250 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1906 



Forming the Beds of Manure 



be lowered to the mushroom-galleries. Here the workmen 

 arrange it in beds as regular as possible in the center of the 

 galleries, the rocky walls of which are supported here and 

 there by piles of rubble to prevent thern from falling in. In 

 one of the illustrations workmen are seen in the act of form- 

 ing rounded beds sixteen inches in width at the base and 

 twenty inches in height, which they carefully align side by 

 side along the galleries, like the furrows in a field. Such 

 dimensions and such arrangement are not arbitrary, for ex- 

 perience has shown that under such conditions the manure 

 becomes slightly heated anew and reaches a temperature of 

 from 60 degrees F. 



It is then time to begin the insertion of spawn into the 

 beds. The vegetation of this mycelium, as botanists call it, 

 which was suspended by dryness, always resumes its activity 

 under the influence of humidity and heat. The fragments of 

 spawn perform the function of slips. They throw out fila- 

 ments which radiate in all directions and finally become dis- 

 seminated through the bed in a length of time that varies 

 according to the condition of the surrounding atmosphere. 

 The copy of a photograph 

 which was kindly sent to us 

 by Professor Atkinson, of 

 the university of Ithaca, 

 shows the ramifications of 

 the mycelium along with the 

 young mushrooms that have 

 developed thereon. 



The art of the mushroom- 

 grower afterward consists 

 in rendering the local condi- 

 tions propitious to the cul- 

 ture. The principal diffi- 

 culty proceeds from the 

 enormous quantity of oxy- 

 gen which is absorbed by the 

 respiration of the mush- 

 rooms, so that when the 

 latter do not obtain a 

 sufficient supply of air, they 

 stop short in their growth. 

 The galleries must therefore 

 be strongly ventilated, the 

 air therein be kept saturated 

 with aqueous vapor, and 

 variations of temperature 

 be prevented, so delicate are 



the young fungi. Moreover, the 

 mycelium, if left to itself, would 

 not fructify well, and so the beds 

 must undergo an operation which 

 consists in covering the surface of 

 the manure with a stratum of cal- 

 careous earth or sand and equaliz- 

 ing it with shovels. Finally, at the 

 end of twenty-five or thirty days, 

 during which the beds must be 

 sprinkled, carefully inspected and 

 freed from every bit of parasitic 

 vegetation, the mushrooms begin to 

 pierce the stratum that covers them. 

 They cio not, however, grow in a 

 continuous manner. Crops separ- 

 ated by intervals of non-production 

 succeed each other during three 

 months, and the small, grayish 

 white buttons are gathered by the 

 grower whenever they become 

 sufficiently rounded. With a basket 

 under his arm, he walks along the 

 beds and, delicately grasping the mushrooms with his fingers, 

 quickly detaches them. 



As for the varieties of mushrooms cultivated in the Par- 

 isian quarries, they differ in color, size and weight. The three 

 principal ones are the white, which are fine and in great 

 demand, but do not withstand carriage very well; the light 

 yellow, which are more vigorous, more productive and less 

 fragile; and the gray, which are fragrant, but acquire a dark 

 color by age, which lowers their value in the market. More- 

 over, the fungi in a short time lose their character and un- 

 dergo a degeneration. Consequently, growers rarely cultivate 

 a given species for more than two or three years. They prefer 

 to have recourse afterward to virgin spawn obtained by scien- 

 tific processes that permit of selecting the mushrooms, or to 

 reproduce the kinds deemed to be the best by direct germina- 

 tion of the spores. 



The idea of preparing spawn through the germination of 

 the spores occurred to various botanists a long time ago, but 

 Messrs. Constantin and Matruchot alone succeeded a few 

 years since in obtaining positive results. In order to obtain 



Earthing the Mushroom-beds 



