484. MANUAL OF GARDENING 
short intervals. A moist location should be chosen for the July and 
August sowings. The early and late sowings should be of some loose- 
growing variety, as they are in edible condition sooner than the cabbage 
or heading varieties. 
The cabbage varieties are far superior to the loose-growing kinds 
for salads. To be grown to perfection, they should have very rich soil, 
frequent cultivation, and an occasional stimulant, such as liquid ma- 
nure or nitrate of soda. 
The cos lettuce is an upright-growing type much esteemed in 
Europe, but less grown here. The leaves of the full-grown plants are 
tied together, thus blanching the center, making it a desirable salad or 
garnishing variety. It thrives best in summer. 
One ounce of seed will grow 3000 plants or sow 100 feet of drill. In 
the garden, plants may stand 6 inches apart in the rows, and the rows 
may be as close together as the system of tillage will allow. 
Mushroom. — Sooner or later, the novice wants to grow mushrooms. 
While it is easy to describe the conditions under which they may be 
grown, it does not follow that a crop may be predicted with any cer- 
tainty. 
Latterly, careful studies have been made of the growing of mush- 
rooms from spores and of the principles involved in the making of 
spawn, with the hope of reducing the whole subject of mushroom 
growing to arational basis. A good idea of this work may be had by 
reading Duggar’s contribution on the subject in Bulletin 85 of the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. 
In this place, however, we may confine ourselves to the customary 
horticultural practice. 
The following paragraphs are from “ Farmers’ Bulletin,” No. 53 
(by William Falconer), of the U. 8. Dept. of Agriculture (March, 
1897) :— 
Mushrooms are a winter crop, coming in from September till April 
or May — that is, the work of preparing the manure begins in Septem- 
ber and ends in February, and the packing of the crop begins in Octo- 
ber or November and ends in May. Under extraordinary conditions 
the season may begin earlier and last longer, and, in fact, it may con- 
tinue all summer. 
