Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-03-31
Neglected Industry - Mushroom
Raising.

WE have never been able TO understand
why mushrooms are such an expensive
delicacy in this country. Every variety
of the toothsome fungus-even the Italian
mushroom, the most delicious of all
grows wild in our pastures or can be
raised in our climate with very little care.
And yet those who most use mushrooms,
the hotel and restaurant proprietors, buy
the French canned goods, save for a short
time in the autumn, when small supply
Of fresh mushrooms are Obtainable.
French mushrooms cost all the way from
so cents TO 81 for little can, at retail;
and to buy Il small basket of fresh mush-
rooms, even in our large markets, is rather
to ovcrtax the average pocket. Still we
have picked them by the pailful in Con
nectiCut COW and horse pastures; but the
natives looked askance atour eating them
and as to cultivating the toadstools,"
the idea to their mind was preposterous.
Now, with all due Difference to our eX-
cellent farmers who think as above, we
venture to affirm that, if few of them
would set about this cultivation on large
scale, and offer the products in the cities,
they would find a ready sale, and realize
quite large profit. Occasionally florist
makes a mushroom bed in his green
house, and lovers of the delicacy some
times cultivate it in small way in their
conservatories and cellars; but with the
exception of the effort made by the late
Prof. Blot, that prince of French cooks,
who came to this country as a missionary
to reform us from dyspepsia-breeding pie
and fried meat, we know of no attempt
being made here at their cultivation on a
commercial scale. The professor built
wooden structures under ground, and they
decayed then he grew tired of his pro-
ject and let it die through neglect, before
any of its results, good or bad, could be
seen. Near Paris, Blot had seen immense
cases, from twenty to sixty feet in depth,
| filled with mushroom beds, the length of
all of which beds together in one year
aggregated over twenty-one miles; and
he knew we'll that often single building
stone quarry, in the excavations of which
the beds were located, sent 5000 pounds
of mushrooms daily into the French
metropolis. No wonder, then, seeing the
utter absence of the fungus from our
markets, that he perceived an opening for
a lucrative business in its cultivation.
The reader who may wish to try mush-
room culture in small way-which he
had best do as beginning-will find his
cellar, if he dwells in the city, or any con-
venient clubhouse. if in the country, a
suitable place for few beds. The mate
rial required is horse manure, which must
be sweated by gentle and careful fermen-
tation for q week or a fortnight, until
most of the rank straw and grass is de-
composed. Turn over the mass every two
! days, and by the end Of about fortnight
it win be partially fermented, no longer
offensive to smell, and in fact sweet
enough to be placed in the cellar of a
dwelling. An average depth of a foot or
eighteen inches makes a good bed, which
should be about yard wide, with its con-
tents well packed. The shape is inmate
rial. 1t is useless for the cultivator to
prepare his own spawn, as it can be
| purchased very cheaply from nursery
men, at from fifteen cents to twenty five
cents pound The quality, however, is
| important. Good spawn can be told by
the minute white threads which permeate
| il in all directions and these should not
be too far developed. A reliable dealer
will have the right kind. The spawn is
first broken into bits about one and one
half inches or so in cubic contents, care
! being taken that each piece has the white
threads running through 1t. These frag,
ments are planted in the manure at a
depth of three inches, and placed about
four inches apart. Then the bed is firmly
rammed down with spade or mallet, and
about ten inches OF good loan packed
hard and smooth on top, the surface lastly
being covered with hay or straw. Care
should be taken that the cellar or out
house selected is sufficiently sheltered, so
that constant temperature of from fifty
five to sixty degrees Fahrenheit is main
tanned 10 it. The mushrooms will appear
in about six weeks, and the beds will bear
for from one to three months, according
to the quality of spawn, strength OF
manure, etc Water only about once a
fortnight and then sparingly the tempera-
ture Of the water should not be below sixty
degrees Fahrenheit.
In plucking the mushrooms pull out
the stalk, as, il lett, it is liable to decom-
pose and injure succeeding crops Instead
of beds as described. the manure can be
packed in boxes or tubs TO within two or
three inches Of the surface, and loan