56 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM, 
the summer. It is very simple. About the end or 
June, or as soon as dry weather sets in, we remove the 
old beds from our mushroom house, and if there should 
be any live spawn in the bottom of our beds we put it in 
a wheelbarrow and take it to the field, where we plant it 
in the open places, but never under trees. In planting, 
we lift a sod and put a shovelful of the manure contain¬ 
ing the spawn in the hole, then replace the sod and beat 
it down firm; this we do at distances of twelve feet 
apart. If we have no live spawn from our indoor beds 
we take the common brick spawn, and put about a 
quarter of a brick into each hole, returning and beating 
down the sod as already stated. This is all that is done. 
If there comes a dry time after the spawn is put in the 
pasture we are sure to have a good supply of mushrooms 
in the fall.” 
A few years ago Carter & Co., seedsmen, London, sent 
this to one of the gardening periodicals : “The follow¬ 
ing mode of growing mushrooms in meadows by one of 
our customers may be interesting to your readers : In 
March (May would be soon enough here) he begins to 
collect droppings from the stables. These, when enough 
have been gathered together, are taken into the meadow, 
where holes dug here and there about one foot or eight¬ 
een inches square are filled with them, the soil removed 
being scattered over the surrounding grass. When all 
the holes have been filled and made solid he then places 
two or three pieces of spawn about one inch square in 
each hole, treads all down firmly, replaces the turf and 
beats it tightly down. Under this system, in August 
and September mushrooms appear without fail in abun¬ 
dance and without any further care. The method is 
simple and the result certain. Therefore all who happen 
to have a meadow, paddock, or grass field, and are fond 
cf mushrooms, should try the experiment. ... In 
the case in question fresh holes were spawned every 
year.” 
