438 
SvpplemeiU io ike "■Tropical AgricuUurist." 
[DEC. 2> 1901. 
from a bed of mriiuire and eaitli properly prepared 
ai)d cnred lor. 
Witlioiit spii'Tn or feed of nny kind, if the 
work is properly done, afler a few vv'eeks tlie 
nui.'-lirooms will spring i.'p from a bed of tin? 
kir.d, and for aboul. thrre weighs they ciui l)e 
gatheied. But that exhsiut-ts tiie bed, and you 
will never get another ruushrooui from it unless 
gpiiwn is introduced. It would jijipear tlnit the 
seed is in the mixture of mmiure atid earth 
naturally, and needs only proper conditions of 
warmth and dampness to bring it to perfection. 
These mushrooms produced in this way are 
rather an inferior grade, however, and do not 
comp;iro with those raised in the usual manner 
frdm purchased English spawn. 
Cultivated mushrooms also are far superior 
to the wild variety. The latter do not attaiu 
llie size and fleshiness of the former, owing 
to want of proper conditions and sudden changes 
of temperat ure. To rai.^e I hem in perfection, a heat 
of from 60 degrees to 70 degrees Fahr, is sufBcient. 
To be palatable, they must be fresh. In very 
warm weather they will not keep well, and 
in wet weiitlier will become maggotty. The 
gills (or underside of the musliroom) turn black 
when too old or damaged by weather, and a 
few bliick-gilled mushrooms v. ill damage a whole 
biisketful if they are kept together for even 
a whole day. They also lose their flavour, and 
get tough if picked for any length of time. 
Fresh mushrooms are very brittle, and must 
be picked with great care, and broken mush- 
rooms are not eagerly bought up by lovers of 
this edible. In France, and I believe also in 
America, mushrooms are grown in cellars. 
In Paris there is a vast number of cellars 
devoted to their cultivation, and also to that 
of the "Champignon,'' a more slender kind of 
mushroom and of more delicate flavour. It is, 
however, difficult to distinguish between the 
Champignon and poisonous fungi of similar 
appearance, and many persons have suffered 
from eating what they, in their ignorance, had , 
gathered for Champignons, but which were, in 
English, "Toadstools.'' I have not seen the 
Champignon in Queensland; but theie is no 
reat-on why it should not be found here as 
\tell as the mushroom and the truffle. 
Cellar Cultivation. 
The first requisite is equable ■ temperature ; 
the next, dampness; and the third, gloom. 
The best way to prepare the cellar is to build 
shelves all round the walls and in the centre, 
indeed anywhere, so long as room is allowed to 
pass between the shelves. On these shelves 
boxes a foot deep are placed. They may be of 
any suitable width and length, but they must 
have the depth. As soon as the boxes are in 
position, the next thing is to prepare the beds 
for the reception of the spawn. I have already 
shown how to prepare the bed in the 
open, and the same method will serve for the 
cellar bed, the spawn being put in a littlo 
further apai t than was the case iu the garden, 
the reason being (hat we shall have a larger 
crop on a given area owing to the superior 
4;Ott(iiti<?08 tenapera^ura and ^lamp. Sixteen 
inches is not too great a distance between the 
fragments of spawn. The temperature must l)e 
kept at about 60 degree.^ or at the most 70 
degrees F., aad such a temperature is easily main- 
tained ill a cellar even in our hot months. 
Next comes the question of dampness. This is 
essential. But it is not always necessary to 
water the bed.-. As before said, too much water 
is injurious to the spawn as well a."? to the 
mushroom. The plan adopted in Paris cellars 
is to water the stone or brick floor and also 
to sprinkle the walls. In America the same 
tiling is done by cellar grower.*. I lately came 
across a Chicago paper in which some account 
was given of a celebrated mushroom-grower 
(W. C. Blakemon) in Chicago, who realises a 
handsome income by growing mushrooms in a 
dark cellar-like barn in the heart of the city. 
He has a number of boxes of earth, piled over 
each other, resting on shelves arranged like the 
bunks in an emigrant ship. Narrow aisles run 
between to enable him to attend to his crop. 
Except for the light of a lamp he carries, all i-t 
darkness in this moi>,t warm den. The mush- 
rooms are not picked liy hand. This often 
results in the top breaking away from the "turn, 
and thus the market value is lessened. Mush- 
rooms should be snipped off about half an 
inch below the bend. A long stick with a sharp 
brad in the end is used to harpoon each button 
or formed mushroom. The area of earth 
space iu the boxes under notice is I5 acres. 
Every morning .50 lb. of fresh crisp mushrooms 
are taken from the beds and sold. The business 
is a very profitable one, and the crop never 
ceases. The expenses after the first outlay are 
not heavy. Mushroom spawn in Ameiica is 
worth from £1 to £1 lOd per 100 lbs. It can be 
purchased in Queensland in small quantities for 
Is. per lb. brick. 
But the intending grower can produce the 
spawn artificially in this way : Mix two or three 
kinds of dung— horse and sheep or horse, sheep and 
cow dung — and keep tip under cover, treading it 
down as the heap grows. Then cover the lot 
with fermenting horse dung or with bags. Ju a 
month or six weeks, if the compost heap has 
not been over-heated, you will find on taking 
out a handful of it that there are small white 
threads running through the dung. This is the 
mushroom nucleaus. It will not keep, how- 
ever, and should be used at once. In a stable 
which had not been cleaned for some time I have 
found the white mushroom fibres on breaking 
a piece of the trampled dung. Seeing that mush- 
rooms can be raised in any odd, dark, damp 
shed with very little labour, and that there 
is always a ready sale for these in the citie3, 
the business should be a profitable cue. 
PLANT LIFE. 
[a series of simple lectures intended fob, 
a clas3 01' 'junior students.] 
LECTURE 111. 
Nutrition, — Plants, like us, require food and 
water for Dlieir sustenance, but the means by which 
