338 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



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

 to the thickness of three or four inches. 



If this operation is finished in November or December, 

 and the place has an average temperature of fifty-five de- 

 grees, you may look 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, be- 

 cause I pub 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. 



Another method of raising Mushrooms in winter in 

 cold cellars, or other places where there is no artificial 

 heat, is as follows, given by John Cullen, of Bethlehem, 

 Penn., whose success in Mushroom growing has been 

 unfailing. 



" My Mushroom cellar is a structure fifteen feet long 

 and twelve feet wide. Formerly it was a water cistern, 

 but with a little alteration was easily converted into a 

 Mushroom cellar. My plan of culture is as follows : In 

 September manure from horse stables is collected in a 

 heap, and to that is added one-fifth of soil. To prevent 

 overheating it is turned over three times a week for a 

 month. By that time the violent heat is subdued. 



"Making the Beds. Having obtained a sufficiency of 

 horse droppings for a bed, in the right condition, that is, 



