EARTHING OVER THE BEDS. 103 



And there is a current idea that mushrooms will not 

 thrive in beds in which old manure abounds, either in 

 the loam or fermenting material ; that it kills the myce- 

 lium. This, too, I must refute. I have seen heavy 

 crops of spontaneous mushrooms come up in violet and 

 carnation beds in winter, and where the soil consisted of 

 at least one-fourth of rotted manure well mixed with 

 the earth. In cucumber and lettuce beds the same 

 thing has taken place. And in similar beds that have 

 been planted artificiully with spawn, good crops of mush- 

 rooms have also been raised, and the mycelium, instead 

 of evading the lumps of old manure in the soil often 

 forms a white web right through them. 



CHAPTER Xm. 



EARTHrNG OVER THE BEDS. 



This is an important operation in mushroom-growing, 

 and the one for which loam is indispensable. It con- 

 sists in covering the manure beds, after they have been 

 spawned, with a coating, or casing as it is more com- 

 monly called, of loam. The spawn spreads in the ma- 

 nure and rises up into the casing, where most of the 

 young mushrooms develop, and all find a firm foothold. 

 The loam also contributes to their sustenance. And it 

 protects the manure, hence the spawn, from sudden 

 fluctuations of temperature, and preserves it from undue 

 wetting or drying. 



The best soil to use for this purpose is rich, fibrous, 

 mellow loam, such as is described, page 100. 



If the manure is fresh and in good condition and the 

 beds are in a snug cellar or closed mushroom house, I 

 would not case them until the seeond week aft«r spawn- 



