Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-05-22
MUSHROOMS IN The OPEN AIR.
They Can BE successfully Grown in This
Way-The Process Is Attended with
Much Risk.


They Can BE successfully Grown in This
way-The Process Is Attended with
Much Risk.
/ have previously reported some linn
tied experiments in growing mush-
rooms in open fields, writes = f. j.. in
the Country Gentleman. In September,
lSss. brick Of the spawn was planted
in a field Of rich pasture land. the opera
tion being the simple act Of raising the
sod with a spade. dropping into the cav
ity piece Of the spawn as large as a
walnut and pressing the sod back again.
Seeing nothing Of mushrooms in the
spring Of 1889, late in June I made a
second experiment with the mycelium
Of a different character, obtained from
the famous seed house OF Nine Vii
NORM, 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
thick mass OF vegetation. it was mown
and carried oil, leaving the naked sward
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
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 I'd of October | was
rewarded by the sight Of my first mush-
room on the field planted in 1883. At
first thought it to be the ordinary puff
ball-so round, white and large was it,
two inches in diameter at least in the
button form. The following day /
gathered seven more close by, two
thirds the size of the first, but none
afterward | may say few days previ-
Gus 20 the date named there had been
a light rain. day temperature between
sixty-five and seyenty-fiye degrees, a
moist atmosphere and low barometer.
When these weather conditions return
] shall look for more and not till then,
and none from the second sown piece
before the spring of 1890
From my experience so far conclude
that the spawn or the germ Of the mush-
room dqa1tens canpestris and 4. eduhs,
once in rich soil, resists for months high
or low temperature, drouth and satura-
ton; but the mycelium 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 so and IS degrees Fahrenheit.
Days with these characteristics are most
apt to occur in May and October for
these ATTITUDES and sometimes in I'M
usually cool seasons in the summer
months
Judging from what ! have observed so
far, | conclude there is no difficulty In
growing mushrooms on land as rich in
nitrogen and the phosphates as the
black-soil prairie, but the intense feat
ures of the climate SO much restrict the
season of harvest and sometimes abolish
altogether that the crop must needs be
a precarious one. Let me add in conclu-
sion that I forgot or neglected in both
cases when planting to fertilize and re-
inforce each piece Of spawn with, say, a
teaspoonful Of nitrate Of potash, as
complement to the soil which Baron
Hooghyorts, Belgian specialist in
mushroom culture. regards as essential
to Succpes