84 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
to spend this time, and undergo the care and trouble 
and expense, and court a failure by using old spawn ? 
We have risks enough with new spawn, let alone old 
spawn. I do not use any more old spawn, but I have 
used it often and long enough to be convinced of its 
general worthlessness, unless preserved with the greatest 
care. 
How to Distinguish Good from Poor Spawn— 
This is a very difficult matter, notwithstanding what 
people may say to the contrary. If we could positively 
tell good from bad spawn, we would never use bad 
spawn, and, therefore, with ordinary care, have very 
few failures in mushroom-growing; for good spawn is 
the root of success in this business. Spawn differs very 
much in its appearance ; sometimes the bricks show very 
little appearance of the presence of spawn, and still are 
perfectly good; and again, we may get bricks that are 
pretty well interlaced and clouded with bluish white 
mold or fine threads, and this, too, is good. When the 
bricks are freely pervaded with pronounced white threads 
this is no sign that the spawn is bad. Bricks dried as 
hard as a board may be perfectly good; so, too, may be 
those that are comparatively soft. Mushroom spawn 
should have a decided smell of mushrooms, and what¬ 
ever cobweb-like mold may be apparent should be of a 
fresh bluish white color, and the fine threads clear white. 
Prominent yellowish threads or veins are a sign that the 
mycelium had started to grow and been killed. Distinct 
white mold patches on the surface of the bricks indicate 
the presence of some other fungous parasite on the mush» 
room mycelium; the absence of any mushroom smell in 
the spawn indicates its worthlessness and that the myce^ 
lium is dead. One familiar with mushroom spawn can 
tell with considerable certainty “very living” spawn 
and “very dead” spawn, but I am far from convinced 
that any one can decide unhesitatingly in the case of 
middling or weak spawn* 
