148 ML'SHKOOJIS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 



rooms appear in about forty days after the beds are 

 spawned, and the beds continue bearing for forty or 

 sixty days, but toward the end of that time the yield 

 diminishes very rapidly. 



They are gathered once a day, usually about midnight, 

 so that they may reach the Paris market early in the 

 morning. In size the mushrooms range from three- 

 fourths to one and five-eighths inches in diameter of top, 

 and are pure white in color. The workmen always 

 gather the mushrooms by plucking them out by the 

 roots, and never by cutting them ; the gatherers have 

 two baskets, carried knapsack farhion on their back ; 

 one is to receive the mushrooms as they are picked, the 

 other contains mold with which to fill in the little holes 

 made by pulling the mushrooms out of the bed. In 

 some caves one man gathers the mushrooms and leaves 

 tliem in little piles on the bed as he goes along, a woman 

 comes after him and pl.ices them in a basket, and a man 

 follows her and fills up the holes with earth. Before 

 bringing the mushrooms up out of the caves they are 

 covered over with a cloth to avoid contact with the outer 

 air, which is apt to turn them brown. They are then 

 placed in baskets that contain twenty-three to twenty-five 

 pounds and sent to market, where they are sold at auc- 

 tion as they arrive. Or they may be sent to preserved- 

 vegetable manufacturers, who contract for them at an 

 all round price. 



Proper ventilation is regarded as being of great impor- 

 tance, not only for the sake of the workmen, but also for 

 the mushrooms, which will not thrive in an impure 

 atmosphere. Ventilation is afforded by means of nai'- 

 row shafts surmounted by tall wooden chimneys whose 

 upper ends are cut at an angle so that the beveled side 

 faces north. In order to avoid sudden changes of tem- 

 perature and strong draughts, fires, trap doors, and 

 other means employed in assisting the ventilation of coal 



