364 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 1, 1924 
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GLASS CLOTH 
Try Glass Cloth on Our 
Guarantee to Refund 
Your Money if not Satis¬ 
fied after 10 days’ use. 
FOR 
Scratch Sheds 
Poultry Houses 
Cold Frames 
Storm Doors 
Brooder Houses 
Hot Beds 
Green Houses 
Enclosing Porches for 
the Winter 
Health Houses for 
Baby Chicks 
Grows Earlier, Hardier Plants 
Use Glass Cloth in preference to glass for all plant forcing purposes— 
Ilot Beds, Cold Frames, Etc. 
Since it holds warmth better than glass it gives your plants more 
hours of “growing time.” Its heat retaining properties allow plants to be 
started earlier. 
Furthermore it promotes just enough moisture, radiation and ventila¬ 
tion to approach Nature’s own best growing conditions, much better than 
glass. This makes earlier, hardier, stronger rooted plants. Farmers who 
use Glass Cloth often make extra money supplying their neighbors with 
their surplus of these superior, earlier, hardier plants. 
For Hot Beds, Cold Frames, Etc. 
Since Glass Cloth retains heat better 
than glass it gives young plants more 
growing time—even permits them to be 
started earlier and set out sooner. Makes 
hardier, stronger-rooted plants than 
gla ss. 
No heavy frames. Light lumber or 
laths will do. Unbreakable. If pierced 
by accident it can be repaired good as 
new in a few seconds. Yet while a 
square yard of glass costs about $3.50 
the same amount of Glass Cloth costs 
only 35 cents. 
Grow Healthy, Vigorous Plants 
Glass Cloth sheds a soft, warm, even 
light and diffuses the sun's rays to all 
corners, giving the soil proper warmth 
to hasten germination of seeds and 
growth of plants. Uniform light pro¬ 
duced gives plant smooth green color and 
stalky, even, vigorous growth. 
Warmer Than Glass-Waterproof 
Its transparency admits fully as much 
light and heat as glass. Yet, its glazed 
surface turns water, wind and cold. It 
does not generate cold as does glass on 
cold, dark days. Unlike glass, Glass 
('loth is not a conductor of cold. 
Light Weight, Easily Handled 
on Hotbeds 
Glass Cloth weighs but a half pound 
to the square yard—therefore, lighter 
and less expensive frames can be used. 
You can easily make your own Glass 
Cloth frames, giving additional saving. 
Although light, it will withstand hail 
fully as well as glass. And should heavy 
hail completely ruin Glass Cloth, it can 
lie replaced for less than glass hail in¬ 
surance. 
Raises More Chicks-Grows Them Faster 
More clucks die from Chilling than from any other cause. The sud¬ 
den change and the cold and dampness of March and April are particu¬ 
larly dangerous. Keep your chicks in warm, bright, dry scratch pens cov¬ 
ered with- Glass Cloth. This saves their lives, builds up their vitality and 
grows them to frying or roasting size sooner. Those kept become early and 
vigorous layers. 
Builds Chick Vitality 
Chicks brought up in scratch sheds cov¬ 
ered with Glass Cloth will have far mox-e 
vitality and grow much faster than 
those exposed to the constant changes 
of Spring Weather. One user writes, 
"At ten weeks my chicks looked like they 
were fourteen weeks old.” In these warm, 
dry pens, disease and vermin are kept 
down. So that not only will your chicks 
develop into "fryers” or layers earlier 
but you will have more of them. Those 
who used to consider themselves lucky 
to raise 00% of their chicks now find 
it easy to raise 93% to 97%. 
Makes Hens Lay Also 
The Glass Cloth you used for your 
Chicks this Spring can be used to" in¬ 
crease your egg yield next Fall and Win¬ 
ter. Use it to make a scratch shed for 
pullets and hens — give them bright, 
warm laying weather inside these pens 
while Winter rages outside. Get plenty 
of eggs when eggs are high. Glass Cloth 
will raise more chicks, keep down di¬ 
sease, and bring more eggs than any 
chemicals or tonics. Get it now — on 
trial—and see, without risking a penny, 
how many of your poultry problems are 
solved. 
Sent on Trial 
Prove for yourself, without risking a penny, that Glass Cloth is better 
than glass for almost every purpose. We will send you a roll, any size from 
six yards up, on ten days’ trial as explained in the coupon. Then you be 
the sole judge as to whether you will keep it or return it. Order TODAY 
—on our money-back guarantee—we can ship promptly. 
Order Today from This Coupon 
You need Glass Cloth today; order now and we will ship at once and 
send you our illustrated catalog describing hotbeds, scratch beds, etc. 
