42 MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 



ering with hay or boxing over and covering the boxing 

 with hay or matting, to keep a mushroom bed in a cool 

 house warm and free from marked changes in tempera- 

 ture ; but it is a difficult matter to keep a mushroom 

 bed in a liothouse cool enough and prevent sudden rises 

 in temperature. 



On Greenhouse Benches — It sometimes happens 

 that the beds are formed on the greenhouse benches, and 

 the mushrooms occupy the same place that might be 

 assigned to roses or any other planted-out crop. The 

 beds on the benches are made one board deep, that is, 

 eight to ten inches of short, fresh manure, and otherwise 

 as in the case of beds anywhere else. After the beds 

 are spawned and cased with soil, by covering them over 

 with a layer of straw litter or hay, sudden drying out of 

 the surface is prevented, and in order to further prevent 

 this drying it is a good plan to sprinkle some water 

 over the mulching every day or two, but not enough 

 to soak through into the bed. About the time the 

 young mnslirooms commence to show themselves, remove 

 the mulching and replace it with a covering of shutters 

 raised another board's height above the bed, or with 

 strong calico or plant-protecting cloth hung curtain- 

 fashion over the beds. The accompanying illustration, 

 Fig. 13, for which I am indebted to Henry A. Dreer, of 

 Pliiladeli)hia, gives an excellent idea of how mushrooms 

 may be grown and cared for on greenhouse benches. 

 This illustration, Mr. Dreer writes: "is made from a 

 photograph of a crop grown on the greenhouse benches 

 at the Model Farm, by Mr. McCafErey, gardener to J. E. 

 Kingsley, Esq., of the Continental Hotel. . . . No 

 covering of litter is used, but the requisite shading on 

 sunny days is secured by the use of cotton cloth stretched 

 over the top of the bed, as shown in the engraving." 



My principal objection to mushroom beds on green- 

 house benches is their liability to frequent and marked 



