MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



485 



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Mushroom Bed on rude Shelf against 

 Wall of Cellar. 



Fig. 289. 



" The manure to be used for this method of cultivation 

 should be prepared in the same way as that for the open-air 

 system described further on. Preference should be given 

 to a cellar producing 

 saline efflorescence; it Pig. 288. 



should be as dark as pos- ^^.^ ^ , , ,, „^^ ^ y 

 sible, and exposed to no 1ft ,• ' " ' 

 draughts. The warmth JjM,' ft b#\ > 



generated by the fermen- i|| J§|§ ~ ,_ , ' '' t" ^' ' ' 

 tation of the manure will 

 subside, and the sowing 

 of the spawn must not 

 be commenced until the 

 temperature of the bed 

 has fallen below 76° Fahr. ; if it is above this the layers 

 of spawn are liable to be burnt. Beds can be made in 

 cellars in many ways. Those made in the middle should 



always be formed with two sides, 

 while those against the walls should 

 only be half as thick, on account 

 of their having only one useful 

 side. It is also possible to arrange 

 them on shelves, one above the 

 other. For this purpose strong 

 bars of iron are driven into the 

 walls, upon which are placed 

 shelves of the proper size covered 

 with earth, upon which is formed 

 a bed, that is treated exactly as 

 those made upon the ground. 

 These beds are just as productive 

 as any of the other kinds. They 

 may even be made on the bottoms 

 of casks, which should be at least 

 two feet six in diameter j and 

 they are built up in the shape of a 

 sugarloaf, about three feet in height, and the pieces of spawn 

 are placed an inch and a quarter deep, and sixteen inches apart. 

 A barrel is sawn crossways into two pieces, each forming 



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?* v * ... I m. 



Pyramidal Mushroom Bed on 

 Floor of Cellar. 



