MANURE FOR MUSHROOM BEDS. 
63 
cow manure enough to give the mass a pasty character 
it will make capital mushroom beds. Pigs often have 
the run of the manure-cellar, as is generally the case in 
farmyards. I would not use any part of this mixed pig 
manure. Mycelium evades hog manure; besides it is 
impure and malodorous, and a propagating bed for nox¬ 
ious insect vermin. It matters very little what kind of 
bedding is used, in the case of cellar manure, but I 
would not buy it if sawdust or salt hay had been used as 
bedding. Neither of these materials, in limited quan¬ 
tity, is deleterious to the mushrooms; at the same time, 
they are far less desirable than straw, field hay, German 
peat moss, or corn stalks, and there are risks enough in 
mushroom-growing without courting any that we can as 
well avoid. 
City Stable Manure.—Around New York this can 
always be had in any quantity at a reasonable rate, and 
it is first-rate manure for mushroom beds. Market gar¬ 
deners haul in a load of vegetables to market and bring 
back a load of manure; others may buy and haul home 
manure in the same way, or make arrangements with a 
teamster to do it for them. But the whole matter of 
city manure is now so deftly handled by agents, who 
make a special business of it, that we can get any quan¬ 
tity of manure, from a 500 lb bale to an unlimited num¬ 
ber of loads, and of most any quality, delivered near or 
far, inland or coastwise, at a fairly moderate price. It 
is the city stable manure that nearly all our large mar^ 
ket growers use for their mushroom beds. When they 
get it at the stables and cart it home themselves they 
know what they are handling, and should take only fresh 
horse dung. In ordering it of an agent be particular to 
arrange for the freshest and cleanest, pure horse manure. 
They will get it for you. We get several hundreds of 
loads of this selected manure from them every year for 
hotbeds, and find if excellent. We also get 1000 to 2000 
