CHAPTER XIX. 
INSECT AND OTHER ENEMIES. 
The mushroom grower has his full share of insects to 
contend with, and in order to overcome them one should 
acquaint himself with them, and know what they are, 
what they do, whence they came, and how to destroy 
them. One should study the diseases and mishaps of 
his crop and endeavor to know their cause. If we know 
the cause of failing health in plants, even in mushrooms, 
we can probably stop or devise a remedy for the disease 
or means to prevent its recurrence, and if. we can not 
benefit the present subject we are forewarned against 
future attacks. But there is a deal of mysterious trouble 
in this direction in mushroom-growing. We are likely 
to know something about the depredations committed 
by insects or parasitic molds above ground, but I am 
sure there is a good deal of mischief going on under* 
ground of which we know very little, if anything. The 
ills to which the mycelium is subject are not at all fully 
understood. 
64 Maggots.” —This is the common name among prac¬ 
tical mushroom growers for the larvae of a species of fly 
(Diptera) which from April on through the warm sum¬ 
mer months renders mushroom-growing unprofitable. 
It is unavoidable, and so far has proved invincible. It 
attacks the mushrooms in deep cellars, above-ground 
houses, greenhouses, or frames, and is often quite com¬ 
mon in early appearing crops in the open fields. We 
sometimes read that it does not occur in unheated cel¬ 
lars, but this is a mistake, for in our unheated tunnel 
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