MANURE FOR MUSHROOM BEDS. 
59 
Stable manure may accumulate in a cellar for a couple 
of months, and still be first rate. After our liotbed sea¬ 
son is over I stack our stable manure high in the yard, 
and from June until August, as the manure is taken 
away from the stable each day, it is piled on the top of 
this stack. My object is to keep it so dry that it can 
neither heat nor rot. In August the stack is broken 
down and the best manure shaken out to one side for 
mushrooms, and the long straw and rotted parts thrown 
to the other side. This short manure, when moistened 
with water and thrown into a heap, exposed to the sun 
for a day or two, will heat up briskly. The beds illus¬ 
trated in Fig. 19 were made from manure prepared in 
this way in August. 
In the case of quite fresh manure, let it accumulate 
for a few days, or a fortnight, even, until there is enough 
of it to make up a bed, and then prepare it. Be very 
particular to prevent, from the first, its heating violently 
or “burning” while accumulating in the pile. Beds 
made from very fresh manure respond quickly and gen¬ 
erously. The crop comes in heavily to begin with, and 
continues bearing largely while it lasts, but its duration 
is usually shorter than in the case of a bed made up of 
less fresh manure. But altogether it yields a better and 
heavier crop than a bed that comes in more gradually 
and lasts longer, and the mushrooms are of the finest 
quality. 
Some growers use the droppings only, and reject all 
of the strawy part, or as much of it as they can conven¬ 
iently shake out. This gives them an excellent manure 
and perhaps the very best for use on a small scale or in 
small beds. When mushrooms are to be grown in boxes, 
narrow troughs, half barrels, and other confined quar¬ 
ters, it is well to concentrate the manure as much as 
possible—use all the droppings and as little straw as you 
can. But droppings alone for large beds would take too 
