MUSHROOM CULTURE. 
In the spring of 1874, we gave an article on Mushroom culture which attracted a good deal 
of attention and brought us a great many inquiries. So great was the demand for information 
that extra copies of the number containing the article have been forwarded to inquiring friends 
until our stock is almost exhausted. Some new questions have been also raised by correspond¬ 
ents, so we thought it would be well to give all the information desired, in this number. 
Our readers are, of course, well acquainted with Mushrooms of the meadows, so abundant in 
many places in the damp cool weather and dewy nights of autumn. Some pass them without 
notice, or think of them only as load-stools, while others seem to rush for every tiny specimen 
as eagerly as though they were gathering dia¬ 
monds. We are desired to show how Mush¬ 
rooms can be cultivated so as to secure a supply 
during the spring and summer season, and before 
they can be obtained from the fields. 
The Mushroom is a very accommodating plant, 
and will grow in the cellar, in sheds, stables, tubs, 
old hats, on shelves, in the garden, in dark or 
light. What a chance this affords the boys to 
have both fun and fruit, too, by making a bed in 
some curious old thing, and keeping the matter 
a secret until it is all white with splendid Mush¬ 
rooms. We have seen them growing in old tubs, 
in out-of-the-way corners of sheds, in abandoned 
greenhouses, on shelves in stables, somewhat as 
represented in the engravings, and in every case 
giving apparently a good and healthful crop. 
All that is needed for success is a temperature from 50 to 60 degrees, some fresh horse manure 
and a little spawn. Having procured what fresh horse manure is needed, mix it well with about 
one-third of its bulk of good loam, and you are prepared to make your beds in whatever place 
you prefer. If you determine to form beds, make them narrow, certainly not more than five feet 
in breadth, and about fifteen inches in height. The material must be made compact by beating 
down as evenly as possible. If under cover, the beds may be made flat on the top, but if in the 
open air should be rounded to shed the rain, somewhat as shown in the engraving on the next page. 
After the beds have been made a week there will be considerable heat produced by the fermenta¬ 
tion of the manure. Bricks of spawn should have been secured previously, and they can be had 
of most seedsmen, postage or expressage free, at about thirty cents a pound. Break them into 
pieces about- as large as walnuts and insert in the beds, just below the surface, about ten inches 
apart. One pound of spawn is sufficient for a space two by six feet. If there seems to be much 
heat, do nothing for a week or ten days, until it somewhat subsides. Then cover the bed with an 
inch or more of good earth, pressing it down with the back of a spade. It is not likely in a large 
bed water will be needed at all; but if the material should appear very dry, water lightly with 
warm water. In small beds or pails, or any thing of the kind, it is probable water will be needed 
once or twice. Mushrooms will begin to appear in about six 
weeks after planting the spawn, and can be gathered for three 
or four weeks. In gathering, take up the Mushroom entire, 
leaving no stem in the bed, and placing a little earth in the 
hole made by its removal. When the crop is gathered cover 
the bed with a little more earth, beat it down gently, and 
give a pretty good moistening with tepid water, and in about 
a month more another crop will be produced. 
Soon after the publication of the article, the substance of which we have given above, a cor¬ 
respondent in Indiana thought we had made a mistake and given pictures of the Toad-stool 
instead of the Mushroom, as the only Mushroom he was acquainted with and which grew abun¬ 
dantly in that State, was pear-shaped, with a short stem, yellow, with indentures on the outside, 
11 
AGARICUS COMPESTRIS. 
