St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-05-10
MUSHROOMS IN THE OPEN AIR.

They . BE Successfully Grown In This
Way-The Process II Attended with
Much Risk.
have previously reported some linn
tied experiments in growing mush-
rooms in open fields, writes Il. +. j., in
the Country Gentleman. In September,
in . field OF rich pasture land. the opera
ton being the simple act Of raising the
sod with a spade, dropping into the cav
ity a piece of the spawn as large as .
walnut and pressing the sod back again.
Seeing nothing of mushrooms in tho
spring of 1889. late in June ! made .
second experiment with the mycelium
Of a different character, obtained from
the famous seed house OF Nine. Vii.
MORN, Paris, France.
The patch, a few rods square. after
planting as above. was covered with five
or six inches of good cow manure
Heavy rain fell after the planting and
the soil was saturated. Some time in
July. when the bluegrass had come for.
ward and covered the surface with q
thick mass OF vegetation. il was mown
iiu SAislVu ohs ' IA hdhNo o"oA
exposed.
During the summer and September I
watched both fields closely, but saw no
signs of mushrooms and had pretty
nearly given up the experiment as q
failure, either from imperfect spawn or
improper method of handling-and
thinking perhaps drouth and heat had
interfered in the business-when on the
morning of the IL of October l was
rewarded by the sight OF my first mush-
roO on the field planted in 1883. At
first l thought it to be the ordinary puff
ball-so round. white and large was it
t.o inches in diameter At least in tho
button form. The following day I
gathered seven more close by. two
thirds the size Of the first, but none
afterward. ! may say a few days previ-
ous to the date named there had been
a light rain. a day temperature between
sixty-five and s~cventy-five degrees, a
moist atmosphere and = low barometer.
When these weather conditions return
l shall look for more and not till then,
and none from tho second own piece
before the spring CT 1850.
From my experience SO far l conclude
that the spawn or the germ Of the mush-
room .Agartc.s camp, sfris and A. sdais,
once in rich soil, resis;s for months high
or low temperature. drou,h and satura-
ton; but the uycelium does not develop
into the perfect mushroom that pushes
above ground except under certain soil
and weather conditions of heat. moisture
and temperature sustained for some days
between 60 and as degrees Fahrenheit.
Days with these characteristics are most
apt to occur in May and October fo.
these ATTITUDES and sometimes in un-
usually cool seasons in the summer
months
Judging from what I have observed so
far, l conclude there is no difficulty IN
growing mushrooms on land as rich in
nitrogen and the phosphates as the
black-soil prairie. but the lntensc feat
ures of the climate so much restrict the
season Of harvest and sometimes abolish
altogether that the crop must needs be
q precarious ono. Let ne add in conclu-
sion that I forgot or neglected in both
cases when planting To fertilizc and re-
inforce each piece of spawn with. say. a
~teaspoOnful of nitrate of potash, as a
10 the soil which Baron
Hooghvorts. a Belgian specialist in
culture, regards as essential
to Success