• 68 



PART II. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 

 Vol. IV. Part II. 



(Continued from Vol. V. p. 444.) 



21. On the Raising of Mushrooms during the Winter Season. By 

 Mr. A. Kelly, Gardener to the Earl of Moray, at Donibristle. 

 Read June, 1818. 



An Oldaker mushroom-house is made use of The dung 

 preferred is " one half horse droppings, and one half short 

 litter, from horses fed upon hay and oats, always avoiding 

 dung of horses fed upon soft food." A sufficient quantity 

 of this mixture is procured and thrown into a heap to heat, 

 sometimes mixing one fifth or sixth of sheep or cow dung. 

 The dung being turned once or twice, and in good heat, it is 

 thrown into the shelves or boxes, and beat as firm as possible, 

 till within an inch of the height of the front of the shelf, the 

 shelf being 1 ft. deep. 



" During the process of making up the beds, the heat of 

 the dung will abate ; but, by lighting a fire in the adjoining 

 furnace for a short time, it will readily return. If it return 

 strong, or become violent, I bore holes quite through the bed, 

 to let the heat escape, and admit air freely into the house. 

 These holes, by being filled up to within 3 in. of the surface 

 of the bed, answer for putting the spawn into. As soon as 

 the heat becomes mild, I spawn the bed with pieces of spawn 

 about the size of common plums, placing the pieces about 

 9 in. or 1 ft. distant from each other, and covering them 

 1 in. below the surface of the bed. I have sometimes put 

 on the mould directly after spawning, when there was no 

 danger of the heat returning strong ; but, in general, I defer 

 this until the spawn has spread itself through the dung, which 

 I think answers better. I have tried different kinds of mould 

 for mushroom beds, and what I have found to answer best is 

 lightish loam, mixed with a small proportion of horse drop- 

 pings or road scrapings. I find road scrapings, when they 



