_ THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Fire, 
Annual net Income, £594,370. 
February 1, 1908 
Insurance Co., Ltd. 
This old Established Colonial Office covers every description of 
Marine, and Accident Business, 
At Lowrest Rates. 
£6,000,000 paid in Claims. 
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BRANCH, 112 KING WILLIAM STREET, ADELAIDE. 
LOUIS E. WILSON, Manager. 
Active Agents Wanted. 
Mushroom Culture for 
Amateurs. 
Raising mushrooms according to the 
methods usually prescribed—that is, in 
specially arranged houses or greenhouses 
—is practicable only for the professional 
gardener or the amateur who grows his 
crop: with professional assistance. Cor- 
respondence has revealed quite an interest 
in this branch of horticulture, and many 
will be glad to know that mushrooms may 
‘be successfully grown in stables, cellars— 
including outdoor cellars or ‘ caves’—and 
buildings that may be darkened and kept 
at a temperature ranging from 45 to 65 
deg., with no artificial heat. The best 
temperature is from 55 to 60 deg., with 
the air slightly moist. Under these favor- 
able conditions mushrooms will usually 
appear in a month or six weeks. Root 
cellars or caves will serve for growing 
them in winter, or an ordinary cellar if 
the compost is properly prepared before 
the beds are made. When mushrooms are 
grown in the lowest temperature men- 
tioned, it is essential to success that the 
place be dry. 
First Preparations —More failures 
are traced to using poor or improperly 
prepared manure than any other cause, 
Ayoid mixtures, as from cow, horse, and 
sheep stable. Beds so prepared are liable 
to generate heat the second time, ruining 
the crop. Procure fresh horse manure in 
quantities not less than a generous wheel- 
barrow Icad. Shake out the coarse straw, 
then thoroughly mix one part of either 
new or garden mould with four of the 
manure, adding the soil and mixing as_ 
gathered. Place in heaps (under a shed 
secure from rain), turning it over each 
day to prevent it heating, until enough is 
collected. The whole mass should be 
kept very damp. Water shonld be added 
if necessary but not enongi to make the 
manure sv wet that water may be easily 
-presséd from it; Turn it over at least 
three tines a week to keep it from ‘ bnrn- 
ing,’ and ofterer if necessary. ‘lest occa- 
sionally with a thermometer, and when 
the. temperature falls to 115 deg. it is 
_ ready for the beds. 
Making tHE Brps.—If the beds are 
made in a cold cellar and no artificial 
heat is to be employed, box beds should 
be used, Make the sides twenty inches 
high by nailing together on edge two ten- 
inch boards. Four feet is a convenient 
width for gathering the crop, with any 
length desired. A bed of this height may 
be cavered when the cellar becomes too 
cold without damage to the mushrooms. 
Place a layer of the manure four inches 
deep on the cellar floor and beat it dow: 
firm with a mallet or a brick. Proceed 
ia this way with successive layers until 
the bed is ten inches deep in cellars 
where artificial heat is to be employed if 
necessary, and sixteen inches de-p in 
cold cellars. Examine the bed eyery day 
and see that the temperature does not 
rise above 125 deg. It will sometimes go 
even higher, reaching a fiery heat. In 
this case make holes all over the bed with 
a heavy stick—an old spade handle is 
handy —allowing the steam to escape ; 
when the heat talls, these holes should be 
rammed full of fine manure, . The heat is 
tested by running a blunt stick down 
three inches and thrusting a thermometer 
into the hole as soon as the stick is with- 
drawn. When the heat at the depth of 
three inches below the surface has fallen 
to 90 deg. it is ready f.r spawning. even 
though the heat in the middle of the bed 
may be 100 deg. 
Spawnina. — There are two kinds of 
spawn, the English and the French, The 
English comes in bricks and is considered ~ 
the better, as the beds continue in bearing 
longer. Break the bricks into pieces 
about the size of a hen’s egg or an inch 
and cne-half by two, A brick will make 
sixteen pieces, Lay these about eight 
inches apart each way over the bed, 
Then make holes with a sharp stick, 
inserting the pieces at a depth that will 
permit covering with an inch or an inch 
and a half of soil, covering with the soil 
of the bed as you go hen finished, 
firm the whole bed with the back of a 
spade. 
Sortixe.—This is Cone in frem eight 
to ten days, sometimes even twelve days 
after spawning. Never soil until the 
temperature falls to 85 deg. If it is done 
before, the steam arising from the manure 
will be prevented from passing off, result- - 
ing in rotting of the spawn. Test the 
bed daily and soil when the temperature 
is right. Any garden soil will answer, 
made rather fine by being run through a 
half-inch sieve. Spread a two-inch layer 
over the bed and beat it firm with a spade. 
Again, if t is found that the temperature 
of a bed is falling too fast. running down 
to 80 deg, or perhaps 75 deg,, on the 
third or fourth day after spawning, it 
should be soiled at once. This part of 
the work is not so much a matter of time 
as of conditicns, As soon as the soiling is 
done, give the bed a thin covering of hay, 
doubling it as the temperatura declines. 
Warrrinc — Examine the bed every 
week from the time of spawning until 
bearing and never allow it to become dry. 
This will hardly happen if the manure 
was of the proper moisture when packed. 
The spawn will not ‘run’ ina dry bed, 
while one well spawned and tended will 
present a perfect network of white, thready 
material, termed mycelium. If the sur- 
face of the bed becomes dry give it a 
good waterin , penetrating at least two 
inches but not drenching the bed. It is. 
a good plan to give a watering six weeks 
from the time of spawning—if the surface 
be dry—just befere the mushrooms ap- 
pear. Use a wacering pot with a sprinkler, 
and water at a temperature of 95 to 100 
deg. The small mushrooms are apt to 
damp off if the bed is watered after they 
appear. 
Gatuurine, —In from six to eight. 
weeks, under fayorable conditions, the 
mushrooms appear. All depends upon 
temperature and moisture. In gathering 
them, draw them out with a twist so as 
not to disturb the small ones in the 
clump, afterward filling the holes made 
with fine fresh soil. When the first crop. 
is gathered, occupying three or four weeks, 
give the bed a half-inch dressing of fresh 
soil, forming it with a spade and following 
it with » watering at 95 deg. Lf this last 
layer ct soil is mixed half-and-half with 
dry, crumbled ianure from the - cow 
stable, the crop will be much heavier. 
The same bed often gives three and four 
crops. Beginners need not become dis- 
heartened if ‘he crop does uot appear at. 
the average iime prescribed. A profes- 
sional grower reports a heavy crop ap- 
pearing after four months of waiting from 
the spawning time, 
