MUSHROOM. 107 



to go into the beds. Care should he taken that the beds are in a 

 well drained damp place. They may be of any size or shape de- 

 sired but should be about ten inches deep. Some of the largest 

 growers use tiers of shelves or boxes, each one of which is 

 eight or ten inches deep, into which they put the soil. What- 

 ever the shape of the beds, the soil should be packed into them 

 firmly and evenly and be left smooth on the outside. A ther- 

 mometer should then be inserted in the center of the mass. As 

 soon as fermentation sets in, tl^.e temperature will rise until 

 probably over 100 degrees will be indicated, and when it falls to 

 80 degrees the bed is ready to receive the spawn. This may 

 sometimes be obtained from old mushroom beds, but it is best to 

 depend on that sold by seedsmen, as it is more certain to be free 

 from other fungi. The operation of spawning consists in put- 

 ting pieces of the spawn bricks the size of small hens' eggs in 

 holes made about two inches deep and ten or twelve mches apart. 

 Afterwards the holes should be filled with the soil and the sur- 

 face firmed and smoothed off. 



If the work has been well done and the conditions are fav- 

 orable, the spawn should commence to grow in seven or eigiit 

 days; at the end of that time it should be examined and any 

 pieces that have not started should be removed and be replacec" 

 by fresh spawn. A failure in germination is indicated by tho 

 absence of white threads in the manure around the spawn. 

 When the spawn has nicely started and begins to show itself 

 on the surface, the bed should be covered with a layer one inch 

 thick of fine, slightly moist soil, which should be pressed down 

 smoothly and firmly. In damp cellars mushroom beds do not 

 need water, but if the surface gets dry they should be watered 

 with tepid water from a fine rose watering pot. The mush- 

 rooms should show in from five to eight weeks, and the bed 

 continue to yield for two or three months. The spawn bricks, 

 as they are termed by seedsmen, are simply flat square pieces 

 of a mixture of manure and loam into which spawn has been 

 put and has grown until it fills the whole piece. Afterwards 

 these bricks are dried and form the mushroom bricks or spawn 

 of commerce. 



Native Mushrooms. — There are quite a number of native 



