98 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
balance of the clump, in cases where several or many of 
them spring from one common base. 
Inserting the Spawn.—When brick spawn is used 
plant the lumps about an inch deep under the surface of 
the manure, and about ten inches apart each way. If 
the spawn looks very good, and the lumps are large do 
not plant them quite so close as when the spawn shows 
less mycelium in it, and the lumps are small. Never use 
a dibber in planting spawn; simply make a hole in the 
manure with the fingers, insert the lump and cover it 
over at once, and as soon as the bed has been planted 
firm it well all over. Although the lumps are buried 
only an inch deep under the manure, we have to make a 
hole three or four inches deep to push the lump into to 
get it buried. 
French or flake spawn is inserted in much the same 
way and at about the same distance, only, instead of 
cutting it up into lumps, we merely break it into flaky 
pieces about three inches long by an inch thick, and in 
planting it in the beds, in place of pushing it into the 
hole, lay in the flake on its flat side and at once cover it. 
Many growers plant spawn a good deal deeper than I 
do, but I have never found any advantage in deep plant¬ 
ing. In moderately warm beds, or beds that are likely 
to retain their heat for a considerable time, I am satis¬ 
fied that shallow planting is better than deep planting. 
When we want to mold over our beds soon after spawn¬ 
ing them, shallow planting is to be recommended. But 
if the beds are only 75° to 78°, before being spawned, 
then I think deep planting is better than shallow plant- 
ing, because the genial temperature gives the mycelium 
a better start in life than would the cooler manure 
nearer the surface. 
If there is any likelihood of the surface manure get¬ 
ting wet from the condensed moisture of the atmosphere, 
I would again cover over the beds with some hay ox 
