Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-06-22
HE RAISES MUSHROOMS.
vcultivation Successfully Undertaken
~ an Abandoned Mine.
Thm mushrooms can be success

Iidl NluSlliOOiilo Ndii w h"NN''o'
fully grown in coal mines has been
Droven, and a new industry has been
established on the South side Mush-
soom experts have held it impossible
10 grow She spawn in abandoned
znines, although they have been sue
ucessfully cultivated in caves and quar-
lries for hundreds of years.
Henry Dietrich, says the Pitts
burgh Uommercial-Gazettc, is a glass
lmoldmaller by trade lie is an intel
1igent man about 80 years Of age. In
the roar of his house is an abandoned
coal mine. More than two years ago
he began the experiment of growing
the spawn, and raised some choice
uushrooms last year
Mr.. Dietrich has about 700 square
aeet of soil under cultivation in the
dark passage. This he has boxed up,
some IN hunks, one above another.
He lIas experimental with different
varieties and is now engaged in trying
TO raise the little French mushroom,
whidh is canned and used to such a
great extent in restaurants and hotels,
alfhUugh the canned article is not
neaTly SO palatable as the fresh mush-
UoUm.
MIR. Dietrich had great trouble in
ttlescing out and draining the mine
lbefBre he attempted to cultivate the
smnshroom. He put in sewer pipe to
scarry away the large flow of water,
sslso the sewage from the hill above
EaSrn, as most of the residences on
Mount Washington are severed into
tine abandoned mines.
The passageways in the mine are
high enough to walk in, standing
erect, and are about four feet wide.
The temperature is the same the
whole year, which makes the cultiva-
'tion Of the fungus so successful.
Mr.. Dietrich showed the writer beds
with the mushroom in various stages
yof growth, from the pinhead, as the
first shoots are called, to the full
grown, the latter creamy white with
pink gills underneath. In these beds
2, 900 pounds of the fungus were
grown last year. The price averaged
about so cents a pound, while during
the Christmastide and midwinter it
advanced TO rs cents pound.
Manure had to be hauled into the
mine in great quantities and mixed
with earth. The water running con-
lEinuaIly in the mine cannot be used on
account of the sulphur and other min
erals which injure the growth.
Superintendent William Falconer,
OF Schenley Park, is an expert on
mushroom growing. He made re-
pgtt to the government on their
growth, which the government
adopted as its report, and is the stand
ard for all mushroom growers. Mr..
Falconer also wrote book on the sub
sect which is recognized as standard
work.
When Mr.. Dietrich first attempted
10 raise the fungus in the mine, he
asked Mr.. Falconer's opinion on the
subject. Mr.. Falconer had never
heard that mushroom growing had
been successful in coal mines, and he
did not give much encouragement as
no the experiment. Mr., Falconer said
he had heard that mushrooms had
been raised successfully in abandoned
eluarries and other cayerns, but not in
qcoal mines
lie also said that growers of mush
aou1ns were the most secretive people
ale.had ever known. Mr.. Falconer said
Ghl.I mushrooms must be eaten while
tthe gills are pink. TO do this they
lmust be cooked the same morning
tthey have been plucked. French
canned mushrooms are like so much
putty. without taste or any redeeming
quality, while the fresh mushrooms,
right from the field or bed, is dainty
of dainties.
Mr.. Dietrich said he had not at
tempted to market his product in
Pittsburgh among the hotels, as his
neighbors took all he could raise. He
had no intention Of extending his
beds, although at times lie had a
sgreater number under cultivation
.than at others. Mr. Dietrich said to his
knowledge, and he had read every
thing he could on the subject, mush-
rooms had never been grown success
FULLY in a coal mine before.
Remarkable Butchers Feat.
Rrtchn org, foot, nrn fn,,,,;,,.. q IL