40 MUSHEOOMS, HOW TO GEOW THEM. 



banked around on the outside with litter or tree leaves 

 or earth, so as to exclude frost from the lower part of 

 the walls, and thereby prevent the manure in the beds 

 from getting badly chilled. The beds should be made 

 deeper in a cool shed than in a cellar or warm mush- 

 room house, so that they may retain their heat for a 

 long time. 



Shelf beds should not be used in unhealed sheds, be- 

 cause of the diflBculty in keeping them warm in winter. 

 As a rule, shelf beds are not made as deep as are those 

 upon the floor; hence they do not hold their heat so 

 long. When cold weather sets in it is easy to box up 

 and cover over the lower beds to keep them warm, but 

 in the case of shelf beds, that are exposed above and 

 below, it is more trouble to protect them sufficiently 

 against cold than they are worth. 



Generally speaking, the term shed is applied to un- 

 heated, simple wooden structures ; for instance, the 

 wood-shed, the tool-shed, a carriage-house, or a hay- 

 bam. But we often use the name shed to designate 

 heated buildings, as the potting and packing sheds of 

 florists. Were it not that these heated sheds are simply 

 workrooms, and where there is a great deal of going out 

 and in, and, consequently, draughts and sudden and 

 frequent fluctuations of temperature, the treatment of 

 mushroom beds made in them would be the same as 

 that advised for regular mushroom houses ; but as the 

 circumstances are somewhat different the treatment, 

 too, should not be the same. A warm potting shed is an 

 excellent place for mushroom beds. Here they should 

 be made under the benches and covered up in front with 

 thick calico, plant-protecting cloth, or light wooden 

 shutters, to exclude cold currents and sudden atmos- 

 pheric changes, and guard against the beds drying too 

 quickly. 



