36 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
day increases, and this cold drip falling upon the beds 
below is very prejudicial to the mushroom crop. A 
double roof saves the beds from this drip, and it also 
renders the house warmer, and less fire is needed to main¬ 
tain the requisite temperature. One might think that a 
single roof like that of a dwelling house, and then a flat 
ceiling under it, would be equivalent to a double sloping 
roof, but it is not. The moisture arising from the 
interior of the house condenses upon the flat ceiling, and 
the water, having no way of running off, drips down 
upon the beds. With a sloping ceiling or inside roof 
the water runs down the ceiling to the walls. A very 
pointed example of this may be seen in Mrs. 0. J. Osborne’s 
Fig. 9. Ground Plan of Mrs. Osborne’s Mushroom House. 
excellent mushroom house at Mamaroneck, N. Y. It 
had been built in the most substantial manner, with a 
sloping roof and a flat ceiling under the roof, but so 
much annoyance was caused by the drip falling from it 
upon the beds below that her gardener had the flat ceil¬ 
ing removed and a sloping one built instead, and now it 
works splendidly, and a few months ago I saw as fine a 