TURNER BROTHERS, Dept. 103, Bladen, Nebraska 
——. -Mail This Coupon -—.-- 
TURNER BROTHERS, Dept. 103, Bladen, Nebraska 
Scud, prepaid, by parcel post, special roll of 15 yards of Glass Clotli (sufficient to cover 
space 9x15 feet) for which I enclose $5.00 as payment in full. 
Mark with ‘'X” here if $5 offer ( 1. 
Send, postage prepaid, six-yard roll of Glass Cloth for which I enclose $2.10. 
Mark with ‘‘X’’ here if $2.10 offer ( ). 
Prices on Glass Cloth in other sizes. For rareel Post add three cents per yard. One 
width only, 35 inches. 
Per yard 40e 
10 yards (i? 34c 
50 yards @ 32a 
200 yards @ 28c 
400 yards (5! 26e 
1000 yards @ 22e 
5 yards (w 35c 
25 yards @ 33c 
100 yards <® 29c 
300 yards (§> 27e 
500 yards (ill 25c 
2000 yards @ 20c 
IP 1 am not. thoroughly satisfied after ten days’ trial 1 will return it at once and you 
are to refund my money instantly without question. 
Name 
Street and Number or It. F. 1)... 
Post Office . State 
Mushroom Culture 
Improved Spawn. —Mushroom growing! 
is rapidly emerging from the uncertain 
gamble it was a few years ago to a fairly 
dependable crop. This change has been' 
brought about entirely by the improved 
method of manufacturing the spawn. 
Formerly it was made in brick form, 
dried out so thoroughly that it was neces¬ 
sary to use a sharp hatchet to cut it into 
small pieces. The spawn we use now is 
made in quart milk bottles. It is moist 
and easily broken in pieces with the ling¬ 
ers, after the bottle is broken off. 
Starting the Work.—B y no means 
should one expect to embark in mushroom 
growing and rapidly gain financial in¬ 
dependence without experience, and a 
heavy investment. The industry in the 
southeastern portion of Pennsylvania is 
assuming such magnitude that fresh horse 
manure is very difficult to obtain from 
the cities, and at times of heavy crops 
the mushrooms sell very loiv in price. 
Many farmers in that territory grow a 
small quantity. Some partition off an 
unused stable, others a disused cellar, 
w’hile some erect houses similar to the 
professional mushroom grower of hollow- 
tile or cement blocks. 
Structures for Mushrooms. —There 
are many different kinds of structures 
used for mushroom growing—disused cel¬ 
lars, cellars of dwelling houses, unused 
portions of barns, abandoned mines, etc. 
The larger portion of the crop is produced 
in especially constructed houses. The 
cellar, cave or mine is an ideal growing 
location during late Summer, Fall and 
Spring, but will not be of much value 
during cold weather unless heated to 
maintain at least 50 degrees, though 56 
to 60 degrees give better results. Another 
method of using an unheated cellar would 
be to permit the beds to freeze during the 
Winter—simply pay no attention to them, 
and when warm weather comes along the 
beds will come into bearing the same as 
though production had not been inter¬ 
fered with. Any number of benches may 
be erected, one above the other, leaving 
a space of from 14 in. to 16 in. wide. 
The houses especially constructed for 
growing mushrooms are erected with 
either hollow tile walls or double board 
walls filled with planer shavings. The 
latter construction is not very durable. 
The roof is double and is packed with 
5 in. to 6 in. of planer shavings. The 
special house is usually 12 ft. to 16 ft. 
high and contains five to six beds, one 
above the other. Sufficient radiation is 
installed to maintain 70 degrees or even 
higher in coldest Winter weather. 
Preparing Beds. —Horse manure is the 
only medium, and it must be fresh and 
reasonably free from firefang. It can be 
collected on the farm or shipped from the 
nearest large city. On the farm it can be 
collected for several w’eeks, adding the 
fresh to the former collection each wcelr. 
and using all together, adding soil and 
water. The manure should be placed on 
a square or oblong pile three or four feet 
high, and turned over four or five times 
at intervals of a week. A large amount 
of water will have to be added the first 
few turnings to eliminate firefang. and 
about 4 in. of loam placed over the top 
each time the pile is turned. When ready 
to be made into beds in the house there 
should be sufficient moisture incorporated 
to show on the outer edge if a portion is 
pressed hard, but not enough to drop off. 
The color of the manure when satis¬ 
factorily treated will bo black, and the 
straw fibers solidly packed into place, 
leveling off the top evenly. When the 
house is filled all doors are closed, and if 
the weather is cold, heat is turned on. 
