Oct.] the KITCHEN GARDEN. 519 
wet, cold, frost, and snow, and would consequently be very produc- 
tive. Likewise, if in this place there is a pit, like that in a hot-house, 
a bed of dung may be made therein, raised at top above the pit in 
a rounding manner, on which the spawn is placed, earthed over 
near two inches thick, and then covered well with straw. Or 
in such a pit you may, by mixing a quantity of strong horse dung, 
moist stable litter, and rich loamy earth together, have the spawn 
generated^ by filling the pit with this mixture, the dung predomi- 
nating so as to produce a slow and lasting fermentation, and cover- 
ing the whole over with about an inch deep of light earth and a good 
coat of straw, the spawn will be produced^ and from this, abundant 
crops of mushrooms, in regular succession for several months. 
You may likewise make beds in the common hot-bed way, place 
thereon frames and glasses, and when the violent heat is abated, 
spawn the top all over, cover it with an inch and a half or two inches 
of earth, then thickly with straw, and lay on the glasses to protect 
the beds from rain. 
Mushroom beds may be made in any month, when the weather is 
mild and dry, but those made in the beginning of this, is generally 
most productive, and besides, they retain more heat on the approach 
of winter than if made in September. However when a second bed 
is to be made it would be well to make one in each month. 
Endive. 
Continue every week to tie up some full grown endive for blanch- 
ing, as directed in page 463, tying no more at a time than in pro- 
portion to the demand or consumption; for if it is not used soon 
after being sufficiently blanched, it becomes tender, and is subject 
to rot, especially if the season proves wet. Some people blanch 
endive by laying boards or tiles flat on the plants; they will whiten 
tolerably well by this method, but their growth during the period 
of whitening is greatly checked thereby, which is certainly of some 
importance. 
Others draw earth around the endive plants after their being tied 
up in the usual manner; this may do very well in dry weather, but 
if rain ensues, many of the leaves will rot, and the entire be greatly 
injured. 
If you have stout endive plants, and neglected in September to 
set out a sufficient number, that work may be done in the first 
week of this m.onth, but it ought not to be deferred longer: these 
late plants will keep better, if the season should prove favourable 
that they may attain a tolerable size, than those of a more forward 
growth. 
Or to preserve late endive for winter use, as well from the 
effects of too much wet as frost, you may in the first week of this 
month prepare a sloping bank of light earth in a warm situation, 
the sloping side fronting the south, and the bed raised two feet 
higher behind than in front: on this plant, tolerably close, some 
stout middle sized plants, and on the approach of severe weather 
place a frame and glasses over the bed, and in hard frost fill 
