GROWIMG MUSHROOMS IM SHEDS. 
39 
sion. Then,, if need be, and he wishes to renew the bed 
at the further end of the house, he clears it out and sup¬ 
plies fresh material for the new bed. 
CHAPTER IV. 
GROWING MUSHROOMS IM SHEDS. 
Any one who has a snug, warm shed, may have a good 
mushroom house, but it is imperative that the floor 
should be dry, and the roof water-tight. Of course a 
close shed, as a tool-house or a carriage-house, is better 
than an open shed, but even a shed that is open on the 
south side, if closely walled on the other sides, can also 
be made of good use for mushroom beds. While open 
sheds are good enough for beds that yield their crop 
before Christmas, they are ill-adapted for midwinter 
beds. The temperature of the interior of a mushroom 
bed should be about 60° during the bearing period, and 
the temperature of the surface of the bed 45° to 50° at 
least; if lower than that the mycelium has a tendency 
to rest, and the crop stagnates. Now this temperature 
can not be maintained in an open shed, in hard frosty 
weather, without more trouble than the crop is worth. 
The beds would have to be boxed up and mulched very 
heavily. And even in a close, warm shed, protection in 
this way would have to be given, but the bed should not 
be under the penetrating influence of piercing winds and 
draughts. The mushroom beds should therefore be 
made in the warmest parts of the warmest sheds. 
The beds should be made upon the floor and as muoh 
to one side as possible, so as to be out of the way, and in 
form flat on the ground, or rounded up against the sides 
of the shed; in the latter case the house should be well 
