113 
MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
house, as it would chill the bed, and this should always 
be avoided. 
Use a small or medium-sized watering pot with a long 
spout and a fine rose sprinkler. Apply the water in a 
gentle shower over the bed, mushrooms and all, but 
never use enough to allow it to settle in pools or run off 
in little streams. Clean water sprinkled over the mush¬ 
rooms does not appear to hurt them, but they should 
never be touched with manure water, as it stains them. 
Just as soon as the surface of the bed shows signs of 
dryness give it water, the quantity depending upon the 
condition of the bed. Never let a bed get very dry 
before watering it. To thoroughly moisten a very dry 
bed requires a heavy watering; so much, indeed, that 
the sudden change might injuriously affect the young 
mushrooms and spawn. Give enough water at a time to 
moderately moisten the soil, not to soak it, but never 
sufficient to pass through the soil into the manure. 
Clean water only should be used until the beds come 
into bearing, but after that time manure water may be 
employed with advantage; however, this is not at all 
all imperative; indeed, excellent crops can be and are 
continually being produced without the aid of manure 
water at all. 
In the case of beds in full bearing, manure water is 
beneficial to the crop. Apply it from a small watering 
pot with a long narrow spout but no rose, and pour the 
liquid on gently over the surface of the bed, running it 
freely between the clumps but never touching any of 
the mushrooms. For this reason a rose should not be 
used. 
I have always used manure water for mushrooms more 
or less, but during the past two seasons—’87-’88 and 
’88-’89—I have experimented with it continuously and 
very carefully, using it in some form or other on part of 
every bed, and am satisfied that manure water made 
