December, 1912 
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NGI everyone who has a home garden can find a place i a mushroom bed 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
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How To Grow Mushrooms 
By William Hosea Ballou, Sc.D. 
Ssaq]|OT only may mushrooms be grown for pro- 
j| fit, but they may be grown for the home 
table, with very little trouble by reason of 
the fact that the truly simple ‘“‘mysteries”’ of 
4| mushroom culture are as easily mastered as 
= those of raising vegetables. The home 
grower may plan for a short season of them as of straw- 
berries or for several seasons covering practically the year 
around. To me mushrooms are perennially welcome. To 
my mind they do more to make the breakfast egg a joy than 
does any other morning meal accompaniment. There are 
many restaurants throughout the country in which mush- 
rooms are permanently on the menu cards for all meals. 
There are so many ways of cooking mushrooms that this 
vegetable food lends itself to an almost endless variety of 
prepared dishes, even to salads. In justification of one’s 
appetite for mushrooms, and 
to encourage the skeptics and 
doubters to recognize one of 
the choice gifts of nature, the 
following is herewith quoted 
from a work on these edible 
fungi: 
“The amount of digest- 
ible nutriment in a mush- 
room is not great, on account 
of the large proportion of 
water. This is even true 
of a large number of our 
most popular’ vegetables 
(and oysters, ninety-seven 
per cent water). In both 
cases, it is not the absolute 
amount of available nutri- 
ment that counts, but the 
part which the food plays in 
the dietary. In the case of 
mushrooms, their delicacy 
and flavor, the many ways in 
AMAA HEEL 
An outdoor mushroom bed requires careful preparation, but the results 
will be fully worth the effort 
which they can be cooked, the readiness with which they 
combine with other foods, and especially their ability to 
replace the meats in large measure, give them a very high 
value. They bring to the table what is in quality luxury, 
but in cost one of the cheapest of all foods. It is hoped 
that a knowledge of mushrooms will become widespread, 
bringing with it an increase in physiological efficiency and a 
decrease in the cost of living.” 
The mushroom is one of the principal foods of European 
and Asiatic nations, which not only cultivate them prodigi- 
ously but collect and utilize all of the edible wild types, 
drying, evaporating or canning those not used on the table. 
It is a remarkable food in that no process of drying, evapo- 
rating or canning, however crude, in any ways seems to 
lead to the deterioration of the flavor, delicacy and dietetic 
value. From the earliest times down, the mushroom has 
been prized for its exclusive 
qualities as in the instance of 
the Amarita Cesarea, or 
‘Mushrooms of Cesar,” 
which old writers inform us 
were sold in ancient times 
for fabulous prices.  Cer- 
tainly this species is very 
rare to-day. Search as I 
may, I can find no origin or 
cause for the American 
popular indifference to the 
mushroom. Perhaps our neg- 
lect to. teach in our schools 
more about native foods 
America is partly to blame 
for the matter. 
The mushroom may be 
considered as a fruit, or 
rather, as equivalent to a 
fruit food. It will be well 
to have this firmly rooted be- 
fore trying to cultivate it. 