In a few days the temperature in the 
beds will begin rising, which should be 
watched carefully. When it reaches 100 
or 110 degress turn off the heat and open 
all the ventilators to allow it to drop to 
SO degrees, which is about right for 
spawning. If the surface of the manure 
has become very dry, sprinkle lightly with 
water about 24 hours before the spawn is 
planted. Each bottle of spawn is broken 
into 40 pieces and a piece planted each 
11 in. or 12 in. square. The planting is 
done by lifting up a small portion of 
manure, inserting the spawn in its place 
about l 1 /* in. below the surface, and firmly 
pressing the manure back into place. Im¬ 
mediately after planting the beds are 
tamped solid with a board. 
Further Care. —Four weeks later the 
beds are cased with about 1 in. of good 
sifted loam. The soil must be firmed the 
same as the manure. The temperature 
during this period until the mushrooms 
show about the soil should be kept be¬ 
tween 65 and TO degrees. About six weeks 
elapse from planting the spawn until the 
first mushrooms apjiear. As soon as the 
mushrooms come into sight the tem¬ 
perature should be lowered to 60 degrees 
and when the crop is coming on heavy, 
drop to 56 degrees. Watering is possibly 
the most difficult operation connected with 
the business. Most growers will not ap¬ 
ply a drop of water from the time the 
spawn is planted until the first mush¬ 
rooms are the size of a large pea. 
Watering. —We have tried watering 
very lightly several times before the crop 
showed above the soil and did not see 
any injury, though a heavy watering be¬ 
fore a large lot of mushrooms are in 
sight will invariably cause heavy loss. 
Water must never be applied during the 
first two breaks so heavily that it soaks 
the top covering of soil and penetrates the 
manure, though the soil must be wet 
through. After the fir«t two or three 
breaks a little more water can be used, 
as the active spawn near the surface of 
the manure becomes exhausted and the 
moisture must penetrate deeper to reach 
the live spawn. The word break as used 
above means ‘crop.” A crop will cut 
off so clean that there may not be a mush¬ 
room in sight, and after a watering 
another heavy break or crop will come 
through the soil. The water should be 
applied when the mushrooms are very 
small. If watered when they are half 
grown many of them will become black 
spotted, which will greatly impair their 
value. After a crop is picked off, all 
decayed stubs and small decayed mush¬ 
rooms should be removed, the holes filled 
with sifted soil and the beds watered. 
Harvesting. —Mushrooms should be 
pulled out of the soil with a twisting 
motion. If a few mature in a large clus¬ 
ter of small-size buttons they can be cut 
out, and some of t.he small ones may ma¬ 
ture. They should be picked before the 
veil breaks, when in the button form. 
After the veil breaks, in shipping they 
are usually marked as broilers and sell 
at. a reduced price. It is easy to learn 
when they are at the right stage for pul¬ 
ling by placing the fingers underneath 
A Mush room Bed 
the head. If they are firm around the 
stem they are not through growing. If 
soft they are ready to come off. Some of 
the present bottle spawn will mature very 
large mushrooms. We have had some to 
weigh as high as 12 oz. each. 
Trouble with Disease. — The new 
spawn appears to be superior to the old 
brick spawn as eliminating some of the 
uncertainty, but has evidently introduced 
a disease that we did not know of to any 
great extent before. A rough, irregular, 
fungus growth, white in color, and of 
every conceivable shape and size, grows 
in the beds. The growrh is very rapid, 
and if not checked soon as it appears the 
entire crop will be ruined in a few weeks. 
1 know of some houses that, were put en¬ 
tirely out of bearing by this fungus. That 
.it is in the spawn is pretty clearly proven 
by the fact that it shows up with the 
first mushrooms on an entirely new place. 
Experienced growers tell me they pour a 
small quantity of gasoline on the fungus 
and ignite it. then take a clean piece of 
paper and lift it out with a little of the 
adjoining soil, and burn them. This is 
done in order to keep the disease from 
spreading. If this is attended to as soon 
as the first growth is seen they can be 
kept partly under control. The spores of 
this fungus germinate very readily and 
rapidly, and a house in which they appear 
must be thoroughly fumigated before 
another crop is planted. Some use the 
fumes of sulphur, sprinkling with Lysol. 
and vaporizing formaldehyde, and tell me 
that after all this trouble, and expense the 
disease showed up in the new crop as 
badly as in the former one. Experiment 
has shown that where old mushroom ma¬ 
nure has been applied as fertilizer on the 
farm, and soil is used in casing the beds 
on which this manure has been spread 
—even several years previous, there is 
danger of some spores being introduced 
in the carefully fumigated house. 
I know of one instance where the fun¬ 
gus was almost eliminated by obtaining 
soil from an adjoining farm where no old 
mushroom manure had ever been appliel 
to the soil. East Summer we filled our 
houses with live steam at a pressure of 
20 to 50 lbs. for four to six hours. We 
had it so hot that resin ran out of the 
bench boards. We then used formalde¬ 
hyde so strong that we could not get in 
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