446 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



March, 1914 



Mushrooms. 



jMany people would like to g^row 

 mushrooms in their jjardens. Many 

 make the attempt — some succeed, 

 others fail — but a <rreat manv do 

 not make a trial because they think 

 it is quite necessarv to have spe- 

 cially-constructed houses in which 

 to pfrow them. This is a mistaken 

 idea. If there are cellars or sheds 

 on the premises, Mushrooms can be\ 

 erown in them when the necessary 

 heating- material is procured. 

 Mushrooms may be jjrown in pure 

 leaves, or in ordinary hot-beds in 

 the open air ; but rather more 

 skill is necessary than in growing 

 them in sHeds. 



— The Needful Essentials. — 



^Materials that will combine to 

 make a hot-bed which will be sweet 

 and produce a medium lasting 

 heat. Moisture of atmosphere as 

 well as heat, consistent moisture 

 of the bed without excessive wat- 

 erinn- nf the latter being necessary. 

 A darkened interior of structure, 

 exclusion of all cold draughts, and 

 reo^ulatiori of ventilation. 



— The Material for the Be<3s. — 



This is best when procured fresh 

 from the stables ; and newlv-gatb- 

 ered tree leaves from heaps where 

 fermentation has not set in. The 

 horse manure, and the short, 

 strawv litter with it, must be ga- 

 thered fresh every morning and 

 spread out thinly in an open shed 

 to nartiallv dry, and be turned 

 over every morning to allow the 

 rank erases to escane. WTien suffi- 

 cient ha.s been gathered to form a 

 bed, we will say one measuring 8 

 feet lonf, 4 feet wide and t4 inches 

 deep, the whole must be thrown up 

 into a heap and left so for one 

 dav and a nieht. A strong heat 

 will be induced, but. before the 

 material bums, the heap must be 

 spread out arain, when much rank 

 steam will escape, and the man-, 

 lire will 1>e thus sweetened and 

 made r^ady for use in the btiilding 

 of the Mushroom-bed. This mani- 

 pulation of the manure is aJljsolute- 

 ly necessary if Mushrooms are to 

 be PTOwn successfully. UTien nejr- 

 lecled. the spawn perishes and all 

 labour is in vain. 



— ■Ruildinr^ the Bed. — 

 On the space scle«.'ted shake out m 

 thin layer of the manure and some 

 leaves — one-third of leaves to two- 

 thirds of manure— rand tread all 



down firmly. Build up the bed in 

 layers in this way, firming ea^ch 

 layer as put down. The firmer the 

 bed, the longer will the heat in it 

 last and the more even will it be. 

 Insert a thermometer ; the heat 

 may rise to more than loo degrees. 

 If so, wait until it drops to 85 

 degrees ; then insert the spawn. 



— Another Method. — 



Another authority writes : — 

 There are many different meth.ods 

 used for buildinsr mushroom 

 houses. In my opinion, the ideal 

 house is the house that is built 

 beneath the surface of the ground, 

 or partly so. Dig out six £eet 

 deep, ten feet wide, build concrete 

 walls one foot above the level of 

 the ground. Place an equal span 

 roof on these walls. This will give 

 you two beds on each side four 

 feet wide with a two foot centre 

 walk, leaving an aperture in the 

 roof two feet square Tor the pur- 

 pose of convenient^' handling the 

 manure. I do not believe that 

 mushrooms can be grown success- 

 fully in any hole or place. Mush- 

 rooms need a suitable and com- 

 fortable place to grow in, and 

 where the conditions are right 

 and the beds are made right, there 

 is no reason why you should not 

 have a good crop of mushrooms. 



— A Fair Crop. — 



A fair crop of mushrooms is 

 three-quarters of a pound to one 

 square foot. I have seen places 

 where the beds have been made in 

 the corner of a large cellar, the 

 bed being well made and spawned 

 with good spawn. The result of 

 these conditions is that you will 

 sret a few mushrooms from the 

 strongest m.ycelium Hireads, but 

 the fact that the larEfio body of cold 

 air floatinLf through the cellar will 

 naturally fall on your bed, pre- 

 venting the weaker mycelium 

 threads to head or knob, therefore 

 will spread itself flat over the sur- 

 face of the bed, indicating fungus. 



— Preparing the Bed. — 



Preparing the manure for the 

 beds is done in a number of dif- 

 ferent ways. The reason for this, 

 as a rule, is the quantity of man- 

 ure von can collect at one time. 

 It takes me ten days to get enough 

 manure for a bed thirty feet long, 

 four feet wide and one foot deep. 

 T spread this manure rather thinly 

 in an open shed until I have 

 enough, and then turn it all inta a 



pile about eisrhteen inches deep and 

 keep it turned every dat for twelve 

 days, always having the pile 

 eighteen inches deep. I use three 

 wheelbarrow loads of good soil to 

 every load of manure and by rtiix- 

 in<r the soil with the manure 

 every day it obtains an even tem- 

 perature. 



— Spawning. — 



I find sawdust, baled shavings, 

 and short straw, that has been 

 used for bedding the horses, not 

 objectionable when used in small 

 quantities, as these commodities 

 have a tendency of retaining the 

 urine and ammonia. The depth of 

 the mushroom lied varies among 

 different growers, but I believe beds 

 twelve inchfes deep cover all require- 

 m.ents. In making up the beds, 

 thev .should be made firm by tread- 

 intr the manure until the required 

 depth has been attained. The tem- 

 perature should run up to iio de- 

 grees or i'2o degrees, and when it 

 cools down and returns to 90 de- 

 grees it is safe to spawn. It is 

 trood practice to lay the spawn 

 bricks on the bed three or four 

 days before the bed is ready for 

 spa\vnine, the reason for this be- 

 in-^ that it starts the mycelium 

 into action, and also softens your 

 bricks of spawn and saves a good 

 deal of waste when cutting them 

 into small pieces. I cut a brick 

 of spawn into twelve pieces and 

 insert these in the manure one 

 inch below the surface and ten 

 inches apart. The bed should be 

 covered with soil one and one^half 

 inches thick about a week after 

 the bed is spawned ; this '^i -es the 

 m^a-elium a chance to g'et into 

 action. Before the bed is cased 

 over, the soil shoul-^ 

 down even all over the surface of 

 the bed with the back of the 

 sho^•el. Cover the bed over with 

 a thin layer of clean straw until 

 the mushrooms appear, and then 

 remove it. Bv usif ood spawn, 

 mu.shrooms will appear in four 

 weeks under proper conditions, and 

 in six weeks vou will be gathering 

 your first mushrooms. 



The temperature of the house 

 should be kept around 58 degrees. 

 Ventilation is an important point. 

 A small ciriculatioti of fre.sh air is 

 necessary'. The watering of the 

 bed, when necessary, should be 

 done thorouc^hly with warm rain 

 water at 80 defrrees. Waterinfr too 

 often will cause black spot and 

 fogsjing-off of the pin^head mush- 

 rooms. Be careful to avoid over 

 watering. 



— Feeding. — 



The question of feeding mnsh- 

 rooms with manure water does 



