106 MINOR PRODUCTS OF PHILIPPINE FORESTS 



should be felled in the mid-winter, and both cut into sticks 2 meters 

 long. The bark should be cut to accelerate incisions as the "arrangement 

 of leaf." The well-seasoned wood so prepared is then piled up in shady 

 places and covered them with leaves and branches of the tree so as to 

 ensure successful development of spores. In the old method the people 

 attached much importance to the time of felling trees and the place in 

 which the billets are piled. The cause of the parasitic fungus, however, 

 remained little known among the country people and consequently no 

 artificial inoculation was ever tried prior to 1903, when the author under- 

 took for the first time close study of the nature of the mushrooms as 

 well as of its spores and mycelium. The result is the inoculation of 

 spores and mycelium on seasoned wood was successful. The particulars 

 of the work so effected have appeared in the "Journal of the Forestry 

 Society of Japan" of April, 1904. 



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 here below give the details of the 

 method found practicable in our own experiment. 



(a) INOCULATION WITH BILLETS ON WHICH MUSHROOMS HADl GROWN. 



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

 roots 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 set 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 mushrooms are inserted. The spores from the mush- 

 rooms 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. 



(6) DISSEMINATION OF THE SPORE. 



' Mushrooms grown in spring are generally collected when the fruitbody 

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

 are termed "Spring mushrooms" ("Haruko") . The "Winter mushrooms" 

 ("Toko") are collected in the late of autumn or early in winter before 

 the cap (thallus) is fully developed. They are much sought for in the 

 Chinese market. Both kinds of mushrooms should immediately after 

 collection be dried either in the sunlight or by fire, any delay in this 

 work spoiling the flavor of the product. During the drying, spores fall 

 in quantities from the matured caps and they should of course be col- 

 lected for use in dissemination. For this purpose, rotten wood is ground 



