defend- 

 ed from many casualties, to which it is liable in 

 more exposed situations. The mode of making up 

 the beds, however, and the general culture, differ 

 nothing from that in any other situation, excepting 

 that in winter, the heat must be regularly kept 

 at about 55 degrees, by aid of the flues. 



When neither of these conveniences can be had, 

 and yet if you are anxious to have mushrooms in 

 winter, a cover or frame, capable of defending the 

 bed from rain, snow, or frost, may be made at a 

 small expence, thus : First, make a frame of inch 

 and half deal, nine or ten inches deep, six feet 

 wide, and of any convenient length, from ten to 

 twenty feet. Then fit a roof to it, three feet in the 

 pitch, made of thin boards, imbricated, which lay 

 over with two or three coats of pitch or paint. 

 The roof part to be fixed down to the wooden 

 frame by hooks and eyes, or by bolts, so as that 



