138 MUSHROOMS, HOW TO GROW THEM. 
winds. Although a great many mushroom ridges are 
made under the partial shade of apple and pear trees, I 
always preferred making them in the open ground. 
The land should be dry and of a slightly elevated or 
sloping nature, so that no pools of water can possibly 
collect on the surface. Having the ground cleared, lev¬ 
eled, and ready, mark it off into strips two feet wide 
and six feet wide alternately. The two feet wide space 
is for the mushroom bed, the six feet wide one for the 
space between the beds; but after the ridges are built, 
earthed over and covered with straw, they are almost 
six feet wide at the base. The common sizes of ridges 
are two feet wide by two feet high, and two and one-half 
feet wide by two and one-half feet high, and taper to 
six or eight inches wide at top. 
The manure being ready and the site for the beds 
lined off, the manure is carted to the place and wheeled 
upon the beds. In making the bed shake out the 
manure well and evenly to cause it to hold together, 
tamp it with the back of the fork as you go along, anJ 
two or three times before the ridges are completed walk 
upon and tread the manure down solidly with the feet, 
and trim down the sides to turn the rain water. Two 
days after the bed is made up some holes should be 
bored from the top to nearly the bottom with a small 
iron bar to let the heat off and prevent the inside of the 
bed from becoming too dry. Make them about nine 
inches apart all along the center of the bed. The old 
gardeners did not use the crowbar. They were very par¬ 
ticular not to build their ridges before the chances of 
overheating were considered past; but notwithstanding 
all their care some of their beds would get overwarm, 
when, without a moment’s hesitation, they tossed them 
over, part to the right and part to the left, and left 
the manure thus exposed for a day or two to cool, and 
then make up the beds again on the same site. 
