110 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
to four weeks in heavy bearing and a week or more 
longer in light bearing, and then it gradually dwindles. 
In a temperature of 55° it may be seven weeks after 
spawning before the mushrooms appear. In a tempera¬ 
ture of 50° they may take a few days longer in appear¬ 
ing, but, as a rule, they are firm, heavy, short-stemmed, 
and perhaps a little furry on top and clammy to the 
touch, and the beds last in good bearing for two months; 
indeed, often a whole winter long. But I have failed to 
find that the whole crop from a bed in a 45° to 50° tem¬ 
perature was any greater than that of a like bed in a 55° 
to 57° temperature; it is merely a case of getting in six 
weeks from the warmer house what it takes ten weeks 
to get from the cooler one. 
In a temperature of 50° it is not necessary to cover 
the beds to increase their warmth, nor is it needful even 
in one of 45°, if there is a fair warmth in the body of 
the bed to keep the spawn working; but if the warmth 
of the interior of the bed falls under 57°, and the atmos¬ 
pheric temperature under 45°, the bed should be kept 
warm by covering with hav, straw, matting, or other 
material, or better still by boxing it over and laying 
this covering on the outside of the boxing. When cold 
thicken the covering, when warm lessen it. 
