38 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
Henshaw lias raised mushrooms several years at his place 
on Staten Island. His mushroom house is nine feet 
wide and sixty feet long. One side is a brick wall and 
the other is double boarded. The roof is of tin, in 
which there are three sash¬ 
es each two by five feet, 
supplying ample light. At 
each end is a door giving 
convenient access to the 
interior, for carrying in 
and r e m o v i n g material 
without disturbing the 
bearing beds. In winter 
the roof is covered with a 
coating of salt hay, to pre¬ 
ss. * serve an equable tempera- 
Fig. 10. Interior View of Mr. s. 
Henshaw’s Mushroom House. 
ture and prevent the moisture from condensing on the 
ceiling and falling in drops on the beds. The floor is 
of earth, which, when well drained, he thinks preferable 
to either brick or lumber. The floor is entirely covered 
with beds, no shelves or walks being used. This makes 
it necessary to step on the beds, but as no covering is 
employed it is always easy to avoid stepping on the clus¬ 
ters of young mushrooms, and so long as they are left 
uninjured the bed is seldom, if ever, impaired by 
the compacting effect of the treading. In order to main¬ 
tain a necessary winter temperature of 60° a four-inch 
hot-water pipe extends the whole length of the house 
about two feet from the floor. On the other side of the 
brick wall is a greenhouse which, by keeping the wall 
warm, helps to keep the mushroom house warm. Mr. 
Henshaw divides this house into three equal beds. The 
part at the further end of the house is made up in the 
fall and comes into bearing in December; the middle 
part a month later to come in a month later, and the 
near end still a month later, to follow as another succes- 
