488 



MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



first. In doing so^ it would of course be well to make tlie 

 holes for tlie spawn in an alternate manner. Ttie spawn is 

 inserted in flakes about tbe size of tbree fingers^ and tben 

 tbe manure is closed in over^ and pressed firmly around it. 

 This done, the beds are covered with about six inches of 

 clean litter. Ten or twelve days afterwards the growers visit 

 the heds, to see if the spawn has taken well. When they see 

 the white filaments spreading in the bed they know that 

 the spawn has taken; if not, they take away the spawn 

 they suppose to be bad and replace it with better. But, 

 using good spawn, and being practised hands at the work, 

 they rarely fail in this particular ; and when the spawn is 

 seen spreading well through the bed, then, and not before, 

 they cover the beds with fresh sweet soil to the depth of 

 about an inch or so. For cover, the little pathway between 

 the beds is simply loosened up, and the rich soil of the 

 market garden applied equally, firmly, and smoothly with a 

 shovel. With these open-air beds they succeed in getting 

 Mushrooms in winter. A covering of abundance of litter is 

 put on immediately after the beds are earthed, and kept there 

 as a ]Drotection. They have not long to wait till the beds 

 are in full bearing, and when they are in that state it is 

 thought better to examine and gather from the beds every 

 second day, or even every day where there are many beds. 

 And thus they grow excellent Mushrooms, and in great 

 quantity, all the further attention required being to renew 

 the covering when it gets rotten, and an occasional watering 

 in a very dry season. 



