86 DREER'S VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS. 
wooden supports. There is also a raised bed three feet wide 
along the north side of the building. This makes the total 
area of the house 975 square feet. The house has produced 
satisfactory crops of mushrooms for several years. 
We give here (page 84) a picture of a large mushroom 
house visited during 1896. It belongs to the Wyman 
Brothers, extensive market farmers at Arlington, Massachu- 
setts. Its great length is not shown in the picture. 
The construction of the house is very simple. It is 
made of hemlock boards. It is partly below the ground 
level. It is heated by steam. The roof is covered with 
paper and then with salt hay. The beds are made directly 
upon the ground. They are three in number, with narrow 
alleys between them for the convenience of those who care 
for the crop. The width of the house is about 17 feet, and 
of the beds about 4, 6 and 5 feet, with walks a foot in width. 
The way to begin mushroom culture is to appropriate for 
the trial any underground place that may be available, and 
that can be heated if necessary in the winter season. 
We know of one grower who used an abandoned vault 
or cave near his dwelling; an underground apartment walled 
with stone and with an arched ceiling. The temperature 
stood at 57° or 58° all the year without artificial heat. We 
have in mind other cases where mushrooms have been success- 
fully grown in house cellars ; but there is always an objection 
to carrying manure into a place under a dwelling house, lest 
it breed disease. 
