— Ill — 



8. In distilled water, spore germinates but does not send out 

 mycelium. 



9. In the natural water mycelium only grows to a limited extent. 



IV. Economical Method of Shiitake Culture 



We have so far described the nature of spore and mycelium of the 

 Shiitake mushroom and can immediately proceed to set forth a rational 

 mode of culture. Such the method would not pay if tried as a secondary 

 industry in the country and we shall herebelow give the details of the 

 method found practicable in our own experiment. 



(a) Inoculation with Billets on which Mushrooms 



HAD GROWN. 



The starch within the leaves of a tree generally moves toward the 

 root at the end of autumn, hence, trees felled in the autumn are naturally 

 richer in starch. Further, the billets obtained from trees felled between 

 the fall and the time of budding in spring firmly kept their bark. Billets 

 rich in starch and with a good bark covering are the most favorable for 

 culture of mushroom. Therefore deciduous trees to be used in the culture 

 should be felled before the fall of the leaves in localities, where there is 

 no deep snow while in regions where snow falls heavily, trees should be 

 felled early before spring buds sets in. The felled trees should be cut 

 into appropriate lengths and well dried. The dried billets are then taken 

 to a wet shady place, and among them the billets that already bore mush- 

 rooms are inserted. The spores from the mushrooms grown on the mother 

 billets disseminate on the fresh billets and so ensure successful inoculation. 

 The matured billets give ordinarily a harvest of mushrooms both in spring 

 and autumn. Previous to the season, however, the billets should be kept 

 in water for 24 hours and then struck heavy blows on both ends, the 

 practice being termed " soak and strike." After this operation, mushrooms 

 will appear only 1 week. 



(b) Dissemination of the Spore. 



Mushrooms grown in spring are generally collected when the fruit- 

 body has fully developed. They are much used for home consumption and 



