TOPDRESSING WITH LOAM. 107 



not as good. No matter how firmly a sod, having its 

 green side down, may be beaten on to a bed of manure, 

 there is barely any union between the two; the sod 

 merely rests upon the dung, but so closely that the my- 

 celium enters it freely. A slight movement or displace- 

 ment of the sod after the spawn enters it will break the 

 threads of mycelium between the manure and the sod, 

 and this will destroy the immature mushrooms forming 

 in the sod. This gave me a good deal of trouble. Step- 

 ping on the sod would disturb it. A clump of strong 

 mushrooms formed under it sometimes displaces it in 

 forcing their way to the surface. 



Sods are only fit for use on flat beds where they can 

 lie solid ; on rounded or ridge beds they are too liable to 

 be disturbed. And the trouble and expense of procur- 

 ing sods are too great to warrant their use, even if they 

 had any advantages. . 



CHAPTER XIV. 



TOPDRESSIlfG WITH LOA.lf. 



In beds that are in full bearing or a little past their 

 best we often find multitudes of very small or what we 

 call "pinhead" mushrooms, that seem to be sitting right 

 on the top of the loam, or clumps that have been raised 

 a little above the surface by growing in bunches, or what 

 we term "rocks"; now a topdressing of finely sifted 

 fresh loam, about one-fourth to one-half inch thick, 

 spread all over the bed, will help these mushrooms ma- 

 terially without doing any of them harm. But while 

 this topdressing assists all mushrooms that are visible 

 above ground, no matter how small they may be when 

 the dressing is applied, I am not convinced that it 



