62 MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THBM. 



While the manure of carrot-fed animals is not the best, 

 at the same time it is good, and any one having plenty 

 of it can also have plenty of mushrooms. The complete 

 denunciation of the manure of carrot-fed horses so em- 

 phatically stereotyped upon the minds and pens of horti- 

 cultural writers is not always founded on fact. 



Manure of Mules. — This is regarded as being next 

 in value to that of entire horses, and some French 

 growers go so far as to say that it is quite as good. Mr. 

 John (Jr. Gardner tells me of an extraordinary crop of 

 mushrooms he once had which astonished that veteran, 

 Samuel Henshaw, and that it was from beds made of 

 manure from mule stables. Certainly the heaviest crop 

 of mushrooms I ever did see was at Mr. Wilbur's place 

 at South Bethlehem, Pa., four years ago, and the beds 

 were of clean mule droppings from the coal mines. 

 Mule manure can be had in quantity at our mule stock 

 yards, which are in nearly every large city in the Middle 

 and Southern States. Getting it from the mines costs 

 more than it is worth, except as a fancy article; the 

 men will not collect and save it for any reasonable price. 



Cellar Manure — Many stables have cellars under 

 them into which the manure and urine are dropped at 

 every day's cleaning. These cellars are not generally 

 cleaned out before a good deal of manure has accumu- 

 lated in them, say a few weeks', or a few months', or a 

 winter's gathering, and it is commonly pretty well moist- 

 ened by the urine. If this manure has not become too 

 dry and "fire-fanged" in the cellar it is splendid for 

 mushrooms. We buy a good deal of it, but are partic- 

 ular to reject the very dry and white-burned parts. 

 Sometimes the manure from the cow-stables, as well as 

 from the horse-stables, is dropped together into the cel- 

 lar ; then I would give less for the mannre, especially if 

 the cow manure predominated, because in the working 

 it keeps too cold and wet and pasty; but if there is not 



