12S 
FORCING MUSHROOMS. 
pose in the winter season, as no fire is necessary, and but 
little water, the application of which frequently proves inju- 
rious, when not judiciously managed. Mushrooms may also 
be raised in pots, boxes, hampers, &c., placed in warm situa- 
tions ; in old-beds, in pits with glazed frames, and in dark 
frames or pits. 
The general way of making Mushroom beds, is to prepare 
a body of stable dung, moderately fermented, about a yard 
in thickness, more or less, according to the size and situa- 
tion in which the bed is to be formed ; when the strong heat 
has subsided, an inch of good mould may be laid over it, 
and the spawn planted therein in rows five or six inches 
apart ; after this is done, another layer of mould, an inch 
thick, may be added, and then a coat of straw. Beds well 
constructed will produce Mushrooms in five or six weeks, 
and will continue to produce for several months, if care be 
taken in gathering, not to destroy the young ones. As 
Mushrooms are gathered, from time to time, the straw should 
be spread carefully over the bed. 
Beds made in a convenient place, where there is space all 
around, may be formed so as to make four sloping surfaces, 
similar to the roof of a house ; this, by being spawned on 
the four sides, will yield abundantly. The celebrated Mr. 
Nichol makes his beds without spawn. The following are 
his directions, taken from Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Gar- 
dening : 
“ After having laid a floor of ashes, stones, chips, gravel, 
or brick-bats, so as to keep the bed quite dry and free from 
under damp, lay a course of horse-droppings six inches thick. 
These should be new from the stables, and must not be 
broken, and the drier the better. They may be collected 
every day until the whole floor or sole be covered to the 
above thickness ; but they must not be allowed to ferment 
or heat. In the whole process of making up, the bed should 
be as much exposed to the air as possible ; and it should be 
carefully defended from wet, if out of doors. When this 
