The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-09-15
sUBTERRANEAN GARDENING.
HOW MUSHROOMS ARE GROWN IN TIL
DARKNESS OF THE MAMMOTH GAVE.

| HOW MUSHROOMS ARE GROWN IN THE
DARKNESS OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE.
cit is a queer place for garden, sure
| enough, and the place is no stranger
| than the garden. A mushroom garden
! in the Mammoth Cave is a curiosity TO
most persons. - said DIR. NJ. +. Coomes
| to a reporter, The doctor has just re-
| turned from a trip to Mammoth Cave,
and brings back with him some very odd
stories of that mysterious place,
You doubtless remember - he con-
tinued, 'sseeing an account of a garden
going to be started in the cave. l was
rather curious to see whether it had been
mateTialiZsd when | was down there the
other day. You may remember that
a Frenchman tried to grow some mush-
rooms some time ago in the cave, but
for some reason he failed. l found,
however, when l went down, that anoth-
er Frenchman had been employed and
that he had made a success of it.
Il went along the short route to the
mushroom bed with very exalted ideas
of what such thing must look like.
About a quarter of mile we came to
the bed. The cave at this place is sixty
or seventy feet high, and some forty feet
or more in width. 1t was pitchy dark
darker than anything you can imagine
If you have never been in a cave. The
guide brought me over to little ridge
like elevation at one side of vast room.
'"Ihis, he SAID, was the mushroom
bed. 1t was about eight feet long, and
from base of twenty inches it tapered
up, making kind of cone. The sides
of this was covered with mushrooms.
and in the light Of the lamp they look
large and white. The Frenchman who
2 ha bod l.
and as l could not speak enough French
to make him understand, our conversa-
tion was rather limited [ found out
from others, though, nearly all wanted
to learn.
The bed is in room, the tempeTa-
ture of which is 65 the year round 1t
never varies, winter on summer. The
ali is damp, and as its character never
changes during the year, the French
man has something definite to work on
Changes in temperature and moisture,
and the different seasons which cause
other tillers of the soil so much uneasi-
ness, affect him not He plants his
strange crop in the bowels of the earth
amid profound darkness sees that it is
property nourished and garuers it with
as much certainty and regularity as if it
were the work of machinery.
From what | could learn the way
mushrooms are raised is this: First,
horse manure is taken and put through
a peculiar process. the secret of which
the FTenchman alone knows, l know
the object of it is to make it as fine and
well powdered as possible. Something
may be mingled with it. 1t is arranged
in a ridge like the one | have just de-
scribed, Then the spawn are put into
1T, These spawn come from Paris and
Ar w a., - L., l.
1t takes before you have the mushrooms
of commerce, but after they once break
through the sides of the ridge they ma
ture very rapidly, and sometimes IN
forty-eight hours. just before the little
plant pushes through the manure a thin
layer of sand is spread over the ridge
to keep it in the. heat probably.
There is one old fact about the plant
that is hard to explain. They grow in
round patches and aIe cut off as soon as
they come out. When the patch has
been entirely cut away, aud 10 more
spring up, another patch similar in size
comes up in exactly the spot on the 9TH
er side of the ridge. This is always the
case.
The present has been a great success,
Forty pounds of mushrooms have al
ready been cut off from this little eight
foot ridge, and any one who knows how
light mushrooms are can form an esti-
mate of how many of them it will take
to make forty pounds. They have all
been very large and finely favored, too.
Some have been taken out weighing
eight ounces. They gave me a couple,
one of which was large as mouth of a
teacup, They have not sold any of them
yet, but have taken them to Philadel-
phia, New York and other places.
There are about four acres of ground
in the cave available to mushroom grow
ing, and form the amount raised on the
eight foot ridge. you can have an idea
of how many thousands of tons four
acres can produce. It would almost
supply the world. The only difficulty
so far is to obtain the manure cheap
enough. If this can be overcome the
proprietors expect to beginto raise mush-
rooms on gigantic scale. IdOn't think
there will be much trouble in getting
the manure. So you see the world may
yet be supplied with mushrooms from
Mammoth Cave"