76 MtTSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 



would fork over the surface of the bed a few inches deep 

 to let the heat escape, and after a couple of days com- 

 pact the bed again. Boring holes all over the surface of 

 the beds with a crowbar is the common way of reducing 

 a too high temperature, and when the heat has subsided 

 sufiBciently fill up these holes with finely pulverized dry 

 loam. With loam we can fill them up perfectly, but we 

 can not do this with manure, and if left open they re- 

 main as wet sweat holes that are Tery deleterious to the 

 spreading spawn. 



A too high temperature in the beds should be sedu- 

 lously guarded against, for it wastes the substance of 

 the manure, dries up the interior of the bed, and the 

 mushroom crop must necessarily be starved and short. 



Provided that the manure is fresh and good and has 

 been well ])repared, if the beds, after being made up, do 

 not indicate more than 100° or 110° no alarm need be 

 felt, for excellent crops will likely be produced by these 

 beds. The thicker the beds are the higher the heat will 

 probably rise in them. Firmly built beds warm up 

 more slowly than do loosely built ones, and they keep 

 their heat longer. If the materials are quite cool when 

 built solidly into beds they are not apt to become very 

 warm afterward. But I always like to make up the 

 beds with modei-ately warm manure. 



It sometimes happens that circumstances may prevent 

 the making up of the beds just as soon as the manure is 

 in prime condition, and even after they are made up the 

 heat does not rise above 75° or 80°. In such a case if 

 the mannre is otherwise in good condition and fresh, it 

 is well enough and a good crop may be expected. But 

 if the manure, to begin with,. had been a little stale, 

 rotten and inert, I certainly would not hesitate to at 

 once break up the bed, add some fresh horse droppings 

 to it, mix thoroughly, then make it up again. Or a fair 

 heat may be started in such a stale bed by sprinkling it 



