486 . MANUAL OF GARDENING 
and faced with 10-inch wide boards. This allows about 8 inches for 
manure, and 1 inch rising to 2 inches of loam on top. In filling the 
shelf beds the bottom half may be of fresh, moist or wettish, hot 
manure, packed down solid, and the top half of rather cool prepared 
manure, or it may be made up of all prepared manure. As the shelf 
beds cannot be trodden and cannot be beaten very firm with the back 
of the fork, a brick is used in addition to the fork. 
The beds should be spawned after the heat in them has fallen below 
100° F. The writer considers 90° F. about the best temperature for 
spawning. If the beds have been covered with hay, straw, litter, or 
mats, these should be removed. Break each brick into twelve or fif- 
teen pieces. The rows should be, say, 1 foot apart, the first one being 
6 inches from the edge, and the pieces should be 9 inches apart in the 
row. Commencing with the first row, lift up each piece, raise 2 to 3 
inches of the manure with the hand, and into this hole place the piece, 
covering over tightly with the manure. When the entire bed is 
spawned, pack the surface all over. It is well to cover the beds again 
with straw, hay, or mats, to keep the surface equally moist. The flake 
spawn is planted in the same way as the brick spawn, only not quite 
so deep. 
At the end of eight or nine days the mulching should be removed 
and the beds covered with a layer of good loam 2 inches thick, so that 
the mushrooms can come up in and through it. This gives them a firm 
hold, and to a large extent improves their quality and texture. Any 
fair loam will do. That from an ordinary field, wayside, or garden is 
generally used, and it answers admirably. There exists an idea that 
garden soil surfeited with old manure is unfit for mushroom beds 
because it is apt to produce spurious fungi. This, however, is not the 
case. In fact, it is the earth most commonly used. For molding the 
beds the loam should be rather fine, free, and mellow, so that it can be 
easily and evenly spread and compacted firmly into the manure. 
If an even atmospheric temperature of from 55° to 60° F. can be 
maintained, and the house or cellar containing the mushroom beds is 
kept close and free from drafts, the beds may be left uncovered, and 
should be watered if they become dry. But no matter where the beds 
are situated, it is well to lay some loose hay or straw or some old mat- 
ting or carpet over them to keep them moist. The covering, however, 
