214 Callow on the Culture of Mushrooms. 



state of the atmosphere. As mushrooms disappear in the fields for the 

 season, after a single sharp frost, so it will be found difficult to recover 

 a bed after it has once suffered any severe check. From adverting to the 

 causes of the frequent failures in obtaining crops, and from attentively 

 considering the habits of the vegetable in its natural state, Mr. Callow 

 abandoned " the most uncertain dung-ridge culture," and also the use of fire 

 heat, and substituted the steam of hot dung in the mushroom-house ; thus 

 forming an atmosphere " somewhat resembling that of those close foggy 

 mornings, which even the uneducated husbandmen, from observing effects, 

 call ' mushroom weather.' " A damp heated atmosphere seems to be the 

 desideratum to insure luxuriant crops throughout the year. 



Thus much for the principle of Mr. Callow's improvement : to describe 

 its application will be unnecessary to those who are in the practice of 

 growing mushrooms in houses heated by flues. The inexperienced will feel 

 themselves amply repaid by the purchase of Mr. Callow's work ; or they 

 may proceed on the following outline : — 



Let a house for summer use face the N. or N.E. ; for winter use the 

 S. or S.W. If the soil be wet, use the proper means to render the floor of 

 the house perfectly dry. Build the back and ends of stone or brick, the 

 front of inch boards, plastered inside ; and cover the roof with a thick coat 

 of thatch. Leave an opening in each end for the admission of air at plea- 

 sure. In the roof, form two or more windows of small size, for admitting 

 light, when watering or doing other work. Form a small doorway in the 

 centre of the boarded front. From the doorway to the back wall there 

 should be a trench 18 in. wide and 2 ft. deep, to be filled with hot dung 

 whenever it may be necessary to increase the heat and moisture of the 

 house. Shelves may be placed against the back and end walls, and flues 

 formed across the floor 2 ft. deep by 18 in. wide, covered with boards or 

 flat stones for receiving the steam of the dung; and other flues or vacuities 

 may run along the ends and sides of the house at pleasure, by simply 

 placing, in an inclined position, boards or flat stones against the wall. 

 The bed in the floor of the mushroom-house, and those on the shelves, 

 are to be made of properly prepared dung in the usual manner ; and the 

 same as to the planting the spawn, &c. A uniform temperature is to be 

 kept up in the house, by outside linings of fresh dung, leaves, or grass ; 

 raised either only a few feet in height, or as high as the eaves of the roof, 

 as the season or other circumstances may require. 



It must be evident, we think, to every gardener, that this is a very cer- 

 tain and economical mode of raising mushrooms ; and it may be proved in 

 any common pit, or even frame, substituting thatched boards for the glass 

 sashes. 



Long after writing the above notice, we received the following from 

 Mr. Elles, one of the most scientific, and at the same time successful, 

 practical gardeners in either Britain or Ireland : — 



" Sir, In the last Number of the Gardener's Magazine, no mention is 

 made of Mr. Callow's Treatise on the Growth of 'Mushrooms ; which treatise, 

 I think, not only deserves to be mentioned, but likewise to be strongly 

 recommended, so that it may become as generally and as universally 

 known as its merits justly entitle it to be. These merits will be found 

 both in Mr. Callow's practice and theory. In the former, his directions 

 are so plain and clear, that I should think it almost impossible to mis- 

 apprehend his meaning j while in the latter, if any other guarantee besides 

 the high and well known respectability of his character, both as a man 

 and as a first-rate gardener, were wanted to prove the correctness of it, 

 confirmation would be found in the partial application of hot steaming 

 dung, either for heating mushroom-houses or filling them with moisture, 

 by many excellent mushroom-growers ; who, although they could in some 

 measure appreciate the value and utility of this kind of moist heat, yet had 



