284 
■She RURAL 
^ Vegetables and Fruits 
N EW-Y O R K E K 
not inadfi to come into bearing during the 
warmer months on account of the mush¬ 
room fly which blows them and rendei's 
them wormy. tom m. chapman. 
The Growing of Mushrooms 
MTishrooms can be easily grown in any 
type building or cellar where the neces¬ 
sary even temperature and moisture con¬ 
ditions can be readily controlled. Reds 
can be made either on a cellar bottom or 
ground wheie it is well drained, or upon 
raised shelves or benches, and it is well 
to have the beds of fair size. HO to 40 
squar'e feet, to better generate and main¬ 
tain the necessar.v heat in the beds. 
Prkparation of the Manpre. —About 
August 1 and monthly thereafter for a 
succession, turn fresh horse manure evei’y 
other day for about two weeks, or until it 
has lost its i-ank odor and has an even 
brown color, after each turning the heap 
to be well compacted to ])revent overheat¬ 
ing. Do this under cover, but it must 
be wetted evenly. es)»eciall.v at the first 
turning, with a fine rose spray, as needed, 
so that at the last turning a handful 
squeezed in the hand will keep the fonn 
of the hand and no moisture should ooze 
through the fingers. Tt is better to have 
it too dry than too wet. If too wet, 
fresh manure must be added, and the turn¬ 
ing continued a few limes more. 
Making the Red. —Spread this ma¬ 
nure evenly in at least three layers, 
pounding hard each layer successively (a 
piece of thre<‘-inch i)lank, a foot square, 
with an upright handle, makes a good 
pounder), SO that the bed of firmed ma¬ 
nure shall be 10 inches in depth with an 
even surface. Now in.sert your ther¬ 
mometer, and when the temperature falls 
below 00, and is surely falling, insert 
your spawn. 
Another Method.—A simpler method, 
and of great advantage when time, labor 
and a covered shed are lacking, is as 
follows: Take one-third well-rotted 
strawy hor.se manure at least a year old, 
which has been exposed to ordinary 
weather conditions all Summer, so that 
it Avill be .sufliHently moist (before the 
Fall rains it will be well to protect this 
manure Avith .some covering to avoid ex¬ 
cessive moisture), jind two-thirds of fresh 
horse manure, all well shaken out and 
mixed evenly together, breaking up the 
old manure well so that the whole has an 
even coloi-. ThroAV this into a loose heap 
in the mushroom cellar and alloAv it to 
heat up for 24 hours, the temperature 
running up as high as 120 degrees. No 
water is necessary in this case. The old 
manure, if not too wet. should add just 
the right amount of moisture, Avhich can 
be ascertained by trying a handful as in 
the first method. Now make up the bed, 
just as in the first method. 
It should take about three Aveeks for 
the temperature of the bed to fall to 00 
degrees, or loAver, ready for spaAvning. 
T'se pure culture direct bricks for best 
results, Avhich can be h.ad at any seed 
house, cutting up each brick Avith an old 
saAA’ into 15 )tieces of equal size, or break 
it .as best you can, using caution not to 
haA'e the pieces too small. Insert the 
pieces of spaAvn in the manure about tAvo 
inches deep and a foot apart. A hand 
garden fork is a useful tool for the pur¬ 
pose, plunged dagger-like into .the bed. at 
an angle so that, by lifting the handle, 
the spawn can be pushed doAvn diagonally 
back of and under the fork Avhich, Avhen 
Avithdrawn, Avill alloAA’ the manure to drop 
back in place, covering the spaAvn, and 
AA’hen AA'ell "pressed doAA'n with the foot 
disturbing very little the even surface of 
the bed. In about a week or 10 days. iu>t 
sooner, the bed can be cased or covered 
with aboAit one inch of good garden soil 
(not sandy), free from stones, AA-hich can 
be put on evenly by using a strip of Avood 
of the AAndth of the bed and 1^,4 inch 
thick placed on the manure as a guide in 
scraping off the excess dirt, and moved as 
the covering progresses. The dirt or 
casing. Avhen the bed is evenly covered, 
should be pounded doAvn hard to make a 
fairly firm surface. The soil or casing 
if taken right from the garden should be 
sufficiently moist to require no AA'atering 
until the mushrooms appear in the form 
of small AA'liite points or pinheads. Avhich 
should be in from m to 40 days after 
casing the bed. If it is found necessary 
to water the bed before the mushrooms 
appear, do so A’ery sparingly Avith a fine 
rose spray, Avith water ju.st warm to the 
hand. After the mushrooms appear Avater 
can be u.«ed more freely, but only Avhen 
the surface of the bed appears dry or 
cracked and never in sufficient quantities 
to go through the casing of soil in the 
manure beneath. 
On a good bed the mushrooms should 
appear at first in large clumps just aboA’c 
the spaAvn and these should all be gath¬ 
ered about the same time, and after re¬ 
moving all stumps or roots doAvn to the 
maiHire the resulting hole should be filled 
Avith soil and packed doAvn as before. A 
second clump not so large as the first Avill 
often appear, and then scattered mush¬ 
rooms. often of much larger size, all over 
the bed. Avhicb Avhen the spaAvn has run 
Avell can be kept in bearing until the 
mushroom fly appears In the Spring, by 
careful AA'atering, adding one ounce of 
nitrate of soda to each gallon of Avater. 
Cattion. —Temj>erature of the house 
should not fall beloAv .50, if the beds are 
made on sheh'es. If made on the ground. 
