MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



475 



bunches that are in perfection, and leaves them on the spot, 

 so that they may be collected with the rest for to-morrow's 

 market. He gathers largely every day, occasionally sending 

 more than 4001b. weight per day, the average being about 

 300 lb. A moment more and we are in an open space, a 

 sort of chamber, say 20 feet by 12, and here the little beds 

 are arranged in parallel lines, an alley of not more than 

 four inches separating them, the sides of the beds being 

 literally blistered all over with Mushrooms. There is one 

 exception; on half 



of the bed and for F». 281 . 



about ten feet 

 along, the little 

 Mushrooms have 

 appeared and are 

 appearing, but 

 they never get 

 larger than a pea, 

 but shrivel away, 

 " bewitched" as it 

 were. At least 

 such was the in- 

 ference to be 

 drawn from the 

 cultivator's ex- 

 pressions about it. 

 He gravely attri- 

 buted it to a ridi- 

 culously supersti- 

 tious cause. Frequently the Mushrooms grow in bunches 

 or " rocks/' as they are called, and in such cases those that 

 compose the little mass are lifted all together. 



The sides of one bed here had been almost stripped by 

 the taking away of such bunches, and it is worthy of uote 

 that they are not only taken out, root and all, when being 

 gathered, but the very spot in which they grew is scraped 

 out, so as to get rid of every trace of the old bunch, and 

 the space covered with a little earth from the bottom of the 

 heap. It is the habit to do this in every case, and when 



View in Mushroom Cave. 



