ON FARM GARDENING. IOI 
ture will rise sufficiently to kill the spawn. In ten days, more 
or less, as shown by a thermometer, this danger will be past, 
and the bed should receive a coating of good loam an inch 
deep. No water is to be applied until after the bed is in full 
bearing. 
It is assumed that the temperature of the room or cellar 
has been uniformly 6o°, day and night; that the bed has not 
been made where it could become water-soaked; that it is 
sufficiently moist, yet not wet; and that no draft of air has 
passed over the surface in a way either to reduce the tem- 
perature of the bed itself or to dry the soil upon the surface. 
If these conditions cannot be maintained, either by a specially 
favorable place or by means of covering the bed with litter, 
it is better to let mushrooms alone. 
The crop should appear in six or eight weeks, and should 
last two months, the total product being from one-half to 
one pound per square foot. The cash price is from 50 to 75 
cents per pound in the large cities; and the crop is suffi- 
ciently profitable to warrant the losses which beginners so 
commonly experience. These losses are the result of care- 
lessness or ignorance in the matter of details. 
The usual sources of failure are poorly prepared beds, the 
medium being either too wet or too dry; frequent changes of 
temperature; improper use of water; and, lastly, poor or 
stale spawn. 
Mushrooms are packed in small baskets lined with paper, 
and carefully covered to prevent evaporation. A five-pound 
package is a favorite shipping size. 
ONIONS. 
The onion is a national crop; as widely though not quite 
as extensively grown as the potato. It is available as a 
money crop for the farm gardener. 
