GEOWING MUSHROOMS IN KIDGES. 141 



pone gathering for another day this is done, as the litter 

 can not be replaced satisfactorily in windy weather. In 

 gathering the mushrooms one man carefully pulls the 

 straw down from the top of the bed, rolling it toward 

 him ; another gathers the mushrooms (pulling them out 

 by the roots, never cutting them) into baskets, and a 

 third man coyers up the bed. In this way the three 

 men go up one side of the ridge and down the other, 

 and the work is done expeditiously and well, without 

 exposing any part of the bed more than a minute or two 

 at a time. It is necessary that the uncovering be done 

 by rolling the straw down from the top of the ridge ; if 

 it were rolled up the covering on the other side of the 

 ridge would be sure to slip down a little, and break off 

 many small mushrooms. The mushrooms as gathered 

 are of three grades ; the large or wide-spread ones are 

 called "broilers," the full-sized ones whose neck frill is 

 merely broken about half an inch wide are "cups," and 

 the small white ones whose frills are not broken at all are 

 termed "buttons." All of these are kept separate. 

 They are marketed in different ways, but the growers 

 who make mushrooms a specialty assort and pack them 

 in chip baskets, boxes, or otherwise, as the metropolitan 

 and provincial markets demand or suggest. Mr. John 

 F. Barter, writing to me from London, says : "As to 

 punnetts, we use the same as for strawberries or peaches " 

 (the abundance of peaches we have in America is un- 

 known over there), " they hold just one pound." But it is 

 getting more general now to have little boxes made to 

 hold say three to five pounds each ; these are better for 

 packing in larger cases for long journeys." 



The first cutting is a light one. After this the bed is 

 cut twice a week for three weeks in mild weather, or 

 once a week in inclement weather. The last two or 

 three pickings are thin and only secured once a week. 

 Altogether ten or eleven good pickings are gathered from 

 ea«h bed. 



