104 MUSHUOOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 



ing, Bay about the eighth or tenth day ; but were .these 

 same beds in an open, airy shed or other building I 

 would ease them over some days earlier, say the fourth 

 or fifth day. A fear is often expressed that when beds 

 are cased within three or four days after being spawned 

 the close exclusion of the manure from the air is apt to 

 raise the heat of the manure in the bed, and thereby 

 destroy the spawn ; but I have never known of any truth 

 in this theory, and with well-prepared manure I ara sat- 

 isfied no brisk reheating takes place, at least the 'ther- 

 mometer does not indicate it. The great danger of 

 early casing is in killing the spawn by burying it too 

 deep in damp material and before it has begun to run 

 through the manure. 



I have conducted several experiments in order to sat- 

 isfy myself regarding when is the proper time to case 

 the beds, and have foand no difference in results between 

 beds that were cased over as soon as they were spawned 

 and others that were not cased over until the fourth, 

 seventh, tenth, or fourteenth day after spawning. The 

 good or bad results in the time of casing depend on the 

 condition of the manure in the beds, the depth at which 

 the spawn has been inserted, the openness or closeness 

 of the place in which the beds are situated, and other 

 cultural conditions. But to delay casing as late as the 

 fifteenth or sixteenth day after spawning is injurious to 

 the crop, because in applying the covering of soil we are 

 sure to break many of the mycelium threads that have 

 by this time so freely permeated the surface of the ma- 

 nure. After the fourth week little white knots may be 

 observed here and there on the spawn threads; these 

 are forming mushrooms, and to delay casing the bed 

 until this time would smother these little pinheads, and 

 greatly mar our prospects of a good crop.. 



Peter Henderson, in his invaluable work, "Gardening 

 for Profit," has given rise to a deep seated prejudice 