AAhich must be dry and Avell drained, it 
can fall to 40 degrees without any in¬ 
jurious result, except to delay maturity— 
an eA’en temperature of 55 degrees is the 
best and it should never go above 70. 
The manure. Avhen readv for the bed. 
would be better too 
.and should be Avell 
Retter spaAvn at 75 
di’y than too moi.st, 
firmed in the bed. 
degrees than above 
00 degrees. Never ca.se bed for at least 
a Aveek after spaAvning. NeA'er Avater beds 
with cold Avater, and Avater sparingly and 
Avatch results, applying more if necessary. 
Water the paths and sides of the cellar or 
building, and keep close. After a dry 
Summer, the Fall rains bring the mush¬ 
rooms in the fields. Simulate nature, Avith 
your beds and you cannot fail as far as 
the Avatering goes. Mushroom b(*ds art* 
Planting Large Nursery Trees 
In regard to the four-year-old nursery 
trees I Avould say, under usual conditions, 
leave them alone. Yer.v often these older 
trees were not good enough to put 
out in their tAA'o-year-old form; in fact 
culls from the tAA"o-year-old blocks. I 
Avould not use these trees at any price. 
Of course there are exceptions, and a 
four-year-old tree maj' be merely the re¬ 
sult of holding a good tAVo-year-old a 
couple of years, but my exi)erience is that 
trees of this age can be looked upon Avith 
suspicion, and even if they are first-class 
in every resT)ect I Avould prefer the tAVo- 
year-old tree.s, regardless of price. As 
usually carried over, Avith no more "oom 
for development than during their first 
tAVO seasons of groAvth, the.v become so 
croAvded that as a rule lopsided heads are 
formed, that Avill need considerable cor¬ 
recting after .set in the orchard to make 
them satisfactoi-y. 
If tAvo-.vear-old trees are moA'ed and 
given suffici<'nt room and care they can 
be dcA’cloped into A'ery fine trees, and this 
is often done to supply the demands for 
the suburban fruit garden, but this class 
of trees are seldom offered to orchard 
l)lanters as the demand from nurserymen 
Avho have their .suburban trade is usually 
much greater than the supply. In fact 
there is always a shortage in this class 
of trees. I have a friend who has a high- 
class suburban trade and this trade AA’ants 
quick results Avith nicely-formed heads 
and fruit at the earliest possible moment 
Avithout regard to cost of tree. He has 
had so much trouble in getting trees of 
this class that h."* is uoaa' growing them 
himself, starting Avith the best one or 
Februar.v 23, 191S 
tAvo-year-olds he can obtain, and groAving 
them to three and four years old under 
conditions that Avill allow of a proper and 
natural deA'elopment of top. Four-year- 
old trees offered at the price of two-year- 
olds are not of this class, and I full.v be¬ 
lieve the orchard set Avith good tAvo-.year- 
old trees Avill at the end of 10 years lead 
the orchard set Avith common four-year- 
old trees. I Avould rather set one-year-old 
trees than three or foui’-year-old and 
under some circumstances Avould prefer 
the one-year-old trees to trees two years 
old. There are ahvays exceptional cases, 
but to be on the safe side stick to the 
tAA"o-year-old trees. GEO. R. .schatjber. 
NeAV York. 
Cull Cabbage for Shotes 
On page 5S F. S. E. asks whether cull 
cabbage i.s good for shotes. I have fed 
it in Smnmer Avith the very best results, 
gave all they would eat, and only about 
one-half of the msual grain rations, and 
they did much better than on full grain 
feed with common pasture. If F. S. E. 
has it in good condition in Winter I 
think he Avill find it very satisfactory. 
From m.v experience I Avould much pi'c- 
fer the green cabbage to Alfalfa hay. 
Ncav Jersey. charees black. 
Standardized Humanity 
In your note printed on page 82 you 
touch a subject that concerns us all. The 
peojile are getting less able to entertain 
themselves. I believe this fact is one of 
the many undesirable ones resulting from 
the tendency to .systematize everything. 
The “factory efficiency system” makes an 
individual a very small part of a p-eat 
machine. The resulting narrowing influ¬ 
ence is carried uneon.sciously into private 
affairs, AviCi the result above stated. This 
helplessness is more to be noticed in city 
than in country life, the “system” being 
better e.stablished in the city. The ten¬ 
dency, hoAvever. is the same both places. 
I think the efficiency system is here to 
stay ; the evil by-pn)ducts resulting, from 
it must be destroyed by means other than 
abolishing the system. It is a matter de- 
.serving of attention now, G. A. AV. 
Oklahoma. 
J'''! Tn n ^ |l 
^ pi I'- 'A 
(TZ 
Help In The Busy Season 
I N tKe rusK of a busy season wKen sometody must ^et to town 
in a hurry, it’s a relief to remember that your car carries 
Firestone Tires. Because with this equipment a woman can 
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insured against tire trouble. 
In this season’s output of Firestone Fabric Tires there are even 
greater values than ever before; more rubber between fabric 
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Firestone Cord Tires have quick response and the lively action 
which means bi^ fuel-saving. But whether you want Cord or 
Fabric equipment, ask your dealer to put on Firestones all ’round. 
Meantime write for our booklet No. 18 , which shows how to 
increase the mileage of any tire. 
FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER CO. 
Akron, Ohio. Branches and Dealers Everywhere 
