CHAPTER XL 



•■ 



SPAWNING THE BEJJS. 



After the mushroom bed is made up it should, within 

 a few days, warm to a temperature of 110° to 120°. 

 Carefully observe this, and never spawn a bed when the 

 heat is rising, or when it is warmer than 100°, but always 

 "when it is on the decline and under 00°. In this there 

 is perfect safety. Have a ground thermometer and keep 

 it plunged in the bed ; by pulling it out and looking at 

 it one can know exactly tlie temperature of the bed. 

 Have a few straight, smooth stakes, like short walking 

 canes, and stick the end of these into the bed, twelve to 

 twenty feet apart; by pulling them out and feeling 

 them with the hand one can tell pretty closely what the 

 temperature of the bed is. 



All practical mushroom growers know that if the tem- 

 perature of a twelve inch thick bed at seven inches from 

 the surface is 100°, that within an inch of the surface of 

 the bed will only be about 95° indoors, and 85° to 90° 

 out of doors. Also, that when the heat of the manure 

 is on the decline it falls quite rapidly, five, often ten 

 degrees, a day, till it reaches about 75°,- and between 

 that and 65° it may rest for weeks. 



Some years ago I gave considerable attention to this 

 matter of spawning beds at different temperatures. 

 Spawn planted as soon as the bed was made (five days 

 after spawning the heat in interior of bed ran up to 123°) 

 yielded no mushrooms, the mycelium being killed. The 

 same was the case in all beds where the spawn had been 

 planted before the heat in the beds had attained its max- 



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