246 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDENING. 



should the materials not ferment after being rammed 

 down, spawning must be done immediately, and the 

 bed be covered with about six inches of hay ; such 

 hay to he well beaten over first to separate the seeds 

 from it and to make it more pliable, so that it lies 

 closely upon the bed and together. 



The process of spawning is very simple. Cakes of 

 Mushroom spawn are purchasable from all nurseries 

 and seedsmen by the cake or bushel. One cake wiU 

 be ample for a bed one yard square. With a very 

 blunt dibble make a hole in the surface of the well- 

 beaten bed, about one inch deep, break a cake of 

 spawn into eight or ten pieces, and insert a piece 

 into the hole, drawing the material around and over 

 it tightly so that it is just covered over. The whole 

 bed must be dotted over with such pieces at equal 

 distances apart. Though it may not be possible to 

 Bay how far any one piece wiU extend ultimately, 

 it is well to intimate that the thicker the spawn is 

 placed the better, as there wiU then be far greater 

 certainty of an early and good crop. 



When the bed is very warm or likely to fluctuate, 

 beat the surface over with the back of a spade to make 

 the mass of the bed as firm as possible again, after 

 spawning, and leave it thus for a day or two. 

 Should it not be too warm or likely to fluctuate, 

 place a layer of one to two inches in thickness of the 

 yellow loam, previously referred to, evenly over its 

 surface. CarefuUy remove all stones and rough 

 portions, and beat it down firmly and quite evenly 

 throughout, even to the very corners. Now procure 

 tepid water, with a water-pot having a fine-rosed 

 nozzle, and a pail with water also. Sprinkle the bed 

 over so that this loam becomes evenly moistened over 

 its whole surface, and again pat it down with the 

 bright back of the spade, dropping a little more 

 water meantime to give it greater plasticity, or 

 to make it like mud. This secured, dip the blade 

 of the spade into the pail of water and work the 

 surface over, so drawing it backwards as to leave a 

 smooth plastered-in appearance. By this means 

 the whole mass will, when dried, cohere together, 

 which insures just that particular wholeness or 

 consistency wherein the tubercles or Mushrooms 

 form best upon the singular white thi-ead-like myce- 

 lium, called in the aggregate spawn. It only re- 

 mains now to place a nice covering over the bed of 

 the hay, slightly damped, prepared as before sug- 

 gested. Any other bed which may be too warm for 

 soiling at the time of spawning, must be treated in 

 like manner as soon as the heat wanes. And the 

 proper heat for spawn to grow in may be marked as 

 being between 58° and 75°. 



After the bed has been soiled, and covered with 

 hay, it will need no further attention for about 

 one month. In the meantime, during winter, the 



artificial heat within structures may range be- 

 tween 60° and 75°, and aU beds made out of doors 

 must be duly protected from excessive rains and the 

 too great heat of the sun, the latter being secured by 

 additional coverings of hay, straw, or other similar 

 litter. 



More rapid progress is made by dipping the spawn 

 bricks into a pail of luke-warm water for about 

 twenty minutes before the cakes are broken to piece? 

 for use. 



Though we have given the best, quickest, and 

 safest method to grow good crops of this excellent 

 comestible, we have not by anj' means exhausted the 

 subject, or methods which might otherwise be em- 

 ployed to secure good crops. It is not always con- 

 venient for amateurs to use crude horse-droppings ■ 

 and stable sweepings only. In cases where this can- 

 not be done, collect a heap of horse-droppings or those 

 of sheep and deer, along with a little somewhat dried 

 cow-dung. Add to this heap about an equal part of 

 decayed manure from an old cucumber-frame, or 

 any decomposed sweet vegetable manure. Turn it 

 well up together, intermixing aU the parts most 

 thoroughly. Make a bed with "these, in aU respects 

 similar to that suggested above, in-doors or out of 

 doors, according to the time of year, treating it 

 similarly in the matter of spawning, &c., and a crop 

 may be expected. 



Mushrooms may also, in the majority of instances, 

 be grown without the aid of artificial spawn, as 

 follows : — Prepare stable manure and sweepings as 

 for the bed originally given above. Place a layer of 

 straw at the bottom of the bed, then a layer, about 

 two inches in thickness, of the stable manure, then a 

 layer of one inch of such loam as recommended 

 above. Upon it put another layer of loam, finishing 

 off with another laj^er, as aforesaid, of stable manure. 

 Make very firm and place surface soil as before. 

 This bed, though longer coming into bearing, will 

 after a month or two produce a good crop. 



It is necessaiy to refer to one consideration in con- 

 nection with the materials. Observation, present 

 and past, seems to affirm the fact that horses fed 

 upon dry food— com, &c. — afford the best materials 

 for this purpose. Horses and cows, on the other 

 hand, whose diet is grass alone, afford little or no 

 assistance to the growth of these fungi. We suggest, 

 therefore, that such be always avoided. 



The treatment of the beds after cropping has com- 

 menced, or after spawning, is an important consi- 

 deration, both as regards the merit of the immediate 

 produce and its future continuance. 



Semi-dryness Essential to the Growth of 

 Spawn. — Mushroom spawn refuses to grow in a wet 

 medium ; indeed an excess of latent moisture exist- 



