MUSHROOM. 
69 
MUSHROOM. 
Agaricus Campestns .— Champignon cultive, Fr.— Pin Ger. 
This is a genus of plants comprising a great many species, of which, ac¬ 
cording to some authors, three hundred are natives of Great Britain. The 
kind cultivated in gardens is the Agaricus campcstris, which is thus described 
by M 4 Mahon :—“ The gills of this are loose, of a pinky red, changing to liver 
color, in contact, but not united with the stem; very thick set, some forked 
next the stem, some next the edge of the cap, some at both ends, and gene¬ 
rally, in that case, excluding the intermediate smaller gills. Cap , white, 
changing to brown when old, and becoming scurfy, fleshy, and regularly con¬ 
vex, but with age flat, and liquefying in decay ; flesh white ; diameter com¬ 
monly from one inch to three, or sometimes four or more. Stem solid, one 
to three inches high, and about half an inch in diameter.” 
Loudon says, u The mushroom is a well known native vegetable, spring¬ 
ing up in open pastures in August and September. It is most readily distin¬ 
guished, when of middle size, by its fine pink or flesh-colored gills, and 
pleasant smell ; in a more advanced stage, the gills become of a chocolate 
color, and it is then more apt to be confounded with other kinds of dubious 
quality; but that species which most nearly resembles it, is slimy to the 
touch, and destitute of the fine odor, having rather a disagreeable smell: fur¬ 
ther, the noxious kind grows in woods, or on the margins of woods, while the 
true mushroom springs up chiefly in open pastures, and should be gathered 
only in such places.” 
Mr. Armstrong gives the following directions for cultivating the garden 
mushroom :— u Prepare a bed, early in October, either in a corner of the hot¬ 
house, if you have one, or a dry and warm cellar. The width of the bed at 
bottom should not be less than four feet, and its length in proportion to the 
spawn provided. Its sides should rise perpendicularly one foot, and should 
afterwards decrease to the center, forming four sloping surfaces. We need 
hardly say that the material of the bed at this stage of the business must be 
horse-dung, well forked, and pressed together to prevent its settling unequal¬ 
ly. It should then be covered with long strawy as well to exclude frost as 
to keep in the volatile parts of the mass, which would otherwise escape 
After ten days, the temperature of the bed will be sufficiently moderated, 
when the straw is to be removed, and a covering of good mould to the depth 
of an inch, laid over the dung. On this the seed or spawn of the mushroom 
L which are threads or fibers of a white color, found in old pastu e grounds, 
in masses of rotten horse-dung, sometimes under stable-floors, and frequently - 
in the remains of old hot-beds] is to be placed in rows, six inches apart, oc¬ 
cupying all the sloping parts of the bed, which is again to be covered with a 
