CHAPTER X. 



MUSHKOOM SPAWK. 



What is mushroom spawn ? Is it a seed or a root ? 

 Do you plant it or sow it, or how do you prepare it ? are 

 some of the questions asked me now and again. To the 

 general public there seems to be some great mystery sur- 

 rounding this spawn question ; in fact, it appears to be 

 the chief enigma connected with mushroom-growing. 

 Now, the truth is, there is no mysteiy at all about the 

 matter. What practical mushroom growers call spawn, 

 botanists term mycelium. 



The spawn is the true mushroom plant and permeates 

 the ground, manure, or other material in which it may 

 be growing; aiid what we know as mushrooms is the 

 fruit of the mushroom plant. The spawn is represented 

 by a delicate white mold-like network of whitish threads 

 which traverse the soil or manure. Under favorable 

 circumstances it grows and spreads rapidly, and io due 

 time produces fruit, or mushrooms as we call them. 

 The mushrooms bear myriads of spores which are analo- 

 gous to seeds, and these spores become diffused in the 

 atmosphere and fall upon the ground. It is reasonable 

 to suppose that they are the origin of the spawn which 

 produces the natural mushrooms in the fields, also the 

 spawn we iind in manure heaps. But we never have 

 been able to produce spawn artificially from spores, or 

 in other words, mushrooms have never been grown by 

 man, so far as I can find any authentic record, from 

 "seed." How, then, do we get the spawn ? By propa- 

 gation by division. We take the mushroom plant or 



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