144 MUSHEOOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 



growers make special bargains because tliey are very par- 

 ticular about the kiud and quality of the manure they 

 use. Some of these growers use as much as 2000 to 

 3500 tons of manure each a year for their mushroom 

 beds. To the caves in the immediate neighborhood of 

 Paris the manure is hauled out in carts, but to Mery 

 and other places too far distant to be within easy carting 

 distance it is sent by rail. The mushroom growers con- 

 sider that the manure from animals that are worked 

 hard and abundantly fed on dry, good food is the best ; 

 the droppings from these are always dry and rich in 

 ammonia, nitrogen and phosphates. The manure from 

 entire horses that are worked hard they regard as the 

 best, and, next in value, that from mules. The manm-e 

 from horses kept for pleasure, such as carriage and rid- 

 ing horses, is regarded as poor, notwithstanding the 

 high feeding of these animals, and the manure from 

 horses fed on grass or roots, also that of cows, as worth- 

 less. Stress is laid on the importance of having a good 

 deal of urine-soaked straw in the manure, and this is 

 another reason why manure from draught horses is pre- 

 ferred to that from animals kept for pleasure, as the 

 bedding of the former is not apt to be kept so clean as 

 that in aristocratic stables. 



The preparation of the manure is conducted near the 

 mouth of the caves or shafts ou a level, dry piece of 

 ground, and altogether out of doors. As soon as suffi- 

 cient manure for a pile is obtained it is forked over, 

 thoroughly shaken up and intermixed, divested of all 

 extraneous matter such as sticks, stones, bottles, scrap 

 iron, old shoes, and the like we find in city stable ma- 

 nure, and any dry straw is moistened with water. It is 

 then squared off into a heap forty inches high and trod- 

 den down to thirty inches high. In this state it is left 

 for about six days, when it is turned, shaken up loosely, 

 the outside turned to the inside, and all dry parts 



