GATHERING AND MARKETING MUSHROOMS. 117 
root, and never, if practicable to avoid it, cut them over 
with a knife. In gathering, take hold of the mush¬ 
rooms and give them a sharp but gentle twist, pressing 
them down at the same time, and they generally part 
from the bed without any trouble; then place them in 
the baskets, root-end down, so as to keep them perfectly 
clean and free from grit. Sometimes when several 
mushrooms are joined together in one root-stock and it 
is impossible to remove one without disturbing the 
whole, cut it over rather than pull it out. In the case 
of clumps of young mushrooms, where one can not be 
pulled out without displacing some of the others also, 
cut it out rather than pull it. There is a knack in pull¬ 
ing mushrooms, easily attained by practice. And even 
when they come up in thick bunches and it would ap¬ 
pear impossible to pull out the full-grown ones without 
disturbing the others, a practiced hand will give them a 
twitch and a pull—they often part from the bed by the 
gentlest touch—and get them out without unfastening 
any of the multitude of small buttons that may be grow¬ 
ing around them. 
The advantages of pulling over cutting are several: 
It benefits the bed. If we cut over a mushroom and 
leave its stump in the ground, in a few days decay sets 
in and a fluffy or spongy substance grows around the 
old butt, which destroys many of the little mushrooms 
around it, as well as every thread of mycelium that 
comes in contact with it. One should be particular to 
scoop out these stumps with a knife before this condition 
takes place, and go over the beds every few days to fill 
up the holes, made in scooping out the old stumps, with 
fresh loam. 
Pulled mushrooms always keep fresh longer than do 
those that have been cut. In the interest of the market 
grower they have another advantage. Mushrooms are 
bought and sold by weight, and as the stems are always 
