36 



MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 



day increases, and this cold drip falling upon the beds 

 below is very prejudicial to the mushroom crop. A 

 double roof saves the beds from this drip, and it also 

 renders the house warmer, and less fire is needed to main- 

 tain the requisite temperature. One might think that a 

 single roof like that of a dwelling house, and then a flat 

 ceiling under it, would be equivalent to a double sloping 

 roof, but it is not. The moisture arising from the 

 interior of the house condenses upon the flat ceiling, and 

 the water, having no way of running off, drips down 

 upon the beds. With a sloping ceiling or inside roof 

 the water runs down the ceiling to the walls. A very 

 pointed example of this may be seen in Mrs. C. J. Osborne's 



Cm^NATion ^e.d 



Fig. 9. GROUND Plan or Mrs. Osborne's Mushroom House. 



excellent mushroom house at Mamaroneck, N. Y. It 

 had been built in the most substantial manner, with a 

 sloping roof and a flat ceiling under the roof, but so 

 much annoyance was caused by the drip falling from it 

 upon the beds below that her gardener had the flat ceil- 

 ing removed and a sloping one built instead, and now it 

 works splendidly, and a few months ago I saw as fine a 



