MUSHROOM CULTURE. 
Our readers are, of course, well acquainted, witli Mushrooms of the meadows, so abundant in 
many places in the damp, cool weather and dewy nights of autumn. Some pass them without 
notice, or think of them only as Toad-stools, while others seem to rush for every tiny specimen 
as eagerly as though they were gathering diamonds. We desire to show how Mushrooms can be 
cultivated so as to secure a supply during the spring and early summer, before they can be obtained 
from the fields. It is difficult to grow them in the heat of summer, but in spring and autumn 
they may be grown without difficulty. There are a good many varieties, but the one cultivated 
and the one we find growing wild in the autumn is Agaricus cainpestris. 
All that is needed for success is a temperature 
from 50 to 60 degrees, some fresh horse manure 
and a little spawn. Having procured what fresh 
horse manure is needed, mix it well with about 
one-third of its bulk of good loam, and you are 
prepared to make your beds in whatever place 
- you prefer. If you determine to form beds, make 
them narrow, certainly not more than five feet in 
breadth, and about fifteen inches in height. The 
material must be made compact by beating down 
as evenly as possible. If under cover, the beds 
may be made flat on the top, but if in the open 
air should be rounded to shed the rain, somewhat 
as shown in the small engraving. After the beds 
have been made a week there will be consider- 
AGARicus cAMPESTRis. ^.blc hcat produccd by the fermentation of the 
manure. Bricks of spawn should have been secured previously, and they can be had of most 
seedsmen, postage or expressage free, at about thirty cents a pound. Break them into pieces 
about as large as walnuts and insert in the beds, just below the surface, about ten inches apart. 
One pound of spawn is sufficient for a space two by six feet. If there seems to be much heat, do 
nothing for a week or ten days, until it somewhat subsides. Then cover the bed with an mch 
or more of good earth, pressing it down with the back of a spade. It is not likely in a large bed 
water will be needed at all; but if the material should appear very dry, water lightly with warm 
water. In small beds or boxes, or any thing of the kind, it is probable water will be needed once 
or twice. Mushrooms will begin to appear in about six weeks after planting the spawn, and can 
be gathered for three or four weeks. In 
gathering, take up the Mushroom entire, 
leaving no stem in the bed, and placing a 
little earth in the hole made by its removal. 
When the crop is gathered, cover the bed 
with a little more earth, beat it down gently, 
and give a pretty good moistening with mushroom bed. 
tepid water, and in about a month more you may expect that another crop will be produced. 
Many of our readers have succeeded, even on a first trial, but it is with this as with all new 
things, that success is not always certain. 
The Mushroom is very accommodating, and will grow as well in the dark as the light, in 
cellars or sheds, in beds or boxes, if the temperature is about right and uniform. For the Paris 
market, and, indeed, for exportation, they are grown in the neighborhood of Paris in immense 
quantities in old stone quarries, which are really under-ground caves. It will be well for those 
who are fond of Mushrooms, or who feel an interest in the matter, to make a trial in a small way 
at first. There is another variety of Mushroom found in a great many parts of the country, and 
in some places quite abundantly in the spring. It appears as if honey-combed, and is most 
abundant in thin woods or orchards. It is known as the Morel, [Morschella esculenia,) and we 
have heard of its cultivation in only one recent case in Europe. 
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