336 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



MUSHROOM (Agm-icus campestris). 



Many who have a taste for horticultural pursuits grow 

 Mushrooms as much for the novelty of the thing as for 

 use; for it is certainly very gratifying for an amateur 

 to find that he has succeeded with a crop of this curious 

 vegetable in mid-winter, when everything outside is 

 frost-locked and snow-bound. I have said that the nov- 

 elty is attractive ; for in growing all other plants the 

 cultivator sees something tangible to start with, either 

 seeds, plants, or roots, but with the Mushroom it may 

 be said he sees none of these; for no seeds can be discov- 

 ered either with the naked eye or with a magnifier, and 

 it requires some faith to believe the minute, thread-like 

 substance we call "spawn " to be either plants or roots. 



Mushrooms are always raised in the dark, and any cel- 

 lar, stable, or an out-house of any sort, wherein a temper- 

 ature of forty-five to sixty-five degrees can be commanded, 

 will grow them. There are various methods followed by 

 Mushroom growers, but I will only give two, premising 

 that, if the directions given are strictly followed, success 

 is just as certain as in growing a crop of Peas or Potatoes. 

 Let horse droppings be procured from the stables each 

 day, in quantities not less than a barrow load. To every 

 barrow load of droppings add one-fourth the quantity of 

 fresh loam from a pasture or sod land, or soil of any kind 

 that has not been manured (the objection to old manured 

 soil being that it may contain the spores of spurious 

 fungi). Let the droppings and soil be mixed together 

 day by day, as the manure can be procured ; or, if they 

 can be had all at once in sufficient quantity, so much the 

 better. Let the heap (which should be under cover, so 

 as not to get wet) be turned every day, so that it is not 

 allowed to heat violently until you have got together a 

 sufficient quantity to form a bed of the desired size. 



From the prepared droppings and soil, begin to form 



