Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1895-10-17
MUSHROOMS.

pensable Ingredient of which is horse
manure, and in a steady temperature.
Any place, such as cellar, shed,
greenhouse pit, space under green
house benches, etc, where either
naturally or by the use of artificial
means temperature of from so to go
degrees may be had, will answer.
Good drainage must be provided;
hence a shelf or series of shelves or
benches may readily be employed to
make beds on.
The manure should not be allowed
to get saturated with rains, but should
be kept fairly dry until it is ready to
form bed, and all the long straw or
other litter should be shaken out of it.
Manure can be used to grow them in
only by turning it over repeatedly to
get rid Of its greatest heat. Usually
it is preferable to mix from one fourth
its bulk to equal its bulk with fresh
loan or good garden soil. OF course,
sufficient material should be ready be-
fore commencing to make the beds.
The latter may be of almost any size
or shape desired, but experience proves
that to have them from 2 to feet
wide and about 10 to 20 inches deep
answers the best. Where there is
plenty of room, it is q good plan to
make the beds more or less sloping at
the sides. Beds might also be made in
old tubs, or in casks sawed in two. BY
adopting this latter plan, the vessels
could, after being filed, be carried in
to the cellars or other parts of
dwelling houses where one would
not like to bring in the manure
in its rough form. In forming the beds
the manure and soil should be packed
firmly together, layer by layer, with a
mallet, or something similar. A Their
mometer should then be placed at
some central point of the bed, it's bulb
being kept some three or four inches
below the surface. The probability is
that the temperature in the bed will
rise for a few days and then begin to
lower. When it reaches about so de-
grees the bed is ready to spawn.
Spawn can be purchased in bricks Of
all seedsmen to make start with, but
when mushroom culture is once com
menced plenty of spawn can be had at
all times for planting new beds. The
bricks or pieces of spawn should be
broken to half the size of the hand
lengthwise, or less, before inserting in
the bed. These pieces should be placed
3 or inches deep and 10 to IL inches
apart. About ten days after spawning
spread over the surface of the bed
some 2 to inches of nice, fresh loan,
and then wait for your crop. This
should begin to show a few weeks
later, varying somewhat according to
the temperature.
Sometimes it is possible to dispense
with watering the beds, this being
only necessary when the surface gets
quite dry. Then water carefully, us
ing water heated to about 100 degrees.
BY making up beds at intervals OF
eight or ten weeks throughout the
year, q continuous supply of mush-
rooms may be secured. As a rule, how
ever, mushrooms grown in greenhouses
or other buildings are liable during
the hottest part of summer or early
fall to get spoiled by the maggots OF
various flies, SO that it may be as well
to have an OF" season, say the
months Of July and August. It Is to
be hoped that the consumption Of this
valuable food-article will greatly in.
crease in the near future. Ohio
Farmer. ss