MANCHE FOK MUSHEOOM BEDS. 59 



Stable manure may accumulate in a cellar for a couple 

 of months, and still be first rate. After our hotbed sea- 

 son is over I stack our stable manure high in the yard, 

 and from June until August, as the manure is taken 

 away from the stable each day, it is piled on the top of 

 this stack. My object is to keep it so dry that it can 

 neither heat nor rot. In August the stack is brokeu 

 down and the best manure shaken out to one side for 

 mushrooms, and the long straw and rotted parts thrown 

 to the other side. This short manure, when moistened 

 with water and thrown into a heap, exposed to the sun 

 for a day or two, will heat up briskly. The beds illus- 

 trated in Fig. 19 were made from manure prepared in 

 this way in August. 



In the case of quite fresh manure, let it accumulate 

 for a few days, or a fortnight, even, until there is enough 

 of it to make up a bed, and then prepare it. Be very 

 particular to prevent, from the first, its heating violently 

 or "burning" while accumulating in the pile. Beds 

 made from very fresh manure respond quickly and gen- 

 erously. The crop comes in heavily to begin with, and 

 continues bearing largely while it lasts, but its duration 

 is usually shorter than in the case of a bed made up of 

 less fresh manure. But altogether it yields a better and 

 heavier crop than a bed that comes in more gradually 

 and lasts longer, and the mushrooms are of the finest 

 quality. 



Some growers use the droppings only, and' reject all 

 of the strawy part, or as much of it as they can conven- 

 iently shake out. This gives them an excellent manure 

 and perhaps the very best for use on a small scale or in 

 small beds. When mushrooms are to be grown in boxes, 

 narrow troughs, half ban-els, and other confined quar- 

 ters, it is well to concentrate the manure as much as 

 possible— use all the droppings and as little straw as you 

 can. But droppings alone for large beds would take too 



