Ja?i.] THE FORCING GARDEN. 649 



will also have become dry : the beds are then in a good state 

 for spawning, which should be done while the heat is on the 

 decline. If this operation be deferred until the heat be quite 

 exhausted, the crop will be late and less plentiful. Fill every 

 hole with spawn, which should be well beaten into them, and 

 then make the surface of the beds solid and level. It is of no 

 consequence whether the spawn put into the holes be in one 

 lump, or in several pieces, it is only necessary that the holes 

 should be well filled. About a fortnight after the spawn has 

 been introduced, examine the holes, and if the spawn has 

 suffered any damage from over-heat or too much moisture in 

 the beds, introduce fresh spawn in the same way as before. 

 On the contrary, if the spawn be found good and vegetating 

 freely into the compost, such beds (if required for immediate 

 production) may be covered with mould, agreeably to the rules 

 hereafter laid down, and the beds intended for succession 

 should remain unearthed, in the summer, three weeks or a 

 month, before you wish them to produce ; and in winter a 

 month or five weeks. If the spawn be introduced in hot wea- 

 ther, air must be admitted, as freely as possible, into the shed, 

 until the spawn has spread itself through the beds ; for if the 

 place be kept too close, the beds will become soft and spongy, 

 and then the crop will neither be abundant nor of good qua- 

 lity. Such beds as are intended to be put into work nuist be 

 covered with a coat of rich maiden earth, in which its turf is 

 well reduced. Then spread it regularly over the surface of 

 each bed, two inches thick, and beat it as solid and level as 

 possible. The earth used should neither be too wet nor too 

 dry, but so as to become compact, and exhibit when beaten a 

 smooth face. If too moist, it will chill the beds and injure 

 the spawn. On the contrary, if too dry, it will remain loose, 

 and in a state by no means favorable to the growth of the 

 mushrooms ; but when solid, it produces not only finer mush- 

 rooms but in greater quantities, as the earth from soils of 

 lighter texture invariably gi'ows them weaker, and of inferior 

 quality, and such beds cease bearing much earlier. From the 

 time of covering with earth, the room or shed should be kept 

 at 50° or 55°, and the light must be excluded. If the heat 



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