54 MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 



ter coverings, to prevent draughts and fluctuations of 

 temperature and atmospheric moisture. This can easily 

 be done by making the sides a board and a half (fifteen 

 inches), or two boards (twenty inches) high, and cover- 

 ing over with light wooden shutters, sashes, or muslin 

 or paper-covered light frames. See Fig. 11. 



Ammonia Arising. — Ammonia arising from the 

 manure of the mushroom beds in the greenhouse may be 

 injurious to the other inmates of the greenhouse. If 

 the manure has been well prepared before it was intro- 

 duced into the greenhouse, the ammonia arising from 

 it will not, in the least degree, injure any other plants 

 or flowers that may be in the house ; but if the manure 

 is fresh, hot, and rank, the opposite will be the case. 

 Beds in greenhouses shoulj always be made up of manure 

 that has been well prepared beforehand out of doors or 

 in a shed, and as it is brought into the greenhouse it 

 should at once be built solidly into the beds. Then 

 Tery little steam will arise from the beds ; in fact, it will 

 be imperceptible to sight or smell. 



CHAPTEE VI, 



GROWING MUSHROOMS IN THE FIELDS. 



Under suitable conditions we can grow mushrooms 

 easily and abundantly in the open fields, and the plant- 

 ing of the spawn' is all the trouble they will cause ns. 

 During the late summer and fall months mushrooms 

 often appear spontaneously and in great quantity in our 

 open pastures, but in their natui'al condition they are an 

 uncertain crop, as in one year they may occur in the 

 greatest abundance, and in the next perhaps none can be 

 found in the fields in which they had been so numerous 



