20 
2 (3 inches deep) was 00° and then it was spawned. On the next day 
the soil from bed No. 1, spawned four days earlier, was thrown upon 
bed No. 2, and then part of the soil that was thrown on No. 1 was 
thrown back again on No. 2, so that now a coating of loam an inch and 
a half deep covered the whole surface of the bed. When finished the 
surface was tamped gently with a tamper with a face of pine plank 10 
inches long by 12 inches wide. Mr. Gardner does not believe in the 
alleged advantages of a hard-packed surface on the mushroom bed, 
but is inclined to favor a moderately firm one. 
THE MUSHROOM INDUSTRY. 
The following review of the mushroom industry of the United Stales 
is condensed from a paper read by Mr. William Falconer, of Glen Cove, 
N. Y., at a meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society held in 
Boston, Mass., in February, 1894: 
Mushroom-growing is becoming quite an important industry in this 
country, and is attracting great attention. Until a few years ago a 
veil of mystery hung over this branch of horticulture, and gardeners 
alone indulged in it. Mushrooms were cultivated in the dark in caves 
and cellars; the seed was not sown, plants were not set out, spawn was 
indefinable. Successful cultivators were silent, and the general public 
were kept in darkness. Within the last four years mushroom-growing 
in this country has quadrupled. The production has not, however? 
kept pace with cultivation, for there have been failures. But the 
industry has become firmly planted, not only among professional horti¬ 
culturists, but among amateurs; indeed, some of the largest growers 
are manufacturers and others who, having unoccupied caves or cellars, 
have gone into the business with the view of utilizing room that would 
otherwise be idle and unproductive. Florists have planted thousands 
of square yards under their greenhouse benches that otherwise would 
be worthless to them. In their case mushrooms are a comparatively 
inexpensive auxiliary to their business, and nearly all they make above 
the expense of labor and spawn is net profit, for they need the loam 
and rotted manure in their florist work. Chicken-raisers have also 
taken to the mushroom business for profit; they want to grow some¬ 
thing that will bring them in money in the winter time. This increased 
production will reduce the price from a fictitious to a popular basis and 
place on the table of the middle classes a wholesome delicacy which 
before had been restricted to the wealthy; and many persons who now 
use the tasteless indigestible putty balls from imported cans will 
repudiate the foreign article and accept no other than the whole¬ 
some, tooothsome, juicy domestic product. 
But we should see to it that the price of mushrooms does not fall so 
low as to render their cultivation unprofitable. This may be done by 
proclaiming their virtues and making them popular with the multitude. 
