374 FORCING GARDEN. 
trodden by the horses’ feet. Beds may then be formed 
two or three feet broad, and of any length. A layer of the 
droppings about eight or ten inches thick is first deposited, 
and covered with loamy earth to the depth of two or three 
inches; then another layer of droppings of the same thick- 
_hess, covered like the former; and, lastly, a third layer, 
with its covering. The whole should grow narrower as it 
advances in height. When the bed is finished it is covered 
with straw, to protect it from rain and from the parching 
influences of the sun and wind. In ten days the bed will 
be ready for planting or spawning. Pieces of spawn bricks 
are then inserted in the sloping sides of the bed, about four 
or five inches asunder. A layer of loam is next placed 
over the bed, and the whole is covered with a thick coat 
of straw. When the weather is temperate, mushrooms 
will appear in about a month after the bed has been made; 
but at other times a much longer period may elapse. The 
principal thing to be attended to are to preserve a mode- 
rate state of moisture and a proper degree of warmth; | 
and the treatment at different seasons must vary ac- 
cordingly. 
Of several other methods of raising mushrooms, Mr. 
Oldacre’s, already referred to, may deserve to be particu- 
larized. In forming the compost, he procures fresh short 
dung from a stable, or from the path of a horse mill. To 
this is added about a fifth part of sheep-droppings, or of 
the cleanings of a cow-house, or of a mixture of both. The 
whole ingredients are thoroughly mixed and imcorporated. 
A stratum of the prepared mixture, about three inches 
thick, being deposited in the boxes already described, is 
beat together with a flat wooden mallet. Another layer is 
added, and beat as before; and this is repeated till the 
beds be rather more than half a foot thick, and very com 
