Sept.] 



THE CULINARY GARDEN. 



231 



compost in the boxes more compact, as the closer the whole 

 is pressed together, the better the spawn will run. 



The same cultivator details his process of growing mush- 

 rooms in boxes without dung in the same memoirs, as follows : 

 *' Take a little straw, and lay it carefully in the bottom of 

 the mushroom-box, about an inch thick or rather more. Then 

 take some of the spawn-bricks and break them down, each 

 brick into about ten pieces, and lay the fragments upon the 

 straw as close to each other as they will Ke. Cover them up 

 with mould three and a half inches deep, and well pressed 

 down. When the surface appears dry, give a little tepid 

 water, as directed for the last way of rearing them, but this 

 method requires about double the quantity of water of the 

 former, owing to having no moisture in the bottom, while the 

 other has the dung. The mushrooms will begin to start in a 

 month or five weeks, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, ac- 

 cording to the heat of the place where the boxes are situated. 

 They do not rise so thick, nor of so large a size, nor do they 

 continue to be produced so long as in the other plan with 

 dung." 



The Rev. W. Williamson, in Hort. Trans., spawns his 

 melon-beds over after the violent heat has subsided, and ob- 

 tains a crop of mushrooms in autumn. The essence of that 

 paper is as follows: — The spawn is introduced upon the sur- 

 face of the bed, and on the side of the hills, as soon as the 

 violent heat is over; the whole process of the culture of the 

 melons is, as if there were no spawn in the beds. The mould is 

 laid on the usual thickness, and, as usual, of a strong loamy 

 nature, and well beaten or trodden when put in. The spawn 

 remains to run or extend itself all over the bed till autumn, 

 when the melon crop is over. The surface of the bed is cleared 

 of the vines and weeds, and the glasses put on and kept close ; 

 when the mould appears dry, water is frequently, but mode- 

 rately applied, and the bed is exposed to fine warm showers. 

 The watering and shutting up produces a slight fermentation 

 in the old materials of the bed, and this slight heat tends to 

 the production of mushrooms in abundance. When the cold- 

 ness of tlie season prevents the gi'owth of mushrooms, the 

 frame and lights are kept on till spring, when they are re- 



